Tag Archives: Irvine

Old Town Irvine After the Storm

Posted on December 29, 2010 by Kelson

Old Town Irvine After the Storm

Well, technically, during a lull in the storm. The clouds were moving very fast, with light and shadow moving over the empty fields and office parks, and I waited several minutes for the sun to play over this scene.

I particularly liked the contrast of the dead brown tumbleweeds scattered around the bright green meadow.

My one regret with this photo is not being able to capture the steep drop-off into a wash right below the frame. I could get the wash, or the sky, but not both.

The large barn-like structure used to be a packing house for the Irvine Ranch farms, and is now split between a motel (the La Quinta Inn) and a group of restaurants.

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Landscape Under Renovation

Posted on June 18, 2010 by Kelson


Landscape Renovation, originally uploaded by Kelson.

Irvine is dreadfully afraid you might think the dead grass is the result of poor maintenance.

Apparently, they’re also concerned that the old Grass Under Renovation signs might not be inclusive enough.

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Return to Temporary Wetlands

Posted on March 21, 2010 by Kelson

Early last month I posted some photos of ponds in an empty lot in the Irvine Spectrum area, fed by the winter rains. Well, the rains have been tapering off, and the weather has been warming up. It’s been at least two weeks since it last rained, and the ponds are drying out.


Drying Office Park Pond, originally uploaded by Kelson.

On the plus side, all the sun has brought out the wildflowers. It’s still nowhere near the 2006 level, when hillsides were covered with patches of dark green, light green and bright yellow…

…but there was a nice patch of lupins at one end of the lot.


Lupin Patch, originally uploaded by Kelson.

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Putting the Post in Post Office

Posted on March 1, 2010 by Kelson

A few weeks ago, I stopped at the post office on the way to work. As I walked to the door, my eye was immediately drawn to the big hole in the wall where, apparently, a car had crashed into the building while trying to park.

Whatever vehicle had done the damage was long gone, and the area around was cordoned off with yellow caution tape. Since I like to take pictures of weird stuff, I snapped a photo with my cell phone. (No, I didn’t cross the tape; it’s just not visible in the frame.)

This morning, I stopped at the same post office again. This time, my eye was drawn to a new addition to the facility:

One of these bright yellow posts stood in front of each parking space along the building. You can still see where the concrete has been spread around the base, and absolutely no paint has worn off. Clearly someone decided not to take any more chances with wayward cars!

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Cryptic Store

Posted on February 20, 2010 by Kelson

Remember that mall mystery from a while back? There was a storefront under construction at the Irvine Spectrum with an “Opening Soon” sign, but no indication of just what store might be moving in. They opened in December, and I keep forgetting to post a follow-up.

As you can see, all is revealed:

Storefront with three symbols above it, but no words.

…or maybe not.

Unless, of course, you recognize the logos for Hurley International (middle), Converse (right) and…what’s that on the left? With the Nike swoosh on top and the…skateboard? Sunglasses? Something on the bottom?

It’s kind of a throwback to the old medieval-style signs that showed an image instead of a name: the Prancing Pony, for instance (to pull an example from LOTR). Only instead of recognizable images, they’re symbols. Pictograms, if you will, only decipherable if you’re familiar with the symbols already, and they’ve actually thrown an obstacle in the way by muddling the most-recognized logo (Nike).

It seems odd to deliberately use a sign that would make a store hard to name (never mind figuring out what they sell), but I imagine that their target audience is quite familiar with the logos and wouldn’t have any trouble finding the store.

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Office Park Ponds

Posted on February 12, 2010 by Kelson


Office Park Ponds (2/3), originally uploaded by Kelson.

There are still a few empty lots in the Irvine Spectrum office park area, and the recent rains have turned them green…and for the first time I remember noticing, filled hollows with water to create temporary ponds. There were even a half-dozen ducks milling about while I took these pictures.

Update: I went back a month later, after the rains had stopped, and took some more photos.

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Midday Thunderstorm & Rainbow

Posted on January 19, 2010 by Kelson
  • WTF?!? @cnnbrk reports: Tornado warning in effect for south central Los Angeles. #
  • It turns out there’s a tornado warning in Orange County too. I can believe it. #

  • Drove past Blizzard HQ during a thunderstorm. Saw a really nice lightning strike a few minutes later. #
  • Got soaked walking out of the parking structure. Wouldn’t be so bad if the rain was coming straight down. Ducked into first restaurant I saw. #
  • Oh, NOW the storm let’s up while I’m INSIDE. Rain & sky are both lightening up, & I haven’t seen any lightning in at least 10 minutes. #
  • Aaaand we now return you to your regularly scheduled California sunshine! #

I glanced out the window while eating lunch at Johnny Rockets and saw this brilliant rainbow. I hastily told the server that I would be right back, and was just going to look at it, and left some of my stuff at the table while I came out and snapped a picture. A passing security guard remarked that he had the same idea, but didn’t have his camera. When I went back in, two of the employees were staring out the window at it.

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Help Solve a Mall Mystery!

Posted on November 20, 2009 by Kelson

Wall enclosing a closed storefront, labeled only 'Opening Soon.'

I keep walking past this empty storefront at the Irvine Spectrum, and I have yet to spot anything indicating just what is going in. The phrasing kind of implies that something specific is opening soon. It makes me wonder if I’m supposed to recognize the pattern or something.

Any ideas?

Update: The store is open now, and the mystery has been solved…sort of.

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Errand Observations

Posted on October 31, 2009 by Kelson
  • The Spectrum food court has ripped out the planters. I guess they realized they needed the floor space after they chopped off one end. #
  • It’s Halloween, so Target has the Christmas decorations up! # Christmas on Halloween
  • Just heard a commercial that started off, “Winter is Coming.” #
  • OK, only 3 people reading this will get the reference, but… “Where are you going?” # It's up to you

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Great Park, Great Pumpkin

Posted on October 30, 2009 by Kelson


Great Park – Great Pumpkin, originally uploaded by Kelson.

The Great Park Balloon in Irvine, California, all dressed up as a Jack-o-Lantern for Halloween. I was hoping to get a shot of it aloft, but it landed as I approached the park.

It looks really eerie lit up at night, floating off in the distance. Or just floating above office buildings.

It’s not as good a picture as the one I found on Flickr last week, but you can see the whole face.

Here’s a non-zoomed shot, showing the big empty field and Saddleback in the background:

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