Let’s pause for a moment of reverent silence to acknowledge that, on any given day in Orange County, it’s possible to dress your bulldog as a pirate and have it professionally photographed on a set decorated with a treasure chest, a broadsword, and fake parrot. While you’re at it, please contemplate the giddy fact that locals can wander the streets of Anaheim this time of year dressed as a Death Knight Troll from World of Warcraft without landing on a federal watch list.
I’ll admit it: This is why I’m here.
True, the weather is great, the ocean is breathtaking, the bike trails idyllic, yadda yadda yadda. But it’s the sheer variety of people, lifestyles, and general weirdness that gives my life in Orange County that little something extra. You can read more about the pet photographer and about the annual gathering of costumed video-gamers on in this issue, and I urge you to do so.
But there’s not exactly a shortage of interesting people and peculiarities around here. I’ve edited Orange Coast for a cumulative dozen years, and stories like those just keep coming. We now tell them in ways I never could have imagined when I first signed on as editor in 1994—not only in print, but online in blogs, electronic newsletters, even videos. (Type “snake wrangler” into the search box at orangecoast.com, and you’ll see what I mean.)
Combined with the useful information we offer in this month’s “Hot Shops” cover story, that bottomless well of stories helps make our quirky paradise endlessly fascinating.
Facebook Comments