Haunted Downtown Back in October of 2000 some serious investigating was underfoot regarding the often-heard rumors of haunted locations downtown. After contacting KLOS about hosting their annual Mark & Brian Halloween Parade […]
New in Town Pour Vida has opened at 101 N Harbor where The Pickled Monk was. Many favorable reviews are in, and wow, Brunch 7 days a week. ZAMA Lounge has opened […]
Old Favorites from the Past In our last issue, we mentioned a few businesses that were located in Villa del Sol long ago. That seemed to trigger interest in finding out about […]
Success Story Making a stop at my old digs at Villa del Sol reminded me that The Brownstone Café is celebrating their 25th Anniversary this year and we all know what a […]
Days/Nights of Music Here are some downtown locations where you can find live music. Rather than list all the websites please just do a search on the name for more info. • […]
Those of us who worked on the first Day of Music quickly found out that most don’t really know when Summer actually begins. But it officially roared to life on June 21, […]
If you were in and around Fullerton in the 80s, you were likely aware of the music scene here. Who knows how these things happen? A number of bands suddenly make their […]
Day of Music The Fullerton version of Day of Music began in 2014 and evolved into one the most popular sites for the worldwide event over the next few years. A parade, […]
Walk on, bike on But don’t drive on. That’s the situation with the continuing saga of Walk On Wilshire. We pointed out the changes in our last issue on pages 6 and […]
Joe Tatar Here is the promised follow-up from his family. As you read in our last issue, sadly Joe Tatar passed away on April 18. Here are their thoughts. Joe Tatar has […]
Joe Tatar, Fullerton Icon The call came in the morning after Joe passed, a plea to make sure there was an appropriate tribute to a man who graced so many stages and […]
Getting to know you This pre-printed, spiral bound phone directory was left behind when we purchased our mid-1960 era house in East Fullerton. Each one listed on the first page is included […]
When the “Renaissance” of our downtown began, spurred on by the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake that threatened to cause many of our buildings to be red tagged, some buildings that sat untouched […]
No Baseball? Think again. Unless sports are just not your thing at all, you had to be happy when the Rams won the Super Bowl, the Dodgers won the 2020 World Series, […]
FUHS Auditorium update If you were anywhere near Chapman and Lemon last week, you had to notice the huge crane soaring up into the blue sky and wondered what has been taking […]
Mystery Building Many industries and endeavors dominated this part of Southern California before it eventually became known as Orange County, and the “second gold rush” took off after farmers started planting oranges […]
A Sad Loss Suddenly, right at deadline for this page, Chris, Damion, and Davis were in the picture, and those three (some of Fullerton’s finest photographers) stepped up and that led to […]
Playing The Detective: Searching for what became of old local taverns Reviewing a previously-discovered list (below) triggered an interesting series of new discoveries. If you read over this list, you may recognize […]
A look back to a look forward Everyone here at The Observer hopes every one of you had a memorable reunion of sorts at Thanksgiving, and that you feel optimistic as we […]
Central Business District (CBD) It’s hard to imagine all these years later being the new guy now, the too-young-to-know-anything guy in Downtown Fullerton in the 80s. I quickly learned from other business […]
Save the Ocean You may not have noticed storm drains around town, but anyone in Southern California knows just how much toxic waste we pour into our life-giving Pacific Ocean. In addition […]
Human Library You may think this is about the many “Little free libraries” you read about in the last issue of The Observer. I have one in my neighborhood, and what a […]
Timeless Baseball has a rhythm that mimics life, and that rhythm reverberates without the need for an arbitrary or artificial conclusion. Time does not ‘run out’ just as the intensity peaks, the […]
Updates Not only are the new staircases in, but the Santa Fe Café is looking cool in more ways than one with nice shade and greenery all around now. It’s interesting to […]
Roadkill Ranch Sorry to report that our friend Julie Rasmussen is closing her doors on a business that has become a fixture on a very diverse stretch of Commonwealth Avenue. Julie has […]
SoCo Evolution Since 1946, the Ellingson family has operated a precision machine shop, and today they produce critically machined parts for the aerospace industry. Leo Fender set up his retail store on […]
Busked Fortunately, that’s busked, not busted. An unnamed trio of local musicians took to the streets as buskers on the day we had hoped to hold Day of Music and fortunately, they […]
Discover Downtown on Foot The many videos that spotlight downtown businesses give anyone who has not actually walked every downtown street some great insight into what they are missing. A sign posted […]
Day of Music Fete de la Musique is celebrated on the Summer Solstice and our annual Day of Music began back in 2014. Many got a call from Glenn Georgieff who wanted […]
Discover Fullerton Our Community Center is organizing a number of events Downtown, including a SoCo District Guided Walk and a business scavenger hunt. Businesses are signing up now for the Live Local […]
100 and Counting Suddenly it appeared on the screen, something that many may not realize still exists—a nationwide TV salute to those who had just turned the page on 99 and hit […]
“Why Don’t ‘They’ Fix the Potholes?!” As Commonwealth got worse and worse with all the micro-trenching for the installation of fiber optic cable, water main breaks, erosion, etc., the above line was […]
Easter Egg Hunt We are never too old for one, especially when the big kids can get in on the action too. Beginning Saturday, March 20, spring began with a Fullerton Loves […]
Wow, it has been some time since there was this much energy in our Downtown. Walking around, it was palpable. Maybe it’s the approach of Spring, but more likely, it’s a sense […]
Gem of a Gym Updates are promised and promises are kept, so here we go with some info regarding the long-awaited new gymnasium at our downtown Fullerton High School. Wow. Check the […]
