☀️ GOOD MORNING, OC
Good morning. The clocks fell back Sunday, the sun now sets before dinner, and November opens with a weekend that covers some ground: thousands of reptiles at the fairgrounds, the last call for Oktoberfest, and the season's first holiday market at the Great Park.
In today's Buzz:
The reptile expo taking over the OC Fair & Event Center
Last call for Oktoberfest, plus the first holiday market of the season
Irvine: the city built on a plan (and a $33.5 million listing)
The drive-through safari where an old lion became a star
— Kevin
The Great Park balloon, Irvine, photo Ganeshk (CC BY-SA 2.5)
THE BIG THING
Thousands of reptiles move into the fairgrounds this weekend. Repticon, the national reptile and exotic-animal expo, sets up at the OC Fair & Event Center Saturday and Sunday: two days of live animals from around the world, plus the breeders, vendors and supplies behind them.
Part zoo, part market. You can spend the day with pythons, geckos, tortoises and tree frogs, and if one of them ends up coming home with you, that is between you and your HOA.
Here's what to know:
When: Saturday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: OC Fair & Event Center, 88 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa
Cost: $15 adults, $7 kids 5 to 12, 4 and under free. A $20 two-day Super Ticket covers the weekend. Tickets are online only. repticon.com. Parking at the fairgrounds is $15. ocfair.com
Sources: repticon.com, ocfair.com
P.S. Share this with the friend whose kid has asked for a snake twice this month.
🍺 LOCAL BUSINESS WE LOVE
Ok beer people, this one's for you! Ambitious Ales just had its opening weekend (Oct 24-25) at the LAB Anti-Mall in Costa Mesa, 696 Randolph Ave, and it's their first OC spot. Five OC buddies started brewing together in 2012 after a trip to the Oregon Brewers Festival and opened their first taproom in Long Beach in 2019. Their hazy IPA "Professional Human Being" took Gold at the 2024 Great American Beer Festival, which is a legit flex. Seating inside and out is family and pet friendly, so bring the crew… and the dog!
Check them out: ambitiousales.com
AROUND TOWN: THIS WEEKEND
Friday
🍺 Final Friday of Oktoberfest at Old World Village, Huntington Beach. The eight-week season ends Sunday. oldworldhb.com
Saturday
🦎 Repticon, day one at the fairgrounds, 9 to 4 (above).
🏃 Beer City Half: half marathon, 10K and 5K through Santa Ana, then a beer festival at Centennial Park. Races from 8:30 a.m., festival after. From $35.45. beercityfest.com
🎁 44th annual Holiday Faire at the Great Park: about 100 local artists and makers take over the Palm Court Arts Complex and Hangar 244, 10 to 4. cityofirvine.org
🥂 Orange County Wine Fest, noon to 3, Saturday and Sunday. eventbrite.com
Sunday
🦎 Repticon, day two, 10 to 4.
🍺 Last day of Oktoberfest at Old World. Prost, and see you in September. oldworldhb.com
OC WITH KIDS
The Holiday Faire at the Great Park (Saturday 10 to 4) is an easy first holiday-market trip: local artists, live work, and plenty of room to roam. cityofirvine.org
Free museum Sunday: Bank of America cardholders get one free Discovery Cube ticket this Sunday, part of the Museums on Us first-full-weekend program. Bring ID matching the name on your card. discoverycube.org
Which OC kids' spot deserves a full weekend write-up? Hit reply with your pick.
Discovery Cube Orange County, photo Buchanan-Hermit (CC BY)
NEW & NOTABLE
Twenty years in and still growing: Bear Flag Fish Co. just opened its most elevated location yet in Costa Mesa, taking over the former Santa Monica Seafood space on East 17th Street. Restaurant and fish market under one roof, which is the whole Bear Flag idea. greersoc.com
EAT / DRINK
Last call at the biergarten. Old World's Oktoberfest wraps its season Sunday, and eight weeks of steins, brats and oompah come down to one final weekend in Huntington Beach. If you have been meaning to go since September, the time is now. oldworldhb.com
TODAY IN… IRVINE
The master-planned city that actually stuck to the plan. A few things worth knowing:
The Giant Wheel at Irvine Spectrum Center, photo Azusa Tarn (CC BY-SA 4.0)
It was drawn up first: The Irvine Company started developing the old Irvine Ranch in the 1960s, and the city incorporated December 28, 1971.
It worked: 66 square miles and about 319,000 people, the second-largest city in Orange County.
The anchors: UC Irvine, the Spectrum's Giant Wheel, and the Great Park, built on the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. The old hangars now host events like Saturday's Holiday Faire.
The quiet flex: Irvine routinely ranks among the safest U.S. cities of its size.
Next issue: where should we go next? Reply and vote.
HOME OF THE WEEK
The market: the fall slowdown keeps deepening. The weekly OC Housing Report (Nov 2) puts active listings at 4,945 countywide. The biweekly Reports on Housing (Oct 12) has demand at about 1,249, the lowest October since 2007; a year ago it was 1,582. ocrealestateinc.com
The listing: 76 Golden Eagle, Irvine. $33.5 million in Shady Canyon, Irvine's guard-gated golf community. Six bedrooms, eight baths plus two half-baths, 13,046 square feet. Photos and details on the listing page → elliman.com
THE OC INTERNET
⏪ REMEMBER WHEN
Gone But Not Forgotten: Lion Country Safari. In 1970, South African entrepreneur Harry Shuster opened Southern California's first cageless drive-through safari on 140 acres just outside Irvine, near today's Laguna Hills. Families drove their own cars past lions, rhinos, giraffes and ostriches, windows firmly up. More than a million people came the first year.
The star was Frasier: an 18-year-old, toothless, arthritic lion rescued from a Mexican circus who proceeded to father 35 cubs and become a full-blown celebrity, with T-shirts, watches and a 1973 feature film (Frasier the Sensuous Lion, theme song by Sarah Vaughan) that flopped hard. Frasier died in July 1972 and was buried at the park, with a sendoff from the Frasier clan of Scotland, which had adopted him as its mascot. Attendance faded, and the park closed in 1984. Plenty of longtime locals still remember an ostrich eyeballing them through the windshield. en.wikipedia.org, latimes.com
Lions at Lion Country Safari, 1974, photo Tequask (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Hit reply with your favorite OC memory. The older, the better.
THAT'S THE BUZZ
Two things before you go:
Know someone in OC who's always asking what's happening this weekend? Forward this to them… they can sign up free at theocbuzz.com.
Hit reply with your pick for the next spotlight city.