13 Comments:

• I used to live right next to the Santa Ana river, near the intersection of First and Fairview. During the summer months me and my friends would ride our bikes all over OC by way of the 'river trails'. The most common trip was to Huntington Beach where the SA river trail ended. We would spend all day body surfing and then ride home late in the afternoon. Great memories! I also remember a couple of times during the rainy season there being the threat that the river might overflow it's banks. Several times the water level was so high that it was near the bottom of the bridges. Wow... I haven't thought about the Santa Ana River and the 'river trail' in many years. Thanks for the reminder!!! FYI... I lived in that area from 1969 to 1984.

  By  Anonymous, at June 02, 2006 3:49 PM  

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• I used to ride the trail when I was kid all the time. I had many bike-a-thons on the river trail. I too went both ways....Huntington Beach and Yorba Linda.
  
  I also used to play the golf course that they built into the river bed in Santa Ana near the Block at Orange.
  
  I used to live by Centennial Park in Santa Ana which is right next to the river. I used to play in the dry river all the time.
  
  Good memories...

  By  Chris, at July 08, 2006 11:53 PM  

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• We used to ride from Fountain Valley to the Big "A". I remember the Rolling Stones played there once as we rode by. Around the Zephyr skateboard days we used to skate along the slopes of the underpass ramps. You can see the Pond and Stadium from the overlook park at Hamilton/Victoria.

  By  Anonymous, at August 14, 2006 9:15 PM  

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• Posted for posterity:
  
  The Santa Ana River Trail (or SART) is a well-used Bikeway that extends from Riverside County at the Green River Golf Course and heads SW from there through Featherly Regional Park and then follows the actual river all the way down to the outlet located at the southern end of Huntington Beach.
  
  I have used it quite frequently in recent years (2001-2006) and find it ever-increasing with activity especially in the Santa Ana portion of the City.

  By  Mark D. Schneider, at November 11, 2006 11:19 AM  

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• We lived very close to the SA River. We also lived near Alona Park and the golf course that is still there. As kids we would go down and search through all the rocks in the riverbed along the golf course and then go home clean up the golf balls, put them in egg cartons and sell them for 5 cents to the golfers. Also, at the bridge on 17th St there was a huge area of bamboo and the 'bums' lived there. I would sneak food to them.

  By  Anonymous, at December 27, 2006 6:45 PM  

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• You can no longer exit the 91 at Green River and park about a half-mile down the road. There were THREE vehicles there that were broken into just today - a MONDAY - in broad daylight. Sad, but true.

  By  POP Mail with VerizonWireless, at April 23, 2007 10:21 PM  

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• in 1969 we moved out to "East Anaheim" in an area called the Orange Grove"...today it's the area east of Lakeview, just south of the 91....it was out in the middle of NOWHERE!...today its pretty much Anaheim Hills...our home backed up along the Santa Ana River, needless to say, as kids, my siblings and friends spent most of our days in the river bed. The River was once trees and brush..we fished, swam, hiked...today it is a cement nightmare....I only wish my children could have enjoyed the fun we had as kids....

  By  Anonymous, at May 02, 2007 11:52 AM  

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• The Santa Ana River was very close to many places I lived. While in elementary school I would go with my brothers and their friends to the river to play. We would enter the river where Centennial Park now is, back then it was a large strawberry field and we would pick strawberries on the way to the river. Our mother did not like for us to play in the river, but we would and try not to let her find out. One time it was me that gave away that we had been in the river. I liked wearing white Vans, canvas tennis shoes, and one time I came home with my shoes filthy, she figured out real quick that we had been playing in the river.
  
  Vans....anyone remember the old warehouse in downtown Santa Ana. My mother would buy our shoes there, it was a large warehouse with a big red shoe painted on the window. When you walked in the building you could smell the rubber from the shoes. Some times we would get some weird shoes, while in headstart in Santa Ana I wore a pair of plaid Vans.

  By  Anonymous, at September 01, 2007 7:42 PM  

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• My name is, or was Patti McDow and I lived by the river trails and my sister and I would ride them all the time. We would get to it through Alona park where we also hung out then we would ride it to the golf course. Reading some of these stories brings back so many memories of all my old friends there. Boy those were the good old days.

  By  Anonymous, at October 04, 2007 4:49 AM  

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• I played on the riverbed a lot since I lived right there on Bolsa near Harbor Blvd. I also rode horses on the riverbed. I have lots of memories living at the Turkey Ranch during the late 50's and 60's. I moved away for awhile and would visit each summer until 1981 when I moved back. Those were wonderful days in Orange County! I miss my home, I miss my grandparents.

  By  Terry Lynn, at October 11, 2007 3:59 PM  

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• I remember lining up with thousands of others on the river trail at Imperial Hwy in Anaheim Hills for Hands Across America. What a great area to grow up. The Yorba family (yes, those Yorba's) hired my friends and I to "protect" their orange groves -- brilliant.

  By  Anonymous, at November 08, 2007 9:30 PM  

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• Wow, the Santa Ana River Trail. We called them the Beds. I grew up in East Anaheim, We would get in on Lapalma Ave and Wagner, i went to Katella High School, graduated in 1990. The entrance was 2 blocks from my house, we used to get wooden rafts as kids and float around, my mom would get mad as there were underground pipes, I lost my first mountain bike in the beds. It was 1985 i think. I drank my first beer in the beds after a high school party. Later on I would get on at Ball Road and La Palma or Sunkist and ride ten speeds to the beach, about a 18 mile ride. So many good times, my day and I would fish in it way up on the north or west side I do not remember now, somewhere around the ols Kaise Permanente Hospiatl. The Santa Ana River Trail was truely my stomping ground as a child and pre teen and teen, among many other spots in Anaheim, Cal. I now live in Thomasville, Ga. Times have changed. I cannot even imagine it being concrete as stated in an earlier blog..I have toured that thing on bike and foot many times with the water and brush absolutely raging....Matt Winterbottom

  By  Anonymous, at January 21, 2008 3:56 PM  

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• In the 50s, Edinger Street did not have a bridge over the Santa Ana River, just a huge dip through the river bed. Probably the fastest we went was around 70 MPH and you could feel the negative Gs as the suspension of the car dropped out from under you as you went flying into the river bed. It's a wonder we didn't get killed, but what a thrill.

  By  Jack, at March 05, 2008 7:46 AM  

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