Saturday, February 28, 2009

Little Corona Beach, Corona Del Mar

OCThen reader, "J San" remembers Little Corona Beach in Corona Del Mar...

My family moved to Anaheim, just west of Disneyland, in 1956.

Anyone remember the Snack Shop restaurants? Great burgers and shakes. As I recall, there was one on 17th in Santa Ana, another on PCH in Corona del Mar and another somewhere in Anaheim.

One of my best memories was trips to Little Corona beach. We'd take the Sanat Ana Fwy to Newport Ave, exit on to a 2 lane road in the middle of farmland, eventually get to a little airport in the middle of nowhere (now John Wayne) and then onto MacArthur, past the Buffalo ranch, over the hill and down to PCH. Virtually nothing between the freeway and Corona del Mar.

Great times.

J San

12 comments:

  1. I sure do remember this route to PCH. It was beautiful then.

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  2. I remember the Chicken Pie Shop at Euclid and LaPalma. I have read that it is still there. Amazing that they have been able to last all these years.

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  3. I remember the Snach Shop - there was one in Orange near the circle on Chapman Ave, near the libary. My family would go on Sundays after church. We attended the large brick Methodist church near the circle. The Snack Shop had the BEST Blue Cheese/Roqfurt salad dressing!

    My mom from the mid-west became a beach bunny. She couldn't get enough sun and sand! She didn't like driving the freeways - so she would take MacArthur Blvd to Corona Del Mar. We'd drive pass the El Toro hangers - there was nothing out that way! I remember mom saying ..."the dirt will be here when we get home, let's go to the beach!" I was a lucky kid.

    I remember "knowing" that the Gilligan Island intro scene was filmed on the Balboa bay... is that true? I remember sitting on the wall watching the waves and boats

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  4. Just moved into an office in anahiem and passed 'chicken pie' a few days ago. Never heard of it before, so weird to see it mentioned here. Had no idea it had been there so long.

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  5. Remember the Snack Shop at 17th & Flower well - when that part of Santa was very up-scale. Also remember the CDM Snack Shop.

    Snack Shops morphed into Coco's and were never the same.

    /s/ 92707

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  6. Little Corona WAS the spot! I remember the summer of my Junior Year. I was at Big Corona and there was this really cute red head on the jetty. Well we ended up dating that summer. Was I ever surprised when it, just by chance, turned out to be my High School Principal's daughter. Talk about pressure (kidding)

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  7. I remember snack shops as my father worked for snack shop in the sixties, My dad worked for john mcintosh when they opened the first snack shop in hawaii back in 1958. They were a class operation, definetely the best of standards that you just dont see anymore.

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  8. My brother-in-law worked for months on an old sail board, getting it back in to sparkling new condition. For it's maiden voyage, we took it to Little corona, where I helped him carry it from the car to the water. To make a long story short, it went to the bottom in seconds, it filled with water and was so heavy we couldn't lift it out, we had to leave it. For some reason I remember the name Back Bay as the spot where it went down.

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  9. Loved the Snack Shop. My friend and I delivered the Daily Pilot on Sundays in CDM. We would meet at the Snack Shop on PCH for a huge breakfast; cost about $1.70

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  10. Little Corona Beach:
    Prickly Pear bushes on the little raod down, sweet but tart. Big waves for body surfing. Lots of tide pools and one real big one that would get nice and warm as the day wore on. sunburn. Pepper Street parking down from the Five Crowns. Simple times and great memories!

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    Replies
    1. The streets nameis Poppy.

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  11. The Snack Shop mentioned in Anaheim was, I believe actually in Fullerton. Probably a matter of blocks of difference. On 17th in Santa Ana was at 17th and Flower. As previously mentioned, this was a safe area back then.

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