THE INTERIOR OF Rodeo 39 in Stanton features a sleek, modern look at 27 eateries, bars and services (Orange County Tribune photos).

Food halls are one of the hottest trends in dining out today – when we are able to dine out, anyway – and one of the warmest new local developments is Rodeo 39, which is holding a soft opening this week.

It’s located in the new center on the west side of Beach Boulevard, just north of Garden Grove Boulevard in Stanton. It is a gleaming, gorgeous new facility – prettier on the inside than the outside – featuring striking modern design, attractive common areas inside and outside (behind the main building) and over two dozen eateries, bars and services.

You can get a wide variety of foods from Steel Pan Pizza to Beleaf (no beef) Burgers. Much of the selection tends toward the young foodie fare with a heavy lean on Asian fusion, but there’s something for everybody.

You can also get a tattoo, pick up some flowers and play some video games.

RODEO 39 is a new food hall on Beach Boulevard in Stanton.

It’s really quite impressive and will be even more so when it fully opens. Our only complaint is that hours of operation aren’t posted and so you walk up to an eatery and the employees there tell you to come back in two hours. How much effort does it take to scribble a sign and tape it to the counter?

Other than that, Rodeo 39 looks like The Next Big Thing in West Orange County’s lineup of destination places to eat, drink and relax. We haven’t sampled any of the fare yet, but will return to do so when it’s going full blast.

In the meantime, it looks like another sign that Stanton is shaking off a lot of its old image and starting a new era.

Persistence pays off … eventually

One of the longest-standing irritants in Garden Grove was the so-called “rusty skeleton” on Garden Grove Boulevard, just west of Brookhurst Street.

GARDEN BROOK Village under construction, looking from Brookhurst.

Originally named the Galleria, the project began in 2004 and once the street frame was up, it stalled and remained a multi-story eyesore until construction – under new owners – began early this year. If you drive by now, you will see considerable progress being made and the announced completion time of early 2021 doesn’t seem far-fetched at all.

Now called Garden Grove Senior Village, the development will feature retail on the ground floor and housing for senior citizens seven stories above.

A lot of pessimistic people – many of them on social media – predicted it would never be completed, or – if it did – it would be some kind of flophouse for homeless and the illegal.

There are always some folks who gain pleasure from predicting the worst. We hope this happy turn, tardy as it is, can restore some hope in the virtue of staying the course.

Hey, we’re open, too! Over here!

Coronavirus has been a pain in the seat, especially in the seats in a movie theater. But to our surprise, the biggest local movie complex – Regal Cinema 16 in The Promenade in Garden Grove – has actually been open for two weeks, an employee told us.

It’s operating at 25 percent capacity and is being cleaned meticulously.  If Orange County gets to move up to the “orange” tier, it will expand to 50 percent. We look forward to getting back in our spotless theater chairs very soon.

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