HYATT REGENCY Orange County Hotel in Garden Grove on Harbor Boulevard (File photo).
For many years, Garden Grove lived in the virtual shadow of Anaheim and the Mouse.
If you were out of town, and someone asked you where you were from, the dialogue went a little like this:
“Where y’all from?”
“Garden Grove.”
Blank look.
“You know … near Anaheim …”
Slightly less dim look.
“Right next to Disneyland.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s right …”
Residents of The Big Strawberry have long had a bit of a … let’s call it … Excessive Humility when being compared to our neighbor north of Katella Avenue. I mean there was Disneyland, Anaheim Stadium, the California (now Los Angeles) Angels, Honda Center (and the Anaheim Ducks), etc.
But the truth is that Anaheim and Garden Grove have always been connected and rely on each other. Half the youngsters who worked as “hosts” at D-land seemed to come from Garden Grove schools. The Garden Grove Freeway made getting to the Magic Kingdom easier and faster.
The array of mid- and high-rise hotels that have been built (three more to come, fingers crossed) along Harbor Boulevard provide lodging for the throngs of people coming to OC for a trip to the Disney Resort or a gathering at the Anaheim Convention Center.
It’s the proximity of all that Anaheim-y stuff north on Harbor that helped make the Great Wolf Lodge more likely, and the “Grove District” is part of the greater “Anaheim Resort District.”
This means boatloads of tax revenue to The Big Strawberry as well as new restaurants and other goodies.
Sure, it might be nice if Anaheim’s hotels, etc. were part of the “Garden Grove Resort District.” And who knows? Maybe someday, people will say, “Anaheim … isn’t that near Garden Grove?”
