Big plans that never happened

AFRICAN ELEPHANT … not on his way to Westminster (Wikipedia).

In a recent column I mused on stuff you never see around our towns: mail boxes, newspaper racks, etc. It got me to thinking about intriguing proposals that never – for better or worse – ever happened. For example:

• The Elephant Museum: In the early 80s, a group of Westminster leaders – including some from the city council – had the idea of creating a museum devoted to the giant pachyderm. It was posed as a potential tourist attraction, but never got off the ground … considering how heavy a lift one is (bad joke, I know).

• Stanton Downtown: Contrary to popular belief, Stanton once did have a central business district in the area of Highway 39 (Beach Boulevard) and Cerritos Avenue, when the area was known as Benedict. In the 1990s, a developer proposed to create a new “downtown” at Orangewood Avenue and Beach at a site called Stanton Plaza, anchored by an Alpha Beta supermarket and the small Stanton Plaza cinema. The developer pro

• Surf City’s Freeways: In the 60s and 70s, California was freeway-mad. Rising population and increasing traffic congestion led to proposals from Sacramento to add more freeways. One plan was to extend the 55 (Newport Freeway) all the way to Pacific Coast Highway so that it could link up with … wait for it .. a new Pacific Coast Freeway, formerly known as PCH.

Another plan was to build a double-decker contraption with a freeway above Beach Boulevard which would connect with the Garden Grove Freeway to the north and the new one along the coast. The storm of protest for the two was so loud that transportation officials from the state capital were nearly run out of town on a rail, so to speak.