Chunk visits ATEP

(Listen to Park Ranger Bob on the Frank Peters Show)
After class today, I shot on over to Redhill Avenue, in Tustin, and, at Warner Ave., I entered the enormous property that once was the Tustin Marine Corps Air Station. The facility and its two famous hangers came into existence in 1942 as the Santa Ana Naval Air Station, home to blimps that patrolled the coastline for Japanese submarines. When the base was turned over to the Marines in 1951, it was named the Marine Corps Air Facility, Santa Ana.

The Marines, the Navy, and the feds no longer have any presence on the property, and they have no claim to it--unless, of course, we fail to be in full-development mode by 2009. We own this 68-acre lot, but we must "use it or lose it." Potentially, if we drop the developmental ball, the lot could revert to the Navy, which would be only too glad to acquire so valuable a piece of property.

These days, the "base" is guarded by rent-a-cops hired by the city, who write down the name and license plate of each visitor. No doubt the info is sent immediately to Karl Rove. Or Karl Karcher. (For a cool map of the entire planned development, see Tustin Legacy Master Plan.)

I said hello to the guard, who gave me directions. I swung my car over to the left and headed for my destination--ATEP, the SOCCCD's third campus. I love old, historic places, and surely this counts. I was happy to soon come across an old chapel that, I've learned, is likely to be restored to its 1942 splendor by a local veterans organization. Surrounded by abandoned apartment buildings that have seen better days--they'll be razed--the chapel still looks impressive from some angles.


I spotted an old exercise area nearby:

It's always a little sad and creepy to see abandoned places and things.

Mostly, the old Marine base property is empty space, although there are signs that much is under construction and more is coming. Eventually, the property will include an impressive park, snaking through its middle.

Provost Kopecky and his two assistants now occupy a nice office space in a building--formerly barracks--owned by the Orange County Rescue Mission. (The OCRM owns six acres adjacent to ATEP.) ATEP uses this space and, in exchange, the rescue mission uses a nearby parking lot on ATEP property.

You should go to ATEP's website. There, you'll find loads of useful information, plus some artist renderings of how the complex may look some day:

Check out the drawing on top--the guy on the sidewalk. Wait a minute! Isn't that Park Ranger Bob!?

I blew up that part of the painting to get a closer look. Here's what I got:

Why, it's KEANU REEVES! Hmmm, for years now, the Reb has been telling me that there's a picture of "Keanu" in Glenn Roquemore's office. That made no sense. And now this. I'm confused.

Anyway, I walked inside the ATEP office and met the people there, including Tere Fluegeman, ATEP's Director of Public Information & Marketing. She was kind enough to take me on a brief tour.

THE TOUR

First, we visited the site of classrooms now under construction. It looks like the foundations are about to be poured. Yesterday, the building parts--they'll be bolted onto the concrete--started arriving. So things are hoppin'.

Next, she took me to an impressive helicopter hanger, which will be an important part of the ATEP complex. The outside wall still sports Marine parking space markings, including one for a certain Sergeant Major with an apparent deformity of the hand.


Tere took me inside, where we encountered a small film crew--the ATEP grounds are often rented for filming.

Somebody told me that, recently, there was an Emeritus film crew on the grounds.

"Emeritus?"

"Yup."

"Old people, making a film?"

"Yeah. They looked pretty young though. Maybe they were wearin' disguises."

Tere explained that there were at least two owls living inside the hanger. She pointed to a spot fifty feet above my head: a nest. Then she pointed to spots on the floor: owl crap stains.

"Owls, eh? What do they eat in here? Mice? It doesn't look like there's too many mice in here! The place is squeaky clean!"

"Dunno. We leave the doors open sometimes. Maybe they fly out."

Tere told me a quick owl crap story, which was pretty good, and then we moved on.

Essentially, that was the end of my tour.

CHUNK SANS TOUR GUIDE:

Well, I’m a standing on a corner
In Winslow, Arizona
And such a fine sight to see
It’s a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford
Slowin’ down to take a look at me
Come on, baby, don’t say maybe
I gotta know if your sweet love is
Gonna save me (Take It Easy)

I thanked Tere and then I headed out on my own. When Tere told me that the military have zero presence at the base, I felt relieved, 'cause I was hoping to drive around taking some snaps, and I know what paranoid knuckleheads the military can be. (I recall that time I was checkin' out a missile silo in central Montana....) So off I went to take snaps.

I started to take a picture of an old building, which happened to have a truck in its parking lot. The truck suddenly roared to life and sped toward me. It stopped and then the driver demanded to know what I was doing.

"Takin' a picture."

In response, he said something, I don't know what. He seemed pissed. If he were a bird, his feathers would be all puffed out. In fact, I do believe that he did have feathers and they were in Full Fluff. Testosterone was in the air.

Finally, he said, "Are you taking a picture of me, or are you taking a picture of the building!"

"The building, dude."

He roared off. He was (I think) driving an Irvine Ranch Water District truck.

Later, I was in an entirely different part of the base, taking pictures of the blimp hangers. Suddenly, another IRWD truck swung by and slowed down to look me over. I think the driver was getting my license plate number. I motioned absurdly to my back plates as if to help him to read the numbers better. He sped off.

Ten minutes later, this happened again. I felt as though I was in a scene from Parallax View.

Then I remembered. The Irvine Ranch Water District is powerful. It spends even more money than the SOCCCD! We're talkin' hundreds of millions! I think these bastards think they own the city!

But isn't the base in Tustin? Whatever.