Old Town Orange: My Kind of Town

I tried to find a photo that would show you why I love Old Town Orange - depicting the small town charm, the friendly shopkeepers and the aura of community cocooning the whole area, but I couldn't find any.  Old Town Circle is the hub of our city, with a small park at the center where people sit, walk through or even protest.  My husband and I come down for coffee at Starbucks, pancakes from Watson's, crab cakes from Cafe Lucca or cupcakes from The Perfect Circle Cupcakery.  Chapman University is walking distance from it and there is a Wells Fargo at the center of town.  It's a bustling little place with buildings from the old days, with exquisite architectural details.

The main attractions are the beautiful antique shops where you can browse to your hearts content and find lovely trinkets or quality furniture for your home.  My husband and I have this project, I cannot tell you what it is yet as we are just in the beginning phase of implementation.  We needed to find intricately designed candelabras, chandeliers or centerpieces and we decided to visit our local shops.  We only made it through 2 of them and my budget for the project this month was all gone!  But we found amazing pieces - they are going to be so beautiful when we finish with them.

I met three very helpful shopkeepers.  Two gave me a great deal on the antiques I found and the third was kind enough to give me information about a glass fusion & blowing class I was interested in - even if I did not purchase any of her glass art or sign up for her watercolor art classes.  This is truly "Main Street USA," the mom and pop stores - the unhurried, laid back small town atmosphere that I would not trade for anything.  If given the chance I would set up shop in Old Town Orange, maybe when I retire or when our business gets off the ground.

It's a beautiful old town filled with young and young-at-heart residents that stroll down the streets and browse through the shops.  It has captured my heart, it is my piece of America - it is my home town.  I hope you can see it for yourself one day.  Happy journeys, my friends!