Author: Hearts of Costa Mesa

“I moved to Orange County from out-of-state about nine years ago. When I got here, I really was like, ‘Ugh. Where do I fit?’ In the beginning, we tried living in Newport and Irvine and I had a lot of moments of, ‘Oh my gosh! What are we doing here?’ Then we moved to Costa Mesa about four years ago and it was the first time that I was finally like, “This is home.” Of the three OC cities I’ve lived in, it was the only time I felt like I really connected with the community.

“I’ve lived in Costa Mesa since I was born. I grew up on Watson Avenue here in the Halecrest neighborhood. I attended Killybrooke Elementary and so did my kids. (I actually found a copy of my old yearbook in the PTA closet on campus.) I went to Davis back when Davis was a middle school. Then on to Costa Mesa High, so I bleed green through and through.”

“I grew up in Costa Mesa, been here 33 years. We lived on the Westside until I was three years old, then my family moved over to the Eastside near 17th Street and Irvine. It was an awesome place to grow up. I was within biking distance of all my schools: Mariners, Ensign and Harbor. I think that’s when I first discovered my love of biking and the sense of freedom a kid can get from biking around town.”

“I was born at Hoag and went to school at Kaiser, then Ensign, then Newport Harbor – so I’m definitely a local girl. Now I’m a mom and my husband and I are raising our kids here, too. It’s a great place for families because even though we have…

“When we moved to Costa Mesa from Iowa in 1977, I decided to join the local historical society. We didn’t have the museum, yet; we didn’t have an office. All we had was a storage container. Betty Beecher and I used to work in there. It was dirty – it was hot – and the sweat would be pouring down. There was no place to use the bathroom or get a drink of water. It was pretty nasty…

“One of my mantras in life is to be constantly improving things. I wake up each morning asking, ‘How can I be a better husband? A better father? A better business owner? A better neighbor?’ I challenge myself with these questions on a daily basis because optimizing is just my nature. I think it goes back to my childhood. When I was a kid my family struggled a lot…”

“My parents moved to Costa Mesa in 1949, so I guess you could say I’m a long-term resident. I live in the downtown area, just a block and a half from Triangle Square. I’ve seen Costa Mesa change a lot throughout my lifetime…

“Everyone in King Salamander has been playing music forever. We’ve played the bars, the nightclubs, the shows – all the regular kinds of stuff. But this weekend, we have the opportunity to partner with a charity doing some cool things. You know, using our music for good – to give back. The charity is this project called Music Heals and it was started by Dr. Chris Duma. He’s a big-time neurosurgeon over at Hoag Hospital.”

“I play drums in a band called ‘King Salamander’ and it’s a really fun time. When we play a show, we go ‘full lounge.’ Everyone in the band has a ‘loungey’ alter ego. Sterling Musk is the lead singer and patriarch of the group. When I get on stage, I’m Cullen Van Stouden (because my absolute-favorite beer is Guinness Stout); Cullen even has his own Instagram. Sterling really pushes the envelope. I don’t think he can sleep at night because the guy’s got all these crazy ideas swirling around his brain.”

“I love the Southern California vibe and the types of people you attract when you’re a musician in this part of the world. It doesn’t matter if I’m out performing – or teaching drums at the Music Factory – most of the people I meet through that are really creative and chill.”

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“I have three huskies. The red-and-white one is Sandy. The other red-and-white one – with one blue eye and one brown eye – is Maui. Then this is Taylor; I got her from Husky Camp, a rescue organization I work with. Taylor is a therapy dog. We’re very involved with the OCSPCA, the Orange County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. They have a program there called PAWS…”

“I was actually hired on as Operations Manager because of the variety of tasks I undertake: Orchestrated Beer Guru, Pilot-Batch Brewer, Beer-Competition Coordinator, Bottling-Line Minion… and anything else that is required of my Jack-Of-All Beers ability.”

“It’s great to work in Costa Mesa, live in Costa Mesa, commute on my bike throughout Costa Mesa. It’s actually not too often that I get outside the city limits because I bike everywhere. I’ve lived here for 6 years and try to commute to all the ‘new spots’ in Costa Mesa on my bike. So I was very excited when I heard news of a brand new brewery opening right here in town. Craft beer has always been a passion of mine, so I’d ride my bike by this ‘brewery-in-progress’ at least once a week.”

“I’m a person of action, so I really hate complacency. I may not agree with anything you say, but if you are putting your butt on the line for what you believe, I will still stand up and applaud you; because, hey, at least you’re passionate and doing something about it. But complacency? It’s no good. Here in Costa Mesa, we might not always agree – but to me, that doesn’t matter. The point is: Do you have that passion for your town? Because this city is a cool place and it’s worth fighting for.”

“I grew up thinking I was poor. I mean, I always had food and stuff – but I came from nothing, literally. Born poor, no formal education, no nothing. But none of that seemed to matter when I came to Costa Mesa. From the day I got here, I feel like Costa Mesa embraced me – and I will never forget. It’s why we give back about 5% of everything we make to the city. Costa Mesa embraces me and I embrace them back.”

“I fell in love with Costa Mesa the minute I was here. To be honest, Huntington Beach was a little too flat for me. Up here we got those ocean breezes so you don’t even need air-conditioning. I loved the diversity of Costa Mesa. I really liked the eclectic vibe. When I first got here, I started driving around the area and ‘Wow!’ South Coast Plaza was so different from the Eastside which was so different from the Westside and all that. So I knew this was where I wanted to set up shop.”

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