Culture Archives - OC Watchdog

With Smoky Spices and Veggies, This Roasted Veggies and Yellow Curry Pie Will Surely Win Your Heart!

You undoubtedly have memories of hurried trips to the supermarket to get a round brick of pie for Thanksgiving, if your parents were anything like mine. It usually came in one of three flavors—pecan, apple, or perhaps pumpkin—and was enclosed in an aluminum and plastic cage with a white sticker label that appeared to...

How Much Do Disneyland Resort VIP Tours Really Cost?

Did you encounter a long line at Disneyland? Leave it to the plebs to deal with it. Now you can skip past with walk-up access and head on into any popular attraction no matter how crowded the place is. This privileged experience comes as part of Disneyland Resort VIP tours’ offering, starting $2,975 for...

Interviewing Legendary Musician Dan O’Mahony

Dan O’Mahony had many roles to perform other than that of a musician from Orange County. As a songwriter, author, singer, traveler, activist, and journalist, O’Mahony had the form of resume that many artists would crave. As someone who sang for venerated hardcore music bands in Orange County, such as Shiner’s Club, O’Mahony’s lyrics...

Why Was the Anaheim Fall Festival and Halloween Parade Started?

In 1924, the Anaheim Fall Festival and Halloween Parade started as a way of responding to the mayhem at midnight from children on the so-called mischief night. The whole concept of Halloween was different around 100 years ago as compared to today. Take the opinion of the co-organizer of the event, Kevin Kidney, for...

Throwback: When OC Weekly Won LA Press Club Accolades

At the 60th SoCal Journalism Awards of the Los Angeles Press Club, Scott Moxley of OC Weekly won Best Columnist and two other awards. According to the judges in the event, Moxley Confidential was an epitome of not only good, traditional muckraking but also watchdog journalism. Scott Moxley won awards for Personality Profile and...

Standup Comic Ryan Clark From OC Preferred Passion To Profits

OC standup comic Ryan Clark’s preferred artistic expression usually involved creating something interesting out of very little under bright lighting and before a group that expected laughs. Clark is a standup comic who performed on weekends in the capacity of an Improv Shmimprov troupe member. For the uninitiated, Improv Shmimprov was a Maverick Theater...

Throwback: When ‘The Bookman’ Was Moved To A Different Location

In a key scene of Frank Capra’s movie ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’, James Stewart’s George Bailey realizes what his life looks like as he lost his identity. The guardian angel of Bailey, Henry Travers’ Clarence, rhetorically tells him that it is a strange situation and that everyone touches the lives of several other people....

Birdwell And Its Art Of Not Becoming Unpopular

The phrase ‘heritage brand’ in California’s Orange County refers to something else. There is no garment maker whose origins can be traced back to the courthouse of Louis the Great or a tailoring house with one family as its owner for centuries. SoCal has conventionally been a casual region, and almost all of Orange...

Throwback: When Marijuana Smell Landed OC Gangster In Legal Trouble

Alan Batalla imprisoned for marijuana smell

In 2017, Santa Ana Police Department officers spotted suspicious activity, which included burning marijuana’s smell, at a hotel as well as a hangout for street gangsters. One of them, Alan Batalla, ran into those police officers and got into an argument with them before acting as per their commands. As an F-Troop gang member, Batalla...

Throwback: When Poshmark App Came To OC

Nearly every person has a product in their wardrobe that they do not use any longer and that is usable to make a few extra bucks. That said, some people can find it tricky to start using marketplace applications. Fortunately, in 2019, Poshmark hosted its event ‘Posh Part Live’ in OC to give users...