CORONA DEL MAR TODAY

I Know the Ferry Building — and This is No Ferry Building

A new shopping area in Costa Mesa that will be like the San Francisco Ferry Building? That’s what the local media are saying.

Here’s an article about it in OC Weekly, and here’s where I read it first, in GreersOC.

Now excuse me while I roll my eyes.

My family and I moved to Corona del Mar ten years ago from San Francisco, where we lived and worked in the city. In our day, the Ferry Building was a sad, run-down place where you caught a ferry. The farmer’s market was in a lot nearby. We never lived in the city after the Ferry Building became the renewed, cool, foodie gathering spot, which is a shame. But whenever we return to visit, we swing by to graze and shop and enjoy the view. It’s a really special place.

So it baffles me that a mall developer in Costa Mesa could think I’d be fooled by throwing some food-related shops into a space and calling it the OC version of the SF Ferry Building. It’s landlocked, there is no history — it just won’t be the same. If they were putting the shops in the Balboa Pavilion, then we could talk. But they aren’t.

Why can’t developers just say — Hey foodies, here’s the place for you! Dean & Deluca bolted from Fashion Island, but don’t fear! You’ll love this experience, we promise! Why the forced comparison to SF? I don’t want to be a hater, but why try to be something you’re not?

Is anyone besides me not buying it?