When you live in the same place for 35 years like I have, you are bound to see a lot of change around you. As a kid in Tustin, I was always fascinated by the giant blimp hangars at the Tustin MCAS station. From my street at night, you could see the greenish beacon rotating on top of one of them because there really wasn’t much between us and the hangars which are over a mile away. Short history lesson: The two hangars were built in 1942 to house 12 blimps that were to patrol the Pacific coast line and spot enemy submarines. Each measuring 1072 ft long, 192 ft tall and 292 ft wide, these are still the largest clear span wooden structures in the world. The picture below shows blimps being housed in one of the hangars.
So as a kid, these buildings were very mysterious to me and I was always wanting to get up close to them rather than seeing them as you drive by on Red Hill Avenue. Well, times change. Now the base is closed and you can see them real close. You can see them from the Lowe’s parking lot!
And even closer as you drive out of the parking lot.
In 35 years I’ve seen many corn rows and orchards become strip malls and housing tracts thanks mostly to the master plan of Donald Bren and the Irvine Company. I’m glad to see that the Irvine Company has made a commitment to preserving some open space. Change is something we’ve been hearing a lot about lately with the primaries going on. And some things change for the better and some for the worse. But inevitably, things do change and in this era we live in, change occurs at a blinding pace. I’d like to say I like change and I’m progressive and all. But I will always look back fondly on the little country roads that used to go around my home before they became 6 lane boulevards around shopping centers!
