Irvine Spectrum Center
July 2023
At the confluence of the 5 and 405 Freeways in Orange County, California, are acres of land devoted to Food, Shopping, and Entertainment. This open air oasis is called Spectrum and I have been coming here since 1997.
This used to be my go to place for meeting up with friends, catching a USC College Football Game at a bar, or just aimless strolling around. It boasted the biggest movie theatre in Western United States, namely the Edwards Theatre with its magnificent 21 screens, back in the day. Well, the name Edwards is gone but the Regal 21 still stands there.
So many places where I used to hang out with friends are no longer there but I still love coming here. I reminisce places like the Champs Bar, Oasis Food Court, Sloppy Joe's bar, Fox Sports Grill (with a hidden cigar lounge up top), Nara Nara Hookah Lounge, and our weekly watering hole called the Rock Bottom Grill.
The magic of this place comes to life as the sun goes down. The vibrant colors of shops and restaurants, Palm-lined streets, Moroccan and Andalusian architecture, murmur of gentle fountains, chit-chatter of families strolling, offer a delightful symphony of sights and sounds.
It is a great place, even if you just want to swing by for a walk and do some people watching. Over the years, it has become a very busy place. With over 2300 parking spots, you may need to hunt on the busy weekends.
I wanted to offer an unusual glimpse of this place during my last visit to So Cal in July 2023. I came here on a Tue morning in late July to take some shots on medium format film. I got here around 7:30 in the morning to capture a look of this place when people are not here. But I got stopped by security three times. Apparently my big medium format Pentax 645N camera was a bit intimidating for them. They wanted to know if I was doing a commercial shoot. After explaining that it was just a film camera and I was shooting for myself, I was allowed to roam around and take my shots as the cleaning crew worked the area.
I hope you will enjoy these images and the beautiful colors of the Lomography 400 film.
