City Blvd West, Orange

I have worked at, visited and worked near The Block at Orange and feel like it is a tad overrated for what you can find here. As a mall, it doesn’t have anything extraordinary about it that makes it stand out in my mind. When it initially opened over 10 years ago and while I was working at one of the retail shops here one of its major appeals was that it was an outdoor mall which everyone seemed to love since there wasn’t too many of those at the time. It was a great hit during the hot summer and spring nights and still is since it has a major movie theatre and restaurants that doubl as bar hangouts like, Tu Tu Tango’s, Dave & Busters, El Torito and F.R.I.D.A.Y’S as well as a Van’s skate park that draws in a lot of youngsters. Being outdoors also meant slow winters though during the cold and rainy seasons which still remains true. With a lot of appeal also comes a lot of traffic and horrible parking accommodations which since its opening has not gotten any better to me on weekend nights. You have to come prepared with the mentality that there will be a LOT of young drivers, impatient drivers and too many cars with too few spaces to just arrive and park in under 10 minutes.