‘Affluenza’ not really an O.C. scourge

STEVE SMITH

This column started out to be a letter to the editor of the Los

Angeles Times magazine. But I had too much to say and then it

occurred to me that I have options.

One option was to contribute to a column called “Outside the

Tent,” which appears in that paper’s Sunday opinion section. Outside

the Tent encourages a writer not employed by the Los Angeles Times

(the parent to the Daily Pilot) to sound off on something he or she

does not like about the paper. But that column is written by

invitation, and since I am not on anyone’s radar, it’s not likely

that I would be invited to write the column.

Another option was to use this space.

So here I am, inspired to write in defense of all that is Orange

County, and of Newport Beach in particular, after reading a story in

last Sunday’s Los Angeles Times Magazine titled, “Livin’ Extra Large”

written by Scott Duke Harris.

The magazine story goes on and on about what gluttonous pigs we

are down here in Orange County. You don’t have to read the story,

here it is in a nutshell: A writer borrows his mom’s Ford Escort

(true) and sets out to find what happened to the Orange County that

used to know its place in Southern California, that is, always in the

shadow of the city of Los Angeles.

And no thanks to Angels owner Arte Moreno, they still think that

we want to be like L.A.

Along the way, Harris exposes his obsession with cars,

specifically with Mercedes-Benz models, and with Newport Beach.

It’s all boring stuff you’ve read or heard before. Read the story

and you’re likely to get the impression that everyone in Orange

County is clothes- and car-obsessed (he interviewed Caren Lancona of

Newport Beach, who owns two Mercedeses).

It is one Orange County cliche after another and even includes

references to TV shows that reference the area. TV shows -- now

there’s a good source of reliable information.

Back in Newport Beach, the writer’s visit to Fletcher Jones Motor

Cars reveals a scoop: most of the people who buy cars there are

wealthy. The rest of them are wannabes who lease. Now there’s a

phenomenon unique to Newport Beach. I’m certain that it’s not that

way anywhere in Los Angeles.

Newport Beach also offered up Bob Caustin, who has done some very

good work protecting local beaches. But Caustin’s good work is cast

against the implication that all development is evil and that Orange

County is one big development in progress.

The story even spends a few words contradicting itself by pointing

out that not all of us here are rich; that “record levels of personal

debt and bankruptcies” are a “national affliction, but the

work-and-spend treadmill is particularly intense in ‘pleasure domes’

such as Orange County ... “ At least we got some acknowledgment for

working to earn our money.

Moving to Costa Mesa, there is an interview with Anton Segerstrom,

whose family had the foresight to build South Coast Plaza about 40

years ago. But Segerstrom’s quotes focus solely on the addition of

upscale shops such as Tiffany and how well the mall is doing.

It’s a pity that Harris did not mention all of the good that the

Segerstrom money has done for the community, including the Performing

Arts Center, South Coast Repertory and major contributions to the

Orange County High School of the Arts, where my kids go to school.

The good stuff, you see, doesn’t make news.

To Harris and other underachievers, wealth is evil. To them, we

should all be driving our mom’s Ford Escorts, living in apartments

and doing everything we can to make sure we don’t make a lot of

money.

I find it interesting that this magazine, which is distributed in

Orange County, routinely ignores our restaurants, beaches and other

world-class benefits. But when they finally get around to recognizing

that we’re even on the map, we get labeled as a bunch of partying

fools.

Go tell that to Linda Schulein, a Newport Beach resident who has

devoted years to assisting the homeless in Orange County through the

Orange Coast Interfaith Shelter in Costa Mesa, but who does not seek

the limelight.

Go tell that to Patti Edwards, another Newport Beach resident who

has devoted years to protecting abused and neglected children through

Childhelp USA. And go tell that to Newport Beach attorney Leigh

Steinberg. The top athlete clients represented by Steinberg have

donated more than $50 million to various charities.

It now seems that one of the prices locals will have to pay is to

receive pot shots now and then for working hard to achieve a higher

status. But that’s the price of living in paradise.

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer.

Readers may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at

(714) 966-4664 or send story ideas to [email protected].