Santa Ana doesn’t come close to rivaling the concentration of advertising, marketing and graphics firms found in Irvine, but it is developing its own population of artsy types.
The revitalization of the downtown area with an emphasis on culture and arts has caught the attention of more than a dozen advertising and multimedia companies now operating there.
They say the area not only offers them brain food, with the nearby Bowers Museum and the Santa Ana Artists Village, but inexpensive rent, easy access to the freeway and a shorter commute to Los Angeles.
“Not only do we have a growth in visual arts, but it’s now spreading into the advertising industry and the post-production industry,” said John Reekstin, executive director of Santa Ana’s community development agency. “It’s very exciting.”
DGWB, which counts about 107 employees, last year was the first big ad shop to vacate its prestigious office in Irvine and move up the freeway. The partners bought the old City Hall building and converted it into a funky workspace with bright colors and an open-air design.
“(Santa Ana has an) artsy kind of scene: there’s cool old buildings, it has a real downtown feel,” said Jon Gothold, one of three partners at DGWB. “When you couple those things with the fact that it’s a bargain, then it’s like, ‘Wow, why not?’ ”
But most employees, who hadn’t spent any time in Santa Ana, balked. They wanted to know why.
“Santa Ana basically has a really, really bad rap that doesn’t match the reality,” Gothold said. “That’s a perception that was built up over the years.”
To dispel notions the area was riddled with crime, Gothold had Santa Ana city officials and the chief of police talk to employees and answer any questions. The agency even hired a security guard to watch cars in the parking lot once they moved into the Santa Ana digs.
“We did everything we could to make people feel comfortable,” Gothold said, noting that no one left as a result of the move.
DGWB is situated in downtown Santa Ana, whose core is along Second and Third streets, between Broadway and North Spurgeon Street. Within walking distance are a few boutique ad shops such as X.com, the Grand Central Art Center and the historic Santora building, home to a multitude of artists and a new ad shop called Brainsaw. Three former executives at FCB Southern California in Irvine recently opened that business in a renovated loft space.
“We think it’s a great location to pitch business all over Orange County and parts of Los Angeles and San Diego,” said Tim Fuhrman, one of Brainsaw’s three founders.
Plus, he said, the downtown revitalization has “really brought a lot of artists and creative people” to Santa Ana, which helps get “your creative juices flowing.”
“As the mornings ramp up, you can feel a sort of pulse. There’s a lot of creative energy,” Fuhrman said.
Christopher Willoughby, editor and chief operating officer at Artifact, agreed. The post-production company, headquartered in Los Angeles, this spring opened a 4,500-square-foot, full-service office in Santa Ana’s old Masonic building, home of the Santa Ana Performing Arts and Events Center. The firm chose the spot after one of its clients suggested it. Artifact does work for several OC ad shops, including Young & Rubicam and Bates USA West, both in Irvine.
“With the Artists Village and the old architecture, it seems to have more of the vibe that Venice did years ago,” Willoughby said. “It’s a real interesting town.”
But until a couple of years ago, there was a different pulse in Santa Ana: urban decay.
Several large buildings sat vacant for years, including the Santora building and the old Masonic building, which recently underwent a massive overhaul.
Graffiti and vandalism were problems, according to Dean Tanji, president of Abracadabra Presentation Graphics Inc., an eight-person shop that has been in Santa Ana for 12 years.
“When you have clients come to your office, you want a professional and business environment,” Tanji said. “The fact that Santa Ana has addressed things like graffiti and vandalism is a real benefit for small businesses like us.”
Like others, Tanji said the city has made a concerted effort to bring in high-caliber businesses and raise awareness of the creative industry, which he called a “real boon to everybody.”
Reekstin said the city will do “anything we can to accommodate our businesses” so they can “thrive and prosper in the area.”
And that has meant tending to the basics: cleanliness, maintenance of buildings, parking and security, Reekstin added.
Sometimes, he said, it takes a company like DGWB to make a substantial investment in the area and spread firsthand accounts of their experiences.
“That’s going to ensure the long-term success of the downtown,” he said.
Buzz has already been surrounding a slew of theaters and art schools in the area, including the Orange County High School of the Arts, which relocated from Los Alamitos, Cal State Fullerton’s visual art extension and graduate programs (housed at the Grand Central Art Center) and the Art Institute of Los Angeles-Orange County, which recently set up a 55,000-square foot- school and exhibition gallery on West Sunflower Avenue.
Reekstin said another major project involving the development of 86 live-work lofts in the heart of the Artists Village will soon go to the Planning Commission for approval.
David Otta, president and owner of Santa Ana-based David Otta Productions, said the new businesses and creative blood will inevitably draw more “industry people” to the area, mainly because they want to feed off each other.
And, he said, nearby communities such as Irvine offer state-of-the-art facilities for post-production, such as Stungun, formerly Orange County Post, which rents equipment to production companies.
“It’s central to everybody,” Otta said.
Just what does the future hold for Santa Ana?
A few of OC’s advertising and marketing execs have said the area, with its old architecture and eclectic artistic ambiance, has the makings for another SoHo, the popular arts district in New York City, or SoMa, it’s newer San Francisco equivalent.
They’ve also said Santa Ana, with its inexpensive rents and easy freeway access, could draw more ad types,sort of like when L.A. shops swapped their pricey Wilshire Boulevard addresses for cheaper, funkier office space in Venice or Santa Monica.
But has it attained hip status?
“I don’t know how hip it is,” Tanji said. “But that’s something to work for. The fact that Santa Ana is aware of that is a real positive step.” n
