Ups to Irvine; OC Forum Update

Fred Chaney suggested that the crowd at the Irvine Barclay Theatre for the May 20 celebration of Chuck Martin’s life might have been “the greatest collection of brains and entrepreneurial doers this state has seen in some time”—a point worthy of consideration. No surprise, in any case, that the collection was in Irvine, a city where a habit of punching above its weight as a center of business recently led to some ink from the Wall Street Journal in the form of a front-page story titled “The Quants Run Wall Street Now.” The piece highlighted TGS Management Co., which keeps its HQ in a low-profile office just off Barranca Parkway. Then it provided some historical context for the rise of quantitative analysis, citing a report in 1974 about Ed Thorp—aka “King of the Quants,” who came to OC as a professor at UC Irvine—as the first to shed light on a discipline that now accounts for more than a quarter of all U.S. stock trades by investors … Irvine is getting more interesting as a center of the arts, too. The recent opening of M. Reza Abrishamchian’s King & Silk Gallery—tucked away in a cookie-cutter office park in the Spectrum—brought to light some compelling pieces from a range of artists, with a decidedly Persian prevalence reflecting a significant immigrant community in the city … RIP and Mission Accomplished to Stu Saffer, the founder of Stu News Laguna, who died last week but leaves a legacy of “making this town a little smaller,” according to co-owner and publisher Shaena Stabler … Much to appreciate at last week’s ribbon-cutting at Goodwill of Orange County’s renamed Greenberg Gross Career Center in Santa Ana, which will bolster its capacity, thanks to $500,000 from Alan Greenberg and Wayne Gross, founders of the law firm (see story, page 4). One under-the-radar aspect came to light during a tour graciously guided by Goodwill Senior Director of Human Resources Jose Perez: Anyone trying to get themselves over some of life’s barriers and into a job can obtain an email address through the center—a simple-yet-essential service in today’s marketplace … Anyone who wants to see a small retailer work through the barriers presented by big-box competitors should check out Santa Ana Industrial Hardware at 2130 S. Main St. First component of the strategy: Make small an advantage—which means you won’t need to call Uber to get from the hand tools to the WD-40 … Here’s a first look at Orange County Forum’s new logo, part of a makeover in the works under the direction of President Owen Holmes and the board of the 27-year-old public affairs outfit, which has timely luncheon programs set up through the summer, including the very popular annual housing outlook in July, an overview of Angels baseball in August, and higher education in September. And there’s a new website with plenty more info at orangecountyforum.org … Sullivan Says: Kudos to Rick Reiff, who’s on his 65th birthday and 500th Inside OC/SoCal Insider show—30 years after he won a Pulitzer Prize, and 20 years after he invented this column.