The new Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge ride, Rise of the Resistance, made its debut over the weekend, largely to rave reviews (see our front-page story). While the attraction is bound to add another dash of excitement for most Disney fans, new development opening in or near Disneyland still brings up some other feelings for Harry Rinker.
The 98-year-old (and soon to be 99) real estate icon moved to OC in the 1950s; from 1953 until 1960, his company built thousands of homes and several shopping centers in what are now Garden Grove, Anaheim, Stanton and Buena Park.
But there’s one property that got away, the head of Rinker Co. said last week, in a response to our Jan. 6 Leader Board book excerpt on how Walt Disney picked Anaheim for his theme park, which opened in 1955.
Rinker’s firm once owned “an attractive site” at the corner of Katella Avenue and Harbor Boulevard, but opted to sell in the late 1950s, he noted in a letter.
Now, when he drives by the 10-acre site “and observes all the 5 and 10 story buildings” that have been built down the street from Disneyland, “I recognize that was the greatest mistake that I have ever made in my life failing to retain that property,” said Rinker, whose name adorns Chapman’s Harry and Diane Rinker Health Science campus in Irvine.
You’ll read more about Rinker and his recollections of North OC’s development in a forthcoming Leader Board.
Michael Colglazier, former head of Disneyland, now runs international operations for Disney’s Theme Park division.
He still lives in OC and keep ties to the area’s business community, our Richard Reisman notes, through his role as chairman of the UCI Chief Executive Roundtable.
Last week, while the new Star Wars attraction was prepping to open, Colglazier was part of a Roundtable get-together; the group was treated to a behind-the-scenes tour of the Pacific Symphony and a rehearsal. No word on whether the symphony played any John Williams music.
Along with the Disney recollections, the Jan. 6 Business Journal edition also included our Businesspeople of the Year winners; there’s been a few updates for a few of those seven already.
BPOY Winner Augie Nieto will serve as honorary starter for the 2020 Surf City Marathon taking place Feb. 2; he’ll also be a participant in the 5K.
In addition, members of Newport Beach-based UFC Gym across the country are aiming to raise more than $250,000 during the post-New Year’s resolution period fitness surge in support of Augie’s Quest to Cure ALS.
The fundraiser runs through Feb. 8; the launch was marked with an appearance by Augie and his wife, Lynne, at a UFC Gym location in Torrance.
Another BPOY winner, City of Hope’s Annette Walker, will be taking the wraps off the group’s first OC location in Newport Beach this week, and on April 30 she’ll be the keynote speaker at our Women in Business event at Hotel Irvine.
United Capital’s Joe Duran, meanwhile, will be speaking at our Excellence in Entrepreneurship event on March 19 (he was a winner last year), and Murray Rudin will once again emcee our CFO Award event this Thursday night.
CFOs from two of our BPOY-winning companies, Chipotle Mexican Grill’s Jack Hartung and Allied Universal’s Drew Vollero, are among the nearly 70 nominees expected to attend the Jan. 30 event.
