This summer, the family and I visited Wild Rivers, Irvine’s water park, on its last weekend. There had been a few years of false alarms and last-minute lease extensions, but this time we were sure it was the end; when we climbed the highest slides we could see the bulldozers off in the distance. It was a strange and somewhat melancholy time – I once attended a camp next door to Wild Rivers and spent the larger part of a summer going there daily, so it brought back a lot of memories.
The old park was showing its age, a bit – I distinctly remember the two slides I preferred back in the 80s, and they were still there, with only a handful of newer ones. The facilities looked a bit run down, the decor was questionable, and the Jacuzzis were barely warm. But, it was still a great time – the slides were pretty close to as fun now as they were back then, and the location is beautiful, a hidden enclave of rolling hills with nothing but an old water park and an amphitheater.
The thing that bothers me, though – the park and the amphitheater are both being razed to build more houses. I don’t understand the logic here – why destroy the amenities, which are the things that make someplace good to live, in order to just make more room for people to live there? Is there anything in the vision of Irvine except places to shop?
I suppose that Irvine has a great school district, the Spectrum and whatnot and probably has no fear of running out of new residents. Still, I do feel like Orange County, and Irvine in particular, have an overpowering desire to root out all things strange and eccentric, intending to replace things that are more acceptable and, well, safe.
I may be hypocritical in this – I, too, want Orange County to be safe… I have a little one of my own now, and the desire for her to grow up safe and with a good education keeps me here. But, still, I have to wonder – will I recognize this place in ten years? I have already seen suburbia crowd out Huntington Beach and start to encroach on Tustin… Does it stop somewhere?
David N. Scott also reviews awesome things that are not closed over on Our Kind of Stuff.
