South Coast Plaza

Until Tuesday morning, the rolling blackouts that had hit Orange County the previous 24 hours seemed manageable. Some businesses went dark. A school or two. Restaurants. Some intersections, some homes. There was no panic. It was nothing we couldn't handle. When the going got tough, the tough got going. Privately, some of us probably found ourselves thinking: 'Hey, this isn't so bad. I could have been a pioneer.'

South Coast Plaza continued its tradition of erecting a huge Christmas tree for the holiday season during an elaborate ceremony Monday evening in Town Center Park. But the ceremony broke with a longtime family tradition when children unrelated to South Coast Plaza founder C.J. Segerstrom lighted the evergreen.

For shoppers who are wondering when the bridge linking South Coast Plaza to the former Crystal Court will be finished, it should be ready for pedestrians in mid-August. The grand opening festivities, including a benefit gala and no doubt lots of other hoopla, will be in September. C.J.

The city's Public Library Foundation has received a $5,000 donation from South Coast Plaza, acknowledging the participation of foundation members in the reopening of Rizolli bookstore at the shopping center. The grant "will help the foundation provide critical supplemental funding to Newport Beach public libraries, needed to keep services and materials at the level of excellence the community has come to expect," said foundation President David Carmichael.

Louis Vuitton, the glitzy store that sells the company's status-symbol handbags and luggage, won top honors Thursday evening among South Coast Plaza retailers for having the highest sales per square foot of any store in Orange County's most successful shopping mall. The award was presented at a ceremony at the Westin South Coast Plaza to reward outstanding performances in 1989 among the stores and restaurants at South Coast Plaza, the Crystal Court and South Coast Plaza Village. I.

It isn't exactly the Academy Awards, but Orange County's arch rivals--South Coast Plaza and Newport Center Fashion Island--have announced their retail equivalents. Among specialty stores, overall 1986 top sales honors went to two unlikely candidates: South Coast Plaza's Polo/Ralph Lauren and Fashion Island's Irvine Ranch Farmers Market.

The store wars are heating up again at Fashion Island in Newport Beach and South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, two of Orange County's dominant shopping centers. Fashion Island hit hard in late 1996 with the opening of Orange County's first Bloomingdale's department store. South Coast Plaza, which reportedly is nearing $1 billion in annual sales, hit back with 10 new stores, including Hermes, Coach, Mikimoto, Montblanc, Rainforest Cafe and babyGap.

It's a nice idea but a little premature. At least that's how C.J. Segerstrom & Sons' chief planner describes a plan to put a monorail between John Wayne Airport and South Coast Plaza. Transportation Group Inc. of Denver is the construction company behind a half-mile monorail approved by the Board of Supervisors that would link the airport and a nearby office building. The rapid transit company was planning that monorail anyway, said Thomas J.

In an unusual marketing move expected to be closely watched by retailers, Walt Disney Travel Co. Inc. has added South Coast Plaza to the stops on its Southern California vacation packages. For years, the travel agency, a subsidiary of Walt Disney Productions, has limited its tour stops to sightseeing attractions such as Universal Studios, the San Diego Zoo, and, of course, Disneyland.

For the second straight year, South Coast Plaza has received free access to a mailing list of tens of thousands of names, compliments of South Coast Repertory Theatre and the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Those on the list will receive a brochure touting South Coast Plaza restaurants, complete with maps showing their location. South Coast Plaza is owned by the Segerstrom family, which years ago donated the land for both SCR and the Center, and which remains a large contributor to both.