The Anaheim GardenWalk is pulling in the touristas and La-La land teenyboppers. What’s the big deal? Another mall in OC? More conspicuous consumerist crap in Anaheim? Two hotels with a combined total of 866 hotel guestrooms and 50,000 sq ft of meeting space, plus a 400-unit timeshare property, a 14-screen movieplex - The Movie Experience 14 - which includes an IMAX, a bowling lounge - Anaheim Bowling & Entertainment Center - with a concierge, a 10,000 sq ft nightclub - Heat Ultra Lounge - which aims to bring Vegas style heat to family friendly Anaheim, and more boutiques, and more restaurants…

440,000 sq ft of retail, dining and entertainment space hidden amidst a trojan horse setting of innocently beautiful gardens and waterfalls. So what’s new? Yawn! But wait… This is the Anaheim GardenWalk we’re talking about here. Had the same package been put together anywhere else, it would brought on a rag-tag bunch of local residents, enviro-fruitcakes and anti-corporate types screaming bloody murder and waving ‘Save the Earth’ signs. But Anaheim gets a Hail Mary pass, if only because there’s nothing in Anaheim which isn’t geared towards making money off of visitors and consumption.

Anyway, here’s the low-down on OC’s new hot-spot for fashion, food and fun which is what the GardenWalk folks (www.anaheimgardenwalk.com/) are labeling themselves as.

The first phase of this project owned and executed by San Diego based Excel Realty Holdings kicked off in June 2008 with six restaurants including Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., California Pizza Kitchen, Cheesecake Factory, McCormick & Schmick’s Grille, P.F. Chang’s and Roy’s. Phase two was the bowling lounge and the movieplex. Restaurants and retail outlets include Bar Louie, Chico’s, Harley-Davidson of Anaheim, Hollister, O’Neill, Pop the Cork wine bar and Tommy Bahama.

The Heat Ultra Lounge (www.heatultraloungeoc.com/) opened late last month with over 10,000 sq ft of space capable of accomodating over 900 guests, a multi-million dollar state of the art lighting and sound system, 2 rooms, exclusive VIP sections, and an indoor smoking patio. The schedule includes DJs Steve Aoki and Graham Funke and more weekly DJs flown in from San Francisco.

The hotels and timeshare units aren’t going to be ready for some time yet, with a tentative scheduled opening date for 2010. From the looks of it, pretty sure they’re not going to be lacking guests to fill ‘em up. Anaheim already has truckloads of family friendly things to do on vacation, but its a bit lacking in urban watering holes, close as it is to Los Angeles. Let’s just say that the GardenWalk gives Anaheim a much-needed ‘urban’ extension.

Info: 321 W. Katella Avenue Anaheim CA 92802; (714) 635-7400; www.anaheimgardenwalk.com/; Photos copyrights - Anaheim GardenWalk

Posted on August 15th, 2008 by PLing
Filed under: Travel News