I had visions of hordes of Long Beach ocean-view apartment inhabitants spilling out onto the beach this past Saturday for the monthly (second Saturdays) half-hour "Clean Alamitos Beach" event. After all, if you run here, ride your bike here, walk your dog here, bring your kids here, stroll here, play volleyball here, make-out here, surely you'd take a little time to pick up a few of the million pieces of plastic or styrofoam that lurk visibly in every direction on this little beach.

I was met by a smaller but ardent group of regulars and newcomers.

Last week, I came home to this:

And this week:

No, really. My drag queen ditched me for a doctorate student and UCI housing. That schmo. I'll miss you, Christian! Hello, Anaheim.

Laguna Beach Mayor Toni Iseman was on hand Saturday for the ceremonial lighting of the Sawdust ArtisTree to kick off the 17th Annual Winter Fantasy at the Sawdust Art Festival.

The younger sibling to the "Best of OC"-winning summer fest (check out pics here), Winter Fantasy features 170 artists peddling hand made jewelry, crafts, fine art, photography, and more. Keeping in the pro-arts spirit of Sawdust, hands on demonstrations of glass blowing, ceramic throwing and painting as well as face painting and crafts for the kids mean visitors not wanting to shop can just come and hang out.

Weekends through December 9th. Click the image for more photos from Saturday's event.

Click the photo for more singed scenes along Santiago Canyon Road.

Photographer Christopher Victorio hung out at Angel Stadium yesterday evening to snap pix of rabid fans and former Angels. Click the photo to see them. His notes on the event:

"Last night was pretty cool. Total access for the entire stadium! It was like a boyhood dream, but I was disappointed that the team was not there and that I couldn't get an autograph without running the risk of being blacklisted.

The Register reports that some 15,000-20,000 fans showed up. Hearing the roar they made from the field level was deafening! The whole thing was a trip, but it sort of flat-lined after the former Angels spoke.

In other news, The English Beat was great! They did their hits. But the USC marching band was a disappointment. It was a partial squad and I'm pretty sure it was just freshmen and sophomores on the green. Perhaps the upperclassmen got a break since they did play in Seattle this past weekend.

After the former players spoke, they did a highlight reel of the season. Then, fireworks. Ooh, Fireworks! Great for the kids, but not for me, unless choreographed by the National Philharmonic."

Gah. Victorio's a tough guy to please. But thanks for the pictures, dude.

OMFG. Britney f'n Spears graced our fair county, dropping in on a fashion show at Sutra Lounge in Costa Mesa last night.

Check out the TMZ video here.

One would think sitting at an Anaheim Wal-Mart and signing copies of The Condemned would be a career low for former WWE champ Stone Cold Steve Austin. But the line winding through the store aisles and the chaos that was the Wal-Mart parking lot yesterday evening indicate otherwise. A friend and I had stepped in to check out the Halloween decor - completely spacing LYT's post about the event - and were scratching our heads at the some-thousand people there. Then we saw the man and everything made sense.

More pix behind the cut.

"Blondie Clocks!!! Come ON Blondie! Kill! Kill!" yells the huge gent on the folding seat behind me at the Anaheim Hockey Club.

Then, "Kill! Kill! Take your top off!"

Blondie, the OC Roller Girls' lead jammer, grins and waves at her white trash fanbase before taking off and knocking a chick twice her size aside. At the end of the night, OC would fall to Sac City, but it was still good fun.

Click the photo for more shots from last night's bout.

It's 6 p.m. Thursday when a bell tolls outside the Fullerton Museum Center.

Inside, Aimee Aul is leaning against the front counter, dressed in black from the neck down. Aul, museum educator and ghost mistress, is waiting for the evening's batch of ghost hunters to come through the center's double doors.

Minutes later, a group of about 15 gathers around the little lady, most wearing running shoes and some clutching water bottles. The tour's a great chance to learn Fullerton history "through a ghostly lens," says Aul, switching on a pedometer. Flats are a must for the two-and-a-half hour walk through the downtown area.

Looking down at my three-inch boots, I know I'm in trouble. But it's a little late to dash to the car for some flip flops.

"Let's go find some ghosts," says Aul before charging out the door.

Click here for ghost stories and photos from the trip.

Yesterday, the much masturbated-about Stanley Cup sat at Anaheim City Hall for a good three hours. OC resident and photographer Christopher Victorio stopped by for a snapshot, but says security was pretty anal:

"After countless millions of dollars given by local professional sports teams, the City of Anaheim gives Ducks fans 10 seconds with the Stanley Cup before asked to move aside. Seriously, that's how I felt. It was a turnstile. I didn't even have time to get my flash out," he writes.

Victorio reckons he would have gotten more interesting shots if he showed up in a Kings jersey.

This is Gary Boatwright, 55, with one of the signs he says he's showed a flabbergasted Santa Ana city council. He's taken to standing outside our building here on Main Street and flashing a series of papers, some of which call the cops "fascist jackholes."

Boatwright's been battling OC cops since last year when they impounded his car after finding him with an expired license. Since then, he's been convicted for misdemeanors like obstructing businesses and intimidating customers. Boatwright says he never got his car back and has been homeless from that point on (the guy was living in said car).

Read his side of the story over here.

Photos of Boatwright insulting the cops in three languages behind le cut:

Did you get your prison boots dirty?

Spotted on: Civic Center Drive in Santa Ana

Seen on a sidewalk on Santa Ana Ave. in Santa Ana:

The family that wears eyeshadow together, stays together. Click the image for more photos of goths at the Magic Kingdom:

Oh, and read the related LA Weekly article.

We like our 17th Street parking lot.

But some folks seem to like it a lot more than we do:

At yesterday's Sawdust Art Festival excursion, they were nice enough to let me enter the glass-blowing cage as Laguna Beach artist Nicole McQuaid put her mad blowing skills on display. Between the face-melting heat from the open furnace and dodging McQuaid's searing-hot iron rod, I got some photos in.

Check them out by clicking the image below.

Alas, the piece she was working on met a sad ending. But it was pretty while it lasted.

Finally got around to visiting the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach this afternoon. And boy, was there sawdust. And some 200 local artists in close quarters with all that sawdust. Click the photo for naked people made of wire, birdhouses christened by real birds, hand-soiling pottery, colorful 'shrooms and more:

The festival ends on Sept. 2.

I once did a photo series called "Asleep in Los Angeles," featuring locals asleep all over the place: on the Metro, by the public library, on cardboard, grass, abandoned couches...gosh darn, those Angelenos sure like to sleep.

Anyway, here's what could be the first installment of the Orange County edition. I stumbled upon this dude resting by the crashing waves of Main Beach in Laguna. He's going to have a weird belly tan when he wakes up...maybe some sand down his crack. Let's not ponder this further.

Pay $2,500 for a water pipe?! Are you high? Our sister paper, the Phoenix New Times, has a nifty slide show up on bong birth and some pretty pricey pipes. Click the photo for all that:

Ah, Santa Ana nightlife. Click the image for vamps, hipsters, spinners and more:

I was running across a parking lot at the OC Fair this afternoon when I spotted the sticker pictured here on a parked Ford SUV.

That's probably the cutest version of the "family in car" mass fad sticker I've seen yet. It's usually the semi-sexist girls-in-skirts and guys-as-people family portrait I spy on the highway.

Or the tacky everyone-in-Mickey-hats sticker ironically seen on another vehicle a few cars down.

This shot's courtesy of copy dynamo Patty Marsters, who sits next to me at Weekly headquarters. Apparently suffering has an upside...of...some sort...

Got an OC pic that makes a statement?

Send it to jkahn@ocweekly.com and we'll stick it up here - and add a link to your site, if you've got one.

Now, who can guess what sort of place this Fountain Valley establishment is?

Answer: Very good, kids. It was indeed a tutorial center...oddly enough.