From Marketplace to Promenade: Gentrification and Place Ownership in Santa Ana

Ryan Tuong An Koyanagi California State University, Fullerton

Abstract The impact of gentrification on neighborhoods cannot be conceived of purely in terms of physical displacement. The physical displacement and exclusion of the incumbent population is accompanied and preceded by the psychic displacement and exclusion of the incumbent popu- lation. This is accomplished through a combined effort of municipal government and propertied interests rebranding space and effecting a transition in place ownership from the incumbent population to a quasi-imaginary privileged class. As this privileged class is not tied to race or ethnicity, younger and more-affluent members of the incumbent community’s racial or ethnic group are just as likely to be party to the gentrification process. This article examines the correlation between the use of the Spanish-language and Latin American aesthetics in businesses in downtown Santa Ana, California, and how these businesses resist, contribute to, or adapt to the neighborhood’s changing place identity. Key Words: genitocracy, gentrification, place identity

Introduction Due to its myriad causes and multifaceted impacts, gentrification is a hard topic to pin down—in both the popular and academic discourse. This is to say nothing of the financial and ideological interests that benefit from reducing gentrification to its isolated component parts or to a meaningless buzzword. Commonly, definitions of gentrification focus on the process of displacement of incumbent communities in low-income neighborhoods that accompany economic redevelopment (Ellen and O’Regan 2011, 89). This understanding of gentrification as primarily a process of physical dis- placement does not consider the role alienation from the landscape plays in preceding displacement.

Contrary to a view that identifies displacement as the primary negative outcome of gentrification and the affluent in-migrant as its primary agent, this article argues that it is the construction of valorized space that is the primary agent of gentrification, and that its first impact is the appropriation of place. Rather than the affluent in-migrant drawing associated amenities The California Geographer 58, © 2019 by The California Geographical Society into the neighborhood and displacing incumbent residents and businesses as a means of valorizing space. Through habitation, a structure’s use-value is through market pressures, it is a concerted effort by capital interests and extracted from its exchange-value through wear and tear, creating an invest- local government that creates affluent spaces and its attendant amenities and ment lifecycle; a structure must remain in use long enough for sufficient value programming that initiates the displacement of incumbents and attracts a to be extracted from it before demolition or extensive retrofitting becomes new class of migrant (Doucet 2009, 300; DeVerteuil 2011, 1563; Lejano and profitable. This cycle encourages the accretion of new development along González 2017, 8; Smith 1979, 81.) the outer edges of urban areas as capital aims to reap the greater potential profit from greenfield development than that possible through redevelop- This combination of capital influx and government incentives act together ment and infill. As the urban core is left largely intact through this process, to spur targeted redevelopment that changes the shape and ownership of its older structures begin to lose value through wear and tear, downward neighborhood space, which in turn results in the forceful transfer of the filtering, and deferred maintenance, while the suburbs, by virtue of their ownership of neighborhood place. In the case of Santa Ana, California, a more recent construction, remain unprofitable for redevelopment. With concerted effort to promote the interests of a privileged class of in-migrants greenfield sites further afield becoming less profitable due to their distance is visible not only in the physical structure of the city’s downtown, but also from the city center, capital returns to the inner city, whose buildings have in its character and psychosocial presentation (Lejano and González 2017). now had their value largely extracted, creating a land value valley between This change is reflected not only in visual presentation choices made by the central business district, where land retains a high value by virtue of its in-migrant businesses, but also in that of incumbent businesses, as both location, and the outer suburbs, where land retains a high value by virtue parties seek to carve out a niche in the new “Downtown Orange County.” of the exchange value of the recently built structures that rest upon it. At the individual parcel level within this land value valley, capital is drawn to The remainder of this article is organized into four sections: a literature redevelop parcels where the potential ground rent on the parcel outstrips review that expands upon the causes and impacts of gentrification; an the current structure’s ability to capitalize on that rent, and the cost of acqui- introduction to Santa Ana; an overview of the methodology of this study; sition, demolition, and redevelopment is lower than that potential ground results of the study; and concluding thoughts regarding future research. rent. This rent gap acts as the driving force attracting redevelopment capital into a neighborhood. As high value structures and amenities are built in a Literature Review and Theoretical Framework neighborhood, the potential ground rent on surrounding parcels increases A traditional view of gentrification separates the “positive” effects of gen- as well, further increasing the rent gap on these parcels and accelerating the trification (e.g., rising property values) from its “negative” effects (e.g., dis- rate of redevelopment (Smith 1979; Smith 1982). placement) (Ellen and O’Regan 2011, 89). To disassociate gentrification as an act of construction from gentrification as an act of destruction creates a Gentrification as Attraction of the Genitocrat narrative of a morally ambivalent, though natural and necessary, progression. As redevelopment attracts further redevelopment, we are left to ask: Who This, of course, ignores the fact that gentrification is an act of construction are these new structures built for? Who are these new structures built by? through destruction—the existing place and space are both demolished, and Cui bono? Introductory real estate principles assert the importance of loca- the gentrified place and space are built from the recycled wreckage of the tion, location, location; no developer would build a luxury development in incumbent community. With this in mind, this section will explore gentri- the midst of an area otherwise seen as blighted. Rent gap theory explains fication as attraction—first of capital, then of its attendant classes—followed the mechanics behind the influx of capital, but capital does not move un- by an exploration of its impacts on the surrounding community. restrained—it must contend with zoning regulations, with environmental review, with resistance from tenants and landowners. Gentrification as Attraction of Capital The influx of capital has constructed a new landscape—new physical space in Neil Smith lays out the role of capital flow in gentrification as part of his rent the gentrifying neighborhood that did not exist before (e.g., new apartments, gap theory (Smith 1979). In the late industrial era, capital flowed outward businesses, sidewalk amenities), or was locked away (e.g., loft conversions, from the central city, manifesting as mortar and stone—the physical structure reactivation of sidewalks, alleys, and rooftops). While this new space cre- of capital. Each structure acts as a deposit of capital—both as investment and 22 The California Geographer n Volume 58, 2019 Koyanagi: From Marketplace to Promenade 23 ates a new sense of place, it is just as much a prescribed sense of place that Gentrification as Psychic Exclusion justifies the creation of new space. In addition to tax abatements, favorable In a gentrifying neighborhood, an incumbent population that largely remains zoning, and publicly funded amenities, local governments and real estate in place does not remain in place. While the incumbent population may boosters put forth a unified vision of a specifically branded redevelopment persist through gentrification, the changes to the landscape and its attendant zone (Brown 2015; Gainza 2017; Masuda and Bookman 2018). This brand shift in the balance of power transfer ownership of the neighborhood’s place (often an “arts district”) creates an image of the ideal inhabitant in the capi- and inevitably change the ways in which one occupies the space. talist imaginary—whether or not this inhabitant exists, or exists in any great numbers, they are unduly privileged in the gentrifying neighborhood, as Among the territorial gains taken by the gentrifiers are third places—non- new development is meant to attract and sustain this population. This is the home non-work places that anchor a community. With each business re- “genitus” of the genitocracy laid out by Raul Lejano and Erualdo González. placed by the higher-end version of that amenity, the incumbent population In contrast to the gentry of gentrification, the genitocrat is not necessarily is increasingly alienated from their community, while the genitocratic pop- a person of higher class (e.g., the working-class artist), but often occupies ulation is increasingly integrated into theirs. The net result is the alienation a uniquely privileged position as the face of redevelopment (Lejano and of the incumbent population from their own neighborhood (Chaskin and González 2017, 8). Joseph 2013; Doucet 2009).

Contrary to views of gentrification that primarily focus on the impact of These acts of psychosocial enclosure extend beyond the private realm and new in-migrants on rising rents and changing taste, the genitocrat is not the into the public realm as well, as plazas, parks, and sidewalks are retooled to primary agent of gentrification. While a critical mass of genitocrats may, in serve the tastes and interests of the genitocracy. This may be accomplished aggregate, create enough market demand for amenities serving their pop- through the construction of a new physical space, but also through the en- ulation, more often than not, the genitocrat is a tool (or at least, unwitting forcement of genitocratic normativity, which effectively outlaws incumbent beneficiary) of gentrification and place change, rather than the impetus. use and uses of the space. Formerly innocuous activities such as barbecuing, sidewalk vending, or car repair are deemed public nuisances and are subject Gentrification as Physical Exclusion to police enforcement—while police are much more likely to respond (and While residential displacement is a core component of the gentrification respond favorably) to calls from the privileged genitocratic class (Chaskin literature, it is hard to quantify; in fact, some researchers argue for its and Joseph 2013). Through this privileged use of police and private security, general absence (Lees et al., 2008). In contrast to attempting to quantify the genitocratic class is able to assert the right of exclusion over a space and displacement, Peter Marcuse argues that gentrification creates exclusionary claim property rights to these spaces they come to inhabit. displacement pressures that prevent future working-class people from en- tering a gentrifying neighborhood due to increasing rents, while incumbent Understanding this, physical displacement is not a necessary impact of gen- working-class residents are more likely to stay put despite rising rents, due trification—though it often may occur. More importantly, the ownership of to an inability to find other housing options at a similar price point (quoted both private and public space is taken by the in-migrant genitocratic class. in Lees et al., 2008). Accompanied by a rebranding of the gentrifying neighborhood as a place for the genitocrat, the incumbent ownership of the place identity of the While residential displacement may be hard to quantify in the literature, gentrifying neighborhood is left to wither away. business displacement has been measured (Seeley 2013). In contrast to residential displacement, business displacement may have a greater impact Downtown Santa Ana: A Case Study in Changing on the place identity of the gentrifying neighborhood. Whereas the physi- Place Ownership cal displacement of incumbent residents may change who owns the space, Considering these four lenses—gentrification as attraction of capital, gentrifi- the physical displacement of incumbent businesses changes who belongs cation as attraction of the genitocrat, gentrification as physical displacement, to the place. and gentrification as psychic displacement—this article examines the causes, impacts, and goals of gentrification in Santa Ana, California. Gentrification 24 The California Geographer n Volume 58, 2019 Koyanagi: From Marketplace to Promenade 25 is initiated by a favorable landscape for capital investment and spurred by Two visual surveys of 199 street-fronting businesses in the Downtown Santa municipal and capital collusion to promote the interests of the genitocratic Ana area were conducted in November 2018 and in February 2019, including class, and the privileging of this class in the construction and maintenance a content analysis of street-facing signage, merchandise displays, and decor of space and place within the gentrifying neighborhood effect the physical of businesses, examining the correlation of Spanish language use and Latin and psychic displacement of the incumbent population. American aesthetic use according to the following criteria:

Methodology Spanish Language Use: This article primarily aims to catalogue businesses that make up the cul- Extensive or Exclusive: Signage is predominantly in Spanish tural landscape of Santa Ana as the neighborhood undergoes a process of Bilingual: Signage translates the same copy into two or more languages gentrification, using a photographic street survey of a vernacularly defined Limited: Signage is predominantly in English, though Spanish may be “Downtown Santa Ana.” As I intended to study the impact of businesses used in the business name or menu items on the visual streetscape, I used a modified version of the Santa Ana BID None: No Spanish language use boundaries. As the vernacularly defined downtown was meant to capture businesses in only the walkable core, I pared down the boundaries on each Latin American Aesthetic Use: side to exclude blocks along the edges that were primarily residential, office, Extensive: Decor includes Latin American national symbols, traditional and auto-oriented strip-mall developments (see Figure 1). As a street survey, handicrafts, famous figures, or traditional dress this article considers only street-facing signage, merchandise displays, and Limited: Decor includes references to the Latin American place identity decor at ground level as contributing to the visual cultural streetscape of without use of national symbols—includes depiction of landscapes, Downtown Santa Ana. flora, or fauna. None: No discernible Latin American aesthetic use

Spanish language use was used as a proxy for a business’s target demographic. As the Mexican-American immigrant population includes large proportions of sojourners, first-generation immigrants, and transnationals, a consid- erable proportion of this immigrant population retains Spanish-language proficiency (Camarillo 2007). As this was a visual survey, Spanish language use was determined solely through signage in each shop front for retail and service establishments, though menus were also used for restaurants when available.

Latin American aesthetic use was used in tandem with the Spanish lan- guage use to determine whether businesses catering to the incumbent Spanish-speaking population were attempting to differentiate themselves through an assertion of cultural differentiation or if Latin American aes- thetics were being appropriated to appeal to a primarily English-speaking genitocratic population.

As a supplement, each business was also coded as one of the following ten business types: Figure 1.—Map of study area in downtown Santa Ana.

26 The California Geographer n Volume 58, 2019 Koyanagi: From Marketplace to Promenade 27 Retail, Dining, and Entertainment: Since its founding in 1870 as a market town for Los Angeles’ agricultural Arts & Entertainment: Galleries and an arthouse cinema hinterland, Santa Ana has undergone several demographic transitions—oc- Food: Restaurants, bars. Includes groceries and supplement shops casionally forceful. In 1906, the local Chinatown was condemned and razed Retail: Retail establishments on spurious allegations of a leprosy outbreak. By 1910, the downtown was segregated with Main Street as the boundary between the white west and Services: the Mexican east side. While the city saw a population boom in the post-war Daily Services: Salons and barbershops, gyms, car and electronics repair, years as troops who had trained at Santa Ana Army Air Base settled in the and a laundromat area, by the 1970s, the city’s urban core was suffering from the capital and Financial Services: Banks and insurance offices demographic flight that struck most of the U.S.’s urban centers. The spaces Health Services: Medical, dental, and optometric clinics vacated by more-affluent white residents and businesses became home to a Immigrant & Transnational Services: Generally multi-service shop fronts, growing Mexican immigrant population (Harwood and Myers 2002; Lejano including some combination of the following: immigration law, pass- and Gonzalez 2017; Seeley 2013). port photography, travel agency services, money transfer and currency exchange, notary services, health and auto insurance The Latino contribution to the place identity of downtown Santa Ana Informal Financial Services: Money transfer and currency exchange shop would be valorized by the municipal government and local developers in fronts that did not offer any other service, pawn shops the 1980s, designating the Spurgeon Street paseo between eastern 4th and Professional & Legal Services: Non-multiservice law office and property 3rd Streets as the Fiesta Marketplace. With a $25 million redevelopment management and renovation project, the city aimed to assist the local Latino population’s efforts to maintain and rehabilitate the space in the wake of the capital and Other: demographic flight of the 1970s (Seeley 2013). Tattoo parlors, churches At the same time, local prominent and former planning commissioner Background Don Cribb began sowing the seeds for the Artist’s Village redevelopment Santa Ana occupies a unique place in both the physical and psychic landscape district. By 2011, the Artist’s Village had outgrown its boundaries in the of Orange County. With an overwhelming Latino majority (seventy-seven six-block section of downtown Santa Ana between Birch and Main Streets percent) and nearly half (forty-five pecent) the population foreign-born through boosterism and support from municipal government, developers, (U.S. Census Bureau 2017), Santa Ana stands in direct contravention of and property owners. In addition to its core on 2nd Street, arts-oriented the popular conception of Orange County as a redoubt of (conservative) businesses were spreading through the greater downtown, including both white suburban affluence. On these last two points, the city also stands apart the CSU Fullerton Master of Fine Arts residency program in the heart of with a population density of 12,252.49/sq. mile and a median income of the Artist’s Village, and the relocation of the Orange County High School $57,151—thirty percent lower than the county (U.S. Census Bureau 2017) of the Arts on the northern edge of the Civic Center nearby (Seeley 2013). (see Table 1). The establishment and growth of the artist and patron community attracted a new class of residents and visitors. The genitocracy had been defined. Table 1.—Santa Ana Demographics in Context

Santa Ana Orange County In the wake of the 2008 recession, the Fiesta Marketplace was rebranded as the East End Promenade. The bright pastel hues of the Fiesta Marketplace Population 334,493 3,155,816 were painted over in neutral beige tones. The carousel was removed, re- Population Density 12,252.49/sq. mi 3,949.71/sq. mi placed with a canopy of Christmas lights. Benches and public art replaced % Hispanic or Latino 77.27% 34.20% the sidewalk seating of local restaurants. The historic Yost Theatre, formerly Median Income $57,151 $81,851 a venue for Spanish-language films and performances, became a nightclub (Seeley 2013; Lejano and González 2017). As the space was restructured, Data Source: County of Orange (2018), City of Santa Ana (2019), U.S. Census Bureau (2017) 28 The California Geographer n Volume 58, 2019 Koyanagi: From Marketplace to Promenade 29 the message being sent was clear—this was no longer a place for the Latino family on a weekend shopping expedition. Whereas the Fiesta Marketplace brand name asserted an image of a (Latino) family-oriented shopping dis- trict, the East End Promenade brand name asserted an image of a place for hip young (single) adults to walk, dine, and play. The economic and cultural groundwork for gentrification had been laid in the Fiesta Marketplace; the recession reduced the barriers to redevelopment, the nearby Artist’s Village raised the potential ground rents, and public and private interests were already attempting to attract and maintain a genitocratic class. The proper conditions existed for the reconstruction of the space of the Fiesta Market- place to create the place of the East End Promenade (see Figures 2 and 3).

Within downtown Santa Ana, this study examines three semi-defined ar- eas—the East End, Artist’s Village, and Civic Center. Bounded by these three areas is the remaining stretch of Latino 4th Street—La Cuatro. Of primary interest are the two centers of gentrification—the East End at the eastern terminus of La Cuatro, and Artist’s Village along its southwestern flank. Figures 2, 3.—Selected sights from the East End: (left) multilingual signage in front Civic Center, as the county seat, hosts a large number of local and federal of the 4th Street Market, and (right) Jorge Marín’s Wings of the City installation government buildings and the attendant lunchtime restaurants that accom- beyond the traditional boundaries of the Artist’s Village. pany office districts. While this area predates 4th Street’s Latino period and generally services a different demographic than either the incumbent Latino Results and Discussion population or the genitocratic population, its location on the northwestern Table 2: Spanish Language Use by Businesses in Downtown Santa Ana corner of the commercial downtown area exerts an undeniable influence on the place identity of the surrounding area. Number of Bilingual Total Percent Bilingual or or Extensive Spanish Number of Extensive Spanish Language Use Businesses Language Use Civic Center 4 22 18.18% Artist’s Village 2 20 10.00% East End 11 44 25.00% Main Street Transect 11 23 47.83% 4th Street Transect 38 87 43.68% Study Area 84 199 42.21%

In comparison to the study area as a whole, the East End and Artist’s Village have a significantly lower proportion of Spanish-language businesses visible from the street level (see Table 2). These two sections of the neighborhood are targeted toward a different segment of the genitocratic population. The Artist’s Village makes no claim to a Latino heritage, aside from the Iberian Lola Gaspar, instead playing up its Bohemian credentials with mainstays like the Gypsy Den. Spanish language use in this area is relegated to legacy 30 The California Geographer n Volume 58, 2019 Koyanagi: From Marketplace to Promenade 31 tenant Casa Linda Furniture and Chapman University’s bilingual Centro El Mercado, La Santa, and Alta Baja are each Mexican-American businesses,1 Comunitario de Educación. Latin American aesthetics were largely absent, but they occupy a class apart from the working-class legacy businesses that aside from a small display of papel picado inside the lobby of the Neo-Spanish once made up the Fiesta Marketplace (Seeley 2013). Of the forty-eight Baroque Santora Arts Building. street-fronting businesses in the East End, only eleven are Spanish-language. Notably, a higher percentage of Spanish-language businesses in the East End Conversely, the East End plays up its Mexican heritage despite its relative also employ an extensive Latin American aesthetic. dearth of Spanish-language businesses. A large mural by English muralist Ben Eine reads “Sueños Revolucionarios” in a southwestern font, with a Comparatively, throughout the entire study area, a total of forty-eight background reminiscent of papel picado. While businesses in the area tend businesses presenting bilingualism or extensive Spanish-language use also to retain Spanish names, their signage is exclusively English, and the names did not feature any Latin American imagery use (see Tables 3 and 4). These are qualified—El Mercado Modern Cuisine, La Santa Modern Cantina, Alta businesses potentially have neither the need nor a desire to express differ- Baja Market. The naming of each business asserts a different understand- entiation from the mainstream U.S. population—in part because they are ing of their identity and role in the community. Whereas El Mercado uses themselves members of the mainstream population of the heavily Latino the term “modern” to distinguish itself from a traditional conception of a downtown Santa Ana area. In the East End, however, businesses that con- Mexican business, La Santa uses the term “modern” to assert that its focus tinue to primarily target a Spanish-speaking (and thereby non-genitocratic) on showcasing Spanish-language and bilingual musical acts as part of the population may occupy a specific niche in the new economic ecosystem. “modern” Mexican immigrant experience (see Figure 4). These can both be Their continued existence in this space legitimizes ongoing change to the taken in contrast to Alta Baja, which expresses and appeal to a multicultural place character of the East End as a multiculturalizing process. genitocracy. Table 3: Latin American Aesthetic Use among Spanish-Language Businesses

Number % Extensive Latin American Aesthetic (East End) 4 36.36% No Latin American Aesthetic (East End) 4 36.36% Extensive Latin American Aesthetic (Downtown Santa Ana) 20 23.81% No Latin American Aesthetic (Downtown Santa Ana) 48 57.14%

Figure 4.—El Mercado Modern Cuisine. Note its neighbor, a fusion shabu restaurant, and the Lime electric scooters.

32 The California Geographer n Volume 58, 2019 Koyanagi: From Marketplace to Promenade 33 Table 4: Spanish-Language Businesses in Downtown Santa Ana by Business using the Spanish-language name as a signal of authenticity. The English Type language description not only implies the translation of the dish for a new Number Spanish tongue, but, without further Spanish-language signage, also signified that Language Total % Spanish Language the language use within the restaurant favored English speakers.

Arts & Entertainment 0 10 0.00% Considering this, it is important to note that the genitocracy is not neces- Food 13 64 20.31% sarily defined by ethnic or racial lines. Many of the new, upscale Mexican Retail 30 45 66.67% restaurants in downtown Santa Ana are owned and operated by Latino chefs and business partners, but with items ranging from craft beers brewed Daily Services 11 30 36.67% in-house to a $190 plate of “tamarindo shrimp,” the core demographic is Financial Services 4 6 66.67% no longer the working-class immigrant Mexican family stopping for lunch after an afternoon of shopping. Despite this, Santa Ana’s Spanish-language Health Services 10 16 62.50% businesses continue to survive, resist, and adapt in this new landscape. One Immigrant & Transnational 8 8 100.00% Spanish-language juice and bagel shop in particular featured English menu Services items translated into Spanish, inverting the order seen in the newer, more Informal Financial Services 7 9 77.78% upscale restaurants and implying a Spanish-language clientele.

Professional & Legal Services 1 7 12.29% Spanish-language services also continue to survive in the downtown Santa Other 1 4 25.00% Ana area (see Figure 5). Spanish-language and bilingual storefronts out- numbered primarily English-language ones in all services, aside from daily Within the greater Arts, Dining, and Entertainment category, two figures stand out. Despite the place change in downtown Santa Ana, its historic character as a hub of Latino retail (primarily in bridal and quinceañera dresses) remains intact—though only in the stretches of 4th Street removed from both the Arts District to the southwest and the East End. Conversely, dining options are largely English-language. This is reflected across both Latino and non-Latino cuisines. During the process of coding, restaurants whose Spanish language use was restricted to geographical references, common knowledge words, or menu items (with item descriptions solely in English) were deemed to be Limited Spanish-usage businesses, rather than Bilingual. In these cases, the limited Spanish-language use signified a power dynamic that favored the English-speaking genitocratic population. The Spanish language itself was being used as an aesthetic choice meant to communicate the use of Latin American culture, rather than to com- municate with a Latino clientele. In these cases, the Spanish language use was taken as a sign of cultural appropriation and commodification. While the use of Spanish language item names and English item descriptions is seen as a means to introduce English speakers to traditional Hispanic and Latin American cuisine, the item description was not a translation of the Spanish-language menu item, but rather a fully English-language sales pitch Figure 5.—Spanish-language and Latin American aesthetic use by businesses in downtown Santa Ana. 34 The California Geographer n Volume 58, 2019 Koyanagi: From Marketplace to Promenade 35 services and professional and legal services. This illustrates the limits of genitocratic influence. While changes to space and place may cause psychic disruption and unmoor an incumbent population from their third places and overall sense of community ownership, an incumbent population that outlasts psychic, social, and economic displacement pressures will continue to require services that cannot be provided by a genitocratic service base. While an area may be branded to privilege a certain (potentially imaginary) class, the existing incumbent population requires services aside from enter- tainment. Whether those services are provided by external firms seeking to serve the incumbent population or by home-grown ones, these services con- tinue to shape the streetscape of downtown Santa Ana (see Figures 6 and 7).

Figures 8, 9.—Selected sights from La Cuatro. Contrast the incumbent businesses in a subdivided unit to the high-end shoe and sportswear business. Limitations Among the limitations encountered in this study were the difficulties in determining Latin American Aesthetic Use. While flags, national figures, and traditional crafts were easy to classify, traditional dress proved more complicated. Some (costumbres folklóricas) were easy to classify, while others Figures 6, 7.—Arturo Lomeli dental practice. Image on the left from Google Street (men’s western wear, quinceañera dresses) were somewhat more difficult. View (January 2018); image on the right from April 2019. Note the clientele In the end, most shops carrying Mexican men’s western wear featured more targeted by the more recent image and the impact this design has on the streetscape explicitly Mexican styles (charro, Trival boots, sombreros), while quinceañera compared to the former. shops did not clearly feature explicitly Mexican or other traditional styles. The former were coded as Extensive Latin American Aesthetic Use, while the Many of these businesses operate out of smaller units—to say nothing of latter were not counted as such unless other imagery in the store reflected services located in upstairs units, of which only those with readily visible Latin American aesthetics. In future studies, whether wares and services signage at street level were included in the study. Others, particularly mul- should be considered in a separate category from the business’s use of Latin tiservice shop fronts, are further subdivided inside each unit—potentially, American aesthetic should be reexamined. For this particular study, wares, several smaller service providers splitting a unit in order to afford the rent especially those visible from the sidewalk, were considered to have been an (see Figures 8 and 9). integral part of the streetscape.

In future studies, it would be important to develop a more defined and considered examination of what other non-national symbols would count for this category. One such symbol left out of this study that may come into use in future studies is architectural style and aesthetic, primarily the use of Latin American pastel tones. Ultimately, this was not considered for this study due to the fact that most architecture and paint decisions are made by the building owner, rather than the tenant.

36 The California Geographer n Volume 58, 2019 Koyanagi: From Marketplace to Promenade 37 The final major limitation encountered when examining Latin American Conclusion aesthetic use draws from genitocracy theory. As the class privileged by Changing demographics in downtown Santa Ana will continue to change genitocratic processes operates at the intersection of many different classes both the built environment and the social environment of the downtown in addition to ethnic group and social or economic class, the line between area. Despite their role in developing and maintaining the neighborhood “incumbent” and “gentrifier” becomes harder to determine. The heavy use of through the economically turbulent 1970s, the incumbent immigrant Latino Latin American aesthetics without an accompanying use of Spanish language population’s ownership of the place identity of the neighborhood is being does not necessarily indicate a non-Latino/non-immigrant business owner challenged on multiple fronts. While there is an effort to attract a population attempting to capitalize upon Latin American aesthetics. In several cases, different from the incumbent population—differences not wholly based on the trendiest restaurants using high levels of Latin American aesthetic and ethnicity or class—these changes to the branding of the space are not without limited Spanish use were owned and operated by second- and third-gener- impact on the incumbent community. The concerted efforts of municipal ation Latino immigrants. government and local developers to attract this incoming class privileges them above the incumbent class and enacts this transfer of place ownership. To illustrate this point, during a local BID update to the Santa Ana Commu- nity Redevelopment and Housing Commission, the Commission Chair asked This is complicated by the role that Latino business owners play in commod- what impacts gentrification was having on the local business community. The ifying the Latin American aesthetic to legitimize their claim to the space. response, from an older BID representative with a noticeable Spanish accent, Does this group have any more claim to the space than the legacy businesses was that he did not believe there was any race- or class-based gentrification of the old Fiesta Marketplace? Does this group have any more claim to the happening at all, but rather, a generational shift in taste from first generation space than non-Latino business owners? immigrants to that of second and later generations. The question, then, is not who owns an establishment, nor who profits from it, but rather, who While these questions are not easy to answer, we must consider the point that benefits from the combined governmental and capital incentives. this space was once abandoned by those with means, rescued and nursed back to health by those without, and now, once it is again profitable, the space Future Research is again taken back by those with means (Smith 1996). This reconquista of While this study aimed primarily to examine the impacts of gentrification capital creates the necessary conditions for the transfer of place ownership, through the built landscape, businesses are only one of several factors that while its attendant in-migrant genitocratic population may generate social influence an area’s place identity. Drawing from its proximity to an arts displacement pressures through their tastes, fears, and expectations for the district, downtown Santa Ana features a wide array of public art—including neighborhood. In this model, the change in neighborhood character is a works from international muralists and a series of nine bronze sculptures byproduct of the valorization of space by capital, rather than its goal. In by Mexican artist Jorge Marín. Public art speaks volumes about who claims traditional Marxist parlance, the rent gap creates the base necessary for the ownership to a space, who is represented, who is heard, and who is silenced. construction of the gentrified superstructure, which in turn fosters a place Any future study considering the shape of downtown Santa Ana’s place identity well-suited for further development. identity should take these public statements about and claims to the space into account. Regardless of who the genitocratic class is, their privileges exist only so far as the capitalist requires their presence, real or imagined, to portray the Further, as these studies seek to understand the impact that outside forces neighborhood as a space valorized and primed for value extraction. have on an incumbent population and their understanding of their home, the voices of those who live and work in downtown Santa Ana should take Acknowledgments precedence in future studies regarding forces that affect them. This article began as a group research project for Dr. Berna Torr and Dr. Zia Salim’s cross-listed Sociology and Geography course, Immigrant Orange County, at CSU Fullerton. I would like to thank my groupmates Aspen Dyer, Samah Elsayes, Cali Hildebrand, and Ozzy Ordas for their assistance 38 The California Geographer n Volume 58, 2019 Koyanagi: From Marketplace to Promenade 39 in conducting the fieldwork and organizing the original presentation of this data, which can be found in Storymap form at http://arcg.is/u5mfD. Further thanks to Jennifer Sirena for location scouting and photography assistance.

Note 1 According to business website and/or social media pages

References Camarillo, A. M. 2007. Mexico. In The new Americans: a guide to im- migration since 1965, ed. M. Waters and R. Ueda. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, Chaskin, R., and M. Joseph. 2013. ‘Positive’ gentrification, social control and the ‘right to the city’ in mixed-income communities: uses and expectations of space and place. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 37 (2):480–502. Gainza, X. 2017. Culture-led neighbourhood transformations beyond the revitalisation/gentrification dichotomy. Urban Studies 54 (4):953–70. Harwood, S., and D. Myers. 2002. The dynamics of immigration and local governance in Santa Ana: neighborhood activism, over- crowding, and land-use policy. Policy Studies Journal 30 (1):70–91. doi:10.1111/j.1541-0072.2002.tb02130.x. Lees, L., T. Slater, and E. Wyly. 2013. Gentrification. New York, NY: Taylor and Francis. Lejano, R. P., and E. R. González. 2016. Sorting through differences: the problem of planning as reimagination. Journal of Planning Education and Research 37 (1):5–17. doi:10.1177/0739456x16634167. Masuda, J. R., and S. Bookman. 2016. Neighbourhood branding and the right to the city. Progress in Human Geography 42 (2):165–182. Seeley, T. 2013. Gentrification, place, and perception in “Downtown Or- ange County.” MA dissertation, California State University, Fullerton. Smith, N. 1979. Toward a theory of gentrification a back to the city move- ment by capital, not people. Journal of the American Planning Associa- tion 45 (4):538–548. ———. 1982. Gentrification and uneven development. Economic Geogra- phy 58 (1982):139–155. ———. 1996. The New Urban Frontier: Gentrification and the Revanchist City. London: Routledge. United States Census Bureau. 2017. QuickFacts: Santa Ana City, Califor- nia.

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