“You want to check out this place in Santa Ana?”

My old roommate asked me this question on a random weeknight. Santa Ana? Really? During college, it was frequently joked that Santa Ana was where Irvine PD took homeless people to keep Irvine looking “suburban”. I had nothing better to do so I tagged along.

Mike told me that one of his buddies had friends that were opening up this bar/lounge in Santa Ana. My expectations were low so once I walked into The Crosby, I didn’t know what to think. It was as if I was transported to somewhere other than Orange County. There were old 80’s boom boxes on the walls. There was music playing. No DJ (yet) but really good, background music you could bob your head to. They served food and had beer and wine (no liquor license yet). I got the cheapest thing on the menu, The Starving Artist, and was pleasantly surprised when they had Chimay on tap for $6.

I knew this place was different when I took that first bite out of the sandwich. I said, “Oh shit” out loud. When I have good food, I’ll raise my eyebrows or nod my head in approval. I rarely use profanity out loud unless the food is that good. The Starving Artist is chef Aron Habinger’s take on the grilled cheese. And it was $5. We left that night and thought, “We’re coming back again.”

This was the beginning of my love for The Crosby. We kept going back and in February 2009, I moved to Santa Ana in an apartment two blocks away from The Crosby. I loved that I was walking distance from The Crosby, Memphis and other great bars and restaurants in Downtown Santa Ana. I loved to show this side of Orange County to people who thought it was nothing but suburbs and conservatives.

Around the same time, DJ Rhettmatic and planbb started their infamous Shift residency on Thursday nights. This changed everything. As if we didn’t have plenty of reasons to go, Shift on Thursdays always gave us something to do on Thursdays. My friends and I had it down to a routine. At around 8, Nino and I would walk to CVS to restock our fridge. By 9 we had our first drinks made and started getting ready. By 10, friends would come over and have a few drinks and by 11, we were walking the two blocks to The Crosby to enjoy the rest of the night. We did this for almost every Shift and for countless other Fridays and Saturdays from 2009 until Nino and I moved out in 2011.

The Crosby was more than a restaurant, bar or lounge. You could argue that it single handedly changed people’s opinions of Santa Ana. It was a huge reason why I moved to Santa Ana. It gave my friends a reason to visit and hang out in Santa Ana. I celebrated birthdays there. We celebrated New Year’s there. I reconnected with Mary there and threw her first surprise birthday there. I’ve bought many rounds of drinks for countless friends. When I think of my late 20’s and my transition into responsible adulthood, I’ll always look back and think of my time in downtown Santa Ana and The Crosby. And I’ll be happy that I was a part of it the short time it was there.

So last night, I met another well known musician while at work. Jordan, the lead singer of New Found Glory, came into the store. If you remember, in December Mark from blink-182 did some shopping at the store. If blink 182 helped introduce me to other punk bands, NFG was one of the first bands I discovered. To meet members from both bands in a normal setting (not backstage or in the parking lot at a concert) is something that I never thought I would get to do. And within the span of 3 months, I got to do both.

He came in with his family and lady friend. He was telling me that he got a blue iPod mini last week, but filled it up already. I also scolded his friend for switching him back to a PC. Apparently I was the only one who knew who he was. No one else in the store recognized him, even my coworkers carried on as usual. Anyways, to replace his mini, he got a 20GB iPod.

I finally got business cards for work. Even though we don’t work on commission, we give them to customers so they know who they talked to while in the store if they have any other questions, or just to come back when they need to get something else. Oh, and I got Jordan’s autograph. They’re handy for that too.

I found out today that two thirds of the band, blink-182, are Mac users. Today, Mark Hoppus of blink-182 came into the store. I was helping a customer and I looked up as he walked in. I instantly recognized him and extended my hand to shake his. He said, “Hi” and I said, “What’s up” and he continued into the store. After I finished with my customer, I ran into the back of the store. I needed to get this man’s autograph. I stood a couple years ago outside a Virgin store unable to get in to get their autographs. Now was my chance.

At first, I had a piece of paper with the Apple logo on it. Then, I remembered that I had my iPod. I ran into the back, grabbed my iPod, grabbed a Sharpie and I came out onto the floor. His friend was looking to buy a 12″ PowerBook. While he was asking a coworker questions, I asked kindly if he would sign my iPod. First thing he said when I pulled it out was, “Whoa, you’ve got one of the old school ones.” He signed it and I thanked him afterwards. Then, I talked to him about the band. The band just finished filming the video for their next single, “Miss You”. I also showed Mark the G5s and he told me that Tom has a 17″ PowerBook. He also took time to sign some more autographs for other customers. Meeting him and talking about our Macs and his band totally made my day. It almost makes up for Saturday. Thanks Mark. Say hi to Tom and Travis for me.