When I was stationed at El Toro many decades ago, “Irvine” was just beginning to blossom into Donald Bren’s – chairman of the Irvine Ranch Company – vision of the Mediterranean on the West Coast. The east side of I-5 was nothing but glorious groves of oranges that ran all the way to the Trabuco foothills, with a couple of chicken farms to spoil the wonderful perfume blossom fragrance if the wind shifted. The west side of the interstate was almost as pristine agriculturally. There were hundreds of acres of fields on either side of Sand Canyon – a sleepy oil and stone-covered, two-lane country road – that rotated regularly as clockwork between artichokes, pink “3-pak” tomatoes, red peppers, and asparagus.
A fabulous old country store, snugged up to the offramp from I-5, still had operational, ancient Coke chests, and there were these huge, impressive grain towers across the…
