Fashion Island

Known as ‘Fascist Island’ to some. I don’t shop here that much, most of the clothing stores are small boutiques that are waaaay to expensive. They used to have two great electronics/media store, but they were closed down to make way for…yup, more expensive clothing stores.

I do still go here sometimes for the bookstore, theater, and food court though.

4-28-2007. If you like shopping, this is your kind of place. If you dont, then,,,well, you get the picture.

If you like to shop, go here. Great for kids (Build a Bear anyone?)

View=amazing.

Fashional Island has every type of store, department store, and boutique you could imagine. Every time I go there I have a purpose—something specific that I’m looking for, but it never turns out that way..I always buy more. But you know what? I NEVER regret buying the impulse buys I have bought there. Fashion Island only sells quality clothes so you can be assured that the clothes that you buy there will last you a long time. I still have a few dresses that I bought in my early 20’s…they were worth every penny!!

So, in addition to the department stores and boutiques I have mentined, they do have stores for those of us who can max their credit cards on a single shopping trip (myself included). You will fing many farmiliar stored that you see in othe malls with all the same prices. Personally, I have found that you can create a good mix if you buy about half your clothes from the chain stores, and the other half from the department stores. I work at a law firm and they are always telling me how well I am dressed..(works every time)!!! It’s all about mixing and matching.

To end this Fashion Island commentary, I must comment on the Restaurant and food availaible at Fashion Island. Actually, there are no words to describe. All the food is delicious, and oftenn dine at the different restauraunts whether or not I am there to shop. Between the shopping, the food, and the ambienance…I’d give Fashion Island an A+

There is, however, the quite excellent Big Newport theatre nearby, with what is reputedly the biggest screen on the West Coast, which I believe. So go to that, if blockbuster experiences are your thing (which they aren’t always in my case but if you think I didn’t go see the LOTR films there when each came out - on opening day for each - you’re crazy).

Honestly though, I have to say - designwise and functionally - this mega-shopping mall just didn’t cut it. Impossible to navigate, and barely anything worth the price that the other nearby mega-shopping malls didn’t have better and cheaper. If one needed a car to get there, he/she would be better off going to South Coast Plaza, Niketown, or what not instead. (Politely speaking… wtf?)

It’s funny and sad that out of the 20 or so places on my list of places to visit in Orange County three are malls. I am actually considering adding the forth one – The Block in Orange.

I rarely go to Fashion Island to shop. It’s fun to browse the shirts I’ll never be hip enough to wear at Hollister or wonder at the metrosexual appeal of Express for Men (ex-Structure). There is a pet store, a couple of galleries, an Apple store, two food courts and the usual P.F.Chang’s-Cheesecake Factory duo. (There are no decent coffee shops, by the way.) Still, the best part of a trip to Fashion Island are the views: the palms, the ocean, the people.

When I say people, I mean white, female, very well put together, and usually with a small dog in tow or in a bag. They may be 20 or 70 years old, they all look exactly 39.

Oh, and there are fountains where water jumps out of the ground and makes the kids laugh and run, trying to guess which hole will spout next.