This Web 2.0 revolution is everywhere.  Trulia is yet another social networking site where you can make contacts all over the world.  Moreover, it has experts in hundreds of different fields listed there as authorities.  You can go to www.Trulia.com and ask a question and then get answers from one or many of the experts in that field.  It also has links to my Orange County Real Estate web site.

Naturally, my field is real estate, and specifically, South Orange County California real estate.

Go to Trulia and give it a try.

Norma, Arlan and Claudia of the

San Clemente Chamber of Commerce

Our South Orange County has some great chambers of commerce, and since we LIVE in San Clemente, we are closest to our own San Clemente Chamber of Commerce. 

It is a real joy to work closely with Norma, Claudia and Arlan, who are the associates there, as well as with Lynn Wood, the Executive Director.

Lynn Wood, Executive Director

We have put on several different wealth building & 1031 seminars in cooperation with the Chamber.  The seminars were made successful by four months of full page ads in the Chamber printed newsletter.  And of course the Chamber produces several major, major city wide events each year.

The two biggest events are the Fiesta Street Festival, this year on August 10, 2008, and the San Clemente Seafest, Sunday, October 5th, 2008.

We also advertise in the chamber site and have a big red San Clemente real estate banner at the bottom of the San Clemente Chamber of Commerce home page.

We also have a banner on the bottom of other Chamber pages.  They are:

San Clemente Chamber of Commerce information

Chamber of Commerce Contact information

Chamber Calendar of events

Latest Chamber News

 History of, and About, San Clemente, California

 Every month, well, almost every, the Chamber puts on a mixer for chamber members and guests.

Here is the schedule for the year (subject to change):

March 20–Tri-Chamber Mixer - Weseloh Honda - 33553 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano 92675

April 3–Farmers and Merchants Bank - 501 N. El Camino Real, Suite 100, San Clemente, 92672

May 1 - Pacific Coast National Bank - 905 Calle Amanecer, Suite 100, San Clemente.

June 5 - Pacific Water Solutions - 555 N. El Camino Real, #B, San Clemente

July 3 - Distinctive Coast Properties, 209 Ave Del Mar, Suite 104, San Clemente

August - Not Available

September 18 - San Juan Capistrano and Dana Point

October 2 - San Clemente Villas by the Sea -660 Camino de los Mares, San Clemente

November - Not Available

December - Not Available

These mixers are always fun and they are a great place to meet new friends and find new business partners.  I always take lots of business cards and hand them out liberally so people can go search the Orange County MLS for homes or just find realty information at my 700-page Orange County real estate   web site. 

 Prices have come down around Orange County, but prices here in coastal cities have dropped the least of all.  So if you are ready to buy (a perfect time if you have some spare cash), just contact me at 949-463-4111.  Debbie Ferrari.

Naturally, being a San Clemente-based Realtor, I am all for this move.  But we want to make sure that the Trolley becomes a reality.  And our city fathers have to approve it.

So here, below, is a letter to our San Clemente city engineer, urging our city’s support of a trolley system.

 If you would like more information, please contact the city office at Info@VillageSanClemente.com. Just copy the letter below into a Word Document page, and fill in your own info.  Then send it to the city.

Thanks for participating and supporting the Trolley plan. 

And if you’re thinking of buying a rental unit or a home as an investment or one in which to live, now that prices are lower in some areas, remember that I am a San Clemente Realtor serving all of South Orange County.

Debbie Ferrari, ePRO

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M. Akram Hindiyeh

Principal Civil Engineer

City of San Clemente

910 Calle Negocio,

San Clemente, CA 92673

Subject:     Tri-City Trolley

Dear Mr. Hindiyeh:

Please accept this letter on behalf of YOUR COMPANY/AGENCY as our “approval of support” for the Tri-City Trolley. 

The trolley will make it easy for visitors to take Metrolink to San Clemente and explore our area’s beaches, shops, restaurants, and historic areas.  (Optional: ADD A SENTENCE OR TWO ABOUT SPECIFIC BENEFITS TO YOU.

We look forward to working with the three cities, OCTA, and local businesses in support of this exciting plan, and we will continue to participate in discussions regarding local public/private funding options.  The trolley will not only boost Metrolink ridership but also encourage people to visit and stay in our area.  We are very pleased to support this proposal.

Sincerely,

NameBusiness Name:

Address:

Debbie Ferrari above San Clemente Pier and famous Fisherman’s Restaurant.

Relocating? You Can Trust These Realtor® Sites.

When my sellers or even my personal friends need to move to some of the cities shown above, I send them to the Realtors who own the above web sites.

Most people chose me in South Orange County, California because they knew that they could work closely with me in using modern Internet tools to help them buy or sell a home. Through experience, they had seen that other Realtors could be less effective and far slower than me on the Internet, the use of which could save them much time in their real estate and orange county 1031 transactions.

I, too, have kept track of agents around the country who do excellent work for clients over the Internet, and the list above gives you the best Realtors that I have found in the cities mentioned.

It you are moving to one of the above cities, you can’t go wrong with the Realtors listed for those cities. And if you are moving to one of the bigger cities in other states, be sure to check the agents I’ve chosen for each state.

If you will go to my Orange County Real Estate page you will find many references to Orange County, CA.   And be sure to search the Orange County MLS for free on my Orange County Realty site, too.

The Casa Tropicana Inn is a romantic retreat with private
balconies and stunningly relaxing tropical-theme rooms

You can’t miss the Casa Tropicana Inn when you first drive down through San Clemente to our beach and pier. We call it the “pier bowl.” because it is shaped that way and right in the center of it is the best located, friendliest Inn in South Orange County.

The Casa Tropicana stands tall like a white giant, looking out to sea across our wide beach and long pier, with the fabulous Fisherman’s Restaurant and Bar located on the land-end of the pier, just steps from the Trop’s front door.

Nearby and most convenient for guests at the Casa Tropicana are several restaurants within a few hundred feet, plus a terrific pizza place, and even a packed-to-the-rafters, mom-and-pop convenience store that stocks beer, wine deli items, chips, everything that a relaxing vacationer should have.

The lovely San Clemente pier points almost
directly at the Casa Tropicana on the shore.

Step outside Casa Tropicana Inn and onto the San Clemente Pier to enjoy a meal of fresh seafood and award-winning chowder at the always-hopping Fisherman’s Restaurant and Oyster Bar. Meanwhile, your car is safe in a gated parking garage.

Just up the hill on historic Avenida Del Mar, in the heart of the Spanish Village by the Sea, are also some of the finest dining establishments in Orange County.

Click to Enlarge Picture—Cioppino at the Fisherman’s
Restaurant on the pier

Lounge around in your recently-remodeled room, or, better yet and for the most terrific view in all of South Orange County, take it easy right on your patio.

This is a rare opportunity to walk on the pier, fish from it (buy bait just as you enter), or go take pictures there of your sweetie.

Grab some food at the little snack bar at the far end of the pier, way out over the ocean, or bring your own meal and sit in the clean ocean breeze with the swells gently surging below you.

Watch the many surfers on the waves near the pier.  Why so many surfers?  Because San Clemente, Trestles, and San Onofre Beach, just a few miles to the south, are world class surfing haunts where many world-class tournaments are held.

A lovely park overlooks the
beach near the Casa Tropicana and this is a
great place for taking Sunset Photos…or
easier, right from your balcony at the Trop.

Just across the street from the Casa Tropicana and on the land-end of the San Clemente pier, and on its south side, is one of the finest seafood restaurants in Orange County. The Fisherman’s Restaurant offers both indoor and outdoor seating above the surf.

On the north side of the pier is a terrific BAR with both indoor and outdoor seating where dozens flock nightly to watch the lovely sunsets over Santa Catalina Island in the near distance. They have HUGE shrimp cocktails as appetizers and most people hang out here for a while before walking next door to the Fisherman RESTAURANT for their dinner.

Your view from the Fisherman’s Restaurant is spectacular, either looking south along the beach to Cotton’s Point, the location of President Richard Nixon’s former “Western Whitehouse,” or out to sea, punctuated by the collosal and stately presence of the 1296-foot San Clemente pier.

As an alternate, have dinner at White Horses Restaurant…a Dining Masterpiece of a place, and its right on the street floor of the Casa Tropicana.

Minimalist casual beach ambience with hardwood floors, two-level dining, original art, and a large saltwater aquarium. Yep, White Horses (dinners only-closed Mondays) is a touch of white tablecloth class inserted into an area mostly typified by surfers, beach lovers and vacationers. For a gastronomic delight, try the Wild mushroom stroganoff

White Horses wins awards all the time. It calls itself a Pacific Restaurant with Mediterranean Inspiration. It was Voted Best New Restaurant in Orange County of 2005 and was Awarded Best Fine Dining in Orange County 2006/7 and now for 2007/8.

Be sure that your stay at the Casa Tropicana includes a sumptuous meal at both The Fisherman’s Restaurant and at White Horses, each within a minute’s walk from your room.

Take the road in front of the Casa Tropicana up the hill to the north and you’ll find DOZENS of great restaurants, pizza places, delis, and even chocolate and ice cream stores. In addition, San Clemente, along Del Mar Street and PCH, is known for its terrific shopping for the uncommon items found in boutique and antique stores.

Dozens and Dozens of shops and restaurants line San Clemente’s main street that runs from Pacific Coast Highway westswards to the Casa Tropicana at the beach.

For a look at those many shops and a description of each, visit the web site at downtown san clemente. There you will find more info about rooms at the Casa Tropicana, too.

If you are seeking South Orange County real estate, just visit my South Orange County real estate whopper web site to search the Orange County MLS for homes here and to get information about realty in South Orange County cities.

So there you have it….if you are coming to the South Orange County area to meet with me, Prudential California Realty Associate Broker, Debbie Ferrari, to view homes that you might want to buy here, THIS is the place to stay for a few days if you seek a romantic retreat from the hum drum of everyday living.

Here is how you contact the Casa Tropicana to make Reservations:

Casa Tropicana, A Boutique Beach Front Inn
Phone 949-492-1234
Reservations 800-492-1245
Fax 949-492-2423
610 Avenida Victoria, at the pier
San Clemente, CA 92672

And for more detailed information ONLINE, right NOW,

go to the Casa Tropicana Information web page.

GO STAY AT THE CASA TROPICANA…THE BEST Inn in the entire area of South Orange County, California. (Also, home of the best REAL ESTATE in the area.

Debbie Ferrari, 31 years in Real Estate

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 The Miramar Theater in North San Clemente at the end of the Pico Ave entrance to our city may be saved and not torn down after all.

But there are no guarantees.  Mark Spirrizzi, the new owner of the Miramar Theater, claims that he wants to maintain the integrity of the Miramar Theater building, but one wonders what kind of money it will take to restore the playhouse.

For years, the building has been left to rot and host graffitti.  Inside, transients and the homeless used it for shelter and a bathroom.  The inside, basically, is trashed.  How one can realize a profit from this building, after already paying $5.3 million for the location, is anyone’s guess.

Spirrizzi says he’d like to see the Miramar revert back to a movie theater, and a combination polayouse and concert hall.    He’d tear down the bowling alley and build something else in its place, and in back of it.

He’s even thinking of a second story restaurant, with perhaps outdoor balcony seating, but one wonders where he’d have patrons park and there is very little parking in that area, even though there is a very large parking lot down by the old train station platform.

He feels the Miramar Theater complex could become a south Orange County resort destination, what with the train passing close by and the nearby beach which people would already be coming to San Clemente to enjoy.  Still, aside from “art films,” which usually include nudity and about which some religious right residents might complain, a small theater like the Miramar cannot seat enough people to make it worthwhile for a big name entertainer or big first run films to show there.

Nothing has yet been submitted to the city and the Historical Society is beside itself with glee, noting that Spirrizzi SAYS he wants to preserve the Miramar.  We will wait and see, because it would seem that whatever is done with the Miramar property, it would have to be FINANCIALLY VIABLE.  And nothing that has been said so far would indicate that it would be.  However, we sincerely hope that the Miramar Theater CAN be saved and once again become a focal point in South Orange County,  CA.

Marc Spizzirri, co-owner of the San Juan Capistrano-based Family Automotive Group Inc. chain of dealerships, is the new owner.

 Visit my Orange County real estate site before you leave.

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San Clemente City Hall Expands TV Service

Click to enlarge photo

Nesa Anderson, City Planning Commissioner and Wayne Eggleston, City Councilman, take a moment away from business to clown around.

San Clemente is on TV in more ways than one.

First, you can watch San Clemente City Planning Commission meetings on Tuesday nights on Cable TV channel 30.  Then, on Wednesday nights, you can watch the City Council deliberate.

On nights where a big controversy is being discussed, such as the Railroad’s past efforts to add a second rail through town, the proposed extension of the 241 Tollway through San Clemente, the Shorecliffs fiasco over blocking views, and the occasional approval/disapproval of a favorite dining place, like In-And-Out Burgers, being approved to sit at one of our many South Orange County, San Clemente freeway exits.

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