Dealing with the darkness

Deepa Bharath and Paul Clinton

NEWPORT-MESA -- On Tuesday morning, Bruce Garlich read the newspaper,

did the crossword puzzle and went for a walk around the block.

There was nothing else to do, really. At least for an hour and 15

minutes.

Garlich and other Costa Mesa residents who live off South Coast Drive

and Fairview Road were a few of the thousands of people in Southern

California trapped between rolling blackouts Tuesday.

“Being the first-ever blackout in this city, it did come as quite a

surprise,” Garlich said. “But we’re prepared. We’ve got flashlights and

candles. We’ll survive.”

Garlich was not the only one caught off guard. Sharon Simonian was

working on her frontyard and did not even realize the power was gone till

her neighbor told her.

“I realized it was happening all over but didn’t really think it would

happen here,” she said.

Simonian said she did not feel too inconvenienced.

“It’s only an hour,” she said. “I guess we could get by.”

Simonian’s neighbor, Vicki McGuinness, said she is concerned about the

long-term implications.

“I’m worried [about whether] there’s a remedy in sight,” she said. “If

this is going to last all summer, I would be concerned.”

McGuinness also realized she did not know how to open her garage door

without the opener.

“It’s pretty scary for people with medical emergencies,” she said.

“What would they do if they need to get out but can’t get the door open?”

Merchants at Fashion Island had their own worries -- such as

shoplifting and losing business.

Center officials have advised businesses to shut their doors in case

of a blackout.

“They kind of tell you to lock up,” said Elle Caspar, sales associate

at a home goods store. “It’s safer. Nothing will get stolen.”

A children’s clothing store followed that advice Monday afternoon when

most of Fashion Island suffered an hourlong power outage.

“We closed the store down for a bit,” store manager Alina Jimenez

said. “For shoplifting, it’s harder to watch people without lights.”

The bigger stores went about their preparations diligently. Barnes &

Noble Booksellers had held a series of staff meetings to discuss how to

prepare for blackouts, assistant manager Michael O’Brien said.

When it happened Monday, the store shut down the registers and rang up

several sales the old-fashioned way -- with paper receipts, O’Brien said.

“We knew it would last an hour,” he said. “It’s just a matter of

getting through that hour.”

Several merchants said they lost customers who either walked away

thinking the store was closed or waited outside and left.

But on Costa Mesa’s Danielle Drive, the rolling blackouts have created

quite a stir, McGuinness said.

“It gives the neighbors something to talk about,” she said.