Westside in a new light

Deirdre Newman

Cars may be whizzing by with modern horsepower, but a section of 19th

Street is taking a step back to the past with the addition of

“nostalgic” streetlights.

Fifty-three of these lights will be installed on the main artery

of the Westside, between Park Avenue to about 150 feet west of Placentia Avenue. The first ones were put up March 6.

The decision to add the lights evolved from the process of

undergrounding utilities, said Bill Morris, Costa Mesa’s public

services director. A grant the city received to rehabilitate the

pavement on 19th Street and Placentia Avenue funds the light project.

Residents in the southern portion of the city say the new lights

add a flavor to the area that is more in tune with its character.

“I think they’ll provide plenty of light, and the idea is to get

rid of those ugly cobra lamps,” Tom Egan said. “They might belong on

a freeway, but not in southtown. We’re more -- funky.”

The lights feature a light-brown base with anti-graffiti coating

and creme-colored heads supporting two rotund lamps.

When the city received a $1.2-million grant to rehabilitate the

pavement, officials decided to underground the utilities first,

Morris said. That process allowed officials to examine the

streetlight layout. The council ultimately decided to go with

decorative lights.

The council favored the streetlights to make the street more cozy

and personal, Councilwoman Libby Cowan said.

“I think it can begin to create a community feeling, as opposed to

a big business street, sort of cold area, and this will help to tie

in with that whole redevelopment corridor,” Cowan said.

As part of the street reconstruction plans, city officials are

also considering sprucing up the intersections of Pomona Avenue and

Placentia at 19th Street; invigorating the sidewalks to make them

look new again; and installing some median islands, Morris said.

While the lights will be installed within the next two weeks, they

won’t be illuminated until the undergrounding is finished, which

should be around late summer or early fall, Morris said.

Councilman Allan Mansoor, an advocate for improving the Westside,

said he hadn’t seen the new streetlights yet, but said he feels

“they’re one of many things that needs to be done [in the area].”

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa and may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.