The small shop sells camping and hiking supplies, sandwiches,toiletries and groceries, but about half of the shelf space isfilled with candy, as it has been since the store first opened in1965. The store is the Ortega Country Cottage, several miles southeastof El Cariso Village - but everyone, from longtime residents toCalifornia Highway Patrol officers reporting road conditions andaccidents - calls it the “Candy Store.”
“I moved up here and now I live just two minutes fromwork.” “This store was vacant at the time and it just felt right,” Ivysaid. A clothing store manager who found her small storeswallowed up by a much larger clothing chain, Ivy knew it was timeto get out. Ortega, who had 21 children with his wife, Maria AntoniaCarrillo, died in Santa Barbara in 1798.īy the mid-1990s, Marilyn Ivy decided she’d had enough of thecorporate life. Several years later, hewas promoted to lieutenant and named commander of the Presidio atSan Diego. Ortega was creditedwith the discovery of San Francisco Bay. John writes that another author, JaneDavis Gunther, said that George Jeffries, an Orange Countysupervisor who was married to a descendant of Ortega, was the onewho insisted on the name Ortega Highway.Īt the end of his northern expedition, Sgt. John’s book, he notes that the name of the modern roadwaywas suggested by Father John O’Sullivan of the Mission at San JuanCapistrano. After setting out on a rugged inland route, Ortegarealized that it would be easier to travel on the coast and carveda trail west, a trail that became part of what is now the OrtegaHighway. Jose Francisco de Ortega, after traveling withFather Junipero Serra to San Diego to establish the Mission SanDiego de Alcala, led a scouting mission north in search ofMonterey. John’s book, “The Traveler’s Guide to theOrtega Highway,” the two-lane roadway was opened to limited trafficin May 1932 and was completed in February 1934. Planning for the new road began in 1925 and a ceremony at SanJuan Capistrano in 1929 marked the beginning of construction of the$675,000 roadway.Īccording to Ted St. Historian Tom Hudson described Sievers Canyon Road as “atortuous and dangerous road to travel and therefore littleused.”īefore those rough roads, native Californians had carved otherwandering trails through the Santa Ana Mountains. Prior to the “modern” highway, Perry Wagon Road and SieversCanyon Road brought travelers, miners and visitors up to themountains and to the San Juan Hot Springs in Orange County. After years of trying, they werefinally able to convince the bordering counties of Riverside andOrange and the state of California to build the highway through theCleveland National Forest. In the 1920s, officials in the resort community of Lake Elsinoreconsidered a link between their valley and the ocean important forthe city’s economic viability. Several trucks and motorcycles sped past, rattling the nownear-empty beer can on the patio table.
Johnson said what he likes best about the area is the closenessof the small community and the peace of living away from the cityand suburbia. “This is kindof our secret little place.” “I’m not so sure people here will like you writing anythingabout us,” Johnson said sucking on his chilled brew. Similar reasons are cited by others who’vefound their way to the community of about 250 people, about 15miles from Lake Elsinore in the Cleveland National Forest, 2,600feet above sea level. “I used to live in San Clemente, but it started getting crazydown there,” he said. His house is “yonder” hesaid, pointing into woods thick with oak and manzanita. Johnson moved to the area about a dozen years ago, aftervisiting friends in the village for years. “This is a beautiful place,” Johnson said describing the villageand surrounding forest.
When Patty’s Place finally opens, Johnson - who said he’s “thelocal artist” - greets cashier Jenny Poindexter, buys a tall BudIce, goes back to the patio, rolls a cigarette and cracks open thebeer. Many have coffee inone hand, a phone in the other, and barely look up as they flythrough the village of El Cariso.
#CURRENT TRAFFIC CONDITIONS ORTEGA HIGHWAY DRIVERS#
During morning and evening hours, drivers familiar with thehighway cruise along at or above posted speed limits - nearlybumper to bumper - whizzing by Patty’s Place, campgrounds, hikingtrails, a nudist colony and The Candy Store.
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