That’s how professional snowboarder turned restaurateur Jordan Small, 31 years of age, described opening day of his first brick-and-mortar smashburger spot Small’s Smash Club in San Clemente. On the heels of successful concepts that got their starts as a homebound ideas during the pandemic, Small’s eatery began as a backyard operation in Huntington Beach by way of snowcapped mountaintops.

Growing up in Lake Forest, Small was all but born with a board strapped to his feet. “In my family, I have an older brother and older cousins who all skated. Everyone snowboarded or skated. That was kind of built into our family,” said Small. “Ever since I could walk, my dad was building us ramps in the garage”

With his early days a blur of skateboarding, rollerblading and surfing, he kicked around a soccer ball for a spell in high school, but it fell by the wayside in favor of the arguably cooler world of skating. “Coaches were not happy when I’d show up with broken arms from skating contests,” he laughed.

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Soon skateboarding led to its wintertime iteration as Small’s full time gig. “Skateboarding I could do every day, all the time, but snowboarding was so special. It was like, ‘All right, cool, we’re going to the mountains this weekend,’” he said. A chance encounter with the snowboard company Thirtytwo led to sponsorships and before he knew it, Small was living the dream as a pro snowboarder.

For roughly 15 years, Small carved out a living on the slopes. Unlike his peers, however, Small wasn’t stoked for competitions. His interests were in street snowboarding, where he would travel the globe filming videos. This creative approach he’d later bring to his next career jump.

In 2020, Small went from shredding powder to smoking meats and, eventually, smashing patties. Small was on a filming trip in Finland when the pandemic hit. Making his way back to the states on one of the last flights out of Finland shortly before everything shut down, he landed in Huntington Beach and, as fate would have it, a sponsorship with Traeger Grills. “They would send us free grills and free pellets,” he explained. With time on their hands and a trove of smokers, Small and his wife, Jordyn, started smoking meats.

“My wife said, ‘Let’s sell barbecue,’ so that’s how we started,” he said, which is how Small’s Barbecue was born, operating out of their backyard. He credits Heritage Barbecue in San Juan Capistrano and Heavy Handed in Los Angeles as inspirations. Posting a menu of their meaty fare on Instagram, Small’s budding operations proved a success during the early days of COVID, offering pulled pork, pork belly, burnt ends and chicken thighs. While he garnered a loyal following, the logistics of smoking and transporting meat for pop-ups proved exhausting. That’s when he pivoted to the smashburger realm.

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“One day, we just were like, ‘Let’s try a burger on our menu.’ And it crushed — everyone loved it,” he recalled. “So I thought, ‘You know what? I think this is a bit better. Let’s pivot to burgers.”

Small’s Smash Club, his namesake eatery along Camino De Los Mares, is Small’s ode to the humble smashburger, the burger format that has skyrocketed in popularity over the last few years — and with good reason. The format is simple yet exquisite; patties are pressed flat onto a griddle to create a thin patty with crispy, lacy edges, offering an easier (and tastier) hamburger.

“It’s just your simple smashburger: grilled onions, pickles and special sauce,” he said. But it’s the special sauce, he believes, is what separates a good smashburger from a great one. “Your sauce has to be really good,” he added, sharing only that the one at Small’s is mayo-based. As for the cheese? It is, of course, American cheese. “It’s a must for a burger,” said Small. Indeed. Cheddar splits and turns oily. Blue cheese turns nubby and tough. But American offers a distinct mouth feel in a burgher that seemingly highbrow fromages simply can’t provide.

He also sources his meat from Sterling Pacific Meat Company, an 80/20 chuck blend he selected after testing over 30 grinds. And the buns, as mandated by unwritten law, are plush Martin’s Potato Rolls, the go-to bun for aficionados.

In addition to said burgers, which run $9 for a single, $12 for a double and $15 for a triple, Small’s features beef tallow-fried french fries and onion rings for $4 and $6, respectively. Also on tap are a handful of local beers and natural wines.

The first-week success of Small’s Smash Club was a sweet surprise for a team that’s largely new to the restaurant world. “It’s been packed every day,” he said. “On Saturday at 10:30 we had a line waiting for us, and we opened at 11.” He credits part of their early success to his snowboarding following, which allows for choice cross-promotion. But in the end, it’s the burgers themselves that will keep people coming back.

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Located inside the site of a former TJ’s Woodfire Pizza, the space was a fortunate find. After a couple of years of hunting for the perfect spot, Small says he’s thrilled to be nestled away from the more congested downtown San Clemente strip. “We have parking, the bowling alley is coming, which is going to be massive for us,” he said. He says he also plans on hosting live music in the near future.

As for expansion? That’s the entrepreneurial dream, of course. “The big goal, our pipe dream is five locations in five years,” he revealed, saying he hopes to open venues along the coastal enclaves, as well as a Small’s Smash Club in his hometown of Lake Forest.

For now, however, the San Clemente location is where his focus remains; after all, with one young child and another one en route, familial access is now more important than ever to Small, who has lived in the seaside town for nearly five years. All the better to bring “good vibes, better burgers,” Small’s Smash Club’s mission statement, to South County.

Find it: 641 Camino de Los Mares, San Clemente

Will control go to USA Surfing, the longstanding San Clemente-based nonprofit organization that for decades has served as the pipeline to prepare young surfers for the world stage? Or to the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Association, a Park City-based winter sport group that hopes to get on board with the saltwater sport?

Now that surfing will have its third Olympic appearance, it is officially a permanent sport in the Summer Games lineup. And the group that governs the sport is poised to gain millions of dollars in funding for training, development and promotional efforts.

Both USA Surfing and U.S. Ski & Snowboard, since the start of the year, have been making their case to the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, with audits and ongoing discussions underway.

Both groups have stated their case in hearings before the committee, bringing in some of the sport’s top athletes to voice their support.

Surfing’s pipeline

Each summer, top young surfers from across the country journey to Lower Trestles, considered the best surf break on the mainland and now the future home of the 2028 Olympics, taking over the lineup as the USA Surfing national championships get underway.

The USA Surfing competitive format and training system is intentional, rooted in getting amateur surfers who aspire to be among the world’s best prepared for the big leagues, said Becky Fleischauer, CEO of USA Surfing.

The organization has a solid track record, with several USA Surfing graduates landing on the coveted World Surf League World Tour and the Olympic stage. Team USA athletes have already clinched two gold medals, Hawaii’s Carissa Moore in 2021 in Tokyo and San Clemente’s Caroline Marks in 2024, both who came up through the ranks of USA Surfing.

USA Surfing was the national governing body when the sport debuted in the Olympics for the 2020 Tokyo Games.

But the mismanaged reporting of funds caused conflicts with the USOPC, and USA Surfing in 2021 voluntarily decertified in order to straighten out its management and organizational structure.

USOPC took over the managing role for the 2024 Paris Games, with an understanding that once the audit deficiencies were rectified, USA Surfing would be reconsidered for governing body status, officials with the organization said in their new application to USOPC.

The findings from the audit have been rectified, it’s leadership argues. There’s new management, a new board and staff, new policies and procedures and safeguards in place.

But U.S. Ski & Snowboard Association also put its name in the hat.

It touts a portfolio with various snow-focused sports, experience in growing lifestyle sports into high-performance competition and now, it hopes to expand its reach off of the slopes.

Snow vs. surf

For USA Surfing, it’s not about owning Olympic rights, or leveraging commercial assets, said  Fleischauer.

“It’s about sustaining a home where all surfers can grow and thrive,” she said.

At risk is a dismantling of the system that has already helped American surfers make history, she argued, an organization recognized by the International Surfing Association, the world governing authority for surfing in the Olympics, which had fought for decades to get the sport included.

USA Surfing sends not just young surfers to compete in ISA events, which are built to mimic Olympic events, but also juniors, longboarders, stand-up paddlers and para athletes — disciplines that aim to one day be part of the Olympic Games.

LA28 gives American surfers a massive home field advantage, and will be one of the biggest global moments for U.S. surfing with the spotlight on Lower Trestles.

“It only makes sense that with Lowers as the LA28 venue, that surfing be governed by and for surfers in our backyard, and that the attention and funding gained from that big Olympic moment goes back into surfing for the long term,” Fleischauer said. “No one knows Lowers better than the surfers, coaches, trainers, shapers, filmers who live and surf here every day.”

It’s important that coaches know the athletes — everything from favored board dimensions and fin setups to past injuries and mental roadblocks, Fleischauer said.

Sophie Goldschmidt, CEO of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, argues that integrating surfing into the organization would allow the athletes to tap into existing infrastructure, “allowing surfers to have additional tools to succeed on the world’s biggest stage.”

Surfers could “immediately take advantage of high performance, year-round support, sports medicine, marketing and athlete services,” she said in an email response.

Each sport within its organization has a unique identity, she said. Snowboarding, for example, has a different culture than alpine skiing.

“We brought in leaders from those communities, listened to the athletes, and made sure their unique vibe was preserved,” she wrote. “We’ll do the same for surfing.”

Goldschmidt is no stranger to surfing, she was the CEO of the World Surf League before joining U.S. Ski and Snowboard. She argues there are more similarities than differences between the board sports.

“We feel that surfers have not been supported, in the same way that we would propose to, in the past,” Goldschmidt said. “And now, we can provide them with more of that support and the structure, the leadership and the strong backing of a large and growing organization, which is in a very good place financially as well.”

They need high-performance environments, clear pathways to the Olympics, and the ability to build their personal brands, she said. “That’s what we provide, and we know it works.”

Professional snowboarder Kelly Clark, who has competed in five winter Olympics and is a gold medalist, talked at the April hearing about having a front-row seat to snowboarding’s growth in the late ’90s with the help of U.S. Ski & Snowboard.

“It was caught in this tension between being this lifestyle activity and becoming this high-performance sport on the Olympic level,” Clark said.

U.S. Ski & Snowboard Association’s portfolio currently has 10 sports and 240 athletes. Its application also notes how, from a commercial perspective, adding a summer sport would give “year-round assets and programming to sell.”

“In recent years, our commercial engine has demonstrated its ability to drive significant revenue and by including surfing in our portfolio, we’re best set up to drive upside in the commercial business for surfing,” the organization’s leadership said.

Adding surfing would require learning, with regard to international elite level events, the athletes, and Summer Games operations, the leadership acknowledged. But the organization said it would hire a “sport leader” to focus on surfing – and also potentially skateboarding – as an “insider with knowledge and experience.”

Swell of support

Shaun Tomson, a ’70s-era surf champion, pointed out a logo in U.S. Ski & Snowboard Association’s presentation to the committee depicting a surfer. The wave rider is turned backward on the board, a faux pas any seasoned surfer would quickly pick up on, an “alarm bell,” he argued.

“How are you going to maintain this cultural sensitivity and this connectivity with sports that are vastly different?” he wondered.

Top athletes, parents of young surfers, the ISA and the WSL have signed letters of support to the USOPC for USA Surfing to be named the governing body.

“The ISA strongly believes that a healthy, independent organization that truly represents the interests of surfers and the sport in the U.S. is essential as we look ahead to the LA28 Olympic Games and beyond,” ISA President Fernando Aguerre, the man who pushed for decades to get the sport into the Olympics, wrote in a letter to Olympic organizers. “That organization is USA Surfing.”

Huntington Beach surfer Brett Simpson, who coached the 2020 Tokyo Olympics team with USA Surfing and still sits on the board, said the organization has successfully prepared surfers to get to the top of the sport, onto the World Tour, as seen with the current crop of elite-level surfers who rose through the USA Surfing training and competition pipeline.

“I obviously get why (U.S. Ski & Snowboarding) wants surfing, it’s got to be one of the more popular sports,” Simpson said. “They aren’t as invested on a day-to-day basis. We’ve been doing a lot of work over the years.”

USA Surfing has ramped up its training of athletes, Fleischauer said, teaming up with Hoag Health, which this year came on as title sponsor for the USA Surfing Championships at Lower Trestles and recently opened up a facility in San Clemente. Recent athlete training included fitness assessments as well as sessions with sports nutritionists and mental performance coaches.

Future training will include AI video capture and analysis, aerial training, wave pool training, and performance clinics that cover topics from breath work to biomechanics to branding, according to USA Surfing officials.

USA Surfing officials also hope a recent shot of funding from a multi-million dollar commitment from San Clemente-based Kamaka Responsible Development and surfboard building company Resin Service will help its bid to get recertified.

Kipling Sheppard, CEO of both businesses, talked about how his kids grew up in the Southern California surf lifestyle and echoed the importance of seeing the sport of surfing stay with surfers.

“USA Surfing is doing the work. They’ve earned the trust of athletes and the surf community and are deeply committed to our sport and community,” Sheppard said. “They’ve built a proven pathway — developing ISA and Olympic gold medalists — and they’re dedicated stewards of both performance and community. This alliance will strengthen that foundation and extend its reach.”

Following the audit process, another public hearing will be held before a recommendation from the national governing board certification group is given to the USOPC. A decision is expected by the end of the year.

The restaurant, which is joining the busy Home Depot-anchored Plaza de la Paz shopping center, is going big, offering free lunch from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

The menu features traditional Greek fare, including pitas, entrees, salads and sides and desserts.

The restaurant was founded in 2014 by cousins Big Nick, Little Nick and Baby Nick. In addition to California, it has locations in Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Kansas, Texas and Missouri. The Laguna Niguel eatery is the brand’s sixth in Orange County.

Address: 27221 La Paz Road, Suite E.

Burlington opens in Garden Grove

The bargain retailer Burlington Stores is opening July 25 in Garden Grove.

The store takes the place of a shuttered Party City at 9661 Chapman Ave.

Burlington touts prices up to 60% off other retailers’ prices on brand name merchandise, which includes clothing, housewares, accessories, shoes and more.

The new addition in Garden Grove brings the store count in California to 114.

Medical facility opens in San Clemente

Providence Mission Hospital recently opened a multispecialty medical facility in San Clemente.

The 12,000-square-foot facility, which provides primary, specialty and urgent care services provided by partner Mission Heritage Medical Group, is just off the 5 freeway near the Outlets at San Clemente.

The center offers a multispecialty clinic, an imaging center and walk-in urgent care services staffed by Providence Mission Heritage physician partners.

Address: 395 W. Avenida Vista Hermosa.

Urgent care is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Phone: 949-304-2116.

Honda Center hiring

The entertainment hub within the Honda Center is hiring a host of positions in food and beverage categories and operations.

Open positions include cooks, attendants, hosts and server assistants with wages between $19 and $22 hourly. Other jobs in janitor, parking and public safety departments also are available with hourly wages between $21 and $25 dollars.

For more information on the jobs and others not listed, go to ocvibe.com/jobs. Applicants also can email a resume and cover letter to jobs@ocvibe.com

New hotel near Joshua Tree

Reset Hotel opens July 21 in Twentynine Palms, not far from the north entrance of Joshua Tree National Park.

The hotel, which sits on 180 acres, was built using modular building methods in order to reduce its impact on the environment with a shorter construction phase.

Features include 65 guest rooms, each with patios and stove fire pits; a clubhouse with co-working space, café, retail and a communal fire pit; a bistro offering seasonal fare; a 1,000-square-foot salt water pool and jacuzzi; saunas, cold plunges, yoga and other desert-inspired programming.

Room rates, according to a search Friday, run from $175 nightly up to $457 (high seasons and holidays), depending on the days booked.

The hotel was co-founded by HP Investors in San Diego-based, entrepreneur Adam Wininger, and designer Benjamin Uyeda.

Address: 7000 Split Rock Ave., Twentynine Palms. To see more, go to stayreset.com

On the move

Rich Gripp at California Faucets was recently promoted to vice president of Accounting and Finance at the Huntington Beach company. He joined the company in early 2023 from Newlight Technologies, starting as director of Finance. Gripp also was director of Finance at Newlight, and before that, American Woodmark/RSI Corp.

Dr. Gary E. Deng, a specialist in integrative medicine, is the new director of the Integrative Oncology Program at the UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. The new center operates in partnership with the Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute. Deng, who spent nearly two decades at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, said his goal at UCI Health is to help patients achieve “the best outcomes by improving their mental, physical and spiritual well-being in their fight against cancer.”

Attorney Shayne Wulterin recently joined the law firm Kahana Field in Irvine as a partner in the General Liability and Construction Defect practice groups. His move to Kahana also brought to the firm a team of 14 other attorneys and paralegals from Ford, Walker, Haggerty & Behar. His specialty is general liability cases involving catastrophic loss, professional liability, premises liability, malpractice and negligence.

Brian Schaefgen is the new chief financial officer at the Orange County Community Foundation. Previously, he was CFO at Bellingham Marine, Bellwether Financial Group and 5 Bars. Schaefgen has also served as a board member, treasurer and committee member fornonprofit organizations including ForKids, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange County and Families Forward.

Coming up

Make-A-Wish Orange County and the Inland Empire will host their fifth annual Pickleball for Wishes tournament from 2-7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 2 at the Tennis and Pickleball Club at Newport Beach. Proceeds benefit the Make-A-Wish program, which grants wishes forchildren suffering from critical illnesses. For more information and to register, go to PickleballForWishes.org.

Good works

Team members at SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union participated on June 11 in an annual Development Education (DE) Day of Service, volunteering at Second Harvest Food Bank’s Harvest Solutions Farm in Irvine. They and other volunteer groups from the region harvested 6,000 pounds of fresh produce, which was delivered throughout the county to college food pantries, senior centers, homeless shelters and other community groups.

Milestones

Cassi Hallam, the chief marketing officer at System Pavers in Santa Ana was honored recently with the Green Industry Pros, Women in the Industry “Unsung Hero” award for 2025. Hallam earned the distinction because of her “significant contributions” at the company, where she leads a team of more than 100 associates in brand, digital, field marketing and contact center operations. She joined the firm in 2019.

Status Update is compiled and written by Business Editor Samantha Gowen. Submit items and high-resolution photos to sgowen@scng.com. Allow at least one week for publication. Items are edited for length and clarity.

OCTA’s Coastal Rail Resiliency Study is evaluating strategies to keep trains running along seven miles of vulnerable track that trace the coastline between Dana Point and the San Diego County line and Tuesday’s event is seeking public input.

The study is distinct from ongoing emergency work at areas the agency determined needed immediate reinforcement because of threats to the rail line from coastal erosion and sliding of privately owned hillsides above the tracks.

Already, 5,900 tons of rip rap rocks have been put down along the tracks on the north end of town as part of that $300 million effort.

A 1,400-foot long catchment wall is planned in coming months where the Mariposa bridge was destroyed to hold back debris from the hillside and in the same area on the north end of the coastal town an estimated 240,000 cubic yards of sand will be added, though a source and price tag for sand has yet to be determined.

Plans to bring even more rock boulders to line the tracks, an engineered revetment and another big shot of sand are also planned for the southern end of town, but the California Coastal Commission deemed that portion of the project not an emergency, so it must go through regular permitting processes.

“Repeated weather-related closures in San Clemente since 2021 underscore the need for both immediate fixes and forward-looking solutions,” OCTA officials said announcing the public meeting for the longer-term resiliency study.

The feedback from the meetings will help shape draft alternatives and a final feasibility report expected in 2026, agency officials said.

A separate effort led by the state will look at solutions beyond the next 30 years, including potentially moving the rail line inland in south Orange County.

Suzie Whitelaw, founder of Save Our Beaches San Clemente, was glad to hear the two-year study was back on track, after emergency work needs slowed progress.

The citizen advocacy group has been championing sand replenishment over the use of rock revetments in OCTA’s plans to provide a buffer between the ocean and the tracks.

“We are hoping to see some revised alternatives that protect both the tracks and the beach,” she wrote in an e-mail update.

Whitelaw also noted that a new CoastSnap citizen science program station will be unveiled in an event at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, June 18, at the San Clemente Pier as part of an ongoing effort to study and understand beach erosion along the coast.

Pier walkers can stop and take photos at the location to help track how the coastline is changing through time as storms, tides and sand replenishment affect the beach.

The installation consists of a cradle to hold a cell phone in a specific position, and signage with a QR code for uploading the photographs to the database. Scientists at UC Santa Barbara will be using this data for long-term, large-scale monitoring and research of the coast.

The installation was made possible by a grant from the San Clemente Woman’s Club, with efforts from Save Our Beaches SC and the city’s Public Works Department.

A similar CoastSnap station was installed in Dana Point at Strands Beach last year.

Whitelaw will also be part of the San Onofre Park Foundation Speaker Series, presenting “Re-Sanding the Future” at 6:30 p.m. on July 16. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at EventBrite.com.

Also, the deadline is nearing for comments on the city’s draft Nature-Based Adaptation Project Feasibility Study. They are due by July 13.

The draft report explores several ideas for the San Clemente coastline, including adding breakwaters and offshore structures off North Beach, Capistrano Shores and the south end of San Clemente State Beach.

The OCTA public meeting will be held from 5 to 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 15, at City Hall, 910 Calle Negocio, with a virtual meeting covering the same topic from 5 to 6:30 p.m. on July 29. Fine more information at octa.net.

On Monday, July 14, a new 20,000-square-foot Hoag Health Center will open, giving deep South Orange County residents access to more specialty doctors, state-of-the-art technology and a one-of-a-kind “health lab” offering healthy living solutions from pilates to nutrition.

The facility includes an urgent care, primary care doctors and services for obstetrics, gynecology, orthopedics, radiology and sports medicine.

A community event Saturday, July 12, offered locals an opportunity to tour the facility and learn more about the services offered ahead of Monday’s opening. The center is Hoag’s 13th facility outside the hospital campuses in Newport Beach and Irvine.

The health center will help fill a void in the beach city and surrounding communities, along with other new facilities. MemorialCare Health System is building a walkable senior community with access to healthcare, including an urgent care facility, on the 6-acre property once home to the city’s hospital. Providence Health has also seen the wisdom of putting medical services in San Clemente and opened up a facility near the Shops of San Clemente that includes is a primary care clinic with urgent care.

Hoag President and CEO Robert Braithwaite described the county’s southernmost communities as a “health care desert,” adding that the region can also benefit from more specialized and targeted services in one place.

“There are about a million people south of the El Toro Y (in Lake Forest), there are certain geographic areas that do not have a lot of healthcare close to home and work,” Braithwaite said. “There’s also an opportunity to deliver a different type of health care in all of South Orange County, which fueled the decision to move Hoag services into South Orange County.”

“Most healthcare systems are defined by the sick care they provide,” he added. “So, Hoag made a commitment in 2018 where we really wanted to emphasize and integrate wellness services into the health portfolio. San Clemente is the perfect community; they love being active and are very mindful of their wellness. It’s the perfect place to drop in that integrated healthcare with all the wellness initiatives.”

“One of the biggest challenges,” Braithwaite said, per input from doctors and patients, is once a patient walks out with a diagnosis, they’re in a whole new world, often unguided.

“The health center bridges that moment which happens on every single doctor’s visit, whether you’re expecting or you have a single chronic disease,” he said. “The team that is in there, with the facility designed around it, will bridge that gap and get people on that wellness journey. Whether activating it from teaching, getting them to participate, helping them understand wearables and how to use those. The whole idea is to get them in, get them involved, let them learn under guidance. Physicians are right there too, and we found it’s just a far better engagement.”

Marcy Brown, senior vice president and COO at Hoag, said walking into the new center on Avenida Pico “doesn’t feel like a typical hospital health clinic.” The layout has an open and airy feel, with plenty of natural light and clean architectural lines. The entrance lobby aims for a spa-like ambiance.

Among the highlights and free to the community is the new Hoag Health Lab, which includes an exercise physiologist, dietitian, nutrition experts and a pilates instructor. The lab will offer those outside the health provider’s network a taste of Hoag’s services and care.

With the opening of the center, new physicians are joining the Hoag network and some who are already in the health system at other facilities will now work in San Clemente.

“We have physicians coming from the top academic medical health systems across the nation,” Brown said. “Because they can continue to do the research that they were able to do, launch clinical trials, and have fellowship programs here at Hoag. It’s very unique for a community hospital to have those aspects of health care.”

Ahead of the opening, Hoag offered a tour to city officials, including San Clemente Mayor Steve Knoblock.

“They have installed the latest and most up-to-date technology and skill sets at their new Pico facility,” he said. “We’re delighted they expanded their longstanding expertise in our community.”

“The first thing she said was ‘I don’t want to get eaten!” said dad Anthony Espinoza with a chuckle.

“No, no, they are safe,” he assured his 2-year-old daughter.

Dinosaur props set outdoors for a “Jurassic Beach” exhibit at the Outlets at San Clemente are drawing crowds young and old — a fun outing for families, but also a promo opportunity with the opening of the box office hit “Jurassic World Rebirth.”

One life-size dino is set outside of the MetroLux theatre, with signs pointing to the “Dinosaur Party” at the other end of the outlets, with more large dinosaurs — including the famed T-Rex — in the same area where a large Christmas tree is erected each holiday season.

Espinoza, 41, recalls seeing the first “Jurassic Park” when he was in elementary school in the ’90s, spawning a lifelong fascination with the extinct creatures that still lingers today.

“It stays forever. It’s going to spark an interest in her,” he said of his wide-eyed daughter.

The interactive exhibit is the brainchild of Anthony Marcotti, who owns the Camp Store at the Carlsbad State Beach campgrounds. He, too, has had a lifelong love for the creatures and earlier this year decided to order a few to set around the coastal campgrounds, dubbing it “Jurassic Beach.”

“I’ve never seen such a response. We had people driving from Los Angeles, Palm Springs,” he said. “They were overlooking the ocean, they looked like they were in their natural habitat.”

It was so successful, he decided to start renting them out. That’s when the outlets connected with him about bringing the exhibit to San Clemente.

And there’s more dino fun to come.

He’s bought about 30 more to add to a corn maze at Tanaka Farms in Costa Mesa, less spooky than traditional Halloween props, but still on-theme with bones and a slightly-scary vibe for an exhibit to be called “Jurassic Fright.”

“It’s going to be the best corn maze in the United States,” he said, noting there will be a petting zoo, pumpkin patch, games, the dinosaurs and other props like a volcano and T-Rex skull on display.  “Dinosaurs are perfect for Halloween – there’s no blood or guts, but skulls and bones.”

There’s also plans to bring a similar set up to the Carlsbad Strawberry Company, he said.

While the outlets exhibit is free, the corn maze will be ticketed — but not overly expensive, Marcotti said, noting that the cost has yet to be determined.

“If it makes enough money, we’ll buy more dinosaurs. Everyone will have a dinosaur corn maze next year,” he said.

On a recent day, he watched as families came up to the dinos, snapping photos and marveling at the interactive creatures, which have a timer set to every 10 minutes, with a five-minute break, making their heads move and roaring sounds.

“I just like to watch the kids and see their reaction, more than anything. And immediately after, the parents’ reaction to the kids,” he said.

San Clemente mom Ana Schoonover brought her kids, Grace, 5, and Rocky, 3, after seeing a post on Instagram about the creatures.

“My favorite part is the ‘rooooar,” said Grace, noting that the T-Rex was her favorite among the group.

For Schoonover, it was a perfect free outing with her family, followed by a train ride around the outlets.

“I just think it’s so awesome,” she said. “Any mother knows, to see their kids smile – that’s all we can use for the day.”

This summer, six Orange County cities from Laguna Beach to San Clemente, have again launched their free trolleys to shuttle residents to beaches, popular shopping and dining areas and community events.

The Dana Point trolley serves more than 80,000 people each summer and connects to four other neighboring cities’ trolley routes. Summer trolleys can also be found in Laguna Beach, Laguna Niguel, Newport Beach on the Balboa Peninsula, San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano.

You can use the network of trolleys to get between several coastal South Orange County cities without needing a car.

Dana Point City Manager Mike Killebrew said he makes use of the city’s transportation service at least twice a week, and is even licensed to drive the trolleys for special events.

The trolleys help reduce traffic and parking congestion by simply getting people out of cars, Killebrew said. They also provide chances for tourists to explore the city and for local residents to get around town during the popular season.

One recent rider, Lena Karlsmyr, who was visiting from Sweden, hopped aboard with her three granddaughters. Stopping for lunch at a local restaurant, she said it was the perfect activity for the day.

Local middle and high school students, who can’t yet drive, also use the trolley to get around in the summer. Some load their surfboards into racks on the back to head to Dana Point’s famous surf spots on the route.

One local high school student said he rides the trolley three times a week from his home to Salt Creek Beach to surf with his friends. Usually, he straps his surfboard to the back of the trolley, but recently, he has been bringing his blue-and-white-checkered Boogie Board onboard with him.

Visitors such as Flor Reyes also use the shuttles to get around the beaches. Reyes drives in from Riverside on the weekends, parks and then rides the trolley. This past week, she rode the whole route with her sister and four friends, she said.

Reyes appreciates the sightseeing on the trolleys, and said she can “actually look around” because she’s not focused on driving. The atmosphere of the trolley, with its music, open windows and sea breeze sparks a connection among riders, she said.

“On a bus, everyone is doing their own thing. But people on the trolley are open to having a conversation,” she said.” You get to meet a lot of people from all over.”

This year, Dana Point added four new stops to serve additional areas, going past Sunset Park to reach more neighborhoods. And, Killebrew said the news stops are now some of the busiest, bringing more residents into the city center.

The city also introduced a new app, Passio Go, which riders can use to track the trolleys.

The cities’ trolleys are mostly funded by the Orange County Transportation Authority, which supports local community-based transportation projects with grants. Last year, the OCTA recorded more than 400,000 boardings throughout the summer on all the summer routes.

“It’s a great way to connect people even from our regular OC bus routes or Metrolink train services, to fill in that last-mile gap,” OCTA spokesperson Megan Abba said.

Laguna Beach Councilmember Mark Orgill said the trolleys help manage traffic and the influx of visitors who come to see Laguna Beach’s natural sites. He called them a symbol of the city’s commitment to the environment.

“We have our tide pools and our rock formations on the cliffs. We have our open space and the marine protected area, and we’re committed to nurturing and taking care of those elements,” Orgill said. “There’s a big picture here, and we’re always trying to find ways to manage the people who come into town, and look at ways to protect our environmental resources.”

He said the city is also looking into an electric vehicle fleet for its trolleys and buses.

Hazel Aguilar has been a bus driver for more than 30 years, but this summer is her first time driving the Dana Point trolleys. She said she enjoys handing out the toy trolleys to kids who get excited to ride the shuttle. One parent said the trolley is her son’s favorite toy.

Aguilar said the atmosphere of the open-air and beach-viewing trolley is a change from her previous bus routes and she loves it. She often runs into regulars, she said, and hopes to drive the route again next summer.

“Sometimes I have like a party bus in here,” she said.

The trolleys allow tourists and residents alike to better experience the city, Killebrew added. When he and his wife take the trolley to visit Salt Creek Beach, he said he often finds himself asking fellow riders, “Where you from?”

“It’s like a community table at a restaurant. Everybody is enjoying an experience together,” Killebrew said. “People stay longer than if you just had your car right there next to you. They tend to walk around more and enjoy what we have to offer.”

Trolleys arrive around every 15 to 20 minutes and each city runs routes for special events such as free concerts and movie screenings. Most have service on holidays such as Labor Day.

“Honestly, I’ve never seen someone on a trolley upset. They’re always happy and enjoying life. I don’t know what it is, there’s some magic to them that people just enjoy the ride,” Killebrew said. “And it doesn’t hurt that they’re free.”

Sand sculptors spent the day on Thursday, July 3, creating a massive “4” in the sand near T-Street in San Clemente, a promotion for the “Fantastic Four” movie releasing later this month, also coinciding with the Fourth of July holiday – if it can withstand the beach crowds, high tide and big waves through the day.

“Today is all about 4s,” said Greg Le Bon, a sand sculptor with Archisand, the company behind the project.  “It’s all about celebrating our country, the celebration of the Fourth of July, and the movie coming out on July 25.”

The Fantastic Four emblem, a circle wrapped around the number 4, is 44 feet in diameter, he noted.

“It’s like someone took a stamp from heaven and blasted a four into the sand,” Le Bon said as he and others got started on the project.

The idea for the promotion for the upcoming Marvel movie is to be able to see it from above, either from the bluff or the passing trains.

Le Bon, who has been building sand sculptures for 44 years, said the layout is always the hardest part.

“We’re used to doing sand sculptures with little faces,” he said. “This is intended to be viewed from 100 feet in the area. The challenge is really – how do you keep your perspective on the big picture of it, and not end up with a 5, by mistake.”

Local surfers Griffin Colapinto and Cole Houshmand faced off in the finals of the VIVO Rio Pro; Houshmand securing the victory.

It was Houshmand’s second big World Surf League World Tour win, a repeat from last year’s Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach contest, where the two surfers also met up in the finals.

In the women’s event, it was Australia’s Molly Picklum who once again found herself on the podium, the third for the 22-year-old surfer this year and a victory that keeps her on top of the World Tour rankings.  She won in a final against Luana Silva, who marked the first Brazilian female surfer to make the finals since 2007.

Colapinto’s final-heat finish puts him in striking distance of once again making the WSL Final 5, which happens in Fiji in September, for a chance at a world championship. He is now sixth in the rankings.

For Houshmand, his victory marked the first non-Brazilian to win the event since Hawaii’s John John Florence nearly a decade ago in 2016, according to the WSL.

“It doesn’t seem real, honestly, I’m speechless,” Houshmand said in a WSL interview. “It’s been a long year, and it’s been a lot of fun.”

Houshmand said he’s “just doing what I love.”

“The fans all week, whether they love me or hate me, it’s the most passionate people in the world. And I love it. I feed off it. I mean, we’re competing in a stadium here. I looked at the beach, and you can’t even see open space,” he continued. “It’s what we dream of and what we live for. I couldn’t imagine anything better.”

Houshmand posted the highest single-wave score of the event just minutes after the heat started, a 9.40 that gave him an early lead. A backup 7.50 put Colapinto in need of a score. He answered back and earned an 8.23, but ultimately his two highest scores couldn’t match Houshmand’s 16.90 total.

“To share another final with Griffin is like the dream,” Houshmand said, noting that both finals he’s made since joining the tour last year have been against his friend, who he grew up competing against. “I just went out there surfing with my best friend. We’re just like, hey, it’s like an expression session. We don’t even know what we’re doing, we’re just going to have fun.”

Colapinto — who was near a mid-year cut earlier this year — has found his momentum, making it to at least the semi-finals round in the last four out of five events.

Congratulating Houshmand, Colapinto said the week surfing in Brazil was about “trusting life and not getting too stressed out about the results and what’s going to happen and just letting the ocean call the shots, because that’s really what it comes down to at the end of the day.

“We don’t really know what’s going to come and how it’s all going to unfold,” he said. “So you just do your best to show up every day, be the best person you can, and let the rest unfold on its own.”

The McStays, formerly of San Clemente, where Joseph McStay’s business continued to be based, vanished from their Fallbrook home in February 2010. Their skeletal remains were found buried in the High Desert near Victorville in November 2013.

Merritt, who made waterfalls for Joseph McStay’s business, was arrested a year later. Now 68, he maintains his innocence.

Joseph McStay’s father criticized the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department after it originally investigated the disappearance as a missing-persons case. Accusations of prosecutorial misconduct and ineffective defense dogged the trial.

Caitlin Rother wrote a book about the case, “Down to the Bone,  a missing family’s murder and the elusive quest for justice,” by poring over thousands of pages of documents and previously unreleased police reports.

Rother, 62, who will discuss and sign her book at appearances in Southern California starting Saturday, June 28 (Info: caitlinrother.com), talked with the Southern California News Group about her 15th book. The answers were edited for clarity.

Q: Why did you write about this case?

A: I could tell from the start that this was going to be an interesting case, because for an entire family to go missing is incredibly unusual. The state of the house they lived in when they disappeared, it was like they were in the middle of breakfast as if time had almost stopped. This happened with Joseph running a successful waterfall-manufacturing company.

Q: How did you research the book?

A: I went to the preliminary hearings, went through court records, got a court order to review 1,200 exhibits. Four months before deadline, I ended up getting a treasure trove of discovery materials and that sent me into a frenzy reading investigatory reports from both sheriff’s departments (San Diego County’s and San Bernardino County’s) with witness interviews that both agencies uncovered. Basically, I had to rewrite my whole book.

Q: What will readers learn about the case that they didn’t previously know?

A: I was able to learn who was interviewed, who was not interviewed, who was investigated and who wasn’t. To me, it was pretty telling what they overlooked. They would look for things to support their premise, and when they didn’t find evidence, they continued to hold onto their same premise. In the case of Chase Merritt, it was clear they decided it was him pretty early. They arrested him even though a lot of things they were looking for, they never found.

Q: San Diego sheriff’s detectives allowed a McStay relative to take home Joseph’s computer, another relative to clean the house, and let another business partner, Dan Kavanaugh, examine a computer for clues to the disappearance without the detectives having first searched any of those. What do you make of that?

A: The scene was irrevocably altered. There are examples of that throughout the book that I found questionable. (A San Diego sheriff’s spokesperson said in an email: “Detectives work tirelessly to bring justice in every case they are assigned and will continue to make every attempt to bring each case to a resolution.”)

Q: What else should readers take away from the book?

A: I looked at my job in writing this book as being a lawyer in a circumstantial case and connecting the dots. There were questions such as how did Joseph McStay’s gun get into the hands of a convicted felon in Las Vegas? How did somebody get the family out to the desert? The DNA on the remains didn’t match Merritt. There’s all these unanswered questions.

Q: Here’s the million-dollar question: Who killed the McStays?

A: This case was incredibly messy and even after 12 years of research, I still can’t tell you I know who killed this family.