An Ordinary County Becomes Must-See O.C.

Last summer, before “The O.C.” became one of the hottest shows on television, locals were as much irritated as they were inspired by the prospect of a soapy teen drama set amid the bougainvillea and golden beaches of Orange County.

Nobody calls Orange County “the O.C.,” locals groused. It doesn’t really represent us. It’s “just another show,” the Newport Beach mayor told his local paper.

What a difference a hit season makes.

This week, as the Fox network show finishes its first year, Orange County is celebrating a pop-culture phenomenon that some say has created a new image for a place once known only for Mickey Mouse and John Wayne. Like “thirtysomething” more than a decade ago, the show has been so successful that its very name has become a catch phrase. Even locals now blithely refer to their home as “The O.C.” without irony.

It’s not just an ego trip. Business boosters, encouraged by a buzz among young people across the country, are rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of increased tourism.

In a strange melding of fantasy and reality, “The O.C.” has created a national image -- much as “Dallas” and “Miami Vice” did for their respective locales -- that could outlast the show.

“Everything a lot of Americans know about Orange County, they know from ‘The O.C.,’ ” said pop culture expert Bob Thompson of Syracuse University. “And the image they get of it is, for the most part, a pretty flattering one.”

Like all stereotypes, of course, this image bears only a passing resemblance to reality. The show focuses on a selective slice of Orange County, chronicling the lives of affluent white residents along the coast, with little reference to its bland suburban tracts or diverse Latino and Vietnamese communities. There are virtually no minorities on the show. Inland cities are mentioned only with a sneer.

But realistic or not, the show has created new interest from visitors. While no one tracks exactly how many people are flocking to snack on Balboa Bars (the local chocolate-dipped ice cream confection) or to gape at such ritzy developments as the fictional Cohen family’s Newport Coast neighborhood overlooking the surf, there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence that “The O.C.” is making its mark.

Visitors bureaus, for example, say they constantly field calls from fans wanting directions to spots mentioned on the show. And a poll by the Orange County Business Council found that 81% of local business owners believe “The O.C.” gives them a lift.

In terms of tourism, “our numbers went up from 41.7 million last year to 42.7 million visitors this year,” said Lauren Yacker, communications manager for the Anaheim/Orange County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

“That can’t be all attributed to the show, but it has brought us a level of attention that we didn’t have before. We get lots of e-mails and calls and questions.”

One Arizona newspaper suggested recently that Orange County -- rather than San Diego, the traditional coastal refuge for residents of that desert state -- makes better sense as a vacation spot for families with teenagers.

“They may beg to go along, even agree to listen to your music at your volume on the drive over,” noted the Arizona Republic. “This is because you’re taking them to The O.C.”

At Sugar N Spice ice cream shop on Balboa Island, where owner Helen Connolly hung an autographed cast photo and poster in the window, out-of-town teenagers drop by to snap photos.

“They come by and ask, ‘Is this where they got the Balboa Bars?’ ” said Connolly. “Teeny-boppers get all excited. They bring their friends by. They stand there and take pictures of the autographs.”

One of Connolly’s employees, 18-year-old Ceci Beas, discovered recently that the show had turned even her into a celebrity of sorts. On vacation in Alabama, “They said, ‘Oh my god, you’re from The O.C.!’ ”

Another indicator of the show’s effect is that local institutions are clamoring to be a part of it. Fox officials said officials with businesses and nonprofit organizations ranging from the Newport Harbor Christmas Boat Parade to the Anaheim Mighty Ducks to Orange Coast Magazine have called seeking bit parts on the show as local color.

Most of the filming is done in Manhattan Beach and Palos Verdes, but producers have shot several exterior scenes in Newport Beach and dropped in enough local details to send groupies in search of such real-life county hot spots as Fashion Island and the Crab Cooker.

That kind of detail “gives the show texture,” said show creator and writer Josh Schwartz, 27. “The more specific you are, the more universal it becomes.”

The show’s first season told the story of a down-on-his luck Chino teen who moves to Newport Beach in a melodramatic search for the American Dream: beautiful people, beautiful homes, beautiful beaches.

That could make Orange County a destination for “young people who are watching it,” said Thompson, director of the Syracuse University Center for the Study of Popular Television. “Once they get an opportunity and a car, this becomes a place to go to.”

Among those young people is 18-year-old David Bjerke, who lives 2,051 miles away in Waukesha, Wis., and is planning a road trip to Orange County for “one last hurrah” before he graduates from high school.

“I see it as a ritzy town,” Bjerke said. “To be honest, the show did help provoke that interest in wanting to go to California just to see how different it is from Wisconsin.”

And boy, is it different. For starters, the median income in Newport Beach is $111,000, double that in Wisconsin. And the average home price is more than $1 million. And, of course, Waukesha isn’t exactly a place where Bjerke can learn to surf.

On message boards devoted to the show, people across the country seek answers from “anyone who lives in the real O.C.” to such questions as, “Does Kobe Bryant really live in Newport Beach?” “Is there a Wal-Mart in Newport Beach?” and “What is Fashion Island?” Oddly enough, prospective homeowners inquiring about real estate agents have even cropped up.

This, of course, is just what local boosters like to hear.

Before the show, “We knew there was an image problem,” said Wallace Walrod of the Orange County Business Council, which hired consultants who determined that there wasn’t a broad recognition of Orange County as a place to live and work.

“The O.C.” he said, is quickly helping to change all that.

“The O.C. is not just a television show,” Thompson said. “It’s a lifestyle.”