Welcome to my new website!
Welcome to the NEW BonnieGausewitz.com! I’m really excited to share this with you. Check back often for news, updates, and my thoughts on just about everything. Thanks! – Bonnie
North Tustin Housing Prices
I was pleasantly suprised today when I went to meet an appriaser on a home I had sold. To establish value I need to bring him/her recent sales. There were over 20 sales since January asking for $850,000 – $1,100,000 in North Tustin. Yes, prices ae down but our area continues to be an extremely desirable place to live. Why? I believe it is the schools, larger lot sized and overall community “feel”. We love our kids, aren’t about impressing anyone and love the outdoors. The school fields are full of parents seemingly all weekend, every weekend and it is such a joy to see!
As far as North Tustin real estate values – the current average price per square foot ranges from roughly $300 – $400. If the price exceeds that is is all about LOCATION, condition of the home and lot size.
Anyway, enough of real estate matters. We have Tustin Tiller Days coming up next weekend so mark your calendars. It runs from Friday through Sunday, October 2nd – 4th and is on the Columbus Tustin Middle School field on the corner of Irvine and Prospect. There are rides, booths, bands and lots of food! Come support your Tustin community, see friends…and don’t miss our wonderful, old-fashioned parade on Saturday morning!
Tustin Chili Cook Off!
Today’s Tustin Chili Cook-off is the largest in the Western United States!
And I missed it…however, my daughter made it. We are all chili lovers. One year I had a booth and we made gallons and gallons of chili which was all gone by 11:00. I didn’t compete for two reasons: to be a true chili competitor you have to make the chili on site and the actual chili ingredients have to be chopped up very, very fine or you are disqualified. It makes sense – they are trying to judge on best chili “flavor” but didn’t work for me. I get rave reviews on my chili and had oodles of visitors come back for seconds with comments about how my chili was the best of the event. No doubt it was because I put large chucks of Claro’s (Tustin’s awesome Italian market on Bryan) spicy sausage in it and whole olives. But I am not one to take credit for a recipe that isn’t mine so if you want to make the greatest chili ever – it’s in The Silver Palate cookbook – but spice it up by using Italian sausage in place of bulk sausage.
Back to Tustin’s Chili cook-off. There are chili tastings for a dollar each, rides, food and all sorts of booths representing many of the Tustin community organizations. It’s a joy to see the local kids play in a band, dance and do gymnastics and fun to see friends and family out enjoying the sunshine. It’s only one day every year – usually the first Sunday in June. So don’t miss it (like I did.)
Another wonderful – and free – community event is Tustin’s Summer Concert Series. Bring your blankets, food and libations (or by some there) and gather with friends in Peppertree Park on 1st and B Street on Wednesday nights throughout the summer. The bands are really enjoyable (the Celtic bands are my personal faves) and it’s fun to see and spend time with friends and watch the little kids dance in front of the stage.
In the same spot TACFA puts on an outdoor musical every year in August and the local kids perform with professional artists. Tickets are reasonably priced and the money raised goes back to TACFA who gives scholarships to local artists.
Where in the World is North Tustin?
When I was 2 we left family and friends in Ohio in search of the California dream complete with blue skies and sunshine all year round. My parents were told by friends, Milt and Sue Legome, of this idyllic area in a new community south of Los Angeles called Orange County. Aptly named upon arriving we found acres and acres of orange groves, rolling hills, open land to roam, horse ranches and fruit stands. And sunshine all day long! After 40 odd years of living here, for most of us who got thrown from the horses, threw the oranges at school buses, and roamed wild all day, it still is absolutley idyllic!
We moved to one of the neighborhoods in North Tustin called Cowan Heights. There are many similarly charming neighborhoods in the area each with their own charm: Redhill Ridge (where silver was once mined and you can walk to the tennis club), Lemon Heights where many of the oldest homes in the county still stand, Barrett Hill and the Foothills – which have found huge popularity with our more cautious generation of parents in search of flat streets, cul-de-sacs and the joy of walking to school!
When those of us who grew up here we relive our childhoods daily as we drive down the streets: sweet memories of horse shows at Peacock Hill, the candy machine at Shady Canyon Horse Ranch, swimming in little Peter’s and being scolded by the sheriff, roasting hot dogs at the abandoned boy scout camp (now Bent Tree Park) and walking to Bob & Jean’s.
While the horses have moved out to Orange Park Acres and most of the orange trees are gone, what I love about North Tustin is that it has maintained a wonderful respect and reverance for nature. Peter’s Canyon is now a regional park, most real estate owners allow their trees to stand tall and proud, and kids play in the streets not in developed areas climbing their friends trees and play in their yards.
Sadly Orange County has gotten a reputationj for being materialistic and shallow thanks to TV shows named after the county. But to me, and many of us who are here happily “Rustin’ in Tustin” our town is the antithesis of these values. People who live here don’t try and impress, they just want to live a comfortable family-oriented life amid the trees and hills God blessed us with.
