At the corner of E. 3rd St and N. Bush St in an alley surrounded by street art is GCS (Giants Casting Shadows) clothing store and art gallery run by Hector who’s been in the downtown Santa Ana area for the past 14 years.
Opened on April 1st of 2009 in the Santora building, staying there for about 4 and a half years then moving to its current location in 2013. Famously known for hosting art shows, they are the busiest during the evenings and weekends and during artist signings.
We caught up with Hector to ask him about his shop and also the changes in the downtown area.
What exactly do you sell here? Can you give me a basic rundown of the place?
Clothing and art and art supplies and vinyl records and other little collectibles.
What are your thoughts on the downtown Santa Ana area changing over the years?
Well, one thing I always tell people is, as the old adage goes, the only constant is change. You know what I mean? Very few things stay the same for a long period of time. If you’re not growing, you’re dying, you know? So yeah, I mean, the nature of business, the nature of culture, is it’s always evolving and changing. We ourselves are always changing, right? We’re not the same as we were five years ago, 10 years ago, right? So businesses aren’t the same, people aren’t the same. shopping patterns aren’t the same, right? Things change.
So there hasn’t been that much change than is usually perceived?
Once again, okay, speaking only for my business. We’ve always been, our market has always been the underground, the eclectic, and the sort of counterculture. So what I would perceive as change is different for, let’s say, a different type of business, right? So we’ve always dealt with artists and musicians and people who are fans of that nature. So yeah, so you know, just looking at magazines or television shows, I mean, people’s tastes change and stuff like that.
Where do you get your stock?
Well, we, so of course, things for our brand, we work with artists that obviously know us, that we like, that we’ve worked with in the past. We carry other people’s brands as well. Yeah, so I always say, are they local artists? Well, they’re local enough to make their way through here. You know what I mean?
You made a comment earlier on how the only constant is change. How has this place changed over the years around when you started here?
Let’s see. When I moved in 14 years ago, of course, there were bars and restaurants, and entertainment venues. I think a lot of the bar and restaurant scene in this area. Quite literally in the 14 years I’ve been here it’s kind of matured and sort of, you know, ramped up their, their game, so to speak, you know, so yeah, I think everyone working in tandem has kind of made this area a destination, not just for the Santaneros, the people that live in this city, but throughout Orange County and throughout the Southland. Yeah. Like I said, everyone working together sort of makes this the attraction that it is.
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