The Brief

Mercado Gonzalez Northgate Market has been open since November, but it’s still near capacity on weekends. Yes, it does get many things right, including variety, ambience and family-friendly options, but it comes at a price.

The parking lot can be a circus, and the long lines for certain eats means it’s easy to get hangry.

But there is another direction you can take. Orange County is full of other food hall options that have been around much longer than the new kid on the block and also deserve some respect.

Here's a handy guide to the county’s wide-ranging food hall offerings, that are well into the double digits like L.A. county, but in a more concentrated area.

The OC Mix, Costa Mesa

Birdie Juicery

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Courtesy KTPR

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Flanked by massive home design stores, The Mix is found at the heart of SoCo (South Coast Collection) adjacent to the 405. It is the original food hall concept in Orange County that has turned over several tenants since its opening in 2011.

Portola Coffee is the closest thing to a culinary anchor, having been around since the beginning. Shuck Oyster Bar caters to shellfish aficionados while The Cheese Shop provides a perfect dairy fix (stay for a sandwich and capture a solid cheese pull for your socials).

Birdie Bowl and Juicery, Sunright Tea Studio plus We Olive and Wine Bar are liquid nourishment, with the remainder of available dining including Arc Food and Libations, Butcher’s House and Moulin, which are just outside the food hall.

Packing House, Anaheim

Georgia's gumbo at Packing House

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Courtesy Moxxe PR

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A packed food hall that encompasses two floors plus a wrap around patio, Packing House has been up and running since 2014. The crowded space is occupied by The Blind Rabbit speakeasy, Adya Indian cuisine and Georgia’s for Southern fare, among many others. Parking can get tough, but valet is there to assist.

Vacancies are few and far between at this bustling hall, but once they're in, it's a great place for new brands to get the exposure they need to grow.

4th Street Market, Santa Ana

Dishes from Faka's Island Grill.

One of the sitting areas at the 4th Street Market.

Introduced to the downtown Santa Ana community in 2015, 4th Street Market is a high-traffic food hall which continually evolves, with new vendors cooking up trending menus or testing a concept before eventually moving into a larger venue.

Alta Baja Market offers casual eats, refreshing sips and products to gift or keep. Faka’s Island Grill puts a twist on familiar Hawaiian flavors. Deli Station caters to sandwich fans, salad lovers and diners who cannot decide.

Union Market, Mission Viejo

This hidden selection of retail and dining has been located on the top level of Kaleidoscope (Crown Valley Parkway/5 Freeway) since 2016. Best known for its special event space, live music, and seasonal family activities, Union Market’s offerings are eclectic. Due to its chill location within the plaza, it's a neighborhood favorite.

Popp’s Booch pours gut-friendly fizzy drinks, while Sana’s Pakistani-Indian cuisine is made with love by the family that operates it. Expansive underground parking and spacious food hall bathrooms make this outlier worth a visit. Additional tenants for both Union Market and Kaleidoscope, including La Patrona Mexican and a coffee concept, are in the works.

The crowd at Sana's Pakistani-Indian cuisine.

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Cassie Sulehri

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Some of the Ethiopian fare at Sana's.

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Cindy Avila

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Lot 579, Huntington Beach

Since opening in 2016, Lot 579 has only had a handful of occupants take up real estate at a time. It is fortunate to have variety, though, with a focus on dessert — like Bella Sophia Chocolates, which are delicately crafted in-house by a husband-and-wife team.

Seeking a proper yet low-key meal? Bear Flag Fish Co. is consistently busy with raw and grilled seafood entrees (plus the best ocean views from its patio), while Phans 55 covers Vietnamese cravings, including steaming pho broth and fresh/crispy spring rolls. Do remember to get parking validated, but also take the time to explore the rest of the plaza known as Pacific City for additional options.

Trade Marketplace, Irvine

Trade, the SNA-adjacent food hall, began cooking for the neighborhood in spring 2017, when its al fresco-only dining area was busy every weekday lunch. Over the next seven years, it appears just one brand, the bar Center Hub, has been a permanent fixture. Otherwise nearly every other business has seemed to turnover.

But there are good places to visit currently. Popular (read: enclosed) dining adjacent to Trade include the OG HiroNori Craft Ramen, Krisp Fresh Living for coffee plus snacks and upscale Ootoro Sushi. On a related note, parking at Trade is very limited at lunch. Unless your workplace is walkable from the hall, hail a rideshare.

McFadden Public Market, Santa Ana

Around the same time as Trade, McFadden came onto the scene a few blocks from 4th Street Market. Like Trade, it’s also been a revolving door of eateries, but the upstairs bar known as Mission Control is still buzzing; having an arcade in the watering hole surely helps. Mongiello’s Pizza and Wings plus Tacompadre for Mexican meals rounds out options (if you cannot locate The Twisted Tiki speakeasy downstairs).

Mess Hall Market, Tustin

One of La Sera Pizzeria's offerings at the Mess Hall Market.

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Anne Marie Panoringan

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Mess Hall within the Flight office complex celebrated its official grand opening in 2019. While local favorite The Lost Bean is tucked away, it occupies a generous spot within the food hall’s open layout. Drink Bar’s cocktails (and other beverages) pair well with a slice from La Sera Pizzeria or grilled meats from The Little Greek.

SteelCraft Garden Grove

The exterior of Steelcraft in Garden Grove.

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Courtesy Kitchen Table PR

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SteelCraft expanded into Orange County in 2019, with a Garden Grove outpost that included primarily outdoor seating and a second level of seating for privacy or special events. From burgers by Swagyu to pasta from Aldente, Tea Otter for boba and Dark Horse for coffee, SteelCraft appears to check all the boxes. Live entertainment is a bonus. Pack an extra layer if you visit near sundown.

Herb and Ranch, Irvine

An influencer’s recent social media fullsome praise was a wake up call for foodies who weren’t already aware of Herb and Ranch adjacent to UCI. Created by Chef Brian Malarkey of “Top Chef” fame, and hidden in plain sight at the back of an office complex, the restaurant caters to early breakfast and lunch seekers, and its operating hours (it closes at 3 p.m.) make it ideal for a cup of coffee paired with carbs.

The inside of Herb and Ranch.

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@occomestibles

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Menus are updated with the seasons, but hot sandwiches, creative salads and comforting Hawaiian favorites dominate the selections.

Rodeo 39 Public Market, Stanton

Rodeo 39 shines in the evening.

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Wonho Lee

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Rodeo 39 is the newest market in the county, having opened in 2020. The number 39 represents the street it’s located along, plus what it’s named after, Beach Boulevard, while Rodeo is the name of the chain (there’s another one in Ontario Ranch).

It’s a modern take on shopping mall food courts from decades past. The saving grace of this particular hall (which kept it from being shut down during the pandemic) is its three sizable patios for al fresco dining. Dedicated takeout parking was also added for efficient service.

Coffee Dose may be one of the newer storefronts here, but its humorous take on caffeine, aka “Anti-bitch serum” has inspired a following. Hawaiian-inspired Shootz is the overall favorite, having moved to a larger restaurant pad within Rodeo to accommodate ordering lines crossing into the main walkway. Lines for Phoholic are generally long, but the flavorful broth and properly cooked noodles make it worth the wait.

Collage Culinary Experience, Costa Mesa

A two-story food hall within Bloomingdale’s, Collage is primarily Asian-inspired, with Paradise Dynasty (a direct competitor of Din Tai Fung) and Le Shrimp being popular enough to have lines outside. A third location of Phoholic opened downstairs not too long ago. The fanciest spot inside Collage is Blossoms and Brass with a full bar, abbreviated menu and attention to detail. Younger palettes will go for Bruxie and Cha Redefine Tea.

A slew of Medicare Advantage plans are disappearing for next year, leaving seniors in many areas with fewer options. In 193 counties across the country, no plans are offered at all.

Medicare's annual open enrollment period kicked off October 15 and runs until December 7, and seniors enrolled in those privatized Medicare plans that are closing in certain markets should carefully review their options.

Medicare Advantage means private insurers run Medicare for older Americans who choose it over traditional Medicare, where the federal government itself administers the program. More than half of the 70 million Americans in Medicare choose Medicare Advantage. It's popular because it covers services like vision and dental, often with lower premiums than traditional Medicare. It also often folds in the "Part D" drug benefit, simplifying that decision.

But a downside of Medicare Advantage is that companies can pick and choose where they offer plans. If a certain community is not profitable, a company can leave that market. And that has been happening on an increasingly large scale the last three years, according to research published in JAMA.

Who is affected

Big swaths of rural America are losing Medicare Advantage choices and so are some major metro areas.

Last year, 2.9 million seniors were in Medicare Advantage plans that closed up shop, according to JAMA. This year, an analysis of insurance company announcements by An Arm and A Leg podcast, shows at least 2 million people will be affected. Other preliminary estimates range from 3.2 million to 5 million seniors. About 35 million people are enrolled in Medicare Advantage.

According to an analysis of federal data by the health policy research organization KFF, the 193 counties that will have zero Medicare Advantage plans are mostly rural. Last year that number was about 120 counties without a plan offered.

KFF's numbers also show that there will be far fewer plans offered in some metro areas. Dallas, Minneapolis, Seattle, Houston and Portland all have between a quarter and a third fewer Medicare Advantage plans for seniors.

What happens next

If your plan is ending, and you don't choose another, the insurance company will assign you to another Medicare Advantage plan or the government will enroll you in traditional Medicare — but without a supplemental or drug plan.

If you want to switch from Medicare Advantage to traditional Medicare and your plan is ending, you can enroll in a Medicare supplemental plan — also known as Medigap — without the same restrictions that you would normally have. If you have a pre-existing condition that has prevented you from enrolling in Medigap before, that could be good news.

Another wrinkle this year is that insurance companies can cap enrollments on some of the Medicare Advantage plans that they do offer.

Which means: If you wait to sign up, a plan you want might already be full.

The companies are supposed to enroll people on a first-come, first-serve basis — and not cherry-pick customers based on health conditions, age, or demographics.

Another reason not to delay is that with so many people on the hunt for new plans, it may take longer than usual to get help.

How and where to find help

Here are some tips for navigating Medicare open enrollment this year:

• Find out if your plan is still offered: First, check your mail. Medicare Advantage plans that are closing should have sent letters the first week in October. You can also log in to your account on Medicare.gov to check your plan's status for next year.
  
• Try calling your SHIP: There's a State Health Insurance Assistance Program — known as a "SHIP" — in every state to help seniors with Medicare. The name's not easy to remember or particularly descriptive, but it's free, mandated by the federal government, and the staff and volunteers are required to give you unbiased information on all available options. Find your state in the directory at shiphelp.org. Your county may have a specific number that you can find on your state's SHIP website.
  
• Look for local Medicare counseling services: Friends, family, leaders at your place of worship, and the constituent services of your local elected officials may have the scoop on where you can get one-on-one help. The nonprofit Medicare Rights Center also has a national helpline, and a well-organized library of online guides.
  
• Brokers can be helpful, but be savvy: You want a broker who's going to talk with you about all your options — including switching to traditional Medicare and a supplemental plan. Ask if they sell plans from all available insurance carriers. And ask if they answer questions about your plan year-round, because insurance never stops being confusing.
  
• Double check what you see on Medicare.gov: Medicare's Plan Finder allows you to search plans online. But lists of doctors and drugs that are covered can sometimes be wrong. To be safe, double check with your doctor's office or a SHIP counselor, broker, or other Medicare assistor.
  
• Don't share your personal information with services you find online: Be careful where you share your personal information like your phone number. Some online agencies will sell your information, leading to spam calls and potentially even scam artists.
  
• Be mindful of the deadlines: Open enrollment for Medicare runs October 15, 2026 through December 7, 2026. The coverage starts January 1, 2027. If your plan is ending, you qualify for a "special enrollment period" to give you a little more time — until February 28, 2027. (For coverage that starts January 1, 2027, enroll by December 31.)

Emily Pisacreta is the senior producer for An Arm and a Leg, a podcast about the cost of healthcare produced in partnership with KFF Health News and distributed by KUOW, Seattle's NPR member station. 

Copyright 2026 NPR

Federal prosecutors sent letters to county registrars across California on Friday demanding that local officials set aside and verify ballots that the Department of Justice said may belong to noncitizens, according to the Los Angeles County registrar and a letter obtained by The Associated Press.

The letters are the latest escalation in a legal battle between California and President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice, which has recently focused on the state in its efforts to root out noncitizen voting ahead of the midterm elections. Data shows illegal voting by people who aren’t U.S. citizens is incredibly rare, difficult to prove and has not been shown to change the outcome of races.

Earlier this month, the federal government targeted Los Angeles County and the California Secretary of State’s office in a lawsuit that aimed to block them from counting the votes of roughly 20,000 people who are “likely” noncitizen voters. A hearing on the case is scheduled for Tuesday.

The Trump administration asked the 9th Circuit court of appeals to rule on the lawsuit barring a decision from the district judge assigned to the case. They set a deadline for Saturday.

Now, according to the LA County registrar’s office, at least 18 counties across the state have received similar letters. They have been given a 48 hour deadline to provide identifying information corresponding with ballots that the federal government believes were sent to noncitizens illegally registered to vote. The letter requests that county officials also sequester any ballots where citizenship cannot be verified.

“Any election official who knowingly processes the ballot of a noncitizen is opening themselves to legal jeopardy,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli.

The Justice Department is asking counties to send information about the voters it suspects are noncitizens including social security numbers, ID information, a copy of their registration and more.

That information can help the government and state quickly assess each person suspected of illegally registering to vote, said the letter sent to San Bernardino County voting officials. The letter says the government’s list of suspected noncitizen voters includes 1,133 people from the inland Southern California county.

California’s secretary of state and the Los Angeles County registrar have opposed the federal government’s demands. In legal filings, lawyers for California say the request threatens to delay the certification of the vote and undermine the legitimacy of the November midterms. They have also argued that the federal government’s data is unreliable and that their demands risk disenfranchisement of citizens.

Voting is underway in California, with the state’s more than 23 million registered voters receiving ballots in the mail earlier this month. The state said in legal filings that over 330,000 mail-in ballots have already been counted.

The letters on Friday came on the heels of statewide sweep by federal authorities earlier in the week, where 28 people from the list of 20,000 were charged with illegally registering to vote. Some were also charged with illegally voting and lying on naturalization paperwork. Those charges could lead to years in prison.

The California State University faculty union is asking its members to authorize a strike, as negotiations with the California State University system remain stalled.

This summer, the California Faculty Association declared an impasse after 16 months of negotiation with the CSU. The union’s president said university officials negotiating with the union have “not been honest agents.”

If a majority of members approve the strike authorization, voting from Oct. 26 through Nov. 19, CFA leadership would be authorized to call a strike.

The union, which represents 29,000 professors and other university employees, is seeking salary increases, changes to faculty workloads and protections related to the use of artificial intelligence.

In recent weeks, CSU has reached tentative agreements with three unions: the Statewide University Police Association, the United Auto Workers Local 4123 and Academic Professionals of California. Together, the agreements cover 14,000 university employees.

The tentative agreements, which must be approved by union members and CSU’s Board of Trustees, include an 8% salary increase over two years, along with one-time raises negotiated by each bargaining unit.

It can be tough to be tall. I am 6 feet, hear me out.

And yes, complaining about being able to see over a crowd may sound silly. But height can be a love-hate relationship for many people, particularly towering women and children who feel like they just don’t fit in.

Well, that’s where a worldwide social club for tall people comes in, but whether it’ll reach its 100th birthday is in question.

Tall Clubs International is an organization spanning more than a dozen states and several countries that offers tall adults a chance to connect and commiserate. The original chapter, founded in Los Angeles in 1938, is called the California Tip Toppers.

To get into the L.A. group, men have to be 6 feet 4 inches or taller, and women have to be at least 6 feet. One of the tallest members of the organization is 7 feet 2 inches, and honestly, I couldn’t help but perk up at the opportunity to feel short for once in my life.

At 13, I was still growing at 5 feet 10, towering over almost every kid in my freshman high school class. One of the first questions people still ask me is whether I played volleyball or basketball, and I’ve learned to laugh at the look they get when I say I preferred theater.

“People see how tall you are, they expect ‘Oh, you're going to be great on the basketball court,’” said Michele Cripps, a 6-foot-1 member of the California Tip Toppers, who joined in 1996. She's married to William Walter Wiseman II, a fellow member. “Well, I'm sorry, white girls can't jump sometimes, and I'm one of them.”

Some of the tall club members are generational, encouraged to join by their parents or older relatives, which has started to pose its own problems as the chapters get older.

What’s the big deal anyways?

William Walter Wiseman II and Michele Cripps at the 2026 Tall Clubs International convention in Hollywood.

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Courtesy Michele Cripps and William Walter Wiseman II

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The chapters became a way for tall people to trade practical tips, like which stores sold pants that actually covered your ankles or shoes that didn’t need to be specially made.

“I was always being kidded about my pants being too short or my clothes not fitting correctly,” said Wiseman, who's nearly 6 feet 9 and also wasn’t much of a basketball player. “And as I grew as an adult, people are a little bit afraid to approach people that are tall.”

Wiseman has a good sense of humor about his height, cracking jokes that I’ve added to my arsenal when answering “how’s the weather up there?” But he doesn’t gloss over the pain points either — Wiseman can’t fit into cars or roller coasters, hotel beds are never long enough, and airplanes can be an expensive nightmare.

“It's not just the socialization of being tall, but it's also the physicality of it,” he said. “It's almost a handicap to be tall.”

Members of the Tall Club of Orange County at the 2026 convention.

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Courtesy Michele Cripps and William Walter Wiseman II

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Cripps said she was a skinny kid, but she couldn’t help but feel “huge” growing up a head above everyone else, which hurt her young self-esteem and made dating more difficult.

The clubs gave them both a chance to see eye to eye with a room full of people for the first time, and potentially even find a partner. Wiseman’s parents met in the Dayton Altitudians tall club in Ohio, decades before Wiseman and Cripps met through their own California clubs.

“The people that married inside the club stayed married,” said Wiseman, who lives in Torrance with Cripps. “The people that married outside of the club got divorced.”

A Dayton Daily News clipping of William Walter Wiseman II's father measuring tall teens in the Dayton, Ohio area from November 19, 1958. 

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Courtesy William Walter Wiseman II

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Future of the club in question

But now, the California Tip Toppers is having trouble bringing in new, younger members — a recruitment crisis that’s essentially dissolved groups in other areas, Wiseman said.

Members of the California Tip Toppers at the 2026 convention.

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Courtesy Michele Cripps and William Walter Wiseman II

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“We're facing the same challenges like all other clubs,” Cripps and Wiseman said, jumping in to finish each other’s thoughts. “Some of it could be generational. Some of it's that since COVID, the clubs have not been quite as active as they used to be. Some people [don’t have] homes to open up anymore … and we're all getting older.”

The club is at a crossroads: Get new members on board or fade away. The couple seems to have made it a mission to rejuvenate the California Tip Toppers, but Cripps was frank when she said they’re not sure how to get more people involved, whether it's fresh events or outreach opportunities.

At the end of the day, they’re hoping the club and the community it fosters can help others learn how to “stand tall” and be proud.

The clubs crown a new Miss Tall International at a formal pageant held during the annual convention. The former Miss Tall Clubs International that were at the 2026 convention from left to right: Susan Hopkins, 2019, from the Tall Club of Orange County, Martine Whitford, 1959, from the Los Angeles Higher Ups, Norma Forrest, 1996, from the Tall Club of Toronto and Mary Eleman, 2022, from the Central Arizona Tall Society.

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Courtesy Michele Cripps and William Walter Wiseman II

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Members of the Tall Clubs International convention committee.  From left to right: Barry Umbs from Milwaukee, William Walter Wiseman II from the California Tip Toppers, Jim Nelson from the Paramount Tall Club-Chicago and Michele Cripps from the California Tip Toppers.

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Courtesy Michele Cripps and William Walter Wiseman II

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“It’s a challenge, but it’s something that was given to us,” Cripps said. “I say as I've aged, I should have listened to my mother, I should have stood up tall.”

Moms everywhere, mine included, rejoice.

“Everybody wants to be something different than they have,” Cripps continued. “So, try and embrace what you have. Life is too short, and it goes too quick.”