The O.C Mystery: The Case of The Missing O.C. Hand-prints

During The O.C.'s heyday, the show was exploding like crazy into the pop culture scene! The O.C was so huge that on On October 28th 2004 at the Historic Balboa Pavilion in Newport Beach, the mayor of Newport handed various actors and creators that attended keys to the city (They actually were beer bottle openers that looked like keys but that's besides the point). This must have been a very exciting honor, I mean the actors and creators look pretty happy to be there (slight sarcasm).

From there the actors/creators were then given the opportunity to put their hands in cement to be immortalized forever..A whole ceremony happened, The O.C. actors etc smiled for photos, fans went crazy, they stuck their hands in cement and even signed their names. It was a big "to do" but where are they now? This was a very obscure and uncovered topic, though research I realized that was just the beginning for the hand prints. Word on the streets of Chino said they were originally suppose to be displayed permanently at the Balboa Pavilion (the same place they had the ceremony in Newport) in a walk of fame type manner as a tribute to the show's success but for some reason never happened. MYSTERIOUS.

From there the hand prints wound up at the Newport Beach Conference & Visitors Bureau. They were apparently displayed in the many visitor center windows and an estimated 200 people a month would pose in front of them and take photos using their hip flip camera phones.

After being there for a few years they made their final home (thus far) at the Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort (uhh random). Graciously the Newport Dunes people rescued these pieces of history and have them proudly displayed in their main office for fans to see.

According to this article on iamnotastalker.com (same place where i got the image above) one of the guys that works at Newport Dunes said “No one else wanted them, so we took them.”, can you believe that!! The front desk clerk also mentioned that "hundreds of people come by to see the hand prints each month, though". I think they are truly awesome and the mystery surrounding them are equally interesting. They are apparently far away from other O.C location spots, so not a convenient spot but i'd say its worth it! Regardless I want to go see them before they move somewhere else! I wonder why Seth (Adam Brody), Marissa (Mischa Barton), Summer (Rachel Bilson) weren't there to partake in the fun?! Further more it is strange that Zach Stevens (Michael Cassidy) was there over other more permanent characters. Regardless mystery solved....For now....I say they will appear on ebay soon and I w ill be the highest bidder.

How to find: 1311 Back Bay Drive in Newport Beach, just off Jamboree Road. (thanks iamnotastalker.com)

Additional close up hand print photos thanks to the site www.concertkatie.com!