Corner Stores

Even many Costa Mesa residents believe that 17th Street west of Trader Joe’s dissolves into some sort of quasi-industrial no man’s land. But take a closer look: One corner alone reveals several intriguing enterprises. Inside you can find wooden tennis rackets and octopus tacos!

MORNING 1 2

Sports Consignment buys and trades used sports equipment mostly, or sells it on consignment with a 60/40 customer/store split. The front room is filled with treadmills and NordicTrack exercise machines, the latter, for instance, usually priced at half retail, as low as $199. Farther back in the store are the real treasures, including wooden tennis rackets for $1.95 and a room full of surfboards, starting at $29.95 (even less during summer). Upstairs are skateboards starting at $4.95 and in-line skates for $6.99 and up. Other items include bicycles, wetsuits and baseball gloves.

Crofton Antiques specializes in English porcelain--owner Norm Wheatcroft is an authority on Worcester, the oldest manufacturer of porcelain in England--but also carries furniture, silver, glass, clocks and paintings. He and his wife, Dorie, opened the store four years ago. Bons vivants will appreciate the antique corkscrews and a martini spike, a 12cc sterling silver vermouth dispenser resembling a hypodermic ($79).

The shop does not specialize in musical items, but on hand recently were a blue cello-shaped glass vase ($19), a carved-wood Concertone accordion ($595) and several elaborate French opera glasses. Hand-carved duck decoys ($59) line the stairs to the upper level.

Newspaper clippings are taped inside the front window of Capt. Swede Jenson’s Maritime License Preparation School (in G-3, next door to Crofton Antiques). One begins, “In Southern California, almost everyone with a Coast Guard license has heard about the Swedish skipper with a wooden leg who’s been married 14 times . . . .”

LUNCH 3

There’s a surfboard-shaped clock, surf magazines on the counters and a tropical fish theme at Catalina Fish Kitchen and Seafood Deli, which was opened in March by brothers Matt, Mike and Bill Wilkins.

You can order off the menu, divided into the usual categories, but it pretty much boils down to this: Choose your fish, choose your seasonings, choose your style. The array of fish depends on the daily catch; it’s all fresh. Seasoning possibilities include olive oil and garlic, lemon and butter, Jamaican spice and Matty’s marinade. Specify salad, sandwich (grilled or chilled), taco or entree plate.

Numerous taco options listed on a board include octopus ($2.95), salmon ($3.50), crab ($5.50) and lobster ($6.95). There are chowders (starting at $1.95 per half-pint) and four kinds of gumbo (grilled fish gumbo with jasmine rice $3.75 per pint, $5.95 per quart). Sandwich lovers might try shark with teriyaki or calamari steak with lemon butter ($5.95). Also listed are pasta and chicken dishes if (horrors!) you don’t like fish.

AFTER LUNCH 4

If you’re in the market, Computer Recycler (in G-4) offers service, upgrades and sales of new and used Macintoshes.

In the easy-to-overlook-but-not-to-be-missed department, do peek in at Chet’s. Ostensibly it’s an automotive repair shop, and there’s nothing really for sale, but the front room is packed with collectibles. The more obvious include a striped barbershop pole, hot-pink candy machine, Pepsi wall thermometer and antique bicycles.

Closer inspection reveals antique sparkplugs and motor oils, a 1959 city map featuring a shot of Miss Costa Mesa Margery Fisher and a wall display of owner Robert Malek’s Hot Wheels collection. The working gum-ball machine on the counter still takes 1 cent; what comes out is a reproduction of the original Ford gum balls.

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1) Sports Consignment

670 W. 17th St., G-1, (714) 548-0660.

Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday.

2) Crofton Antiques

670 W. 17th St., G-2, (714) 642-4585.

Open 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday.

3) Catalina Fish Kitchen and Seafood Deli

670 W. 17th St., G-8, (714) 645-8873.

Open 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday.

4) Chet’s

670 W. 17th St., G-6, (714) 646-4103.

Open 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday.

Parking: There is ample free parking in a lot fronting the businesses.

Buses: OCTA Bus No. 45 (Orange-Costa Mesa via Fairview Road) runs along 17th Street in Costa Mesa with a stop at Pomona Avenue.