CHECKING IN WITH ... Steve Jones:

Steve Jones dedicates most of his time to putting roofs over Costa Mesa — his real estate firm, bettershelter, builds sustainable housing at a low price — but on the side, he’s the president of the Westside Business Culture, a group of merchants that formed last year to help develop and promote some of the city’s least affluent neighborhoods. Jones took a break from construction this week to share his visions.

There’s been a lot of talk recently about gas prices going up and housing prices going down. Which is a bigger issue for people who live and work on the Westside?

Housing is a cyclical market, so what goes up goes down and what goes down goes up. So it’s going to go up again. I don’t see gas prices going down.

Do you see the higher gas prices having an impact on people around you?

I think gas prices are certainly going to affect families that are on a budget and people that are really being mindful of what they spend. But again, it’s sort of relative.

Let’s talk about the Westside Business Culture. If you were taking me on a one-day guided tour of the Westside, what would be on our itinerary?

What I would do is show you that the Westside is the birthplace of the surf garment industry. All the big companies started there. So that would be the first thing, and then all the surfboard factories that went with it. And then, after that, you’ve got this little creative hub with eVocal and World Gallery, and then Mesa Art. And then you’ve got that delicious little cupcake place, Dolcissimo, that opened on the Westside, so we would end with that.

Do you do most of your shopping in this part of town?

I do a lot of shopping on the Westside. Trader Joe’s is over there, and you have that fruit market across from it.

Ten years from now, what would you like the Westside to be best known for?

I would like the Westside to be known for its cultural diversity and its embracing of the arts.

What do you think is the biggest undiscovered treasure on the Westside?

Westside Costa Mesa has ocean views. That’s the secret nobody knows.

Do you have a favorite lookout spot?

It probably would be standing at the very edge of the Westside, with that ocean view. It’s a little bit past Monrovia.

Do you think the Westside might end up like Greenwich Village — a place everyone thinks is rundown and bohemian, but it ends up getting expensive because so many people consider it a hip place to live?

Usually, the way it works is you have these early adopters into a community or neighborhood. We’re getting the early adopters at 1.7 Ocean [a housing development founded by bettershelter], and then you can see the businesses — Detroit Bar, Avalon, eVocal. Those are the makings of a neighborhood like Greenwich Village. So the seeds have been planted.

When you think of art in this area, what strikes you the most?

It’s a little of everything. You’ve got Detroit Bar and you’ve got Avalon across from each other, and that’s the music thing. And Detroit Bar, they get really good acts, acts that play to packed houses in L.A.

If you could lure one business to the Westside — one retailer, one hotel, anything else — what would your dream be?

I’d like to see a development that embraces the surf history, the surf culture of that area. So in other words, a development geared toward the people who live and work in the surf industry in Westside Costa Mesa.

What kind of business would that be?

I don’t see it as a business. It’s more of a point of view. You have all these great businesses on the Westside, but they’re all scattered, so to take all those businesses and bring them together would be great.

MICHAEL MILLER may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at [email protected].