Orange County comes of age: the O.C. plays to new reputation as hip spot; resorts play up beaches.

Televisions shows like "The O.C.," "Laguna Beach: The Real OC" and "Arrested Development" have focused attention on Orange County, dubbed the capital of cool by USA Today. And while the programs may not depict everyday life exactly as it's lived by the county's 3 million residents, they have helped OC shed its drab image of a bedroom community that counted only Disneyland as a tourist attraction. Instead. Orange County today is the place to be seen.

And if you haven't seen it in the last few years, you might not even recognize it today.

"'We're moving away from just Disneyland to a coastal leisure lifestyle," said Werner Escher, executive director of domestic and international markets for South Coast Plaza, the largest shopping destination in California. Even Disneyland isn't the same, with the 2001 addition of a second park, Disney's California Adventure, an Arts & Crafts-style hotel, the Grand Californian, and the entertainment and dining district of Downtown Disney.

To be sure, Disneyland still plays a major role in the county's draw for tourists--about 13 million people visit the Disneyland parks each year. But today those visitors are beginning to extend their stays in OC to take advantage of its 42 miles of beaches, cultural offerings and a growing stable of upscale shopping and dining opportunities.

Today, an increasing number of visitors arrive directly into OC's John Wayne Airport or Long Beach Airport or Ontario Airport as well as Los Angeles. And an increasing number of them are headed for the coast.

In all, Orange County has about 55,000 hotel rooms, with 37% of them in Anaheim and roughly 10% along the coast. Room rates can vary from an average of $85 per night north of Anaheim in communities like Fullerton, Yorba Linda and Brea to an average high of $179 at some coastal resorts. There are accommodations to suit just about any budget--including waterfront camping at the Newport Dunes resort in Newport Beach.

Visitors driving into Orange County via Pacific Coast Highway will get a glimpse of smaller beach towns that retain a retro feel before arriving at Bolsa Chica State Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach, where migrating birds along the Pacific Flyway congregate.

Huntington Beach boasts a trademark for its slogan of "Surf City USA" and hosts as many as 36 surfing competitions each year along with the Pro Beach Volleyball Tour's Huntington Beach Open, BMX bike contests and other sports events. The city also has a Surfing Walk of Fame and International Surfing Museum.

Directly across the highway from the city's eight miles of beach are the first two of OC's coastal resorts: the Hilton Waterfront Resort and Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Spa. The Hyatt has a pedestrian bridge link to the beach and can cater beachfront parties while other guests lounge at the spa or spa pool. More hotels and a commercial complex are planned for the land that links the two resorts, completing an urban village that already attracts meeting planners to the largest conference facility along the OC coast at the Hyatt.

Resort properties like the private Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach and Surf & Sand in Laguna Beach are legendary for their celebrity history, but no other coastal resorts came along until the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel was built in the 1970s. Instead, the coastal towns built their reputation on other facets of beach life: surfing in Huntington Beach, the Fun Zone and Balboa Pavilion for dancing in Newport Beach and the Festival of Arts, Pageant of Masters, Sawdust Festival and Art-A-Fair in Laguna Beach. Dana Point (named for author Richard Henry Dana) built its marina in the late '60s and San Clemente hung its hat on the fame it garnered as the home of the Western White House during the Nixon administration.

Today, those cities are home to a string of new resorts, many of which have banded together this year in a unique marketing effort called "The Oceanfront" to acquaint visitors from afar with OC's coast as well as its Anaheim convention hub.

"There's good awareness (of Orange County resorts) within California, but we needed to build awareness out of state," said James Bermingham, general manager of Montage Resort & Spa in Laguna Beach.

Nine coastal resorts--along with the Grand Californian in Anaheim and Hyatt Regency Irvine--make up OC's contingent of four- and five-star and diamond lodgings. Add to that eight top-rated restaurants (seven along the coast) and the only five-star spa in the U.S. (at Montage Resort & Spa in Laguna Beach) and there's good reason for leisure and business travelers alike to pay attention.

Bruce Baltin, senior vice president of PKF Consulting in Los Angeles, told attendees at a recent tourism outlook conference that the coastal resorts have the ability to compete nationally and internationally.

"Coastal Orange County has developed into a destination unto itself," he said.

In Newport Beach, the Balboa Bay Club now has a 132-room resort hotel on the bay that's open to the public. Guests enjoy some privileges at the private club during a stay. The hotel boasts a four-diamond restaurant, First Cabin, and Duke's Place in a nod to one of its most famous members--John Wayne--who is said to have tended bar on occasion at the club.

Also in Newport Beach, the Four Seasons in Newport Center has the advantage of a resort campus linked to the tony Fashion Island shopping destination that offers personal concierge service for shoppers and top-notch restaurants like the Ritz and David Wilhelm's Rouge. Four Seasons this spring unveiled its 4,000-square-foot full-service spa, the culmination of a complete property makeover.

A block away, the Newport Beach,-Marriott Hotel will finish a $60 million total makeover by year's end. ,

Newport Beach has the largest marina in the county. Its extensive waterfront lends itself to water-based activities that include paddleboats, electric boats, gondola rides and charter yachts for special events, seminars or receptions.

Hornblower Yachts & Events is based just a block from Balboa Bay Club and provides visitors a chance to sail on John Wayne's former yacht, the Wild Goose, or other yachts in the fleet.

Take your car on a ferry across the bay to Balboa Island from the Fun Zone on the Peninsula (where you'll also find those delectable Balboa Bars) to stroll the New England-style village.

Newport's Back Bay attracts joggers, cyclists, bird watchers and kayakers to the ecological reserve. And at nearby Newport Coast--the quintessential OC--you'll find Pelican Hill Golf Course overlooking the Pacific Ocean. A boutique hotel is planned nearby. Pelican Hill is one of about 40 golf courses scattered throughout the county.

Inland from Newport Beach is Costa Mesa, the cultural center of Orange County, where the Orange County Performing Arts Center is in the midst of a major expansion that includes the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. Samueli Theater and an education center.

Henry Segerstrom, managing partner of C.J. Segerstrom and Sons, hopes the expansion will boost cultural tourism.

"My hope is that L.A., Orange County and all of Southern California can band together to market cultural tourism," he said in a recent speech. Other cultural sites include the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana, now featuring an exhibit on "Mummies," and the Discovery Science Center, where a Mars-themed hands-on space exhibit is on display.

The Costa Mesa arts district sits across Bristol Street from one of the nation's largest shopping destinations: South Coast Plaza, which last year won the trademark for its brand: the Ultimate Shopping Resort. It offers concierge, valet parking and international consulting services.

South of Newport Beach, surrounded in part by state parks and greenbelt preserves, is the art colony of Laguna Beach that first gained renown for its plein air artists.

This month, it debuts its 73rd edition of the Pageant of the Masters at the Festival of Arts, an exhibition of living pictures unique in the U.S.

Laguna Beach has a wealth of art galleries, live/work studio lofts and exhibition areas like [seven-degrees] that also offers event space set in the midst of the three festival grounds.

Since the opening of the Montage Resort & Spa in 2003, the Craftsman-style resort has brought new acclaim to the city. This spring, Mobil Travel Guide named the Montage spa the only five-star spa in the nation.

Meanwhile, the Surf & Sand expanded its spa courtyard and has begun a renovation of all guestrooms, lobby, Splashes restaurant and conference center that will be done by year's end.

Three miles south in Dana Point, the Ritz-Carlton has long anchored the resort business. Now it is putting the finishing touches on a renovation that better blends the resort with its oceanfront location. A new full-service spa and fitness center just opened and the new restaurant, Restaurant 162, debuts this month.

Across Pacific Coast Highway is the newer St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort & Spa, which sits above the Monarch Beach Golf Club and has direct beach access via golf cart or a walking path. St. Regis has served as the set for the TV show "Las Vegas" and hosts frequent celebrity events.

Perched on a bluff above the harbor in Dana Point is the charming New England-style Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort where guests can enjoy outdoor spa treatments on the broad lawn or take a short shuttle ride to the beach.

Visitors who passed up a trip to Catalina Island in Long Beach have a second chance in Dana Point, where Catalina Express runs daily catamaran trips across the channel. Fishing and sightseeing excursions also are available at the harbor.

From the coastal cities, head inland to explore some of OC's rugged national forests, wilderness trails and canyons, all easily accessible from most of the county's 34 cities. In places like the Cleveland National Forest or Laguna Coast Wilderness Park, you'll get a whole different feel for what Orange County was like before it was settled.

The Santa Ana (I-5) Freeway is the main north-south artery through Orange County, along with the San Joaquin Hills (73) Transportation Corridor toll road. Head back to it and go north to the heart of the county's visitor industry: Anaheim.

The convention market in Anaheim remains strong, drawing just over 1 million attendees annually.

Tourist numbers also are expected to be up this year on the strength of Disneyland's widely publicized 50th anniversary celebration that was launched in May and will continue through 2006.

"We always gain market share when times are good," said Charles Ahlers, president of the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau (AOCVCB).

Disneyland spruced up the original park for the party, introducing a new parade, fireworks and its first interactive ride in Buzz Lightyear's AstroBlaster. This month, an updated Space Mountain will reopen just days before the birthday on July 17.

Disney's California Adventure, the newer Disney park, also got a new parade; an interactive real-time animation attraction called Turtle Talk with Crush (from "Finding Nemo") will debut this fall. Next January, a Monsters Inc. ride will open at the newer park.

Less than 10 miles north of Disneyland is America's original theme park: Knott's Berry Farm. Though it preserves its original Old West roots, today Knott's also draws the young set to its Camp Snoopy and thrill-seekers to its coasters, including the new Silver Bullet. But theme parks aren't the only game in town any more.

In recognition of Disneyland's anniversary, the AOCVCB recently published a brochure "50 Ways to Enjoy Orange County" that was distributed to international wholesalers, media and meeting planners. And it heavily plays on "The OC" connection in promotions. Coach USA even offers an "OC Experience" tour of Orange County that includes stops at Newport Coast, Fashion Island and other landmarks made famous by "The O.C" There's also a driving guide of Orange County to help those who arrive by car, and a California Welcome Center--one of only 10 in the state--is nearby at Westfield Shoppingtown MainPlace in Santa Ana.

Today visitors can enjoy professional baseball at Angel Stadium, major league lacrosse with the Anaheim Storm at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim or Mighty Ducks professional hockey when that league gets back under way. The Orange County Badminton Club---the largest such facility in the Western Hemisphere--is nearby in Orange, along with Van's Skatepark and Lucky Strike Lanes--a high-tech bowling center--at The Block at Orange.

Both the Pond and nearby Grove of Anaheim are growing in popularity as concert venues, and Downtown Disney provides meeting planners with a plethora of ideas for dine-arounds and other offsite activities. This fall, the Pond will host concerts by the Eagles and Paul McCartney.

An Anaheim Resort Transit makes it easy for conventioneers and tourists to get around between resort hotels, Disney properties and the Convention Center. But many like to go farther afield to experience restaurants like Anaheim White House a couple of miles away, or the four-diamond Cellar in Fullerton.

Ten miles to the north via the Orange (57) Freeway in the foothills of Yorba Linda is the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace, which debuted a 47,000-square-foot expansion last fall that includes a replica of the White House East Room. Set on a hilltop, the facility is an ideal place for groups seeking an educational and elegant place for meetings, seminars, receptions and dinners.

Next, point that vehicle south on the I-5 toward San Diego--unless you have an urge to visit a casino. If so, go east on the Riverside (SR91) Freeway to the I-15 south to Temecula, where you can spend some time at the four diamond Pechanga Resort & Casino just a stone's throw from the San Diego County line.