Tourist information -
Orange County
Santa Ana (California)is a city in southwestern California and seat of Orange County. The city is located in the southern portion of a vast metropolitan region centered around Los Angeles. Santa Ana is a hub for commercial, financial, and governmental activity. The retail, manufacturing, and professional services sectors are important to the economy.
Museums include the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, the Discovery Museum of Orange County, and the Orange County Center of Contemporary Art. The Artists Village in downtown Santa Ana is a complex of artist residences, galleries, classrooms, and studios, and includes the California State University-Fullerton Grand Central Art Center. Santa Ana is also home to the Santa Ana Zoo, a historic downtown area, and a community college.
A Spanish expedition party led by Gaspár de Portolá named the area Santa Ana in 1769 in honor of Saint Anne. Initially used for cattle grazing, the site of the present-day city was included in a Spanish land grant called Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana and issued to José Antonio Yorba and Juan Peralta in 1810. The area also began developing as a farming community. It was laid out in 1869, and its name was shortened to its original form; the city incorporated in 1886. Santa Ana experienced rapid residential and industrial growth beginning in the 1950s. |
