SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA

'Santa Ana' is the most populous city in Orange County, California and is the county seat. It lies approximately 10 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean, on the largely seasonal Santa Ana River. The Santa Ana Freeway (Interstate 5) runs through the city, and the Costa Mesa Freeway (55 Freeway) and Garden Grove Freeway (22 Freeway) travel along its edges. It is today best-known for its enormous Hispanic population, now comprising over 75% of what was once a virtually all-white city. The current OMB metropolitan designation for Santa Ana and the Orange County Area is "Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, CA."

Contents

History

Geography

Education

Demographics

Business

Transportation

Notable natives and residents

Sites of interest

See also

Notes and References

External links

History

Members of the Tongva and Juaneño/Luiseño nations long inhabited the area. After the 1769 expedition of Gaspar de Portolà, a Spanish expedition led by Father Junipero Serra named the area Vallejo de Santa Ana (Valley of Saint Anne). On November 1, 1776, Mission San Juan Capistrano became the areas first permanent European settlement in Alta California, New Spain.
In 1801, the Spanish Empire granted 62,500 acres to Jose Antonio Yorba, which he named Rancho San Antonio. Yorba's great rancho included the lands where the cities of Olive, Orange, Irvine, Villa Park, Santa Ana, Tustin, Costa Mesa and Newport Beach stand today.
After the Mexican-American war ended in 1848, Alta California became part of the United States and American settlers arrived in this area.
Claimed in 1869 by Kentuckian William H. Spurgeon on land obtained from the descendents of Jose Antonio Yorba, Santa Ana was incorporated as a city in 1886 with a population of 2000 and in 1889 became the seat of the newly formed Orange County.
One of Santa Ana's most notable businesses is the Rickenbacker musical instrument company, whose electric guitars and bass guitars earned fame in the hands of many rock and roll legends. Santa Ana is also the home of the First American Corporation and Ingram Micro, and the original Glenn L. Martin aviation company, which later merged with the Lockheed Corporation to form the largest aircraft and weapons manufacturing corporation on the planet, Lockheed Martin.

Geography

Santa Ana is located at (33.740717, -117.881408).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 71.0 km² (27.4 mi²). 70.3 km² (27.1 mi²) of it is land and 0.7 km² (0.3 mi²) of it (0.95%) is water. It is the 8th most densely populated place in the United States with a population of 100,000 or more with 12,471.5 people per sq. mile.

Education

Santa Ana is home to Santa Ana College, a community college that is part of the Rancho Santiago Community College District. Mater Dei High School, Valley High School, Middle College High School, Santa Ana High School, Saddleback High School, Century High School, Segerstrom Fundamental High School, newly opened Godinez Fundamental High School and other major schools in the area, along with the Orange County High School of the Arts in the downtown district. It also is home to one of the many post-secondary private Art Institutions of California.
Santa Ana Unified School District includes thirty-seven K-5 elementary schools, nine 6-8 intermediate schools, eight 9-12 high schools, five special schools, and one charter school. The school district provides an online accountability report card, viewable at this url address: http://www.sausd.k12.ca.us/departments/research_eval/accountability.asp
The Roman Catholic Diocesan K-8 schools available in Santa Ana are: School of Our Lady, Saint Anne, Saint Barbara, and Saint Joseph. (Immaculate Heart Of Mary And Our Lady Of the Pillar schools were closed in 2005 and merged into the School of Our Lady which is located at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish. [1]

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 337,977 people, 73,002 households, and 59,788 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,808.2/km² (12,451.9/mi²). There were 74,588 housing units at an average density of 1,061.1/km² (2,748.0/mi²). Some consider these numbers to be severely undercounted, and put the population, which may consist of up to 25% undocumented migrants, at 500,000. ^[1] Santa Ana's population density is 4.6 per housing unit, the highest of any American city over 50,000. (By contrast, New York's is 2.8, and Los Angeles's density is 2.6 persons per housing unit.) Many residents live in illegally converted garages or in rooms not meant for occupancy. The city has attempted to reduce the number of individuals living inside one house by passing density limitations, which resulted in a civil rights lawsuit being filed and the limits ultimately dropped. ^[2]
The racial makeup of the city was 42.73% White, 1.70% African American, 1.19% Native American, 8.81% Asian, 0.34% Pacific Islander, 40.64% from other races, and 4.58% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 76.07% of the population. Non-Hispanic Whites make up 12.4% of the population, a small fraction of what was a majority in 1950 and 1960.
There were 73,002 households out of which 53.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.6% were married couples living together, 13.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 18.1% were non-families. 12.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 4.55 and the average family size was 4.72.
In the city the population was spread out with 34.2% under the age of 18, 12.8% from 18 to 24, 34.1% from 25 to 44, 13.5% from 45 to 64, and 5.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 26 years. For every 100 females there were 107.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 108.7 males. Santa Ana bucks the national trend on a large percentage of young people under the age of 21.
The median income for a household in the city was $43,412, and the median income for a family was $41,050. Males had a median income of $23,342 versus $21,637 for females. The per capita income for the city was $12,152. About 16.1% of families and 19.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 24.1% of those under age 18 and 10.4% of those age 65 or over. Santa Ana is a city divided by socio-economic class stratification after decades of immigration and economic prosperity.
The reason for Santa Ana's appeal to a large Hispanic immigrant population since the 1970s was its proximity to rich job markets, the cost of cheap housing until recently, the availability of multi-housing units dating back before the Orange County suburban boom, and a history of Mexican American culture is appealing to immigrants closely attached to Mexico. In 1970 (U.S. Census) the city's Hispanic percentage was 30 percent, then increased to 53 percent in 1980 and went up to 65 percent by 1990. Santa Ana has a large presence (compared to Orange county) of African Americans. Also large numbers of Asian Americans and Middle Easterners, such as Iranians, Indian Americans and Vietnamese Americans arrived in Santa Ana during the 1980s.

Business

Santa Ana is home to:

★ First American Corporation

★ Ingram Micro

★ The Orange County Register

★ Greenwood & Hall

★ Behr Paint

Transportation

Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides service to Santa Ana several times on weekdays with less frequent service on weekends. It operates its Pacific Surfliner between San Diego, California to the south and either Los Angeles, California or Paso Robles, California to the north. Greyhound USA are the largest bus transportation in Santa Ana. Crucero serves all points into Mexico. Greyhound serves the continental United States and Canada.
Santa Ana is also served by Metrolink's Orange County Line (Oceanside to Union Station), and Inland Empire-Orange County Line (San Bernardino to San Juan Capistrano).
The John Wayne Airport is located in Santa Ana and its IATA code is SNA.

Notable natives and residents

★ David Aldana, former professional motorcycle racer

★ Daniel Arreola, sportscaster for Fox Sports International (Saddleback High School graduate)

★ David "Elsewhere" Bernal, actor and dancer

★ Beverly Bivens, singer

★ Marlon Brando, actor

★ Sandro Dias, professional skateboarder

★ Philip K. Dick, writer

★ Diane Keaton, actress

★ Matt Leinart, football player (Mater Dei High School graduate)

★ Rueben Martinez - activist and MacArthur Fellow

★ Bill Medley, singer and songwriter

★ Mike Ness, musician

★ Michelle Pfeiffer, actress

★ Erasmo Ramirez, professional baseball player (Saddleback High School graduate)

★ John Raitt, musician

★ Garry Templeton, former baseball player (Santa Ana Valley High School graduate)

★ Gerald Young, former baseball player (Santa Ana Valley High School graduate)

Sites of interest

★ Artist Village and Civic Center, both in downtown.

★ Santa Ana Farmers Market (every Wednesday 3-7pm, by 3rd and Bush)

★ Bowers Museum - History museum started in the 1930s with a large collection of Central American artifacts.

★ CSUF Grand Central Art Center - At the heart of the Artist Village in Santa Ana, near a railroad/Greyhound bus depot.

★ Delhi Park and Salvador Park named for Santa Ana's ethnic sections.

★ Discovery Science Center.

★ Downtown National Register District.

★ OC Pavilion performing arts center and 5-star restaurant Ambrosia.

★ El Centro Cultural de Mexico.

★ Galaxy Theatre.

★ Historic French Park.

★ Dr. Willella Howe-Waffle House and Medical Museum.

★ Main Place Mall opened in 1990.

★ Old Orange County Courthouse.

★ Original Mike's.

★ Santa Ana College

★ Santa Ana Fire Department's Firefighter's Museum.

★ Santa Ana Zoo, built in 1960.

★ St. Joseph Catholic Church.

★ Sol Art Gallery Cafe.

★ Historic Floral Park.
The Rancho Santiago Community College District, established in 1878, has six satellite campus locations across Orange County, including Santa Ana College.
Greenville, a formerly rural section of Santa Ana, has buildings over a century-old, but industrial complexes replaced agricultural fields that once surrounded the town.
Santa Ana has several wall paintings and murals depicting local history, community events and cultural diversity in Orange County.

See also

★ Santa Ana Freeway

★ Santa Ana wind

Notes and References

1. Arellano, Gustavo. Latino Youth Talk About the Real "O. C." Pacific News Service, October 11, 2004.
2. Mena, Jennifer. " In Housing Density, It's Too Close for Comfort." ''Los Angeles Times'', September 15, 2003.

External links

★ Santa Ana Farmers Market

★ City of Santa Ana Website

★ Santa Ana Historical Preservation Society

★ Location Orange County

★ Orange County Business Council (Chamber of Commerce)

★
★ Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce

★ Orange County ArtSource (Links to the Arts in Orange County)

★ Orange County Transportation Authority

★ Santa Ana Art Scene and Events

★ Santa Ana Winds Youth Band, Official Ambassadors of Music for Orange County

★ OC Pavilion

★ OCStandard- Orange County City Guide

★ Santa Ana Zoo