Orange County may be Southern California’s hip and well-heeled corner, but turn the clock back a century or two and life in The OC was one of perseverance and determination coupled with a pioneering spirit from the men and women who helped to settle the land.
Native American tribes, such as the Tongva, Gabrielinos, Juaneño, Shoshones, Ute-Aztecas, and Luiseño, roamed the land long before the arrival of the Spanish. But once explorer Gaspar de Portola discovered the region, life for the natives, unbeknown to them, would change drastically. They were recruited to help the Spanish develop the area during a time when colonial America was struggling for independence some 3,000 miles away on the opposite side of the New World. Orange County’s evolution began with the construction of Mission San Juan Capistrano, the seventh mission to be built in the 21-mission chain, and eventually segued to the region’s rancho period when adobes and vast farmland were dominant. Land grants, given by both the Spanish and Mexican governments during their reigns, were eventually divided and sold with a group of German settlers reaping the benefits by purchasing several acres at $2 a plot. Their land, christened Anaheim, became a successful wine-producing region during he mid to late 1800s before blight completely destroyed thousands of grapevines. While the region was no longer conducive to grape growing, its rich soil launched another agricultural renaissance, and soon the smell of orange blossoms permeated the air as hundreds of groves produced plump and succulent fruit. Orange County remained a sleepy farming community for much of the nineteenth as well as the first half of the twentieth centuries. Following World War II, a rash of housing developments were built as GIs returned from their tours of duty to settle down and raise families. As the latter part of the twentieth century got underway, Orange County began to evolve as a major tourist destination with the opening of Disneyland. Its metamorphosis as a vacation hotspot continued with the expansion of John Wayne Airport and the addition of plush, coastal resorts. From its humble beginnings to its present-day panache, The OC continues to evolve with each passing year.