Santa Ana, California

Santa Ana is the largest city and the county seat of Orange County, California. 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 Mexican American population, now comprising over 75% of what was once a virtually all-white city. It has the highest percentage of Latinos, even more than El Paso, among the 50 largest cities in America. The Current OMB metropolitan designation for Santa Ana and the Orange County Area is “Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, CA.”

Founded in 1869 by Kentuckian William H. Spurgeon on land purchased from the Yorba family, 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.

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 and Santa Ana High School 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 SCHOOL OF OUR LADY which is located at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish. ( See http://www.schoolofourlady.org )

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% illegal immigrants, at 500,000. Arellano, Gustavo. Latino Youth Talk About the Real "O. C." Pacific News Service, October 11, 2004. 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. Mena, Jennifer. " In Housing Density, It's Too Close for Comfort." Los Angeles Times, September 15, 2003.

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.

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.

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.

The reason for Santa Ana's appeal to a large Hispanic immigrant population since the 1970's 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 of African Americans, Asian Americans and Middle Easterners, such as Iranians and Vietnamese arrived in the 1980's.

Current events

There is currently debate over a proposed 37-story office tower for the downtown district. If built, the skyscraper would be the tallest building in Orange County. Those in favor of the project, which is named One Broadway Plaza, feel that the tower will add prestige to the city, while those who oppose it feel that while it is a good project, serious issues such as traffic, pollution, and student safety in the three schools directly across the street from the proposed project site, have not been addressed. A special election regarding this issue was held on April 5th, 2005, and citizens decided that the building would be built.

Rail 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.

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).

Notable natives and residents

Bill Medley, singer and songwriter
Diane Keaton, actress
Matt Leinart, athlete
Michelle Pfeiffer, actress
Gerald Young, athlete
Garry Templeton, athlete
Mike Ness, musician
John Raitt, musician
Marlon Brando, actor
Philip K. Dick, writer

Sites of interest

Artist Village
Bowers Museum - History museum started in the 1930s with a large collection of Central Americian artifacts
CSUF Grand Central Art Center - At the heart of the Artist Village in Santa Ana
Discovery Science Center
Downtown National Register District
El Centro Cultural de Mexico
Galaxy Theatre
Historic French Park
Howe-Waffle House
Main Place Mall
Old Orange County Courthouse
Original Mike's
Santa Ana Fire Department's Firefighter's Museum
Santa Ana Zoo
Sol Art Gallery Cafe

External links

Notes

Santa Ana, California | Cities in Orange County, California

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