Orange County, California
Map
Location in the state of California
California's location in the U.S.
Statistics
Founded	March 11, 1889
Seat	Santa Ana
Largest city	Anaheim
Area  - Total  - Land  - Water	948 sq mi (2,455 km²) 789 sq mi (2,045 km²) 159 sq mi (411 km²), 16.43%
Population  - (2008)  - Density	3,121,251 3,606/sq mi (1,392/km²)
Time zone	Pacific: UTC-8/-7
Website: www.oc.ca.gov

Cities in Orange County

Orange County is a county in Southern California, United States. Its county seat is Santa Ana. According to the 2000 Census, its population was 2,846,289, making it the second most populous county in the state of California, and the fifth most populous in the United States. The state of California estimates its population as of 2008 to be 3,121,251 people, dropping its rank to third, behind San Diego County.¹

Whereas most population centers in the United States tend to be identified by a major city, there is no defined urban center to Orange County as there generally is in other areas with one dominant municipal entity. It is almost uniformly suburban, except for some older urban areas such as downtown Santa Ana. Five Orange County cities have populations exceeding 170,000.

It is also famous for its tourist destinations, as the county is home to such attractions as Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm, as well as nationally known centers of religious worship, such as Crystal Cathedral, Saddleback Church, and Calvary Chapel. It is often portrayed in the media as an affluent and politically powerful region. It is at the center of Southern California's Tech Coast, with Irvine being the primary business hub.

Thirty-four incorporated cities are located in Orange County; the newest is Aliso Viejo, with Anaheim being the oldest.

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 Junipero Serra named the area Valle de Santa Ana (Valley of Saint Anne). On November 1, 1776, Mission San Juan Capistrano became the area's first permanent European settlement. Among the group of explorers that came with Portolá were José Manuel Nieto and José Antonio Yorba. Both of these men were given land grants and their heirs also inherited portions of family land. The oldest of the Orange County land grants or ranchos was Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana granted in 1810 by Ferdinand VII of Spain. The Yorba heirs Bernardo and Teodosio Yorba inherited ranches in 1834 and 1846 respectively. Their ranches were known as Rancho Cañón de Santa Ana (Santa Ana Canyon Ranch) and Rancho Lomas de Santiago.The Nieto heirs Juan José and Antonio Nieto were granted land in 1834. The Nieto ranches were known as Rancho Los Alamitos, Rancho Las Bolsas, and Rancho Los Coyotes. Other ranches in Orange County were granted by the Mexican government post 1821, year of Mexican Independence, during the Mexican period in Alta California.

A severe drought in the 1860s devastated the prevailing industry, cattle ranching, and much land came into the possession of Richard O'Neill, Sr.,² James Irvine and other land barons. In 1887, silver was discovered in the Santa Ana Mountains, attracting settlers via the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific Railroads.

This growth led the California legislature to divide Los Angeles County and create Orange County as a separate political entity on March 11, 1889. The county is generally said to have been named for the citrus fruit (its most famous product).³ However, in the new county there was already a town by the name of Orange, named for Orange County, Virginia, which itself took its name from William of Orange, a famous protestant King of Great Britain and Ireland. The fact the county took the same name as one of its towns may have been coincidence. However it is also possible that the county was named for this city (and thus indirectly for William of Orange, whose family name was itself derived from the French town of Orange named in ancient times in honour of a celtic water deity).

Other citrus crops, avocados, and oil extraction were also important to the early economy. Orange County benefited from the July 4, 1904 completion of the Pacific Electric Railway, a trolley connecting Los Angeles with Santa Ana and Newport Beach . The link made Orange County an accessible weekend retreat for celebrities of early Hollywood. It was deemed so significant that the city of Pacific City changed its name to Huntington Beach in honor of Henry Huntington, president of the Pacific Electric and nephew of robber baron Collis Huntington. Transportation further improved with the completion of the State Route and U.S. Route 101 (now mostly Interstate 5) in the 1920s.

South Coast Metro area in central Orange County

Agriculture, such as the boysenberry which was made famous by Buena Park native Walter Knott, began to decline after World War II but the county's prosperity soared. The completion of Interstate 5 in 1954 helped make Orange County a bedroom community for many who moved to Southern California to work in aerospace and manufacturing. Orange County received a further boost in 1955 with the opening of Disneyland.

In 1969, Yorba Linda-born Orange County native Richard Nixon became the 37th President of the United States.

In the 1980s, the population topped two million for the first time; Orange County had become the second-most populated county in California.

A spectacular investment fund melt-down in 1994 led to the criminal prosecution of County of Orange treasurer Robert Citron. The county lost at least $1.5 billion through high-risk investments in derivatives.⁴ On December 6, 1994, the County of Orange declared Chapter 9 bankruptcy,⁴ from which it emerged in June 1995. The Orange County bankruptcy was the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.⁴

In recent years, the county has been characterized by conflict between the older more historic northern and newer southern cities over development, the building of new toll roads, and a recently defeated proposal to build an international airport at the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station that would have reduced operations at the existing John Wayne Airport.

In 2005, a few months after the California Lottery joined the multi-state Mega Millions lottery game, a ticket sold in Anaheim that was shared by seven people won a jackpot worth $315 million, the first time Mega Millions was won in the state. The group chose the $180 million cash option.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 2,455 km² (948 sq mi), making it the smallest county in Southern California. Surface water accounts for 411 km² (159 sq mi) of the area, 16.73% of the total; 2,045 km² (789 sq mi) of it is land.

Orange County is bordered on the southwest by the Pacific Ocean, on the north by Los Angeles County, on the northeast by San Bernardino County, on the northeast by Riverside County, and on the southeast by San Diego County.

The northwestern part of the county lies on the coastal plain of the Los Angeles Basin, while the southeastern end rises into the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains. Most of Orange County's population reside in one of two shallow coastal valleys that lie in the basin, the Santa Ana Valley and the Saddleback Valley. The Santa Ana Mountains lie within the eastern boundaries of the county and of the Cleveland National Forest. The high point is Santiago Peak (5,687 ft/1,733 m), about 20 mi (32 km) east of Santa Ana. Santiago Peak and nearby Modjeska Peak, just 200 feet (60 m) shorter, form a ridge known as Saddleback, visible from almost everywhere in the county. The Peralta Hills extend westward from the Santa Ana Mountains through the communities of Anaheim Hills, Orange, and ending in Olive. The Loma Ridge is another prominent feature, running parallel to the Santa Ana Mountains through the central part of the county, separated from the taller mountains to the east by Santiago Canyon.

The Santa Ana River is the county's principal watercourse, flowing through the middle of the county from Northeast to Southwest. Its major tributary to the South and East is Santiago Creek. Other watercourses within the county include Aliso Creek, San Juan Creek, and Horsethief Creek. In the North, the San Gabriel River also briefly crosses into Orange County and exits into the Pacific on the Los Angeles-Orange County line between the cities of Long Beach and Seal Beach. Laguna Beach is home to the county's only natural lakes, Laguna Lakes, which are formed by water rising up against an underground fault.

Residents sometimes figuratively divide the county into "North orange County" and "South County" (meaning Northwest and Southeast --following the county's natural diagonal orientation along the local coastline). This is more of a cultural and demographic distinction perpetuated by the popular television shows "The OC" and "Laguna Beach," between the older areas closer to Los Angeles, and the more affluent and recently developed areas to the South and East. A transition between older and newer development may be considered to exist roughly parallel to State Route 55 (aka the Costa Mesa Freeway). This transition is accentuated by large flanking tracts of sparsely developed area occupied until recent years by agriculture and military airfields.

While there is a natural topographical Northeast-to-Southwest transition from inland elevations to the lower coastal band, there is no formal geographical division between North and South County. Perpendicular to that gradient, the Santa Ana River roughly divides the county between northwestern and southeastern sectors (about 40% to 60% respectively, by area), but does not represent any apparent economic, political or cultural differences, nor does it significantly affect distribution of travel, housing, commerce, industry or agriculture from one side to the other.

Incorporated cities

As of August 2006, Orange County has 34 incorporated cities. The oldest is Anaheim (1870) and the newest is Aliso Viejo (2001).

Noteworthy communities

Some of the communities that exist within city limits are listed below:

Unincorporated communities

These communities are outside of the city limits in unincorporated county territory:

See also: List of neighborhoods and unincorporated communities in Orange County

Master planned communities

Orange County has a history of large master planned communities. Nearly 30% of the county was created as master planned communities, the most notable being the City of Irvine, Coto de Caza, Anaheim Hills, Tustin Ranch, Ladera Ranch, Talega, Rancho Santa Margarita, and Mission Viejo. Irvine has become the model master planned city, encompassing many villages which were all planned under a master plan by the Irvine Company in the mid-1960s. Many communities within California and throughout the country (and even outside the country including China) have used these Orange County developments as models for their own planning. Elements such as community clubhouses, numerous community pools, pocket parks, horse trails, and active associations were first established in Orange County master planned communities and have been copied in numerous places throughout the United States. Irvine was the first master planned community in the world, and sponsors visits from designers the world over who use it as a model to design their communities.[1]

[2]

Adjacent counties

• Los Angeles County, California - north, west
• San Bernardino County, California - northeast
• Riverside County, California - east
• San Diego County, California - southeast

National protected areas

• Cleveland National Forest (part)
• Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge

Demographics

Orange County Density Map. Lighter shades indicate less dense areas, darker shades indicate denser areas.

According to Census Bureau's 2006 American Community Survey the racial or ethnic makeup of the county was 64.76% White (46.92% White Non-Hispanic), 16.05% Asian, 0.33% Pacific Islander, 1.72% African American, 0.38% Native American, 14.32% from other races, and 2.44% from two or more races. 32.89% of the population were Hispanic of any race. 30.49% of the population was foreign born.⁵

As of the census⁶ of 2000, there were 2,846,289 people, 935,287 households, and 667,794 families residing in the county, making Orange County the second most populous county in California. The population density was 1,392/km² (3,606/sq mi). There were 969,484 housing units at an average density of 474/km² (1,228/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 64.81% White, 13.59% Asian, 1.67% African American, 0.70% Native American, 0.31% Pacific Islander, 14.80% from other races, and 4.12% from two or more races. 30.76% are Hispanic or Latino of any race. 8.9% were of German, 6.9% English and 6.0% Irish ancestry according to Census 2000. 58.6% spoke English, 25.3% Spanish, 4.7% Vietnamese, 1.9% Korean, 1.5% Chinese or Mandarin and 1.2% Tagalog as their first language.

In 1990, still according to the census⁶ there were 2,410,556 people residing in the county. The racial makeup of the county was 78.60% White, 10.34% Asian or Pacific Islander, 1.77% African American, 0.50% Native American, and 8.79% from other races. 23.43% were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 935,287 households out of which 37.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.9% were married couples living together, 10.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.6% were non-families. 21.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.00 and the average family size was 3.48.

The population is diverse age-wise, with 27.0% under the age of 18, 9.4% from 18 to 24, 33.2% from 25 to 44, 20.6% from 45 to 64, and 9.9% 65 years of age or older. The median age is 33 years. For every 100 females there were 99.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.7 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $61,899, and the median income for a family was $75,700. Males had a median income of $45,059 versus $34,026 for females. The per capita income for the county was $25,826. About 7.0% of families and 10.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.2% of those under age 18 and 6.2% of those age 65 or over.

Average household income by community

Unincorporated communities are included if their population is greater than 15,000. These numbers are estimates from the 2005 Census updates for these locales.^{citation needed} Numbers are approximate until a new Census occurs.

Economy

Business

Orange County is the headquarters of many Fortune 500 companies including Ingram Micro (#69) and First American Corporation (#312) in Santa Ana, Western Digital (#439) in Lake Forest and Pacific Life (#452) in Newport Beach. Irvine is the home of numerous start-up companies and also is the home of Fortune 1000 headquarters for Allergan, Broadcom, Standard Pacific and Sun Healthcare Group. Other Fortune 1000 companies in Orange County include Beckman Coulter in Fullerton, Quiksilver in Huntington Beach and Apria Healthcare Group in Lake Forest. Irvine is also the home of notable technology companies like PC-manufacturer Gateway Inc. and Activision Blizzard, one of the biggest video game developers in the country. Many regional headquarters for international businesses reside in Orange County like Mazda, Toshiba and Hyundai. Oakley, Inc., the renowned sunglasses company, is headquartered in the Foothill Ranch area of Orange County. Restaurants such as Del Taco, Wahoo's Fish Tacos, Taco Bell, In-N-Out Burger, Claim Jumper, and Carls Jr. have headquarters in Orange County.

Shopping

Orange County contains several notable shopping malls. Among these are the world-renowned South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa and Fashion Island in Newport Beach. Other significant malls include the Brea Mall, The Shops at Mission Viejo, The Block at Orange and the Irvine Spectrum Center. There is also a Downtown Disney adjacent to Disneyland.

Tourism

Tourism remains a vital aspect of Orange County's economy. Anaheim is the main tourist hub, with its Disneyland Resort being the second most visited theme park in the country. The Anaheim Convention Center receives many major conventions throughout the year. Resorts within the Beach Cities receive visitors throughout the year due to their close proximity to the beach, biking paths, mountain hiking trails, golf courses, shopping and dining.

Tallest buildings in Orange County

[3] [4] [5]

Arts and Culture

Points of interest

The area's warm Mediterranean climate and 42 miles (68 km) of year-round beaches attract millions of tourists annually. Huntington Beach is a hot spot for sunbathing and surfing; nicknamed "Surf City, U.S.A.", it is home to many surfing competitions. "The Wedge," at the tip of The Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach, is one of the most famous body surfing spots in the world. Other tourist destinations include the theme parks Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure in Anaheim and Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park. The Anaheim Convention Center is the largest such facility on the West Coast. The old town area in the City of Orange (the traffic circle at the middle of Chapman Ave. at Glassell) still maintains its 1950s image, and appeared in the That Thing You Do! movie. Little Saigon is another notable tourist destination, being home to the largest concentration of Vietnamese people outside of Vietnam. There are also sizable Taiwanese, Chinese, and Korean communities, particularly in western Orange County. This is evident in several Asian-influenced shopping centers in Asian American hubs like the city of Irvine.

Other notable structures include the Ronald Reagan Federal Building and Courthouse in Santa Ana, the largest building in the county; the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, the largest house of worship in California; the historic Balboa Pavilion [6] in Newport Beach; the Huntington Beach Pier; and the restored Mission San Juan Capistrano.

Some of the most exclusive (and expensive) neighborhoods in the U.S. are located here, many along the Orange County Coast, and some in north Orange County. Historical points of interest include Mission San Juan Capistrano (destination of migrating swallows), and the Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum in Yorba Linda. The Nixon Home is a National Historic Landmark, as is the home of a very different character, Madam Helena Modjeska, in Modjeska Canyon on Santiago Creek.

Since the premiere in fall 2003 of the hit FOX series The OC, and the 2007 Bravo series "The Real Housewives of Orange County" tourism has increased with travelers from across the globe hoping to see the sights seen in the show. However, the former was rarely filmed anywhere in Orange County.^{citation needed}

Religion

Orange County is also the base for several significant religious organizations:

• Reformation Lutheran Church [7]
• Greek Orthodox Mission of South Orange County in San Juan Capistrano
• St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church in Anaheim
• Association of Islamic Charitable Project
• The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange headed by Bishop Tod Brown.
• Chuck Smith, father of the Jesus People movement, is headquartered at Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa.
• Reverend Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral is in Garden Grove.
• Trinity Broadcasting Network began as Channel 40 in Tustin, now in Costa Mesa.
• The Purpose Driven Life author Rick Warren and his Saddleback Church (the largest church in California) are in Lake Forest.
• The Vineyard Christian Fellowship movement began in Orange County.
• Sarang Community Church, one of the largest Korean American megachurches in Orange County is based in Anaheim. [8].
• Grace Lutheran Church in Huntington Beach is leading a Lutheran renewal movement. [9]
• Children of God, AKA "The Family" ,was founded in 1968 in Huntington Beach by David Berg.
• The Islamic Center of Anaheim
• The Orange County Islamic Foundation in Mission Viejo
• The Islamic Educational School (TIES) [10]
• St. Paul Greek Orthodox Church in Irvine
• The Islamic Educational Center of Orange County is based in Costa Mesa.
• The mosque at the Islamic Society of Orange County in Garden Grove serves one of the largest Muslim communities in the nation.
• The Baha'i Center of San Clemente was built by members of the Bahá'í Faith. [11]
• Pao Fa Temple in Irvine is one of the largest Buddhist monasteries and temples in the United States.
• The Conservative Lutheran Association is located at Trinity Lutheran Church in Anaheim, headed by Pastor Jim Elmore.
• The Goddess Temple of Orange County is one of the few Goddess organizations in the U.S. holding regular weekly services.
• The Newport Beach California Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints serves Mormons in Orange County and is one of only four LDS temples in Southern California.

It should be noted that among the Christian population, the majority of the population with German ancestry follows the various Protestant denominations while the ethnic Irish, Hispanic, Vietnamese and other populations follow Roman Catholicism. There are about 1.04 million Catholics in Orange County.⁷ Also, there are about 35 synagogues to serve the sizeable Jewish community in the county.

Literature

A number of novels by best-selling fiction and horror author Dean Koontz, a resident of Newport Beach, are set in the area.

Several of the stories in Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon's collection, A Model World, are set in Orange County. Chabon studied creative writing at UC Irvine.

Orange County is the place in which Kim Stanley Robinson's Three Californias Trilogy is set. These books depict three different futures of the Orange County (survivors of a nuclear war in The Wild Shore, a developer's dream gone mad in The Gold Coast, and an ecotopian utopia in Pacific Edge). Philip K. Dick's novel A Scanner Darkly was also set in Orange County.

From his first novel, "Laguna Heat," to more recent books such as "California Girl," mystery-writer T. Jefferson Parker has set many of his novels in Orange County.

The modern fantasy novel "All the Bells on Earth" by James P. Blaylock is set in Orange.

Orange County in popular culture

Orange County has been the setting for numerous films and television shows:

• It is best-known as the setting of the popular 2003 Fox Network television drama The O.C. which is set in the Orange County coastal harbor town of Newport Beach.
• It is the subject and setting of the eponymous 2002 movie Orange County. However, the film was not actually filmed in Orange County.
• It is also the setting of the 2003 sitcom Arrested Development. Most of the series was not filmed in Orange County, but in Culver City and Marina del Rey in Los Angeles County. A running joke in the series that pokes fun at The O.C. is that characters will frequently refer to Orange County as "The O.C.," followed by another character's saying, "Don't call it that" (mirroring the fact that actual Orange County residents do not use the term "The").
• The closing scene in Rain Man with Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise was shot at the Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center.
• The film Better Luck Tomorrow was shot and set in the cities of Cypress and Anaheim
• The University of California, Irvine, has been used in many films, most notably Ocean's Eleven (2001 film); others include Conquest of the Planet of the Apes and Poltergeist (film)
• The film "Accepted" had South Harmon Institute of Technology shot in Chapman University in Orange.
• The film Life as a House was set in Laguna Beach, although it was filmed in Los Angeles County.
• The film Brick was shot and set in San Clemente
• MTV's Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County was filmed in the Orange County coastal town of Laguna Beach, California.
• MTV's Newport Harbor: The Real Orange County was filmed in the Orange County coastal town of Newport Beach, California.
• MTV's Life of Ryan is a reality[1] show following the life of pro skateboarder Ryan Sheckler.

The title of the show is a play on Monty Python's Life of Brian. Filmed in and around the Sheckler household in San Clemente, California.

• A key scene in the film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan was shot and set at The Block at Orange in the city of Orange.
• The Christian Slater film Gleaming The Cube was set in Orange County and filmed in several cities, such as Anaheim, Woodbridge High School in Irvine, and John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana.
• A plot line in the television drama The West Wing involved a dead liberal Democrat unexpectedly winning a Congressional seat from an Orange County district.
• Orange County is the home of the late Republican President Teddy Bridges on the (now canceled) ABC drama Commander in Chief.
• Sayid Jarrah from the ABC drama Lost was bound to go to Irvine, where his longtime friend Nadia lives. John Locke, another castaway from the series, is said to have lived most of his life in Tustin.
• Orange County was the location of the 1994 Charlie Sheen movie The Chase; the movie, however, was mostly filmed in Houston.
• The Park Place, Irvine corporate mall was the location for futuristic scenes in the 1996 film Demolition Man starring Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes.
• The 2006 film A Scanner Darkly was set in the city of Anaheim. A freeway scene was shot along the Northbound I-5 in Tustin.
• The show The Real Housewives of Orange County which is filmed in Coto De Caza.
• Costa Mesa is the setting for the The X-Files episode "Hungry".
• In the 2001 film The Fast and the Furious, the scene when the Johnny Tran and his gang catch up with Vin Diesel and Paul Walker blowing up their car was filmed in Little Saigon, Westminster.
• In season six of the HBO drama The Sopranos while in a coma Tony Soprano dreams he is a businessman in Costa Mesa.
• MTV is currently casting teens in Monarch Beach, California for a new series. Filming is expected to start the beginning of July and end in late December 2008.
• The chase scene at the beginning of the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie Kindergarten Cop was filmed at Main Place Mall in Santa Ana.
• In episode 102 ofThe Venture Brothers(The Incredible Mr. Brisby), Hank and Dean Venture Travel to the fictional theme park Brisby Land, a spoof on the world famous Disney Land. During the episode, radical Orange County Natives known as the Orange County Liberation Front launch a full-scale assault on the Brisby Land compound out of revenge for the ever increasing size of the Park. Members of the OCLF are easily identified by their helmets that resemble enormous oranges.
• The shuttle bay scenes of the upcoming Star Trek movie due out in 2009 were shot in the old El Toro base hangers.

Orange County has also been used as a shooting location for several films and television programs. Examples of movies at least partially shot in Orange County are Tom Hanks's That Thing You Do, the Coen Brothers' The Man Who Wasn't There, and the Martin Lawrence movie Big Momma's House. All three of which were filmed in or around the Old Towne Plaza in the City of Orange.

Sports

Huntington Beach annually plays host to the U.S. Open of Surfing, AVP Pro Beach Volleyball and Vans World Championship of Skateboarding.[12] Orange County's active outdoor culture is home to many surfers, skateboarders, mountain bikers, cyclists, climbers, hikers, kayaking, sailing and sand volleyball.

Sports teams

Street banners promoting the county's two major league teams, the Ducks and the Angels.

The Major League Baseball team in Orange County is the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, who won the World Series in 2002. In 2005, new owner Arte Moreno wanted to change its name back to the original "Los Angeles" in order to better tap into the Los Angeles media market, the second largest in the country, which includes Orange County. However, the standing agreement with the city of Anaheim demanded that they have "Anaheim" in the name, so they became the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. This name change was hotly disputed by the city of Anaheim and the Los Angeles Dodgers, who wanted sole possession of the title "Los Angeles," but the change stood and still stands today, which prompted a lawsuit by the City of Anaheim against Angels owner Arte Moreno, and the city lost. It has been widely unpopular in Orange County [13], although attendance has increased.

The county's National Hockey League team, the Anaheim Ducks, won the 2007 Stanley Cup beating the Ottawa Senators. They also came close to winning the 2003 Stanley Cup finals after winning three games in a seven-game series against the New Jersey Devils.

The Orange County Flyers are a Golden Baseball League team based in Fullerton, California. The league is not affiliated with Major League Baseball. The Flyers were sold on March 21, 2007 to an Orange County investment group, making them the first Golden Baseball League team to ever be sold. Before their sale, the Flyers were called the Fullerton Flyers, but on March 28, 2007 they became the Orange County Flyers; they kept their team colors (blue and orange) and home games are still played at Cal State Fullerton's Goodwin Field.

The Orange County Blue Star is a USL Premier Development League soccer club. They play at Orange Coast College. Among those who have played for OCBS are Jürgen Klinsmann, the former German star and Germany's 2006 World Cup coach, who played under an assumed name.

The Anaheim Arsenal are an NBA D-League expansion team for the 2006–2007 season. They play their home games at the Anaheim Convention Center.

The Orange County Gladiators are an American Basketball Association (ABA) expansion team starting in November 2007. They will play their home games at Fieldhouse Gym at JSerra in San Juan Capistrano.

Orange County Roller Girls [14] - an All Female Flat Track Roller Derby League formed in 2006 and actively plays (bouts) at various locations in Orange County. Many of the leagues bouts are played against teams from other cities throughout the United States.

Former and defunct Orange County sports teams

The National Football League football left the county when the Los Angeles Rams relocated to St. Louis in 1995. Anaheim city leaders are in talks with the NFL to bring a Los Angeles-area franchise to Orange County, though they are competing with other cities in and around Los Angeles.

The California Surf played in the North American Soccer League from 1978 to 1981. The club called Anaheim Stadium home.

The L.A. Salsa played at Cal State Fullerton's Titan Stadium in 1993-94 in the American Professional Soccer League (APSL), at the time the top soccer league in the U.S. The Salsa, whose general manager was former Cosmos star Ricky Davis and its coach former Brazil star Rildo Menezes, also played some games at East Los Angeles College in Monterey Park, California, attempting a season in Mexico's second-tier Primera A Division. That attempt was cancelled after several games when FIFA and CONCACAF ruled a club could not play in two leagues in separate countries. The Salsa lost to the Colorado Foxes in the 1993 APSL final at Cal State Fullerton.

The Orange County Zodiac, affiliated with MLS's Los Angeles Galaxy, played soccer at Santa Ana Stadium (also known as Santa Ana Bowl) and Orange Coast College from 1997 to 2000.

The county was the home of the Orange County Buzz basketball team of the American Basketball Association (ABA). In May 2006, the NBA Development League's L.A. Clippers-affiliated team announced their move to Carson, California.

Anaheim was also the home of the prior American Basketball Association franchise known as the Anaheim Amigos in the mid-sixties.

The Anaheim Storm was a member of the National Lacrosse League. They folded in 2005 due to low attendance.

The Anaheim Piranhas were a Arena Football League team in 1996-97, but folded due to team board financial problems.

The Anaheim Bullfrogs were a Roller Hockey International team that lasted from 1993-99 and were briefly revived in 2001.

The Anaheim Splash was a soccer team that played in the Continental Indoor Soccer League from 1993 to 1997.

The Los Angeles Clippers played some home games at The Arrowhead Pond, now known as the Honda Center, from 1994 to 1999, before moving to Staples Center, which they share with the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Southern California Sun was an American football team based out of Anaheim that played in the World Football League in 1974 and 1975. Their records were 13-7 in 1974 and 7-5 in 1975. Their home stadium was Anaheim Stadium.

Government

Orange County is a chartered county of California; its seat is Santa Ana. Its legislative and executive authority is vested in a five-member Board of Supervisors. Each Supervisor is popularly elected from a regional district, and together the board oversees the activities of the county's agencies and departments and sets policy on development, public improvements, and county services. At the beginning of each year the Supervisors select a Chairman and Vice Chairman, but the administration is headed by a professional municipal manager, the County Executive. The current supervisors are Janet Nguyen, John Moorlach, Bill Campbell, Chris Norby, and Patricia C. Bates.

Seven other public officials are elected at-large: the County Assessor, Auditor-Controller, Clerk-Recorder, District Attorney, Sheriff-Coroner, Treasurer-Tax Collector and Public Administrator. Since 2008, the Orange County Sheriff's Department has been led by Sheriff-Coroner Sandra Hutchens. Her predecessor, Mike Carona, resigned earlier in the year to defend himself against corruption charges.

Politics

Orange County has long been known as a Republican stronghold and has consistently sent Republican representatives to the state and federal legislatures. Republican majorities in Orange County helped deliver California's electoral votes to Republican presidential candidates Richard Nixon (1960, 1968 and 1972), Gerald Ford (1976), Ronald Reagan (1980 and 1984) and George H. W. Bush (1988). Orange County has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1936 landslide re-election for a second term. Although Democrats have made inroads in the northern end of the county since the mid-1980s, Orange County politics are still dominated by Republicans. Five of the county's six U.S. Representatives, four of its five State Senators and seven of its nine State Assembly members are Republicans, as are all five members of the County Board of Supervisors. Only four Democrats have carried the county in a statewide race in the last 50 years; Jerry Brown in his successful campaign for Governor in 1978, March Fong Eu for Secretary of State and Kenneth Cory for State Controller, both also in 1978 and Kathleen Connell for Controller in 1998.

In Congress, representatives whose districts are completely or partially in the county include Republicans Ed Royce (CA-40), Gary Miller (CA-42), Ken Calvert (CA-44), Dana Rohrabacher (CA-46), and John Campbell (CA-48), and Democrat Loretta Sanchez (