Costa Mesa

Costa Mesa is an incorporated city in Orange County, California, situated inland from the Pacific coast. The name means coastal tableland in Spanish, describing the flat plateau rising above the surrounding coastal river basin.

Ranching settlements emerged on the mesa during the 1820s when cattle herders built an adobe station for mission herds. Railway transport spurred the establishment of a townsite named Harper in 1906 along the line connecting Santa Ana with Newport Beach. A community naming contest in the 1920s gave the settlement the name Costa Mesa to reflect the local topography. Military aviation training expanded across the surrounding fields during the 1940s at a federal air base. City incorporation followed in 1953 as suburban neighborhoods replaced wartime installations and agricultural orchards.

Action sports apparel design developed into a prominent commercial sector during the late 20th century. Hurley manufactures boardshorts and surfing apparel, expanding from a regional surfboard shaping workshop into an international surf brand. Volcom designs skateboarding streetwear and technical snowboarding jackets through its apparel lines. RVCA produces casual clothing and combat sports training gear, collaborating with visual artists on graphic print designs. QSC manufactures digital signal processors and concert loudspeakers, supplying live performance venues with audio equipment engineered in the city since the late 1960s.

South Coast Plaza contains upscale retail boutiques and fine dining establishments arranged around indoor garden concourses. Orange Coast College provides undergraduate academic coursework alongside specialized vocational programs in commercial sailing and aeronautics. Segerstrom Center for the Arts hosts traveling Broadway musicals, classical ballets, and symphony concerts within its performance halls. South Coast Repertory stages contemporary drama and develops new American theatrical scripts. The Orange County Fair presents agricultural livestock competitions, carnival rides, and open-air concerts each summer at the county fairgrounds.