Santa Ana

Santa Ana is the seat of Orange County in Southern California, on the Santa Ana River inland from the Pacific coast. A Spanish expedition led by Gaspar de Portolá named the river and its valley after Saint Anne, and the city took the name from them.

The Spanish crown granted the land along the river to José Antonio Yorba, and his Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana grazed cattle for decades. William H. Spurgeon, a merchant from Kentucky, bought part of the old rancho and laid out the town in 1869. When Orange County was split from Los Angeles County in 1889, Santa Ana became its seat. The Old Orange County Courthouse, a Romanesque building of red sandstone finished in the early 1900s, is now a museum of county history.

Behr makes its house paints in Santa Ana and sells them through home improvement stores. TTM Technologies, based in the city, builds printed circuit boards for aircraft and medical equipment. Fourth Street, known in Spanish as Calle Cuatro, holds family bakeries and bridal stores that serve the large Mexican American community of the city.

The Bowers Museum shows art from Pre-Columbian Mexico, Africa and the Pacific islands, along with exhibits on the early history of California. Discovery Cube, a science center for children, is known for the giant black and white cube that rises beside the Santa Ana Freeway. The Santa Ana Zoo began with a gift of land from Joseph Prentice on the condition that the city keep monkeys there. Michelle Pfeiffer was born in Santa Ana, and the city's artists village gathers galleries and studios around the old downtown.