Santa Ana, California

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City of Santa Ana, California
Official seal of City of Santa Ana, California
Seal
Location of Santa Ana within Orange County, California.
Location of Santa Ana within Orange County, California.
Coordinates: 33°44′27″N 117°52′53″W / 33.74083, -117.88139
Country United States
State California
County Orange
Area
 - Total 27.4 sq mi (71.0 km²)
 - Land 27.1 sq mi (70.3 km²)
 - Water 0.3 sq mi (0.7 km²)
Elevation 115 ft (35 m)
Population (2007)[1]
 - Total 353,428
 - Density 12,453.2/sq mi (4,808.2/km²)
Time zone PST (UTC-8)
 - Summer (DST) PDT (UTC-7)
ZIP codes 92701-92708, 92711, 92712, 92725, 92728, 92735, 92799
Area code(s) 714/949
FIPS code 06-69000
GNIS feature ID 1652790
Website: http://www.santa-ana.org
Santa Ana, 1887.
Santa Ana, 1887.
Santa Ana, 1891.
Santa Ana, 1891.
City Stadium 2007.
City Stadium 2007.

Founded in 1869, Santa Ana (pronounced /ˌsæntə ˈænə/) is the most populous city in Orange County, California and is the county seat and a city of over 340,000 people. Santa Ana is located in Southern California on the Santa Ana River, ten miles away from the California coast. Santa Ana is part of the Los Angeles–Long Beach–Santa Ana metropolitan area which, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, is the second largest metropolitan area in the United States with almost thirteen million people. 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. Santa Ana is home to two Fortune 500 companies, including Ingram Micro, and First American Corp. Santa Ana is also home to the famous guitar manufacturer, Rickenbacker International Corporation. It is today best known for its enormous Hispanic population,[citation needed] now comprising about 80% of what was once a virtually all-white city. Santa Ana also has the largest Spanish-speaking population per capita for a city its size in the United States. The current OMB metropolitan designation for Santa Ana and the Orange County Area is "Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, CA."


Contents

[edit] History

Members of the Tongva and Juaneño/Luiseño nations long inhabited the area. After the 1769 expedition of Gaspar de Portolá, an expedition that came out of Mexico City, then capitol of New Spain, Friar Junípero Serra named the area Vallejo de Santa Ana (Valley of Saint Anne, or Santa Ana Valley). On November 1, 1776, Mission San Juan Capistrano was established within this valley. This Santa Ana Valley comprised most of what is now called Orange County.

In 1810, year of the commencement of the war of Mexican Independence (1810-1821), Jose Antonio Yorba, a sergeant of the Spanish army, was granted land that he called Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana. Yorba's rancho included the lands where the cities of Olive, Orange, Irvine, Villa Park, Santa Ana, Tustin, Costa Mesa and unincorporated El Modena, and Santa Ana Heights, are today. This ranch was the only land grant in Orange County granted under Spanish Rule. Surrounding land grants in Orange County were granted after Mexican Independence by the new government.

After the Mexican-American war ended in 1848, Alta California became part of the United States and American settlers arrived in this area.

Claimed in 1869 by Kentuckian William H. Spurgeon on land obtained from the descendents of Jose Antonio Yorba, 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.


[edit] Geography

Santa Ana is located at 33°44′27″N, 117°52′53″W (33.740717, -117.881408)[2].

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. It is the 8th most densely populated place in the United States with a population of 100,000 or more with 12,471.5 people per sq. mile.

Mater Dei High School, Valley High School, Middle College High School, Santa Ana High School, Saddleback High School, Century High School, Segerstrom Fundamental High School, newly opened Godinez Fundamental High School, Cesar E. Chavez High School, and other major schools in the area, along with the Orange County High School of the Arts in the midtown 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 the School of Our Lady which is located at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish. [1]

Seat of government for one of the wealthiest counties in the United States, Santa Ana is close to several fine public and private universities and colleges, including California State University, Fullerton, Chapman University, Soka University of America, Whittier Law School and University of California - Irvine, among others.

[edit] Renaissance

Santa Ana is now undergoing the city's largest renaissance ever. For example, many projects include more street repairs like the Bristol Street Widening, and a new plan to repair all deteriorated streets. New towers like the Macarthur Skyline, and numerous other projects are in the planning stages. The Renaissance Plan for the central area encompassing over 420 acres includes the train station, the downtown, the Civic Center, the Santa Ana Boulevard Corridor, and the Logan and Lacy neighborhoods. The purpose of the Renaissance Specific Plan is to create a land use plan that builds upon the exisiting dynamic urban environment, which already exists throughout much of the study area, while at the same time ensuring that future development continues to enhance the area's strengths. Policies concerning items such as traffic impacts, open space, parking, preservation of neighborhoods, creating connections to the train depot and Civic Center, and planning for the re-use of vacant land and buildings are just some of the items that will change the downtown.

[3]

[edit] Demographics

Historical populations
Census Pop.  %±
1900 4,933
—
1910 8,429 70.9%
1920 15,485 83.7%
1930 30,322 95.8%
1940 31,921 5.3%
1950 45,533 42.6%
1960 100,350 120.4%
1970 156,601 56.1%
1980 203,713 30.1%
1990 293,742 44.2%
2000 337,977 15.1%
Est. 2007 353,428 4.6%

As of the census[4] 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. [5] 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. [6]

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 80.07% of the population. Non-Hispanic Whites make up 12.4% of the population, down from 70% in 1970.[7] Since then the city has been experiencing white flight.

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. Santa Ana bucks the national trend on a large percentage of young people under the age of 21.

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 25.3% 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. Santa Ana is a city divided by socio-economic class stratification after decades of immigration and economic prosperity.

[edit] Hispanics in Santa Ana

For cities with a population of 300,000 or more Santa Ana's urban percentage of Hispanics is second only to El Paso. Downtown Santa Ana is a replica of a miniature "Latin American" country with stores, restaurants and social clubs catering to the city's 250,000 Mexicans.[citation needed]

The reason for Santa Ana's appeal to a large Hispanic immigrant population since the 1970s was the availability of multi-housing units dating back before the Orange County suburban boom, and a history of Mexican American culture going back to the 1850s is appealing to the many residents still closely attached to Mexico.

In the 1970 census the city's Hispanic population was 24.6 percent[8]then increased to 44.5 percent in 1980 and went up to 64.7 percent by 1990[9]though it is now decreasing, due to Hispanics moving out of areas full of high crime and rising apartment rental prices during the 2000s real estate boom, to live in cities such as Riverside and Indio which have large Mexican immigrant enclaves and equally high percentages of Latinos.

Santa Ana has a large presence (compared to Orange county) of African Americans. Large numbers of Asian Americans, such as Iranians, Indian Americans and Vietnamese Americans arrived in Santa Ana during the 1980s. There's even a American Indian community in Santa Ana as a result of migrants from Oklahoma and the American Southwest in the 1940s whom sought wartime industry work.

[edit] Politics

In the state legislature Santa Ana is located in the 34th Senate District represented by Democrat Lou Correa, and in the 69th Assembly District, represented by Democrat Jose Solorio. Federally, Santa Ana is located in California's 47th Congressional District and is represented by Democrat Loretta Sanchez.

[edit] Business

Santa Ana is home to:

[edit] Climate

Santa Ana experiences the warm sunny weather that Southern California is famous for. Santa Ana's climate can best be called mild. Winter daytime temperatures average in the high sixties and low seventies (degrees Fahrenheit), and summer daytime temperatures average in the mid eighties. Rainfall averages below fourteen inches per year.

[edit] 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 to the south and either Los Angeles or Paso Robles to the north (see Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center). Greyhound USA is the largest bus transportation service in Santa Ana. Greyhound serves the continental United States and Canada. The bus lines Crucero, Intercalifornias, and others serve all points into Mexico.

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).

Public transit bus service is available via the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA).

John Wayne Airport is located at 18601 Airport Way Santa Ana, CA 92707. The IATA code for the airport is SNA.

[edit] Notable natives and residents

[edit] Sites of interest

The Rancho Santiago Community College District, established in 1878, has six satellite campus locations across Orange County, including Santa Ana College.

Greenville, a formerly rural section of Santa Ana, has buildings over a century-old, but industrial complexes replaced agricultural fields that once surrounded the town.

Santa Ana has several wall paintings and murals depicting local history, community events and cultural diversity in Orange County.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes and References

  1. ^ E-1 Population Estimates for Cities, Counties and the State with Annual Percent Change — January 1, 2005 and 2006 (PDF). California Department of Finance (May 1, 2006). Retrieved on November 16, 2006.
  2. ^ US Gazetteer files: 2000 and 1990. United States Census Bureau (2005-05-03). Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
  3. ^ Current Projects
  4. ^ American FactFinder. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
  5. ^ Arellano, Gustavo. Latino Youth Talk About the Real "O. C." Pacific News Service, October 11, 2004.
  6. ^ Mena, Jennifer. " In Housing Density, It's Too Close for Comfort." Los Angeles Times, September 15, 2003.
  7. ^ Table 5. California - Race and Hispanic Origin for Selected Large Cities and Other Places: Earliest Census to 1990
  8. ^ Table 5. California - Race and Hispanic Origin for Selected Large Cities and Other Places: Earliest Census to 1990
  9. ^ SOCDS Census Data Output: Santa Ana city, CA

[edit] External links

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