By Jim Tortolano The County of Orange was not named after the golden fruit, but in the time before the great post-war boom, it might as well have been. Oranges, along with […]
A citrus ‘war’ in the OC
Packing House packs history
Second in a series on historically significant places in Orange County. By Jim Tortolano Few cities in Orange County did as thorough as job of destroying their downtowns as Anaheim did in […]
OC turns 125 … sort of
By Pete Zarustica Orange County is (almost) officially 125 years old. On June 4, 1889, residents of the southeastern wing of Los Angeles County (typically referred to as the Santa Ana Valley), […]
Book: ‘New Deal’ for Orange County
By Jim Tortolano Although Barack Obama in 2012 made strong inroads into Republican domination of Orange County during presidential elections, only once in history has O.C. swung toward the Democrats. That was […]
Cities now coming full circle
By Jim Tortolano Old is the newest trend in American living. I’m not talking about the steady march of baby boomers toward senior citizen’s discounts, but the popularity of living styles which […]
Should Santa Ana be county seat?
When Orange County was divided from Los Angeles County in 1889, there was a lot of controversy over which city should be the county seat, or center of government. Anaheim, Orange and […]
From White House to Orange County
By Pete Zarustica Orange County is about as reliably conservative county as there is, having only gone Democratic only once (in 1936 for Franklin Roosevelt). It’s not exactly a “swing” area, but […]
County’s long (& maybe shady) birth
By Jim Tortolano Sometimes you hear people complaining about having to drive to the civic center of Santa Ana to do business at County of Orange offices. Can you imagine having to […]
From Rams to Kiss: pro football in OC
By Pete Zarustica Professional football returned to Orange County on Saturday at the Honda Center in Anaheim, as the L.A. Kiss defeated the Portland Thunder 44-34 before over 12,000 fans who saw […]
The day Tinker Bell almost crashed
By Jim Tortolano/OC Tribune editor Few events in Orange County history have had as big an impact as the opening of Disneyland. But fewer events had as unpromising a start as the […]
