One of the Top Urban Planning Books of 2022, Planetizen

The full and fascinating guidebook that Orange County deserves.

A People’s Guide to Orange County is an alternative tour guide that documents sites of oppression, resistance, struggle, and transformation in Orange County, California. Orange County is more than the well-known images on orange crate labels, the high-profile amusement parks of Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm, or the beaches. It is also a unique site of agricultural and suburban history, political conservatism in a liberal state, and more diversity and discordance than its pop-cultural images show. It is a space of important agricultural labor disputes, segregation and resistance to segregation, privatization and the struggle for public space, politicized religions, Cold War global migrations, vibrant youth cultures, and efforts for environmental justice. Memorably, Ronald Reagan called Orange County the place “where all the good Republicans go to die,” but it is also the place where many working-class immigrants have come to live and work in its agricultural, military-industrial, and tourist service economies.

Orange County is the fifth-most populous county in America. If it were a city, it would be the nation’s third-largest city; if it were a state, its population would make it larger than twenty-one other states. It attracts 42 million tourists annually. Yet Orange County tends to be a chapter or two squeezed into guidebooks to Los Angeles or Disneyland. Mainstream guidebooks focus on Orange County’s amusement parks and wealthy coastal communities, with side trips to palatial shopping malls. These guides skip over Orange County’s most heterogeneous half—the inland space, where most of its oranges were grown alongside oil derricks that kept the orange groves heated. Existing guidebooks render invisible the diverse people who have labored there. A People’s Guide to Orange County questions who gets to claim Orange County’s image, exposing the extraordinary stories embedded in the ordinary landscape.

About the Author

Elaine Lewinnek is professor of American Studies at California State University, Fullerton, and author of The Working Man's Reward: Chicago’s Early Suburbs and the Roots of American Sprawl.

Gustavo Arellano is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, former editor of OC Weekly, and author of the books Orange County: A Personal History, Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America, and ¡Ask A Mexican!

Thuy Vo Dang is curator for the Southeast Asian Archive at University of California, Irvine, and coauthor of Vietnamese in Orange County.

Contents

Land Acknowledgment
List of Maps

INTRODUCTION

1 ANAHEIM, ORANGE, AND SANTA ANA

1.1 Anaheim Orange and Lemon Association Packing House | 1.2 Anaheim
Union High School District Headquarters | 1.3 Carl’s Jr.’s Former Headquarters,
Anaheim | 1.4 Disneyland, Anaheim | 1.5 East Gene Autry Way Wall, Anaheim |
1.6 Former Chinatown, Anaheim | 1.7 Fricker Fertilizer Factory, Anaheim |
1.8 Fujishige Strawberry Farm, Anaheim | 1.9 Glover Stadium, Anaheim | 1.10 Joel
Dvorman Home, Anaheim | 1.11 Little Arabia, Anaheim | 1.12 Little People’s Park,
Anaheim | 1.13 Melodyland, Anaheim | 1.14 Pearson Park, Anaheim | 1.15 Police
Headquarters of Anaheim | 1.16 Pressel Orchard, Anaheim | 1.17 The Shack/
Xalos Bar, Anaheim | 1.18 Back in Control Training Center, Orange | 1.19 Eichler
SoCal, Orange | 1.20 Lorenzo Ramirez Bust, Orange | 1.21 Orange Executive
Tower | 1.22 Theo Lacy Detention Facility, Orange | 1.23 Alex Odeh Statue,
Santa Ana | 1.24 Anti-Chinese Violence at Gospel Swamp, Santa Ana | 1.25 Black
Panther Park / Sasscer Park, Santa Ana | 1.26 Chicano Power Protests at El Salvador
Park, Santa Ana | 1.27 Cut & Curl, Santa Ana | 1.28 Dr. Sammy Lee Home, Santa
Ana | 1.29 Esposito Apartments, Santa Ana | 1.30 Gay Kiss-In at Centennial Park,
Santa Ana | 1.31 Islamic Center of Santa Ana | 1.32 Lynching of Francisco Torres,
Santa Ana | 1.33 Parking Lot Soccer Fields, Santa Ana | 1.34 Prince Hall Masonic
Temple, Santa Ana | 1.35 Santa Ana’s Lost Chinatown

2 NORTH ORANGE COUNTY

2.1 Campo Colorado, La Habra | 2.2 Christy’s Cambodian Doughnut Shop, La
Habra | 2.3 Neff Cox’s Shoeshine Stand, Brea | 2.4 Nike Nuclear Missile Site, Brea
Hills | 2.5 Alex Bernal Home, Fullerton | 2.6 Bastanchury Ranch, Fullerton | 2.7 The
Black Hole, Fullerton | 2.8 Kelly Thomas Memorial, Fullerton | 2.9 McCarthy Hall at
CSU Fullerton | 2.10 Site of Police Killing of Juan Peña Diaz, Fullerton | 2.11 Val Vita
Factory, Fullerton | 2.12 West Coyote Hills, Fullerton | 2.13 Former Bracero
Bunkhouse, Placentia | 2.14 Harris Home Firebombing Site, Placentia | 2.15 Melrose
Elementary School, Placentia | 2.16 Whitewashed Chicano Mural, Placentia |
2.17 Nixon Library, Yorba Linda | 2.18 Yorba Linda Community Center |
2.19 Japanese Village and Deer Park, Buena Park | 2.20 Studio K at Knott’s Berry
Farm, Buena Park | 2.21 Rush Park, Rossmoor

3 CENTRAL ORANGE COUNTY

3.1 Continental Gardens Apartments, Stanton | 3.2 Danh’s Pharmacy, Westminster |
3.3 Hi-Tek Video Community Protests, Westminster | 3.4 Little Saigon Freeway
Signs, Westminster | 3.5 Vietnamese Bus Stop, Westminster | 3.6 Advance Beauty
College, Garden Grove | 3.7 Cafe Chu Lun and Asian Mug Book Resistance, Garden
Grove | 3.8 Happy Hour Bar, Garden Grove | 3.9 Orange County Koreatown,
Garden Grove | 3.10 Women’s Civic Club of Garden Grove | 3.11 Demolished
Sergio O’Cadiz Mural, Fountain Valley | 3.12 Masuda Middle School, Fountain
Valley | 3.13 Former Vons Supermarket, Tustin | 3.14 Tustin High School
Tennis Courts

4 CANYONS

4.1 Aerojet, Chino Hills | 4.2 Lynching Tree, Irvine Canyon Ranch | 4.3 Olinda Oil
Museum and Trail, Brea | 4.4 Prado Dam, Chino | 4.5 Santa Margarita High School,
Rancho Santa Margarita | 4.6 Silverado Elementary School / Library of the Canyons,
Silverado | 4.7 Tomato Springs Park, Irvine | 4.8 Yorba Regional Park, Anaheim Hills

5 SOUTH ORANGE COUNTY

5.1 Experimental Farms at UC Irvine | 5.2 Marine Corps Air Station El Toro / Great
Park, Irvine | 5.3 Marine Corps Air Station Tustin, Irvine | 5.4 Mary Pham’s Pride
Flag Display, Irvine | 5.5 Shyima Hall Human Traffi cking Site, Irvine | 5.6 University
Community Park, Irvine | 5.7 University High School, Irvine | 5.8 Verano Place, UCI
Family Housing | 5.9 Darryn Robins Police Shooting Site, Lake Forest | 5.10 Import
Car Scene at Dynamic Autosports, Lake Forest | 5.11 Serrano Creek Park, Lake
Forest | 5.12 Lake Mission Viejo Shopping Center, Mission Viejo | 5.13 Mission
San Juan Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano | 5.14 Modesta Avila Protest Site,
San Juan Capistrano | 5.15 Putuidhem / Northwest Open Space, San Juan
Capistrano | 5.16 Swanner Ranch, San Juan Capistrano

6 COASTAL ORANGE COUNTY AND CAMP PENDLETON

6.1 Leisure World, Seal Beach | 6.2 Motuucheyngna, Seal Beach | 6.3 Red Car
Museum, Seal Beach | 6.4 Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station | 6.5 Bluff s of
Huntington Beach | 6.6 Bolsa Chica Wetlands, Huntington Beach | 6.7 Huntington
Beach Pier | 6.8 Huntington Continental Townhomes | 6.9 Pacifi c Beach Club,
Huntington Beach | 6.10 Wintersburg Village, Huntington Beach | 6.11 Cuckoo’s
Nest, Costa Mesa | 6.12 El Chinaco Restaurant and Protest Site, Costa
Mesa | 6.13 Corona del Mar State Beach / Calvary Baptism Site, Newport
Beach | 6.14 Crystal Cove Cottages, Newport Beach | 6.15 Boom Boom Room,
Laguna Beach | 6.16 Day Laborer Hiring Area, Laguna Beach | 6.17 Sycamore
Flats / Laguna Beach Great Happening | 6.18 Richard Henry Dana Statue,
Dana Point | 6.19 Calafi a Beach, San Clemente | 6.20 Capistrano Test Site,
San Clemente | 6.21 Panhe, San Clemente | 6.22 Brig, Camp Pendleton
North | 6.23 Combat Town, Camp Pendleton North | 6.24 Rancho Santa Margarita
IWW Torture Site, Camp Pendleton North | 6.25 San Clemente Border Control
Checkpoint, Camp Pendleton North | 6.26 San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station,
Camp Pendleton North | 6.27 Southeast Asian Refugee Housing, Camp Pendleton
North | 6.28 Trestles Surf Spot, Camp Pendleton North

7 THEMATIC TOURS

Cold War Legacies | Environmental Politics | LGBTQ Spaces | Orange County’s
Carceral State | Politics of Housing
Appendix A. Tips for Teaching with A People’s Guide to Orange County,
by Nisha Kunte and Mindy Aguirre
Lesson 1: Cognitive Mapping
Lesson 2: Analyzing Orange County in Popular Culture
Lesson 3: Close Reading A People’s Guide to Orange County
Lesson 4: Create Your Own Guidebook Entry

Appendix B. Selected Further Reading
Acknowledgments
Credits
Index

Learn More

Get the Educator’s Guide to Orange County

Reviews

"Their project applies political acumen to a practical regional guidebook featuring wayback machine–style micro-histories that reveal the county’s depth and breadth. . . . Meticulously, almost giddily cross-referenced, A People’s Guide to Orange County offers sources for every one of its 122 listings: scholars, journalists, poets, and activists. Entries include photographs, maps, archival materials, song lyrics, and protest chants. The idea is to uncover, piece by piece and location by location, the story of—forgive me—the real OC."
— Alta Journal

"In the public imagination Orange County either has no history at all, or it consists of tract homes, Disneyland, and Republicans. All of those things are true. But, A People's Guide masterfully, and accessibly, demonstrates that Orange County's history runs far deeper—and that it matters."
— Planetizen

"This is a remarkable book. It not only tells one of the richest, most inclusive histories of Orange County out there, but it pulls you along for the ride, taking you to the places and hearing the voices of the people long ignored who made that history."—Becky Nicolaides, author of My Blue Heaven: Life and Politics in the Working-Class Suburbs of Los Angeles, 1920–1965

"Dismiss clichés of what’s behind the Orange Curtain. This People’s Guide layers Orange County’s troubled history onto today’s uneasy present to reveal, in dozens of smart vignettes, the character of a place and its people. Intensely local yet expansive in their critical insight, the authors rouse true stories of desire and loss, of conflict and resistance, from Orange County's suburban dreamscape."—D. J. Waldie, author of Becoming Los Angeles: Myth, Memory, and a Sense of Place

“This book showed me that history is not just in my textbooks. It’s in my backyard.”—Joyce Jogwe, eleventh grade student and Santa Ana resident

"This engaging guide to Orange County offers a critical counterpoint to the 'happiest place on earth.' It pulls back the stucco curtain to highlight diverse histories of struggle, resistance, and place-making. A fascinating read that will be an important resource for teachers, scholars, and lovers of history."—Genevieve Carpio, author of Collisions at the Crossroads: How Place and Mobility Make Race

"For many, Orange County is synonymous with a host of fictional and real characters ranging from Mickey Mouse to Richard Nixon. By centering overlooked and marginalized communities, places, and people, this book challenges us to see Orange County anew. Required reading for students interested in the past and future of Southern California."—Romeo Guzmán, coeditor of East of East: The Making of Greater El Monte

Media

Watch the panel discussion from the People's Guide Series authors.

About the Book

About the Author

Table of Contents

Learn More

Reviews

Media