Located on the Pacific between San Diego and Los Angeles counties, Orange is
a bedroom-business-tourist county of 3,098,121 residents, famous for its
beaches, its weather and its amusements, foremost Disneyland.
Roughly
rectangular in shape, Orange County covers 798 square miles, about two-thirds
the size of Rhode Island, the smallest state in U.S.
The northeast side of the county rises into the Santa Ana Mountains. In the
winter, Santiago, the county's highest peak, 5,687 feet, occasionally dons a
mantle of snow. The southwest side descends to the Pacific and to about 42 miles
of beaches used year-round but the water is often chilly. Wetsuits are favored
attire.
In population, Orange County ranks among the top ten counties in the nation
and within California, third, way behind Los Angeles and slightly behind San
Diego. There are two "Oranges" - the county and the City of Orange, one of 34
cities in the county.
Before the freeways and suburbia, Orange County was famous for oranges.
Orange and lemon trees are still plentiful but the days of the great groves are
gone. Once there were 65,000 acres in commercial cultivation; now there are
fewer than 100. Nonetheless, farming pops up in the oddest places. In some
towns, tall office buildings sit side by side with strawberry fields.
What nourished the orange now delights the residents and the visitors - the
weather. In many parts, the sun shines during the daylight hours over 75 percent of the
year. In an average year, rain limits itself to 10-13 inches. Orange has its
scorching days but they are few and often softened by breezes from the Pacific.
Summer temperatures for most of the communities land generally in the 60s, 70s
and 80s. Orange has its humid days but also few in number and not remotely as
uncomfortable as the humidity of the East, South and Midwest.
In a good year, about 45 million people visit Orange County to delight not
only in Disneyland (which was joined by a new theme park) but Knott's Berry Farm
and to root for the county's professional teams, the Angels (baseball) and the
Ducks (hockey). Or to attend a convention.
Or to visit the beaches, many easily accessible. Or to see the television
Orange County, the setting for the soaps and docudramas; "The O.C," "Laguna
Beach" and "The Real Housewives of Orange County."
In their travels throughout the county, tourists spend about $8 billion
annually, an oh-so-pretty penny.
Many people come to visit - and then stay. Orange County is home to several
universities and many high-tech businesses and is a key player in the California
economy. In many cities, crime has dropped and air quality, thanks to controls imposed by
the government, is cleaner than it has been in decades (but smog is still a
problem.)
