Discover ANAHEIM

Founded by fifty German families in 1857 and incorporated on February 10, 1870, Anaheim developed into an industrial center, producing electronics, aircraft parts, and canned fruit. It is the site of the Disneyland Resort, a world-famous grouping of theme parks and hotels which opened in 1955, Angel Stadium, Honda Center, and Anaheim Convention Center, the largest convention center on the American West Coast. The Anaheim Visitor Center is adjacent to the Convention Center.

The name of Anaheim is a blend of "Ana", after the nearby Santa Ana River, and "heim", a common Upper German place name compound originally meaning "home".

Anaheim's city limits stretch from Los Alamitos in the West to the San Bernardino County and Riverside County lines in the East, and encompass a diverse collection of neighborhoods and communities. Anaheim Hills is a master-planned community that resembles South Orange County more than the county's northern cities. West Anaheim is notable for its more mature neighborhoods dating from the 1950s, which comprise part of the continuous suburban sprawl extending from Los Angeles. The Anaheim Resort, a commercial district, includes Disneyland and the neighboring hotel and retail complexes. The Platinum Triangle, a neo-urban redevelopment district surrounding Angel Stadium, will soon be populated with mixed-use streets and high-rises. Finally, the Canyon is an industrial district north of the Riverside Freeway and east of the Orange Freeway.

Anaheim's largest and most important industry is tourism. Its Anaheim Convention Center is home to many national conferences, and the Walt Disney Company is by far the city's largest employer. Many hotels, especially in the city's Resort district, serve theme park tourists and conventiongoers.


HISTORY OF ANAHEIM

Anaheim was founded in 1857 by grape farmers and wine makers from Franconia in Bavaria. The colony was situated on 1,165 acres.

Settlers voted to call the community Annaheim, meaning "home by the Santa Ana river" in German. The name later was changed slightly, to Anaheim. To the Spanish-speaking neighbors, the settlement was known as Campo Alemán (Spanish for German Camp). The grape industry was destroyed in the 1880s by an insect pest. Other crops - walnuts, lemons, and of course oranges soon filled the void.

In the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan, at the height of its influence and popularity, decided to make Anaheim a model Klan city. In 1924, the Klan secretly managed to get four of its members elected to the five-member Board of Trustees. Nine of the ten members of the police force were also Klansmen. The four Klan trustees served for nearly a year, until they were publicly exposed, and voted out in a recall election in which 95% of the population participated.

The Disneyland theme park was constructed in Anaheim from July 16, 1954 to July 17, 1955 and has since become Anaheim's largest tourist attraction. The location was formerly 160 acres of orange and walnut trees, some of which remain inside Disneyland. In 2001, Disney's California Adventure, the most expansive project in the theme park's history, opened to the public.

In the late 20th century, Anaheim grew rapidly in population. Today, Anaheim has a diverse racial and ethnic composition


TRANSPORTATION

Anaheim is served by two public bus transit systems (Metro & OCTA) and 2 rail systems (Amtrak & Metrolink). Anaheim and Orange County are serviced by John Wayne Airport and Long Beach Airport, located 15 miles away and Los Angeles International (LAX) and Ontario Airport, located 40 miles away.

In addition, a not-for-profit organization called the "Anaheim Transportation Network" provides local shuttle service in the Disneyland Resort area serving local hotels and both the California Adventure and Disneyland theme parks.


ATTRACTIONS

• Disneyland Resort
  • Disneyland
  • Disney's California Adventure
  • Downtown Disney
• Angel Stadium of Anaheim
• Honda Center
• The Grove of Anaheim, formerly the Sun Theater, formerly Tinseltown Studios
• Anaheim Convention Center

ANAHEIM TOURS, TRAVEL AND ACTIVITIES

ANAHEIM HOTELS & ACCOMMODATION