Santa Ana At 150: Celebrating The City’s Past, Present, And Future [Photo Essay]

October 9, 2019

The Old Orange County Courthouse photographed by Lisandro Orozco / Historic Santa Ana @historicsantaana

Drive through downtown Santa Ana, and it’s almost impossible not to be struck by the grandeur of the historic buildings lining the streets. Imposing and majestic, they leave the unmistakable impression that the earliest settlers envisioned a fine future for the city.

No structure makes that point quite like the Old Orange County Courthouse. Built in a striking Romanesque Revival style from Arizona red sandstone and Temecula granite, it has been featured in movies such as “Catch Me If You Can.” The courthouse was deemed seismically unsafe, and it closed in 1979 before being restored and revitalized. Today it’s home to the Orange County Archives and a museum of Orange County history, as well as a marriage license bureau and chapel.

This month, as Santa Ana celebrates its 150th anniversary, the city’s buildings and neighborhoods tell its story: from an outpost for farmers and ranchers, to the social and political center of Orange County, to a center for innovative arts, food, and culture.

The Old Orange County Courthouse sustained enough damage in the 1933 Long Beach earthquake that the tower visible in this vintage postcard was removed, along with some gable ends and turrets.

FOURTH STREET (CALLE CUATRO)
Department stores such as J.C. Penney, Buffums, and Montgomery Ward lined Fourth Street from the 1920s to the 1960s.

Soon after paying $594 for the 74 acres that would become Santa Ana, William Spurgeon plotted out a 24-square-block townsite, with Fourth Street at its center. In 1885, when this photo was taken (looking west from Bush Street), the most frequent visitors were local farmers and ranchers.

By 1928, the intersection of Fourth and Bush streets was bustling with shoppers arriving in Ford Model Ts and on the Pacific Electric Railway streetcar, otherwise known as the Red Car, which connected Santa Ana to Los Angeles and the city of Orange.

THE GRAND CENTRAL ART CENTER
The anchor of the Second Street Promenade, celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

William Spurgeon was Santa Ana’s founder and first mayor. He opened the town’s first general store and established the First National Bank of Santa Ana. In 1913, his company built the Spurgeon Building, a neoclassical gem that was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Its clock tower, pictured here, was restored in the ’90s. Hopper & Burr coffee occupies the corner spot on the first floor. Photograph by Emily J. Davis

In its early days, the Santora Building was best known for Daninger’s Tea Room, which served Hollywood celebrities such as Jack Benny, Milton Berle, and Lucille Ball from 1934 to 1944. These days, the 1928 Spanish Colonial Revival building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is home to several art galleries and studios. It was central in the establishment of the Artists Village in the 1990s. Photograph by Emily J. Davis

Buildings in downtown Santa Ana were designed in a variety of architectural styles, from Beaux Arts to Classical to Spanish Colonial Revival. Photograph by Emily J. Davis

Buildings in downtown Santa Ana were designed in a variety of architectural styles, from Beaux Arts to Classical to Spanish Colonial Revival.

GRACEFUL VICTORIANS
Many of the city’s mansions were converted into rooming houses in the 1940s to accommodate the wives of military men stationed at the Santa Ana Army Air Base.

Some of Orange County’s most prominent families settled in Santa Ana in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Several built grand Craftsman and Victorian homes in the neighborhoods now known as Historic French Park, Lacy, and the Eastside. Monroe David Halladay, a rancher, was one of the first: In 1888, he constructed the Victorian that still stands at 628 Chestnut Ave.

Halladay’s home remained in his family until 1971, when his descendants sold it to a couple who lived in it for the next 40 years. Photograph by Emily J. Davis

Halladay’s home is still a private residence but you can tour the interior of this Victorian home: The Dr. Howe-Waffle House and Medical Museum downtown. Photograph by Emily J. Davis

THE SANTA ANA REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION CENTER
When the Mediterranean Revival-style Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center opened in 1985, it was one of the largest new transit centers to be constructed since the 1950s. The closing scene from the movie “Rain Man” was filmed at the station, as was a scene from the HBO show “True Detective.”

The first scheduled Southern Pacific Railway train in Santa Ana arrived on Dec. 17, 1877. The city wasn’t the first in Orange County to build a train depot (that was Anaheim), but it quickly became one of the most popular stops, and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad soon constructed its own line through town.

FLORAL PARK
Floral Park has hosted a home tour every spring since 1993, showcasing more than 200 homes in the area.

Santa Ana’s population grew steadily through the 20th century. As more families arrived, residential areas began to grow around the downtown district. Floral Park was the site of a major building boom in the 1920s, when developers built homes in a wide variety of styles, from Mediterranean Villa and English Tudor to Georgian, California Ranch, and Art Deco. Today, 600 homes built between the 1920s and the 1950s remain in the neighborhood, and more than 200 of them are listed on the Santa Ana Register of Historic Places.

Mabel Webster’s Apartments on Broadway and Washington Avenue in downtown Santa Ana were built in 1929. Ninety years later, they still function as rental units and retain their Spanish-style charm.

Unless otherwise noted, all current photographs by Emily J. Davis
All historic photos courtesy of Santa Ana Public Library, Santa Ana History Room photograph collection

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