Miguel Pulido

Orange County

  - Total

27 mi²

Santa Ana is the largest city and the county seat of Orange County, California. It lies approximately 10 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean, on the largely seasonal Santa Ana River. The Santa Ana Freeway (Interstate 5) runs through the city, and the Costa Mesa Freeway (55 Freeway) and Garden Grove Freeway (22 Freeway) travel along its edges. It is today best-known for its enormous Mexican American population, now comprising over 75% of what was once a virtually all-white city. It has the highest percentage of Latinos, even more than El Paso, among the 50 largest cities in America. The Current OMB metropolitan designation for Santa Ana and the Orange County Area is “Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, CA.”

Founded in 1869 by Kentuckian William H. Spurgeon on land purchased from the Yorba family, Santa Ana was incorporated as a city in 1886 with a population of 2000 and in 1889 became the seat of the newly formed Orange County.

One of Santa Ana's most notable businesses is the Rickenbacker musical instrument company, whose electric guitars and bass guitars earned fame in the hands of rock and roll legends such as: John Lennon, George Harrison and Paul McCartney of The Beatles; Roger McGuinn of The Byrds; Pete Townshend of The Who; Tom Petty; Geddy Lee of Rush; Chris Squire of Yes; and Peter Buck of R.E.M. Santa Ana is also the home of the First American Corporation and Ingram Micro.

Santa Ana is also the location of the original Glenn L. Martin aviation company, which later merged with the Lockheed Corporation to form the largest aircraft and weapons manufacturing corporation on the planet, Lockheed Martin.