Fullerton, California

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City of Fullerton, California
Seal
Location of Fullerton within Orange County, California, USA
Country	United States
State	California
County	Orange
Government
- Mayor	Shawn Nelson
Area
- City	22.2 sq mi (57.6 km²)
- Land	22.2 sq mi (57.5 km²)
- Water	0 sq mi (0.1 km²)
Population (2000)
- City	126,003 (city proper)
- Density	5,675.7/sq mi (2,191.4/km²)
Time zone	PST (UTC-8)
- Summer (DST)	PDT (UTC-7)
Website: www.ci.fullerton.ca.us

Fullerton is a city located in northern Orange County, California, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 126,003.

It was founded in 1887 by George and Edward Amerige and named for George H. Fullerton, who secured the land on behalf of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Historically it was a center of agriculture, notably groves of Valencia oranges and other citrus crops; petroleum extraction; transportation; and manufacturing. It is home to several educational institutions, notably the California State University, Fullerton (CSUF).

Contents 1 History 1.1 Recent history 2 Notable Fullertonians 3 Geography 4 Government and politics 4.1 Emergency services 5 Education 6 Culture and recreation 7 Demographics 8 Transportation 9 External links

[edit] History

This section is drawn substantially from Oranges and Oil, by Fullerton Heritage

Evidence of prehistoric habitation is present in Ralph B. Clark Regional Park in the northwest of the city. Europeans first passed through the area in 1769 when Gaspar de Portolà led an expedition north to establish Mission San Gabriel Arcangel, after whom the local Native American population were dubbed the Gabrieliños. The land later became part of Rancho San Juan Cajon de Santa Ana, granted to Juan Pacifico Ontiveros, a Spanish soldier.

Ontiveros began to sell parcels of the Rancho to settlers flooding California in the aftermath of the 1849 Gold Rush, including Massachusetts native Abel Stearns. In the 1860s, Stearns sold in turn to Domingo Bastanchury, a Basque shepherd.

In 1886 while in the area on a duck hunting vacation, Malden brothers George and Edward Amerige, heard rumors that the California Central Railroad, a subsidiary of the Santa Fe Railway, was looking for land. Sensing opportunity, they arranged to buy 430 acres (1.7 km²) north of Anaheim for approximately $68,000.

They then began negotiations with George H. Fullerton, president of the Pacific Land and Improvement Company, also a Santa Fe subsidiary. They offered free right-of-way and half interest in the land to the railroad if Fullerton's survey were revised to include the proposed town site, and on July 5, 1887 Edward Amerige formally staked his claim at what is now the intersection of Harbor Boulevard and Commonwealth Avenue.

In 1894 Charles Chapman, a retired Chicago publisher and a descendant of John "Johnny Appleseed" Chapman, purchased an orange orchard in eastern Fullerton. The Valencia variety of oranges he promoted from his Santa Ysabel Ranch, well suited to the local climate, proved a boon to producers; Fullerton boasted more orange groves than any other municipality in the United States. Cultivation of walnuts and avocados also flourished, and the Western railroad town became an agricultural center.

In 1904, Fullerton incorporated.

In 1913, community college Fullerton College was established at its present location at Chapman Avenue and Lemon Street.

In 1924 a law was created banning all overnight street parking throughout the city. The law is still enforced to this day.

Drilling for petroleum also began in the late 1800s and fueled the first real boom, peaking in the 1920s. Construction reflected the vogue for Spanish Colonial and Italian Renaissance-inspired architecture, as in the historic Fox Fullerton Theatre (erected 1925); the home of Walter and Adella Muckenthaler, designed by Frank Benchley (erected 1924); and the city's chief landmark, the Plummer Auditorium and clock tower (erected 1930).

Significant public works projects were constructed during this period, including the conversion of a southwestern sewer farm into Fullerton Municipal Airport at the behest of Placentia ranchers and aviators William and Robert Dowling in 1927.

In 1932, Val Vita Food Products (later Hunt Wesson and today part of ConAgra Foods, Inc.) began operating a citrus juice plant in western Fullerton. By 1941 it had become the largest food processing company in the US. 1930s- Hawaiian Punch created in a Fullerton garage. Through the mid-1900s the economy shifted toward manufacturing; southeastern Fullerton became an industrial center and the city became a producer not only of canned foods, but also of aerospace equipment, electrical and electronic components, navigation systems, and laboratory instruments.

In 1949 Dick Riedel and Bill Barris piloted the Sunkist Lady, a modified Aeronca Sedan, out of the Fullerton airport to set an endurance flight record of 1,008 hours and 2 minutes.

Fullerton's population soared after World War II as veterans migrated to California, and in particular after the construction of Interstate 5 and development in neighboring Anaheim.

In 1957, the California State Legislature authorized Orange County State College, which began operating out of Fullerton high schools in 1959. In 1963, it moved to its present campus on State College Boulevard and was redesignated California State College at Fullerton. Other institutions followed, earning Fullerton a reputation as an "Education City."

In 1965, Harold Muckenthaler donated his family home to the city for use as a cultural center.

In 1979, the Fullerton Arboretum, a 26-acre (105,000 m²) botanical garden, opened in the northeastern part of the city.

Manufacturing growth leveled off as ever-soaring property prices, increasing environmental regulation, traffic, and other pressures increased. By the late 20th century the city had lost much of its rural character in favor of suburban housing tracts and shopping centers.

[edit] Recent history

The first years of the 21st century have seen several political issues played out against a backdrop of class division (between the more affluent northern and western parts of the city and the southern portion of the city, which borders Anaheim), rapidly diminishing supplies of undeveloped land, and demographic changes (including the influx of Asian and Latino immigrants into an area previously dominated by Caucasians).

As in many cities, growth and development are contentious issues. In the 1990s, the downtown commercial district had become economically depressed, and was known mainly for being an area of sleepy antique stores and small shops. A symbol of downtown's problems was the Fox Theatre, a local landmark, which had fallen into disrepair. As of November 2004, a fundraising drive had accumulated sufficient funds to buy the theater, but not yet enough money to restore it. By 2006, restoration was started. During this same period, the downtown area, especially south of Commonwealth Avenue, has become more of a busy entertainment district, described by the OC Weekly as Bourbon Street West. In less than five years, some 30 businesses that sell alcohol have opened, making the downtown area much more active at night. With the festive atmosphere have come problems such as public drunkenness, fights and a shortage of parking; a police task force last year has addressed some of these problems.

There is a proposal to develop the Coyote Hills area, the last undeveloped area in the city. This controversial issue has pitted local environmentalists and slow-growth activists (who argue that the city should seek state funding to buy the area and make into a park) against the pro-business and pro-growth City Council. There are also plans to build approximately 300 condominiums or apartments downtown, leading to more density.

The 293-acre Hughes Aircraft Company's Ground Systems Group campus in western Fullerton was redeveloped into a major new residential and commercial district, called Amerige Heights, in 2001–2004. This development was accompanied by extreme shifts in neighborhood property values, first dropping precipitously in the late 1980s to early 1990s as the former Hughes employees sold their houses, and then rising rapidly as part of a general increase in real estate values throughout Orange County.

[edit] Notable Fullertonians

Main article: List of people from Fullerton, California

• Philip K. Dick, science fiction writer
• Jim Edmonds, MLB player on the St. Louis Cardinals
• Leo Fender, inventor of numerous electric guitar improvements and founder of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation
• Jenna Haze, Pornographic actress
• Tommy Lasorda, MLB pitcher and former manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers
• Lon Nol, former Prime Minister of Cambodia
• Steven Seagal, Hollywood actor
• Gwen Stefani, lead singer of No Doubt and solo recording artist.
• Tui St. George Tucker, composer
• Keith Van Horn, NBA player on the Dallas Mavericks
• Eric Wynalda, all-time leading scorer for the U.S. Soccer National Team

[edit] Geography

Fullerton is located at 33°52′48″N, 117°55′43″W (33.879914, -117.928749)^GR1. It is approximately 25 miles (40 km) southeast of downtown Los Angeles, and approximately 11 miles (18 km) north-northwest of Santa Ana, the county seat. The city has a mean elevation of 150 feet (46 m) and lies approximately 11 miles northeast of the Pacific Ocean straight-line distance. It has a Mediterranean climate, with a mean temperature of 62.2 degrees Fahrenheit (16.8 °C).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 57.6 km² (22.2 mi²). 57.5 km² (22.2 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.04 mi²) of it (0.14%) is water.

The flat downtown area is laid out in a grid plan centered at the intersection of Harbor Boulevard and Commonwealth Avenue. After recent renewal and beautification projects, it has attracted specialty stores, coffee shops, and restaurants, and has uncharacteristically retained much of its downtown character. Southeastern Fullerton is historically the industrial sector, and is home to small manufacturing, particularly east of Raymond Street and south of Commonwealth.

The hilly northern and western parts of Fullerton were for most of its history groves of citrus trees, open scrubland, and oil fields. While equestrian trails and many old estates endure along Bastanchury Road, the meandering roads through these areas today mostly connect a succession of housing tract subdivisions and commercial developments. North-central and northwestern Fullerton is broadly referred to as Coyote Hills, while the name Sunny Hills refers to the adjacent lands to the south and west. In recent years, the Fullerton City Council has tried to develop all the remaining open land throughout the city. The most notable impending project, in West Coyote Hills, has been met with high opposition by many of the citizens in the area. West Coyote Hills is in the far northwest of the city, and borders the cities of La Mirada and La Habra.

[edit] Government and politics

Fullerton is a general law city with a council-manager government system. Legislative authority is vested in a City Council of five non-partisan members who serve four-year staggered terms, who elect a chair who serves as mayor but hire a professional city manager for day-to-day operations. All Council seats are elected at large. Elections are held every two years and are consolidated with the statewide general elections held in November of even numbered years.

As of July 2004 there were 60,927 registered voters in the city:

• Republican Party - 29,146
• Democratic Party - 19,146
• Decline To State - 9,850
• American Independent Party - 1,098
• Libertarian Party - 507
• Green Party- 480
• Peace and Freedom Party - 242
• Natural Law Party - 137
• Miscellaneous - 321

Fullerton has historically favored conservative Republican in state and federal elections, sending native William E. Dannemeyer to seven terms in the United States House of Representatives.

[edit] Emergency services

Fire protection in Fullerton is provided by the Fullerton Fire Department with ambulance transport by Care Ambulance Service. The Fullerton Police Department provides law enforcement.

[edit] Education

California State University, Fullerton, commonly Cal State Fullerton or CSUF was first established in 1957 as Orange County State College. The twelfth member of the California State University system, its main campus is located on 236 acres (1 km²) of a former orange grove in northeast Fullerton near California State Route 57 and Nutwood Avenue; there are six branch campuses. In the spring quarter of 2004, 32,592 students were enrolled in 104 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. CSUF primarily serves commuter students.

Fullerton College is a two-year community college, the oldest in continuous operation in California. Part of the North Orange County Community College District, it is situated on a 63 acre (255,000 m²) campus adjacent to Fullerton Union High School.

Other institutions of higher education in Fullerton include Western State University College of Law, Hope International University, and Southern California College of Optometry.

The city also prides itself on its public schools, including Fullerton Union High School, the oldest high school in the Fullerton Joint Union High School District as well as all of Orange County, home of historic Plummer Auditorium and the Academy of the Arts magnet program, as well as science magnet school Troy High School.

[edit] Culture and recreation

Fullerton is home to a vibrant music scene. It was a center for the Orange County hardcore punk music scene, producing acts such as The Adolescents, Agent Orange, Social Distortion, and TSOL. Gwen Stefani, lead vocalist of the alternative rock group No Doubt, was a student at CSUF and the group performed there regularly. Other popular groups from the area include The Offspring and Lit.

Contributing greatly to Fullerton's musical heritage was the Fender musical instrument company, whose products such as the Stratocaster and Telecaster electric guitars, Precision Bass bass guitar, and Twin Reverb guitar amplifier revolutionized the music business and contributed greatly to the development of rock and roll. (A list of notable rock performers who did not use a Fender product at some point in their careers would be very short.) Leo Fender sold the company to CBS in 1964; production continued in the Fullerton plant until 1985, when the then-ruined company was sold to a group of private investors. (It was later reconstituted as Fender Musical Instrument Corporation, with its major production facilities in neighboring Corona and across the US-Mexico border in Ensenada, Baja California, and its headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona.) In 1980, Leo Fender and his original partner George Fullerton (relation to the Fullerton founder of the same name unknown) reunited and started a new company, G&L (George and Leo) Guitars, which currently occupies the old Fender factory in Fullerton.

The Muckenthaler Cultural Center on Malvern Avenue near Euclid Avenue houses a museum, art galleries, two symphony orchestras, and a theater group.

The Fullerton Museum Center is a multidisciplinary exhibit space housed in the old Carnegie Library downtown.

Fullerton is also home to the Fullerton Public Library. The Main Library is located on Commonwealth Avenue in Downtown Fullerton and adjacent to the City Hall and Police Station. There is also a branch library, called the Hunt Branch on Basque Avenue.

Fullerton is also home to a diverse and ever-growing theatre scene. The Fullerton Civic Light Opera, one of the largest theatre companies in Southern California, is based at the Plummer Auditorium. Local educational institutions, such as Fullerton College and Fullerton High School, are the source of numerous large-scale production. Fullerton also houses several independent theatre groups, such as Stages Entertainment.

Fullerton maintains 45 city parks and is home to the Craig Regional Park and Ralph B. Clark Regional Park. The Fullerton Arboretum comprises 26 acres (105,000 m²) of sculpted gardens and unusual plants in northeastern Fullerton. Additionally the city features approximately 200 acres (0.8 km²) of recreational land in the Brea Dam Recreational Area, plus an equestrian center and trails, two golf courses, and the Janet Evans Swim Complex.

The city is also one one of the few Southern California municapalities to be served by a completely independent newspaper, the Fullerton Observer www.fullertonobserver.com. The Observer is an all-volunteer paper that is printed two to three times a month. It prides itself on its progressive nature and was founded in the late 1970s by Ralph Kennedy, a fair housing and civil rights activist who advocated saving Coyote Hills as open space.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 126,003 people, 43,609 households, and 29,610 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,191.4/km² (5,675.9/mi²). There were 44,771 housing units at an average density of 778.7/km² (2,016.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 61.89% White, 2.27% Black or African American, 0.69% Native American, 16.08% Asian, 0.23% Pacific Islander, 14.81% from other races, and 4.03% from two or more races. 30.17% of the population is Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 43,609 households out of which 33.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.8% were married couples living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.1% were non-families. 23.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.83 and the average family size was 3.37.

In the city the population was spread out with 25.1% under the age of 18, 11.5% from 18 to 24, 32.3% from 25 to 44, 19.8% from 45 to 64, and 11.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 97.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.1 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $50,269, and the median income for a family was $57,345. Males had a median income of $40,674 versus $31,677 for females. The per capita income for the city was $23,370. About 8.0% of families and 11.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.6% of those under age 18 and 5.4% of those age 65 or over.

• 2000 Census profile of Fullerton

[edit] Transportation

Fullerton owes its existence to the railroad^{[citation needed]}. The city is still bisected by the BNSF Railway, upon whose tracks run Amtrak trains 3 and 4, the Southwest Chief, between Chicago and Los Angeles, the Pacific Surfliner to Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and San Diego and Metrolink commuter rail trains. Average trip time on Metrolink or Amtrak to Los Angeles is 30 minutes.

The Fullerton Train Station is located downtown at the Fullerton Transportation Center, which also serves as a major bus depot for the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA).

Fullerton is crossed by three major freeways. California State Route 91, the Riverside Freeway, runs east-to-west down the length of the city south of Orangethorpe Avenue. It intersects with Interstate 5, the Santa Ana Freeway, in the west near Magnolia Avenue and with California State Route 57, the Orange Freeway, in the east near State College Boulevard.

Fullerton Municipal Airport, the only general aviation airport remaining in Orange County, located in the southwest of the city, is the last remnant of the Hughes Company in the area, which was prominent in the aerospace industry up until the 1970s.

[edit] External links

• City of Fullerton Official Web Site
• Fullerton Chamber of Commerce
• Fullerton Heritage
• Fullerton Downtown - Information on events, restaurants, shopping, and entertainment in the downtown area.
• SOCO District - Fullerton's newest hot spot for live entertainment. Located in the downtown area, SOuth of COmmonwealth.
• California State University, Fullerton
• Fullerton Public Library
• Cal State Fullerton Titans Athletics
• Fullerton College
• Save Fox Theater! Although currently in poor condition, the Italian Renaissance-inspired building has been a key element of Fullerton's downtown for over 75 years, and in 1990, the City of Fullerton declared it Historic Landmark Number 35.
• Fullerton Train Depot The City of Fullerton was started as a station for the Santa Fe Railroad.
• Fullerton Railroad Days free family-oriented festival held first weekend in May.
• The Fullerton Flyers The Fullerton Flyers arrive in town as the first ever professional team to call Fullerton its home.
• The Miss Fullerton Scholarship Program
• Stages Entertainment Stages Entertainment, an independent theatre company around since 1993, is located near downtown and has contributed to the regrowth of the area.

• Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: 33.879914° -117.928749°
  • Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
  • Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
  • Topographic map from TopoZone
  • Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA