Anaheim was once California’s wine country, but blight wiped out the vineyards in the late 1880s. Afterward, oranges became the main crop.
The 2.2-square-mile Anaheim Resort boasts more than 15,000 trees, shrubs and flowers, including 1,000 palm trees that line the boulevards. The city of Anaheim maintains an estimated 1.5 million square feet of landscape—equivalent to approximately 34 football fields.
The boysenberry was invented in Buena Park. Walter Knott and his neighbor Rudolph Boysen crossed the blackberry, red raspberry and loganberry in 1932. This new fruit planted the seed for Knott’s Berry Farm, when the Knott family made boysenberry preserves and sold it at a roadside berry stand.
Some quirky tourist attractions have come and gone in Buena Park, including the Japanese Deer Park, the Palace of Living Art, the Enchanted Garden, Mott’s Miniatures, and the Alligator Farm.
The Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory of Costa Mesa was launched out of a car in 1964 by two recent college graduates: David Emmes and Martin Benson. The founders are still going strong as the repertory’s artistic directors.
