An Overview of Orange County
Orange County was a largely agricultural area until Walt Disney chose it as the spot to build his new amusement park in 1955. The Stanford Research Company told Disney that the area would be the center of future growth, and whether their researchers were prescient or simply created a self-fulfilling prophecy, they were right. Orange County is now home to almost 3 million people, according to the 2005 census.
Other than Disneyland, Orange County's forty-two miles of coastline, nine beaches, and three harbors are its most famous features.
FAST FACT
Long before the recent television programs discovered Orange County as a filming backdrop, it appeared in the movies. A scene from Legally Blonde was filmed at the Old Orange County Courthouse in Santa Ana, portions of the 1930 film All Quiet on the Western Front were shot in Newport Beach and Laguna Beach, and Dana Point harbor stood in for New England in The Perfect Storm.
