Sweet Orange

Tomorrow I will write about upcoming events at the Orange County Great Park. In preparation for that, here is a reminder of what the Great Park is all about:

The Orange County Great Park is located on land that was once part of the El Toro Marine Air Station. Before that, it was Irvine Ranch bean fields and grazing land, and, before that, Mexican and Spanish grazing land. The Juanenos (Acagchemen) and Gabrielino Indians also had a presence on this land.

The City of Irvine is developing this publicly owned land, which is approximately the size of New York’s Central Park, as one of the first great metropolitan parks of the 21st century. The City’s vision is to provide a recreational, cultural and social gathering spot for Orange County residents as well as others who are near to or far from Orange County. As Central Park, Balboa Park and Golden Gate Park are great metropolitan parks built in previous eras, the vision for the Orange County Great Park is that it will be a great metropolitan park built in this era.

The private land that surrounds the public Great Park land and is called the Great Park Neighborhoods was also part of the former El Toro Marine Air Station. Current plans for the Great Park Neighborhoods include the building of homes as well as commercial, educational and recreational features. The private Great Park land combined with the public Great Park land is over six square miles.

GRAPHIC COURTESY THE ORANGE COUNTY GREAT PARK CORPORATION