Orange County is largely a suburb of Los Angeles, ie, made up of bedroom communities that have grown over the past twenty-five years into a dynamic service market for its residents.     Communities such as the City of Garden Grove was groves and orchards of fruits and vegetables.     Today, it is a metropolitan area in its own right providing thousands of services for its residents and neighboring communities.

    To help new and old disect better this Shopping Directory for the entire County of Orange, we have provided some sub-directories for regions within the county that will guide you from smaller communities to the larger metropolitan types with their own sub-directory.

Coastal Map     Orange County runs along the Pacific Ocean between Long Beach to the north and Oceanside to the south and because of the diversified nature of those coastal communities, we felt it important to have a sub-directory for each:   Huntington Beach includes Sunset Beach, and Seal Beach;   Costa Mesa, Newport Beach (including Lidi Island, Balboa Island, with a special Business District for the John Wayne Airport/Irvine Area.

    The coastal area is served by I-405 running parallel to the ocean and several east/west arterials beginning in the north with I-605 and the south around the airport with I-55 and I-57 and in the far south where the "405" merges with I-5 which will take you to the county line and Oceanside in the south.

    Because of the nature of our highway infrastructure, two major city areas in Los Angeles County along the northern border are included:   Long Beach, Los Alamitos, Cypress, and Cerritos   ("405" and "605")

North County     This reference is actually for that part of the county inland, away from the ocean.     This area is served primarily by I-91 and I-57 which disect the region in a cross-like pattern.     It is a mix of exclusive bedroom communities as well as larger service-oriented communites.     Diamond Bar, Brea, Yorba Linda, Placentia, Anaheim Hills, we would consider bedroom communities while to the west are more developed, and service-oriented communites such as Fullerton, Buena Park, La Palma, Anaheim, and Villa Park all running along I-91 on either side.     More central in this northern region of the county is Orange and El Modena and to the eastern area with limited freeway access by Californian standards is Silverado, and Modjeska, quite rural in the "mix of things."


Central Map     This corridor is served by many freeways that allow the residents quick access to all parts of the county and is under-going a major lane upgrade as we write.     The old Garden Grove Freeway "22" with two lanes is now being expanded to five and six lanes with car pool lane(s).     And, yes -- the major city in this area is Garden Grove, and a "sister-like" community of Westminster where a very profitable ethnic community since the Vietnam War has risen in Little Saigon where you can buy just about anything from the Orient -- especially rice!     Santa Ana is considered central to the county, but it has its own sub-directory because of its importance in state and federal government agencies and offices, the heart of the county for government operations.     One of the oldest county roads, Beach Boulevard, has a couple of small townships in Stanton and Midway City.

South Coast     This coastal area, leaving the county to the south, is bordered by the ocean and many tourist destinations/beaches and Camp Pendleton, the largest U.S. Marine installation on the westcoast.     It is a rather exclusive area with its bedroom communities and primary tourist destinations such as El Toro, Foothill Ranch, Mission Viejo, Lake Forest, Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, San Juan Capistrano, Trabuco Canyon, and major harbor areas such as Dana Point and San Clemente, the previous residence of President Richard Nixon.     Again, because of its rural nature and rolling hills, the only major freeway service access is I-5 with some toll road expansion and secondary roads such as the "Pacific Coast Highway," California-1.

Shopping Areas and Places of Interest     Because of the diversity of the county products and services, and to assist merchants in being identified by potential customers, we have designed an infrastructure for malls and shopping centers as well as an ethnic-oriented establishment to make it easier to find those unusual items of interest.     The inherent cultural roots of the Hispanic Community are provided in El Mundo/Latino, "the World of Latin" and Little Saigon for our Asian immigrants from Southeast Asia and China.
 


Quick Reference       See By City Index

North County:   Anaheim, Anaheim Hills, Brea, Buena Park, Diamond Bar, El Modena, Fullerton, La Palma, Modjeska, Orange, Placentia, Silverado, Villa Park, and Yorba Linda where the under-scored communities have their own sub-directory infrastructure

Central Map:   Cypress, Los Alamitos, Garden Grove, Westminster, Midway City, Stanton, Santa Ana,
and Tustin

Coastal Map:   Huntington Beach, (including Seal Beach, Sunset Beach,) Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, (including Lidi Island, Balboa Island, and Corona Del Mar) and the major national airport facility for the county John Wayne/Irvine Business District

South Coast:   Aliso Viejo, Dana Point, El Toro, Foothill Ranch, Lake Forest, Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, Trabuco Canyon, San Clemente, and San Juan Capistrano.

Ethnic Interests   El Mundo/Latino, Ethnic Communities, and Little Saigon **

Shopping Malls and Centers throughout the County

** The dynamics of the marketplace has changed the overall experience of Little Saigon and one of the latest additions is SF Market (Old K-Mart) just north of the "405" on Beach (Blvd.)   .. wide isles; a pleasure to food shop "Vegas-style."


* Legal Disclaimer:   make no doubt about this under-taking, this webportal for Orange County is a massive project and will evolve over the next few years until it truly becomes a remarkable resource for consumer shopping in the Southern California area.

    As community sub-divisions are created, we will add special "quick reference" indeces to help the consumer find your advertisements.