Last Working Orange Grove
A two-acre stretch of trees surrounded by a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire along Santa Ana Street in downtown Anaheim is the last working orange grove in a city that was once a major hub for processing fruit from more than 67,000 acres of citrus trees in Orange County. The property belongs to the Pressel family that has lived in Anaheim for over a century. It figures prominently in local history as the flashpoint of the 1936 Citrus War, a brutal labor conflict between Mexican pickers and the Orange County establishment. Citizens groups have worked to preserve the grove for decades, envisioning an educational site and park dedicated to Anaheim’s agricultural history where city children can pick oranges and see farm equipment up close.
Anaheim, Orange County
Images by Andrew Schmidt