O.C. Q&A: Santa Ana Edition

4th St. at Main, Santa Ana, circa 1940s (Santa Ana Public Library)

Q:  Is the City of Santa Ana named for General Santa Anna of Alamo fame?

A:  No relation. O.C.’s Santa Ana moniker began when our local mountains were “discovered” by the Portolá Expedition on the Feast Day of St. Anne in 1769. The friars in the party named them the Santa Ana Mountains. Days later, the expedition named the Santa Ana River after the mountains it seemed to flow from. Later, the river’s name was applied to Santa Ana Canyon and Santa Ana Valley, through which it flowed. In California’s Mexican era, three local ranchos incorporated the name:  Cañón de Santa Ana, San Juan Cajón de Santa Ana, and Santiago de Santa Ana. The name was applied to a couple communities before town founder William Spurgeon attached it to the place we now know as the City of Santa Ana. Aren’t you glad Portolá didn’t come across those mountains on the Feast Day of St. Chrysogonus?

Q:  How did Santa Ana get its own zoo?

A:  In 1949 local old-timer J. E. Prentice gave the City of Santa Ana sixteen acres adjacent to his home for a park. There were two provisos: 1) The park had to be named Prentice Park, and, 2) The park had to include a zoo containing no fewer than fifty monkeys. Prentice was fond of monkeys and let four or five of them have the run of his mansion, infuriating his housekeepers.

During the zoo's construction, the eccentric Prentice harangued construction workers from his porch, shouting, waving his arms, and contradicting the foreman's orders. 

The Santa Ana Zoo at Prentice Park opened in 1952 at 1801 E. Chestnut Ave. Today it includes animals from all over the world. 

In 2008, Prentice's great-nephew threatened to take the land back when the zoo's monkey count dropped to forty-eight. The birth of twin golden lion tamarins saved the day.

Q:  When and where did Orange County get its first traffic signal?

A:  The earliest I can find is a simple flashing light atop a directional sign at the center of the intersection at First St. and Main in Santa Ana. This “lighthouse flash signal” proved a road hazard and lasted only a few days. The next attempt occurred a few blocks away, when “automatic traffic signals” were installed at the intersections where Fourth St. crosses Main and Broadway (then the county’s commercial hub). Instead of lights, these signals had arms marked “Stop” and “Go” which swung into view on alternating cycles, accompanied by a bell. By 1939, when Fourth and Main got the town’s first modern red-yellow-green lights, people were sick of the bells.