ANAHEIM : FOCUS : Home of the Rams, Angels and Mickey Mouse
A drive along Katella Avenue and Harbor Boulevard gives one the impression that an airport is just around the corner--hotels, inns and motels dominate the area--but there isn’t one in sight. With no airport around and so many accommodations for out-of-towners, this can mean only one thing--this must be near Disneyland . The home of Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and a host of well-known characters, Disneyland is visited annually by 12 million people of all ages.
Nearby is the Anaheim Convention Center, built to meet the growing competition for convention business. To stay in the running, the city last year approved a $51 million expansion project which will add a new exhibit hall and five-story parking garage to the Center and modernize the arena’s interior meeting rooms.
A few minutes away is Anaheim Stadium, home to the Los Angeles Rams and the California Angels. And near downtown Anaheim is the recently-opened Celebrity Theatre, an $8 million, 2,300 seat facility that attracts contemporary musical and comedy acts.
The stadium, convention center and Disneyland have enabled Anaheim to corner much of the region’s entertainment market. In fact, the city’s financial life-blood depends heavily on its tourism and convention industries, which last year generated $5.1 billion through the food, lodging and entertainment attractions there.
Still, tourism isn’t the whole show in Anaheim. The city is the county’s largest, both in population and area, and has a variety of thriving businesses, with several new office complexes in various stages of completion. And with Anaheim Hills the city can lay claim to having one of the priciest residential sections in Orange County. Thousands of homes dot the rolling hills in this area in the eastern part of the city, many of which command sweeping views. The level of affluence is reflected in the home prices, which range from about $150,000 up to several million dollars.
Statistics Population (1986 est.): 241,901 Area: 45 square miles Incorporation: March 18,1876 Median household income: $30,005 Median home value: $92,994 Racial/ethnic mix: white, 85.9 %; Latino, 21.4 %; black, 1.5 %; other, 12.6 % (Total is more than 100% because racial/ethnic breakdowns overlap) City Services City Hall (714) 999-5100 200 S. Anaheim Blvd. Police (business) (714) 999-1900 425 S. Harbor Blvd. Fire (business) (714) 999-1800 500 E. Broadway Blvd. Post Office (714) 520-2600 701 N. Loara In Emergency, Dial 911 Education Adults over 25 Years of school completed: 0-11 years: 24.4 % 12 years: 36.6 % 13-15 years: 23.7 % 16+ years: 15.3 % Median years completed: 12.6 Government City Council: Ben Bay (mayor), Irv Tickler (mayor pro tem), Miriam Kaywood, William D. Ehrle, Irv Pickler, Fred Hunter City Manager: Bob Simpson Fire Chief: Jeff Bowman Chief of Police: Jimmie Kennedy Population Median Age: 32.1 years Employment status Employed persons: 114,095 Unemployed: 5,612 Not in labor force: 48,994 Per capita income: $8,579 Statistics: Donnelley Demographics
