Orange County City of the Week: Newport Beach, CA

This week's featured city is Newport Beach, CA. According to Wikipedia:

Newport Beach, incorporated in 1906, is an affluent city in Orange County, California, 10 miles (16 km) south of downtown Santa Ana. The population was 85,287 at the 2010 census. Newport Beach is also home to Newport Harbor.

The city's median family income and property values consistently place high in national rankings. The Daily Pilot, a newspaper published in the neighboring city of Costa Mesa but which serves the greater Newport-Mesa community, reported in 2010 that more than a quarter of households have an income greater than $200,000, and the median value for homes is approximately $1 million.^[5]

Source: 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/NewportBeachCA_photo_D_Ramey_Logan.JPG 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NewportBeachCA_photo_D_Ramey_Logan.JPG 

Famous Face From Orange County: Sabrina Bryan

This week's Famous Face From Orange County is Sabrina Bryan of Yorba Linda, CA. According to Wikipedia:

While she was a student, she filmed the Disney Channel Original Movie The Cheetah Girls, which was released in the summer of 2003. The movie's soundtrack went double-platinum. Bryan, along with Adrienne Bailon and Kiely Williams, achieved success as members of the official The Cheetah Girls group. In November 2005, the group released their Christmas album, Cheetah-licious Christmas, and also toured the US on their Cheetah-licious Christmas Tour to promote the album.

The Cheetah Girls 2 premiered on the Disney Channel on August 25, 2006. It garnered more viewers than High School Musical, becoming the most watched Disney Channel Original Movie before being beaten out by both Jump In! and High School Musical 2. The soundtrack to Cheetah Girls 2went Platinum. After the release of Cheetah Girls 2, Bryan, along with her fellow Cheetah Girls, toured the US on their The Party's Just Begun Tour.

The Cheetah Girls released their official debut studio album, TCG, on September 25, 2007. The first single from the album, "So Bring it On", was released to Radio Disney on August 25, 2007. The second single, "Fuego", was released to Radio Disney on September 15, 2007.

The Cheetah Girls: One World premiered on August 22, 2008. They kicked off their One World Tour on October 8, 2008, and concluded December 21, 2008. In early 2009, The Cheetah Girls officially announced that they had disbanded, in favor of pursuing solo projects. However, Bryan and former Cheetah Girl band-mate and close friend Kiely Williams are collaborating on a talk show which Williams described as "a young version of The View".^[1] Preliminary clips of the series, called Dinner with Friends, can be seen on YouTube.^[2]

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabrina_Bryan 

Orange County City of the Week: Mission Viejo

According to MissionViejo.org:

The land upon which Mission Viejo is developed was part of the 52,000-acre Rancho Mission Viejo. The chain of title to the land dates back to July 27, 1769, when a Spaniard named Gaspar de Portola led an expeditionary force from Mexico across the southern border of the ranch and claimed the land for Spain.

Seven years later, the ranch witnessed the first attempt to found Mission San Juan Capistrano. Although lack of water forced the friars to relocate and the whereabouts of this old mission remain a mystery, the name Mission Viejo bears testimony to this structure's sojourn in San Juan Canyon more than two hundred years ago.

After Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821, a new flag flew over California and a new spirit filled the air. The missions, which had been established to further the spread of the Christian faith, became secularized, and their vast landholdings were granted as ranches to prominent citizens.

One man who happened to be standing in the right place at the right time was an English trader named John Forster. John or Juan, as the name reads on the old land grant, married the Mexican governor's sister and acquired the three ranchos historically known as El Trabuco, Mission Viejo, and Los Potreros. But fate frowned on Don Juan Forster. Fencing 205,000 acres drained his capital, droughts destroyed his cattle, and futile efforts to attract settlers dried up his last remaining credit. When Forster died, his estate was in shambles, and his sons were forced to sell.

In 1907, an Irish cattleman named Richard O'Neill acquired an undivided interest in Rancho El Trabuco and Rancho Mission Viejo. When a 1963 study indicated that urbanization was spreading south from the Los Angeles area, his grandchildren, Richard O'Neill and Alice O'Neill Avery, decided to sell 10,000 acres. Donald Bren, Philip J. Reilly, and James Toepfer purchased the property and organized the Mission Viejo Company.

In 1965, a master plan for Mission Viejo was approved by the Orange County Board of Supervisors. One year later, Forster's dream of attracting settlers became a reality as families stood in line to pay $21,000 for homes on his former cattle range. In April 1966, these pioneering residents moved into the new neighborhoods near the intersection of La Paz Road and Chrisanta Drive.

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