Garden Grove is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States. The population was 171,949 at the 2020 census. State Route 22, also known as the Garden Grove Freeway, passes through the city in an eastwest direction. The western portion of the city is known as West Garden Grove.
Garden Grove was founded by Alonzo Cook in 1874. A school district and Methodist church were organized that year. It remained a small rural crossroads and farming community until the arrival of the Pacific Electric Railroad in 1905. The rail connection helped the town prosper with the influx of tourists, visitors and eventually settlers, and it was noted for its crops of oranges, walnuts, chili peppers and later strawberries.
In 1933, much of the town's central business district was destroyed by the Long Beach earthquake, and one person was killed at the high school. The post-World War II boom led to rapid development, and Garden Grove was incorporated as a city in 1956 with about 44,000 residents.
In 1956, Orange County Plaza (The Promenade) was opened at Chapman and Brookhurst, and upon its expansion in 1959, it had 60 stores, including a J. C. Penney, 2 variety stores and 2 supermarkets, and billed itself as both the largest and the first regional shopping center in Orange County.
Garden Grove has a rugged set of boundaries with many panhandles. The West Garden Grove neighborhood is west of Beach Boulevard and is largely separated from the rest of Garden Grove by the city of Stanton, with a small bridge of jurisdiction linking the two along Garden Grove Boulevard. A panhandle in the southern part of the town's borders situated between Westminster's Ward Street to the west and Santa Ana's Euclid Street to the east creates a small border with the city of Fountain Valley. Other neighboring cities include Cypress and Anaheim to the north, Orange to the east, and the cities of Seal Beach and Los Alamitos to the west.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 46.5km2 (0.10% of which is water.
The 2010 United States Census reported that Garden Grove had a population of 170,883. The population density was 9,515.3 inhabitants per square mile (The racial makeup of Garden Grove was 68,149 (White, 2,155 (Black, 983 (Native American, 63,451 (Asian, 1,110 (Pacific Islander, 28,916 (from other races, and 6,119 (from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 63,079 persons (Non-Hispanic whites were 22.6% of the population, down from 90.6% in 1970. Vietnamese Americans numbered 47,331 of the population. At 27.7% this was the highest concentration of any city in the United States except for adjacent Westminster.
The Census reported that 168,942 people (of the population) lived in households, 1,234 (lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 707 (were institutionalized.
There were 46,037 households, out of which 21,361 (had children under the age of 18 living in them, 26,659 (were opposite-sex married couples living together, 6,866 (had a female householder with no husband present, 3,588 (had a male householder with no wife present. There were 2,025 (unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 269 (same-sex married couples or partnerships. 6,491 households (were made up of individuals, and 2,842 (had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.67. There were 37,113 families (of all households); the average family size was 3.94.
The population was spread out, with 43,763 people (under the age of 18, 17,383 people (aged 18 to 24, 49,105 people (aged 25 to 44, 42,106 people (aged 45 to 64, and 18,526 people (who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35.6 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 7.7 males.
There were 47,755 housing units at an average density of 2,659.1 per square mile (of which 26,240 (were owner-occupied, and 19,797 (were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.2%; the rental vacancy rate was 4.6%. 96,308 people (of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 72,634 people (lived in rental housing units.
According to the 2010 United States Census, Garden Grove had a median household income of $59,988, with 15.5% of the population living below the federal poverty line.
According to the city's 2021 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:
Garden Grove is home to two stage theaters, the Gem Theater and the Festival Amphitheater. The Festival Amphitheater hosts Shakespeare Orange County, which presents an annual Shakespeare Festival each summer. Both venues are owned by the City of Garden Grove, but operated by outside entities.
The Garden Grove Playhouse used to be an active theatre, now closed down. It was operated by a non-profit group of the same name.
An annual event held over Memorial Day weekend, the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival is one of the largest community festivals in the western United States, attracting an estimated 250,000 visitors. It began in 1958 and celebrates the city's agricultural past, which includes cultivating crops such as chili peppers, oranges, walnuts and strawberries. Part of the festivities include the cutting of the world's largest strawberry shortcake, carnival rides, food vendors, live music, and a celebrity-filled parade. Numerous Garden Grove organizations, including the Miss Garden Grove Scholarship Program, are part of the Memorial Day weekend festivities every year. In commemoration of Garden Grove's 50th anniversary, the city painted some of its fire hydrants with a design that featured a strawberry, recognizing the festival as a big part of Garden Grove's history.
Garden Grove uses a council-manager form of government. In July 2015, the city was sued by a resident who claimed that the longstanding at-large elections had affected the Latino vote and was in violation of the California Voting Rights Act. On January 26, 2016, the city council voted to settle the lawsuit, and therefore adopted that council members would be voted by district (districts total) and no longer at-large; the mayor, however, will continue to be elected at-large. The city council consists of mayor Steve Jones, Phat Bui, George S. Brietigam III, John R. O'Neill, Thu-Ha Nguyen, Stephanie Klopfenstein, and mayor pro tem Kim B. Nguyen. According to the city's most recent Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the city's various funds had $206.0 million in revenues, $193.0 million in expenditures, $1,098.9 million in total assets, $251.5 million in total liabilities, and $196.3 million in cash and investments.
In the California State Senate, Garden Grove is in the 36th Senate District, represented by Republican Janet Nguyen.
In the California State Assembly, Garden Grove is in the 70th Assembly District, represented by Republican Tri Ta.
In the United States House of Representatives, Garden Grove is in California's 45th congressional district, represented by Republican Michelle Steel.
According to the California Secretary of State, as of October 22, 2018, Garden Grove has 72,768 registered voters. Of those, 26,604 (are registered Democrats, 21,449 (are registered Republicans, and 21,941 (have declined to state a political party/are independents.
Although Democrat Kamala Harris easily won California and also won Orange County in the 2016 United States Senate election, Democrat Loretta Sanchez easily won Garden Grove by a 67%33% margin, her widest margin of victory for any city in Orange County.
The Garden Grove Unified School District (serves most of the city. Other school districts with portions in Garden Grove include: Westminster School District (only) Huntington Beach Union High School District (the Westminster SD area), Anaheim Elementary School District, Anaheim Union High School District, and the Orange Unified School District
GGUSD operates the following high schools in Garden Grove:
King of Kings Christian Academy is an accredited private school (grade) associated with the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (in Garden Grove.
Asahi Gakuen, a part-time Japanese school, leases La Quinta High School in Westminster (high school operated by GGUSD) on Saturdays for its Orange County campus. Previously Bolsa Grande High, and later Santiago High, housed the Asahi Gakuen Orange County campus.
The Garden Grove Police Department provides law enforcement, with mutual aid assistance offered at times by the Anaheim Police Department's helicopter and the Orange County Sheriff's Department Air Unit.