Lake Forest, California, United States

History | Geography | Transport : Road | Economy : Top employers | Arts and culture | Parks and recreation | Education

🇺🇸 Lake Forest is a city in Orange County, California. Lake Forest incorporated as a city in 1991. Prior to incorporation, the community had been known as El Toro. Following a vote in 2000, Lake Forest expanded its city limits to include the master-planned developments of Foothill Ranch and Portola Hills. This expansion brought new homes and commercial centres to the north-eastern boundary of the city.

Lake Forest has two lakes from which the city gets its name. The lakes are man-made, and condominiums and custom homes ranging from large to small line their shores. Neighborhood associations manage the lakes (Lake 1, known as the Lake Forest Beach and Tennis Club, and Lake 2, the Sun and Sail Club.) Each facility features tennis courts, gyms, basketball courts, barbecue pits, volleyball courts, multiple swimming pools, saunas, hot tubs and club houses for social events.

The "forest" for which the city is also named lies in the area between Ridge Route, Jeronimo, Lake Forest and Serrano roads, and consists mostly of Eucalyptus trees. It is also man-made, and was created in the first decade of the 1900s when a local landowner, Dwight Whiting, planted 400 acres (1.6 km²) of Eucalyptus groves in the vicinity of Serrano Creek as part of a lumber operation intended to draw development to the area. In the late 1960s, the Occidental Petroleum company developed a residential community in and around the Eucalyptus groves, which had long since expanded and grown much more dense.

History From 1863, the community had been known as El Toro. In 1874 José Serrano and his family occupied eleven thousand acres of the Rancho Cañada de los Alisos that had been granted to them by the Government of Mexico, and that eventually reached the hands of Dwight Whiting. Whiting was instrumental in bringing the Santa Fe rail line through the region. The Rancho Niguel was granted to Juan B. Alvarado, Juan Avila and his sister Conception, the widow of one Pedro Sánchez. From them it passed to other owners and was divided into plots, including Yorba. In 1874, most of it was owned by Cyrus B. Rawson. Jonathan E. Bacon also owned 1600 acres. In addition to the Serranos, established in Aliso Canyon, there was a group of pioneers who lived in the foothills and several miles above El Toro, many of whom were among the first settlers of this neighborhood.

El Toro Road at the I-5 Freeway was the epicenter of the Saddleback Valley from the late 19th century to the end of the 2nd millennium. However, the area gradually deteriorated, and most of the shops closed or moved to other cities. After years of planning, the city has worked with the property owners of some aging strip malls and developed the "Arbor at Lake Forest" commercial district. The new centre now competes with large shopping centres in cities that surround Lake Forest.

In 1991, residents chose to incorporate, and chose the name "Lake Forest" in a referendum. Controversy ensued for months, as residents of the newer subdivisions arguing that "Lake Forest" sounded better than "El Toro", while long-time residents complained that the name change aimed to erase the town's history in favor of an artificial name that referred to man-made lakes. El Toro High School kept its name and continues to do so to this day. In subsequent years as the city came to be referred to as Lake Forest, mentions of "El Toro" in the press usually referred to the Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, decommissioned in 1999 and later repurposed.

Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 17.9 square miles (46 km²). 17.8 square miles (46 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.26 km²) of it (0.48%) is water.

Lake Forest is bordered by Irvine on the west and north-west, Laguna Hills and Laguna Woods on the south-west, Mission Viejo on the south-east, Trabuco Canyon and Silverado Canyon on the east, and Limestone Canyon Regional Park on the north.

Lake Forest is located in the heart of the Saddleback Valley, the north-east end located in the Foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains. It is also in the northern section of South Orange County.

It has two man-made lakes identified by the clubhouses on the lakes — the Beach and Tennis Club (Hidden Lakes, formerly Lake I) and the Sun and Sail Club (Lake II).

Transport: Road Interstate 5 travels along the western border of Lake Forest, forming the border with Laguna Hills. I-5 has two interchanges in the city: Lake Forest Drive and El Toro Road (Highway S18).

California State Route 241 passes through the Foothill Ranch community of Lake Forest, in close proximity to several residential and commercial areas. SR 241 has three interchanges in Lake Forest: Alton Parkway, Lake Forest Drive (a partial interchange with a southbound exit and northbound entrance only), and Portola Parkway.

County Route S18, also known as El Toro Road, is a major road in Lake Forest, traveling the entire length and width of the city limits, about 10.5 miles. El Toro road has 8 major intersections in the city and passes through numerous communities, such as Portola Hills. At Live Oak Canyon Road, El Toro becomes Santiago Canyon Road, forming the far north-east boundary of Lake Forest, before heading through the mountains and becoming Chapman Avenue in northern Orange County.

Economy The city is home to the headquarters of eyewear manufacturer Oakley, Inc.; metals company Kaiser Aluminum, in-flight entertainment provider Panasonic Avionics; Karem Aircraft an aircraft company developing UAV's with major aircraft companies; telecommunications software developer Greenlight Wireless Corp.; barbecue retailer Barbeques Galore; restaurant chains Johnny Rockets and Del Taco; medical equipment maker Apria Healthcare; and skateboarding companies Sole Technology, Inc., Etnies, Autism Behavior Services Inc., and Tilly's; among others. It is also the home of the corporate headquarters for Eagle Community Credit Union, a credit union focused on serving postal and federal employees who live or work in Orange County.

Economy: Top employers According to the City's 2020 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city include: 1 Panasonic Avionics Corporation; 2 LoanDepot; 3 Oakley; 4 Schneider Electric (Invensys); 5 Spectrum Brands; 6 Cox Communications; 7 Bal Seal Engineering; 8 The Home Depot; 9 Walmart; 10 Alcon Research.

Arts and culture Lake Forest is served by two branches of the Orange County Public Library system known as OC Public Libraries: the El Toro branch and the Foothill Ranch branch.

The city is the location of Rick Warren's megachurch, Saddleback Church, the sixth-largest evangelical church in the United States.

The city of Lake Forest puts on an annual summer concert at Pittsford Park. Other public events include the Fourth of July 5K run and fireworks display over the lake at the Sun & Sail Club. On Wednesdays at 4 pm, there is a farmers market at the Sports Park and Recreation Center, where locals can go and buy products from the local farmers and vendors.

In 2020, the classical music organization Chamber Music | OC moved its operations from Chapman University in Orange, California to the Lake Forest Business Center where they are headquartered.

Parks and recreation Lake Forest Sports Park and Recreation Center opened on November 1, 2014, across the street from Saddleback Church. The 86.2-acre Sports Park, built with fees collected from developers for a "study" that led to the rezoning of surrounding areas, is one of the largest sports parks in Orange County. The Recreation Center houses classrooms/activities rooms and a gymnasium, hosting many education and recreation programs that have previously been hosted at the rented City Hall facility.

Lake Forest is also home to two county parks. Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park in the eastern part of the city was the site of an infamous mountain lion mauling in 2004 that captured the attention of the West Coast news media.

Heritage Hill Historical Park and Museum is home to some of the oldest buildings in Orange County, including the Jose Serrano Adobe, an original adobe home and settlement built in 1863; El Toro's first school, the old El Toro School House; El Toro's first church, St. Georges Episcopal Church; and the Harvey Bennett Ranch House, built in 1908, from which the Bennett Ranch development in Lake Forest derives its name. The Bennetts raised oranges for Sunkist, and owned the State-deeded water rights to Aliso Creek, which was very rare in California, and instrumental to their success. It is also the location of "Ritchie's Park", per signs along Aliso Creek, which was a naturally set childhood playground along the stream, where all of the Bennett children and grandchildren played. Frequently, the children found Indian artifacts along the banks, and met relatives of the Indians whose ancestors had actually lived there, including "Al" and "Cy" who were older Indians working for the Bennetts. The park is named for Richard Bennett Harvey, the grandchild whom Harvey and Frances Bennett raised, their seventh and last "child" who grew up on the ranch in youth, and lived there later in early marriage, working on the ranch until it was sold. The Bennett's son, Richard Beach Bennett, was educated in Animal Husbandry at California Polytechnic State University, Pomona, and grew replacement trees for farmers, before starting his own ranch in Balcom Canyon in Ventura County.

Lake Forest also has etnies Skatepark, which is the largest public skatepark with over 40,000 square feet (3,700 m²).

Education Lake Forest has one high school, El Toro High School, which opened in 1973, and one high school on the border of Lake Forest and Mission Viejo, Trabuco Hills High School. The city also has eight elementary schools and a middle school. The mascot is a bull and its teams are known as the Chargers; its school colors are blue and gold. Lake Forest is served entirely by the Saddleback Valley Unified School District, or SVUSD.

California - Palm Springs 
California - Palm Springs
Image: Adobe Stock photogolfer #400172415

Lake Forest has a population of over 85,620 people. Lake Forest also forms one of the centres of the wider Orange County which has a population of over 3,010,232 people. It is also a part of the larger Los Angeles metropolitan area.

To set up a UBI Lab for Lake Forest see: https://www.ubilabnetwork.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/UBILabNetwork

Text Atribution: Wikipedia Text under CC-BY-SA license

Antipodal to Lake Forest is: 62.283,-33.628

Locations Near: Lake Forest -117.717,33.6276

🇺🇸 Mission Viejo -117.667,33.614 d: 4.9  

🇺🇸 Aliso Viejo -117.705,33.568 d: 6.7  

🇺🇸 Laguna Niguel -117.7,33.517 d: 12.4  

🇺🇸 Irvine -117.826,33.687 d: 12.1  

🇺🇸 Newport Coast -117.833,33.583 d: 11.8  

🇺🇸 Newport Beach -117.872,33.627 d: 14.4  

🇺🇸 Santa Ana -117.874,33.705 d: 16.9  

🇺🇸 Costa Mesa -117.916,33.634 d: 18.4  

🇺🇸 Orange County -117.853,33.792 d: 22.1  

🇺🇸 Orange -117.845,33.803 d: 22.8  

Antipodal to: Lake Forest 62.283,-33.628

🇲🇺 Mahébourg 57.7,-20.407 d: 18477.1  

🇫🇷 Saint-Pierre 55.478,-21.342 d: 18494  

🇲🇺 Curepipe 57.517,-20.317 d: 18462  

🇲🇺 Vacoas-Phoenix 57.493,-20.3 d: 18459.5  

🇲🇺 Centre de Flacq 57.718,-20.2 d: 18455.5  

🇲🇺 Quatre Bornes 57.479,-20.266 d: 18455.5  

🇫🇷 Saint-Benoît 55.713,-21.034 d: 18472.7  

🇲🇺 Beau Bassin-Rose Hill 57.471,-20.235 d: 18451.9  

🇲🇺 St Pierre 57.517,-20.217 d: 18451.4  

🇲🇺 Beau-Bassin Rose-Hill 57.467,-20.233 d: 18451.6  

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