Garden Grove, CA

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Garden Grove is a vibrantly progressive and growing city located just south of Los Angeles in Orange County, California. Our motto, “The City of Youth and Ambition,” accurately reflects this culturally diverse community of over 170,000 people. Garden Grove is home to four annual cultural festivals that celebrate the Vietnamese, Korean, Arabic, and American heritage. Garden Grove’s Strawberry Festival, nearing 50 years old, is the largest community-based Memorial Day event in the western United States.

Garden Grove is conveniently located less than one mile from Disneyland, seven miles from Knott’s Berry Farm, nine miles from local beaches, and 10 miles from John Wayne Airport.

Schools in the Garden Grove Unified School District have been rated as some of the best and safest in the County. With 45 elementary schools, nine junior high schools, eight high schools, and five community colleges, Garden Grove can meet all of your family’s educational needs.

The City of Garden Grove has many services to offer its community, including employment assistance, educational programs, recreational programs, and family entertainment. Garden Grove has seven fire stations and 13 police stations/substations helping to make our city one of the safest places to live in California. The City’s staff of over 600 full-time employees is supported by more than 100 community-minded volunteers.

Our community has a proud reputation for its outstanding commitment to volunteerism. Garden Grove is home to the highest number of churches and places of worship per capita in California, including the world-famous Crystal Cathedral. With safe streets, warm, sunny weather year-round, and religious and cultural diversity, it’s no wonder that residents consider Garden Grove a great place to call home.

Located in Orange County, California, the City of Garden Grove (17.8 sq.miles) is a friendly, spirited and balanced community rich in diversity — a city with a view to the future. Incorporated on June 18, 1956, the City celebrated 50 years of cityhood in 2006 and 133 years since the founding of Garden Grove in 1874 by Dr. Alonzo Cook. The city flower is the Orange Tropicana Rose, and the city tree is the Flame Coral.

The History of the City of Garden Grove
Spanish Roots
Spanish soldiers commanded by Gaspar de Portola first discovered Orange County as they made their way north across California in 1769. During their journey, the soldiers camped on a wide grassy plain east of present day Garden Grove. They named the area the Santa Ana Valley and claimed the state of California as a possession of Spain. The Santa Ana Valley was divided into ranchos as some of the soldiers settled in the area.

In 1822, Mexico gained independence from Spain, and California became a province of Mexico. It was the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, at the end of the Mexican-American War, that made all of California a territory of the United States of America. In 1850, California became the 31st state in the union.

A businessman named Abel Stearns bought large tracts of land in Southern California in 1868 and divided some of it into smaller lots to sell to settlers. In 1874, Alonzo Cook purchased 160 acres of land in the area for about $15 an acre. Recognized as Garden Grove’s Founding Father, he later donated land north of Main Street and Garden Grove Boulevard for use as the site of the first schoolhouse and post office. Cook suggested the name “Garden Grove” for the school and surrounding village. Some countered that the name did not fit the open terrain. Cook responded, “We’ll make it appropriate by planting trees and making it beautiful.”

From Community to Town
By the time Orange County incorporated in 1889, the Garden Grove area had a population of about 200. It continued as a quiet farming community into the 20th Century, when in 1905, the Pacific Electric Railroad came through Garden Grove. The railroad brought tourists, visitors, and before long, more settlers. Soon after came the first telephone, gas and electric services for the residents near Main Street.

During the next 40 years, agriculture continued as the town’s main economy. Although ideally located in the center of the county, Garden Grove’s growth was slowed by two disasters during those years. The first was in 1916, when the center of town was flooded and came under about four feet of water after days of heavy rains. Then, in 1933, another disaster damaged the old town section of Garden Grove when an earthquake struck. Following each of these catastrophes, however, the residents joined in spirit and labor to repair the damage and continue the progress of Garden Grove.

Population Explosion
World War II had an important impact on city growth. Servicemen who had visited California during their training for war came back to settle and raise their families. Available land and low prices caused a sudden building boom, making Garden Grove the fastest growing city in the nation in the 1950s. As the area grew, its rural nature changed to a more modern society and the need for city government was evident.

Garden Grove Becomes a City
Residents formally decided to incorporate their town on June 18, 1956, to become the City of Garden Grove. Since incorporation, the pioneer spirit has continued to be part of life for Garden Grove. At the time of the 1960 census, Garden Grove had a population of nearly 44,000. Today, the population is over 170,000. That makes Garden Grove the fifth largest city in Orange County and the 18th largest in the State. The community is a dynamic and thriving city with a strong sense of its roots based on its colorful history.

The Crystal Cathedral
No mention of Garden Grove would be complete without mentioning its best known building, the Crystal Cathedral. The Crystal Cathedral is a Protestant Christian megachurch in the city of Garden Grove, in Orange County, California.  World-famous architect Philip Johnson designed the main sanctuary building, which was constructed using over 10,000 rectangular panes of glass and can hold 2,900 worshippers. The church is also known for its 320 rank, five manual pipe organ constructed by Fratelli Ruffatti. Designed by Virgil Fox and expanded by Frederick Swann, the instrument incorporates the large Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ built in 1962 for New York’s Avery Fisher Hall, and the Ruffatti organ which had been installed in the church’s previous sancutary. The rectangular panes of glass are not bolted to the structure; instead they are glued to it using a silicone based glue. This and other measures allow the building to withstand an earthquake of magnitude 8.0.
Affiliated with the Reformed Church in America, the church then known as Garden Grove Community Church was founded in 1955 by the Reverend Dr. Robert H. Schuller and his wife, Arvella, and is considered the world’s first “seeker sensitive” church. The first church services were held in space rented from the Orange Drive In Theatre. In 1961, the congregation moved to a new sanctuary designed by famed architect, Richard Neutra . Construction on the Cathedral began in 1977 and ended in 1980. The initial estimated cost of the church was $6 million, but the final cost was over $17 million (about $55 million in 2007 dollars). One way Dr. Schuller found to help finance the construction of the Crystal Cathedral was to invite donors to give $500 for each of the 10,000 rectangular panes of glass, which raised over US$5 million by its completion. Upon moving from the old Neutra sanctuary to the new Johnson sanctuary, the congregation changed its name to the Crystal Cathedral Congregation.

One of the church’s mission statements is, “Find a need and fill it; find a hurt and heal it.”

The Crystal Cathedral broadcasts its church services around the world on a television show called The Hour of Power and provides facilities for those of a similar faith to congregate. The campus services include support groups, Sunday school classes and daily Christian gatherings.
Early on December 16, 2004, 57-year old Johnnie Carl, the cathedral’s orchestral conductor, fired several bullets in his office at the cathedral, shortly before the annual Glory of Christmas program was about to begin. The shots were fired in the vacant concourse area and no one was injured. Carl, who suffered from bipolar disorder, ended up committing suicide. In his 29 years as Orchestra Director at the cathedral, Carl wrote more than 3,500 arrangements, including several selections on tenor Daniel Rodriguez’s newest inspirational album. Rodriguez, a frequent musical guest at the Sunday services, dedicated his album titled “In The Presence” to Johnnie Carl. Schuller praised Carl’s work as conductor and told his congregation that “We can be reassured that he is in heaven.”

On Sunday, January 22, 2006, founder Robert H. Schuller retired as Senior Pastor of the Crystal Cathedral. His son, Robert Anthony Schuller, was installed as the second Senior Pastor of the church and head of the Hour of Power TV program. On October 25, 2008, Robert H. Schuller removed his son Robert Anthony from his pastoral role at the Crystal Cathedral, citing “a lack of shared vision”. In a prepared statement, founder Robert H. Schuller stated that “different ideas as to the direction and the vision for this ministry” with his son “made it necessary … to part ways in the Hour of Power television ministry.”

The name “Crystal Cathedral” describes the building’s size and beauty and does not mean it is a cathedral in the Roman Catholic, Anglican or Lutheran sense of the word: the Reformed Church in America is governed by elders, while a cathedral is usually the term for a church where one finds a bishop’s official seat, or cathedra, nor is the sanctuary constructed of crystal. The name reflects Schuller’s frequent use of alliteration within his sermon titles, points and book titles.

The Cathedral is renowned for featuring famous celebrities during the Hour of Power services on a regular basis. Notable guests have included musician John Tesh, former USSR president Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of India Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, former Vice President Al Gore, former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, Christian singer Jaci Velasquez, pianist Roger Williams, internationally acclaimed flautist Sir James Galway, Christian singer Joy Williams, Backstreet Boys member and Christian singer Brian Littrell, Christian singer Natalie Grant, former tennis star Michael Chang, Irish tenor Ronan Tynan, actor Noah Gray-Cabey, American tenor Daniel Rodriguez, musical group The Oak Ridge Boys, Christian singer Sara Groves, radio talk-show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger, MLB baseball player Kirk Gibson and actor Denzel Washington.

Trivia

• The Crystal Cathedral and its former senior pastor, Dr. Robert H. Schuller, were depicted in Natural Born Kissers, the final episode in the ninth season of The Simpsons. Homer Simpson is dragged nude across the glass roof of the cathedral by a hot air balloon, while Dr. Schuller and the congregation sit aghast below, inside the sanctuary. Dr. Schuller exhorts his congregation to keep their eyes focused on “God’s floor” during the ordeal.
• The Crystal Cathedral was featured on the History Channel program entitled, Building in the Name of God, which profiled the world’s great cathedrals.
• The Hour of Power broadcast is the most-watched Christian program in the world, with an estimated average of 20 million viewers tuning in each week.
• The Cathedral was featured on the MTV television series Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County during Season 1.  The Reverend Robert A. Schuller is the father of a former cast member on the show, Christina. She sang a duet with her sister during the church service on the show.
• The gold cross behind the center of the stage was donated by a Titanic survivor.

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