Anaheim,
28 miles southeast of L.A., is very much a tourist hub and
a large part of its tourist draw is the Disneyland Resort. The Angel
Stadium of Anaheim is a famous name in baseball and the Grove of
Anaheim is a brightly lit, glossy venue for live music. Just next to
Anaheim is Buena Park, a cultural hub for Asian-Americans,
which is home to
Knott’s Berry Farm, as well as the well-known Medieval Times dinner
show and the massive Movieland Wax Museum. Orange,
32 miles
southeast of L.A., has an impressively preserved Old Town District,
and the Block at Orange is a shopper’s paradise. Yorba Linda, set a
little east of Anaheim and Orange, is a wealthy community home to
Nixon’s presidential library. About 40 miles south of L.A. is Costa
Mesa, home to the truly immense South Coast Plaza and the excellent
Pacific Amphitheater and Orange County Performing Arts Center. Irvine,
Orange County’s largest city, is next to Costa Mesa. This is a
pleasant surburbia-style city home to the Irvine Spectrum shopping
center, the Irvine Barclay Theatre, and an amusement park, Great Park.
The largest university in Orange County, the University of California,
Irvine, is here. A little north of Irvine, about 36 miles from
Los Angeles, is Huntington Beach, Surf City U.S.A. The 8.5 miles of
Huntington’s excellent surf beach are made up of Bolsa Chica State
Beach, Huntington City Beach, and Huntington State Beach. Further
south, 44 miles from L.A., is Newport Beach, which is, as one might
expect, also known for its beaches. Other attractions are the retro
amusement park Balboa Fun Zone, the artificial island Balboa Island,
the Orange County Museum of Art, and the Back Bay wildlife
preserve. Mission Viejo is 48 miles from L.A. and is
pleasantly
planned and suburban, featuring The Shops at Mission Viejo as well as
many, many parks. San Juan Capistrano is 55 miles south of Los
Angeles, near the very southern end of the county, and is most notable
for Mission San Juan Capistrano. Just farther away, 58 miles, is Dana
Point and its gorgeous bay and that legendary surf break, Killer Dana.
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