Editing Fullerton, California (section)

==History==
===Indigenous===
Evidence of prehistoric animal habitation, such as [[saber-toothed cats]] and [[mammoths]], is present in [[Ralph B. Clark Regional Park]] in the northwest of the city.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ci.fullerton.ca.us/depts/city_manager/history_of_fullerton/default.asp |title=City of Fullerton Official Website |publisher=Ci.fullerton.ca.us |access-date=November 26, 2011}}</ref>

The area of the city was a part of the homelands of the [[Tongva]] for thousands of years.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fullerton {{!}} California, United States {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Fullerton |access-date=January 5, 2023 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> There was a large village in the area along the [[Santa Ana River]] that has since been identified as the [[Hutuknga]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Welch |first=Rosanne |date=2006 |title=A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE TONGVA TRIBE |url=https://habitatauthority.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/native_american_history.pdf |website=Habitat Authority}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=Cultural and Paleontological Resources |url=https://www.banningranchconservancy.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Appendix-J-Part-1-Cultural-and-Paleontological-Resources.pdf |website=Banning Ranch Conservancy}}</ref> The village was one of the largest throughout all of [[Tovaangar]], or the Tongva world. It was connected by marriage ties to other villages in the area, including [[Genga, California|Genga]].<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last1=Koerper |first1=Henry |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/745176510 |title=Catalysts to complexity : late Holocene societies of the California coast |last2=Mason |first2=Roger |last3=Peterson |first3=Mark |date=2002 |publisher=Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA |others=Jon Erlandson, Terry L. Jones, Jeanne E. Arnold, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA |isbn=978-1-938770-67-8 |location=Los Angeles |pages=64–66, 79 |oclc=745176510}}</ref> [[Acorn]]s and seeds from grasses and [[Salvia|sages]] were regularly cultivated. Trade connections were established with villages on the coast and those further inland.<ref name=":12"/>

===Spanish era===
Europeans first passed through the area in 1769 when [[Gaspar de Portolá]] led a Spanish expedition north to [[Monterey, California|Monterey]]. From the description recorded in the diary of Father [[Juan Crespi]], the party camped on [[Timeline of the Portolà expedition|July 29]] near present-day Laguna Lake, in the Sunny Hills area.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bolton |first=Herbert E. |pages=142–143 |year=1927 |title=Fray Juan Crespi: Missionary Explorer on the Pacific Coast, 1769-1774 |url=http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000288788 |publisher=HathiTrust Digital Library |access-date= }} Diary translator Herbert Bolton, in a footnote, describes the camp location as "La Brea Canyon, north of Fullerton"</ref>

===American era===
In 1894, [[Charles Chapman (mayor)|Charles Chapman]] purchased an orange orchard in eastern Fullerton. The Valencia variety of oranges he promoted from his Santa Ysabel Ranch, well suited to the local climate, proved a boon to producers; Fullerton boasted more orange groves than any other municipality in the [[United States]]. Cultivation of [[walnut]]s and [[avocado]]s also flourished, and the Western railroad town became an agricultural center. Fullerton was incorporated in 1904,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Fullerton, CA |url=https://www.trustandprobatelawyers.com/fullerton-ca.html|access-date=October 13, 2021|website=Orange County Trust Lawyer Crockett Law Corporation }}</ref>

===Boom years===
[[File:LouisPlummerAuditorium01c.jpg|thumb|[[Fullerton Union High School]]'s auditorium, built 1930–32]]
[[File:Fullerton up depot (2383278131) (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Union Pacific]] depot, built 1923]]

Drilling for [[petroleum]] began in 1880 with the discovery of the [[Brea-Olinda Oil Field]] and fueled the first real boom, peaking in the 1920s. Construction reflected the vogue for Spanish Colonial and [[Architectural history#Italian Renaissance architecture|Italian Renaissance–inspired]] architecture, as in the historic [[Fox Theatre (Fullerton)|Fox Fullerton Theatre]] (erected 1925); the [[Muckenthaler House]], designed by Frank K. Benchley (erected 1924); and the city's chief landmark, the Plummer Auditorium and clock tower (erected 1930). [[Fullerton College]] was established at its present location at Chapman Avenue and Lemon Street in 1913. Meanwhile, the city banned all overnight street parking in 1924 – a law enforced to the present day, unless an area is specifically exempted.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cityoffullerton.com/resident/neighborhood/overnight_parking.asp|title=Overnight Parking|publisher=City of Fullerton |access-date=December 10, 2018 |archive-date=December 10, 2018 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181210202655/https://www.cityoffullerton.com/resident/neighborhood/overnight_parking.asp}}</ref>

In 1943, the Alex Bernal residence became the site of one of the first successful lawsuits against household [[Covenant (law)|covenant laws]] in the country after Alex and Esther Bernal purchased a home in a Fullerton neighborhood that barred purchases from "Mexicans." After a [[home invasion]] that resulted in their belongings being thrown into the street and a petition signed by fifty neighborhood residents to have the Bernal's removed from the neighborhood, a lawsuit was issued against the Bernals on the basis that their presence caused "irreparable injury" to the neighborhood that could lead to "coming in contact with said other races, including Mexicans, in a social and neighborhood manner." Lawyer David C. Marcus represented the Bernals in ''Doss vs. Bernal'' and won the case, which received national attention.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Lewinnek |first1=Elaine |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1226813397 |title=A people's guide to Orange County |date=2022 |first2=Gustavo |last2=Arellano |first3=Thuy |last3=Vo Dang |isbn=978-0-520-97155-4 |location=Oakland, California |pages=77–78 |oclc=1226813397 |publisher=University of California Press }}</ref>

In 1949, [[Leo Fender]] developed and refined the world's first commercially successful solid-body electric guitar, the [[Fender Telecaster]].

===Postwar suburbanization===
Although Fullerton, like other Southern California cities, had experienced an expansion of population due to housing development, this increased by an order of magnitude during the post war years. Fullerton's population soared after [[World War II]] as American veterans migrated to [[California]], bought housing in the land development which destroyed the surrounding farming and park areas, and in particular after the construction of [[Interstate 5 (California)|Interstate 5]] and development in neighboring [[Anaheim, California|Anaheim]].

To serve the growing population, the [[California State Legislature]] authorized [[California State University, Fullerton|Orange County State College]] in 1957, which began operating out of Fullerton high schools in 1959. In 1963, it moved to its present campus on State College Boulevard, and later, after several name-changes, was finally redesignated [[California State University, Fullerton]]. The Fullerton Arboretum, a 26-acre (105,000&nbsp;m<sup>2</sup>) [[botanical garden]], opened in 1979.<ref>"[https://fullertonarboretum.org/history.aspx History]", Fullerton Arboretum.</ref>

Manufacturing growth leveled off as ever-soaring property prices, increasing environmental regulation, traffic, and other pressures increased. By the late 20th century the city had lost much of its rural character in favor of [[suburb]]an housing tracts and shopping centers.

In the 1980s, Fullerton hosted a community of Punk and LGBTQ youth in the former Black Hole Apartments.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=1989-07-23 |title=Kids of the Black Hole : The 1970s Were Waning When Orange County's Punk Rock Scene Roared Its Dark, Hostile Message |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-07-23-ca-498-story.html |access-date=2025-05-15 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-05-11 |title=Kids of the Black Hole: Punk in Southern California |url=https://fullertonhistory.com/2023/05/11/kids-of-the-black-hole-punk-in-southern-california/ |access-date=2025-05-15 |website=Fullerton History |language=en}}</ref>

===Recent history===
In the 1990s, the downtown commercial district had become economically depressed, and was known mainly for being an area of sleepy antique stores and small shops. A symbol of downtown's problems was the [[Fox Theatre (Fullerton, California)|Fox Theatre]], a local landmark which had fallen into disrepair partially due to a fire. As of November 2004, a fundraising drive had accumulated sufficient funds to buy the theater, but not yet enough money to restore it. By 2006, restoration was started. As of 2024 these renovations were still ongoing.

During this same period, downtown Fullerton (DTF), especially in the south of Commonwealth area (SOCO),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ci.fullerton.ca.us/visitors/downtown_fullerton/soco_district.asp |title=SOCO District |publisher=City of Fullerton |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140716121156/http://www.ci.fullerton.ca.us/visitors/downtown_fullerton/soco_district.asp |archive-date=July 16, 2014 |access-date=May 20, 2014}}</ref> has become more of a busy entertainment district, described by the ''[[OC Weekly]]'' as "[[Bourbon Street]] West." In less than five years, some 30 businesses that sell alcohol have opened, making the downtown area much more active at night. In 2008, City Manager Chris Meyer called together department head and the finance department and reported to the city council that the Restaurant Overlay District (established December 2002) was costing the city $935,000 over and above the sales taxes collected.

The {{convert|293|acre|km2|adj=on}} [[Hughes Aircraft|Hughes Aircraft Company]]'s Ground Systems Group campus in western Fullerton was redeveloped into a new residential and commercial district called ''Amerige Heights,'' in between 2001 and 2004.<ref>"[http://amerigeheights.org/177-2/ History]", Amerige Heights.</ref>