Downtown consists of several sub-districts: an institutional area including the Civic Center, the Artists Village, Calle Cuatro and the East End.
Civic Center The
Santa Ana Civic Center, also known as the
Orange County Civic Center, anchors the west side of Downtown and is home to city, county and federal buildings, including:
City: •
Santa Ana City Hall (Civic Center Plaza) • Santa Ana Civic Center Plaza (Ross, Civic Center, Santa Ana Blvd, Flower) • Santa Ana Public Library (Civic Center Dr. & Ross)
County: • Santa Ana Transit Terminal –
Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) (Santa Ana Blvd & Ross) •
Old Orange County Courthouse (Civic Center, Broadway, Sycamore, Santa Ana Blvd.) • Orange County Courthouse (Civic Center Plaza) • Orange County Public Law Library (Civic Center Plaza)
Federal: •
Ronald Reagan Federal Building and United States Courthouse (4th & Broadway) • Fourth District Court of Appeals (Civic Center Plaza on the corner of Santa Ana Blvd & Ross) • Office of the District Attorney (Near the corner of Ross & Civic Center) • Consulate of Mexico (Near Civic Center & Broadway intersection)
Fourth Street/Calle Cuatro Commercial activity in the district is centered on Fourth Street, also known as
Calle Cuatro. Fourth Street stretches from the Civic Center in the west. The West End sub-district is bounded by Ross Street, Broadway, and West 4th Street. It contains various dining, entertainment, and retail establishments. The middle section of
Calle Cuatro (roughly from Main east to Spurgeon) has retailers in the backgroundThe
Rankin Building, 117W Fourth Street at Sycamore, is a historic building that was usually seen as a reminder of when the Downtown Santa Ana was a shopping center, with department stores such as
Rankin's,
Montgomery Ward (northeast corner of Main, demolished),
J. C. Penney (northwest corner of Bush) and
Buffums. Eventually, the area lost business to the new malls at
Honer Plaza and
Santa Ana Fashion Square when they opened in 1958, and later on, to
South Coast Plaza. The East End includes the Yost Theater and the Frida Cinema, a two-screen art-house theater. In February 2015, the Fourth Street Market food hall opened in the area. Even further east, the
Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center is located along Santiago Avenue in the Lacy neighborhood.
Artists Village The Artists Village consists of art galleries, studios, offices, and restaurants located on Second Street and Broadway. The village extends from First Street to Fourth Street, Bush Street to Birch, and surrounding the Second Street Mall between Broadway and Sycamore Street. It was originally proposed in the mid-1980s. The plan for the Grand Central Art Center was developed in 1994 and led to the designation of a ten-block area as the Artists Village. A designated ten-square block would become the Artists Village. In the early 2000s, several developments came to the downtown including Main Street Studio Lofts, East Village, and Artists Village lofts. The Artists Village has restaurants, shops and art institutions, including
Cal State Fullerton Grand Central Art Center and the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art.
Historic districts Located across several of the aforementioned sub-districts, the Downtown Santa Ana Historic Districts are several historic districts listed as one entry in the
National Register of Historic Places since 1984, covering and characterized by a number of
Art Deco buildings as well as two old movie houses (The West End and the Fox West Coast). The county's first courthouse, now a museum, is located at Civic Center and Broadway streets, as is the
Howe-Waffle House and Medical Museum, now the Santa Ana Historical Preservation Society.The county's first theater, Walker's Theater, was built in 1909 on Main and Second streets adjacent to the old City Hall. The Main Street Studio Lofts is located on where the county's first movie house was used to be. Old Santa Ana was designated a
California Historic Landmark (No. 204) on June 20, 1935. ==Events==