As anybody who regularly reads this column well knows, Jewish pioneers were intrinsic to the early development of what would later become Orange County, which wasn’t separate from Los Angeles County until 1889. Residents had sought independence for roughly 20 years prior, to escape the administrative, judicial, and political control of Los Angeles. At its inception, the county included the cities of Anaheim, Santa Ana, and Orange, all of which had distinguished Jewish citizens. Anaheim included the most members of the tribe: Dreyfus, Cahen, Goodman, Davis, Goldstein, Mendelson, and Steinhart, Santa Ana the least: Gildmacher and Goldsmith, and Orange boasted Fisher, Kolsky, and Baranovich. Interestingly, there were few actual orange groves in the region at the time of its founding; the name was chosen because it sounded good! In this image from 1880, the businesses of Goodman & Rimpau, Hippolyte Cahen, and M.A. Mendelson are all beautifully advertised on one page.
Dalia Taft, Director of the Orange County Jewish Historical Society, highlights images from the archives every month. For more information, please visit https://www.jccoc.org/Pages/Oc-Jewish-Historical-Society. You can also contact Dalia at Daliat@jccoc.org or at (949) 435-3400, Ext. 360. The Orange County Jewish Historical Society is a program of the Merage Jewish Community Center and is funded by the Jewish Community Foundation Orange County.