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Anaheim Hills is an affluent community encompassing the eastern portions of the city of Anaheim, in Orange County, California.^[1] It is located just south of the 91 freeway at Imperial Highway to the peaks of the Santa Ana foothills themselves. The Anaheim Hills’ western border is the 55 freeway and on the east side the community extends to Gypsum Canyon.^[2]

Contents 1 Government 2 History 3 Education 3.1 Elementary Schools 3.2 Middle Schools 3.3 High Schools 3.4 Specialty Schools 4 Communities 4.1 Peralta Hills 4.2 Copa de Oro 4.3 Hidden Canyon 4.4 Mohler Area 4.5 East Hills 4.6 Mountain Park 5 Disasters 5.1 The Sierra Peak wildfire 5.2 The Windy Ridge Fire 6 Notable residents 7 References 8 External links

The 92807 zip code serves the western portion while the 92808 zip code serves the eastern portion, and although residents typically identify themselves as living in the community of "Anaheim Hills" (as opposed to the city of "Anaheim"), the United States Postal Service considers only the larger incorporated city's name of "Anaheim" as acceptable.^[3] Anaheim Hills is served by Anaheim Fire Department Stations 9 and 10.^[4] The community is served by two of the City of Anaheim's libraries, the Canyon Hills Library and the East Hills Library.^[5]

Twenty three community associations are within Anaheim Hills, lead by the Anaheim Hills Planned Community Association, which oversees the entire community of Anaheim Hills. Two councils represent the community, the Canyon Hills Community Council and the Anaheim Hills Citizens Coalition. These two councils ensure that the city council hears the desires and needs of the Anaheim Hills residents.

The community is listed under the Canyon and Hill General Plan within Anaheim. The city of Anaheim only allows estate sized lots in this community, and prohibits 23,000 square foot plus residential lots in any other part of the city besides Anaheim Hills. Furthermore, the city has rejected several plans to develop higher density units in the community, while approving these developments elsewhere in the city. In 2004, the city set a goal to construct 1,200 units of affordable housing, however none of it will be constructed in Anaheim Hills but rather elsewhere in the city.

Prior to the modern era of Anaheim Hills, the region was owned by Jose Antonio Yorba and his nephew Juan Pablo Peralta. They worked the 210,000 acre Anaheim Hills and Yorba Linda site in the early 1800s, which was used as a livestock ranch. It would change hands several times before it was sold to Louis Nohl in 1943 by the Bixby family.

Meanwhile in the nearby city of Anaheim, a housing boom was associated with the building of Disneyland in 1955 and other developments of that era. Anaheim began to expand its borders to encompass more land and the only direction was east, towards the location of the large Nohl Family farm.

In 1970, Nohl sold the land to the City of Anaheim in order to create the community of Anaheim Hills. In October of 1971, Texaco Industries introduced an award winning plan, which they called a "master planned community." A premium golf course, nature trails, large homes, natural settings, and ranches were added to the Texaco Development plan in order to add to the appeal of the community for potential home buyers in the early 1970s, as they were amenities uncommon to many other Southern California communities at the time. Advertisements during this period were consistent in marketing the community as "The New Land."

The first community to premiere was Westridge which showcased 325 homes in 1972. The homes sold within two years of its premiere, creating an interest in the Anaheim Hills region. By the 1980s, Anaheim Hills had grown to 15,000 residents. There is a police substation and community center along Santa Ana Canyon Road.

Anaheim Hills is within the Orange Unified School District. All six of the elementary schools in Anaheim Hills, Anaheim Hills Elementary, Canyon Rim Elementary, Running Springs Elementary, Imperial Elementary, Nohl Canyon Elementary, and Crescent Elementary perform well, and are all blue ribbon schools, which is the most accredited award an elementary school can achieve. And four of them are California Distinguished Schools, an award only the top 5% of schools in California are rewarded. Anaheim Hills Elementary ranks third statewide among similar schools.^[6]. Furthermore, Canyon High School was nominated to be a California Distinguished School in 2007 after a strong API score in 2006.

• Canyon Rim Elementary School | 1090 The Highlands • Anaheim, CA 92808
• Anaheim Hills Elementary School | 6450 East Serrano • Anaheim, CA 92807
• Crescent Primary School | 5125 Gerda Drive • Anaheim, CA 92807
• Crescent Intermediate Elementary School | 5001 E. Gerda Drive • Anaheim, CA 92807
• Nohl Canyon Elementary School | 4100 Nohl Ranch Road • Anaheim, CA 92807
• Running Springs Elementary School | 8670 Running Springs Drive • Anaheim, CA 92808
• Imperial Elementary School | 400 S. Imperial Hwy. • Anaheim, CA 92807

• El Rancho Charter School | 181 South Del Giorgio Road • Anaheim, CA 92808

• Canyon High School | 220 S. Imperial Hwy • Anaheim, CA 92807

• Canyon Hills School | 260 S. Imperial Highway • Anaheim, CA 92807
• Hillsborough School | 191 Old Springs Road • Anaheim, CA 92808
• Fairmont Private School | 5310 East La Palma Ave. • Anaheim, CA 92807
• Hephatha School | 5900 E. Santa Ana Canyon Road • Anaheim, CA 92807

Anaheim Hills contains a number of smaller estate communities including Peralta Hills, Hidden Canyon, Copa de Oro, Vista del Sol, Pointe Premier, and the soon-to-be-built Village of Fiesole and Villa Palatino. Most of the communities in Anaheim Hills feature real estate worth well over $1 million on large lots. Many of the homes in these communities are also custom built rather than constructed in tracts. Almost all the development in the Anaheim Hills was included in the 1970s Texaco Masterplan, but were built (and will be built) by various builders between 1971 and 2010 following the original plan as approved by the city of Anaheim.

Peralta Hills is a residential community located along Santa Ana Canyon Road between Imperial Highway and Nohl Canyon Road. The community was founded in the mid 1970's, and was designed for custom home lots. Many of the lots are between 31,000 and 120,000 square feet with homes valued up to $10,000,000. The community is unique in that the roads are less than 30 feet wide, and large native trees are prominent within the community. Many of the homes are gated and set deep on their lots. There is an estimated 200 lots in the community, but the expansion of the community to include Peralta Hills East will add many more residences.^[7][8]

Copa de Oro is a collection of mansions located off Nohl Ranch Road in a gated community. Homes here were constructed in 1992 through 1999 and are set on lots around an acre. Homes vary from 5,200 square feet to 11,200 square feet, and have sold for between $3,000,000 and $11,000,000 depending on the lot size and home size.

Hidden Canyon is the southernmost community in Anaheim Hills surrounded by the recently burned Weir Canyon Regional Park. It is located behind Anaheim Hills Elementary near the Orange, California border. Homes here range in size from 3,200 square feet to over 8,000 square feet. Within Hidden Canyon is a collection of estates currently under construction called Pointe Premier, which vary from 10,000 square feet to over 15,000 square feet in size.^[9]

The Mohler Area is the largest estate community in Anaheim Hills with 1,000 lots ranging from 25,000 to over 100,000 square feet. These homes are constructed in smaller divisions including Del Giorgio Estates, Willowick, Canyon Hills, Old Bridge, and Stonegate. They surround the existing El Rancho Charter School, and are accessible from Mohler Drive. They are served under the Santa Ana Canyon Homeowners Association.^[10]

East Hills is a newer development constructed throughout the 1990s in east Anaheim Hills. Homes here range from 2,000 square feet to 10,000 square feet. This development is much larger than any of the other developments in Anaheim Hills, in that smaller planned communities like The Highlands,^[11] a 2,500 home development built in 1990, the Sycamore Canyon master plan, a 1,550 home community constructed in 1992,^[12] and The Summit, a 1,200 luxury home neighborhood constructed in 1993.^[13] This community encompasses most of the 92808 ZIP Code.

Mountain Park is a future master planned community coming to the extreme northeastern end of Anaheim Hills in the Gypsum Canyon designed by the Irvine Company. It will encompass 2,500 homes, a shopping district, and an elementary school, as well as many parks. The Community has been in the planning phases since 1992, and was approved by the city council in 2005. It was scaled back from 8,000 homes to less than 3,000 after several petitions and complaints from residents who did not want their hills to face overdevelopment. It will push the developed portions of Anaheim Hills to the Riverside County border, and will expand the population of Anaheim Hills to a total of 62,000 residents.^[14]

Landslides and wildfires are frequent occurrences in Anaheim Hills. Santa Ana Winds are a major factor in fueling the wildfires in the area. [5] [6]. A landslide in January 1993, destroyed over 30 luxury homes and impacted over 200 others. [7]

During the winter of 2005, a massive twenty day rain event in Orange County lead to not only flooding, but a landslide that caused the unstable hillside along the street of Ramsgate Drive to give way.^[15][16] Two and a half multi-million dollar homes slid down the hillside, and the private street below was destroyed. In all, the entire hillside, just over a 1/3 of a square mile in size was destroyed costing a total estimated damage of $19.5 million, the second costliest landslide ever in Orange County.^{[citation needed]}

Following the unusually wet winter of 2005 brought drought conditions to Southern California that hadn't been seen for nearly a decade. The normally lush hills turned to dry golden timber.

A wildfire broke out on February 7, 2006 in the Cleveland National Forest, the National Forest that separates Anaheim Hills from the Riverside County Border. This fire grew intensely after days of fierce 20 mph winds and soaring 80 degree Fahrenheit temperatures, which fueled the relentless blaze. On the morning of February 9, 2006, conditions worsened, and out of fear for the homes that sit only half a mile away in Anaheim Hills, nearly 75% of the Community of Anaheim Hills was under evacuation, some mandatory and some voluntary. This resulted in the closing of two local elementary schools for two full days, and several other schools served as shelters for the evacuees during the day.^[17][18][19]

On February 10, when Canyon Rim Elementary was the most threatened public structure, those students were moved to Canyon High School, which housed all the evacuated schools. The fire was soon put out, but it burned over 10,000 acres of land and caused significant natural resource damage by burning a recovering Tecate cypress grove. It was later determined that a controlled blaze set by the Cleveland National Forest started the fire, and the National Forestry Service was forced to pay the large bill from the firefighting efforts.

On Sunday, March 11th, 2007 at 07:53 AM (PST), a fire possibly started by a stolen vehicle on the southbound 241 Windy Ridge Toll Plaza, destroyed over 2,000 acres in Anaheim Hills and the city of Orange.^[20] Due to winds moving as fast as 35 mph, an estimated 2,500 homes were evacuated, with 2 injuries reported.^[21]

Anaheim Hills is home to many notable residents, many of whom are affiliated with local major league sports teams. Other significant executives, musicians, and politicians call Anaheim Hills home.

• Carlos Cavazo, guitarist in Quiet Riot
• Rod Carew, Major League Baseball player
• Adam Kennedy, Major League Baseball player^[22]
• Donnie Moore, deceased Major League Baseball relief pitcher^[23]
• Kevin Davis, CEO and president of Bristol Farms^[24]
• David C. Leestma, famous NASA astronaut^[25]
• James Storm, actor and writer
• Duane Shaffer, Chicago White Sox executive^[26]
• Ashley Force, female NHRA drag racer^[27]
• Robert Height, NHRA drag racer^[28]
• Gene Kan, creator of infrasearch.com^[29]
• Jefferson Thomas, former accountant for the United States Department of Defense^[30]
• Ken Forsch, former Major League baseball pitcher and assistant General Manager of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim^[31]
• Kerry King, founder of the thrash metal band Slayer^[32]
• Julian Whitaker, an American physician, author, practitioner of alternative medicine, and founder of the Whitaker Wellness Institute^[33]
• Dayna Delux, model and actress
• Jim Fregosi, former California Angels player^[34]
• Craig Johnson, Anaheim Ducks player^[35]
• Vladimir Guerrero, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim player^[36]
• Dave Farrish, Anaheim Ducks Assistant Head Coach
• Sean Skahan, Anaheim Ducks Conditioning Coach
• Brian Hayward, Anaheim Ducks broadcaster and Olympic broadcaster
• Anthony Vernaglia, University of Notre Dame linebacker^[37]
• Grant Green, active USC Trojans baseball player^[38]
• Jason Flowers, current NCAA head basketball coach^[39]
• Sean Phaler, active NCAA basketball forward^[40]
• Christian Colon, USA Baseball National Team player^[41]
• Chuck Fletcher, son of National Hockey League executive Cliff Fletcher and Anaheim Ducks minor league recruiter^[42]
• Casey Janssen, Major League Baseball player for the Toronto Blue Jays^[43]
• Schae Harrison, soap opera actress^[44]
• Jack White, Anaheim city attorney
• Tom Daly, politician
• John F. Seymour, former United States Senator
• Eden Espinosa, actress, "Wicked"
• Tony Kanal, bassist, No Doubt
• Mark Langston, major league baseball pitcher for the California Angels
• Tony Lewis, European-based singer/songwriter
• Milo Ventimiglia, actor
• Steve Soto, musician, The Adolescents

1. ^ City of Anaheim General Plan - Land Use Element - See "The Hill and Canyon Area" under "Goals and Policies" for a map and description of the Anaheim Hills area.
2. ^ [1]
3. ^ U.S. Postal Service ZIP Code Lookup
4. ^ Anaheim Fire Department - Anaheim Hills Station
5. ^ City of Anaheim - Public Library Locations
6. ^ California Department of Education, 2005-06 Accountability Progress Reporting for Anaheim Hills Elementary
7. ^ http://realtytimes.com/rtcpages/20041026_anaheimhills.htm
8. ^ http://www.househunt.com/a-peralt.htm
9. ^ http://realtytimes.com/rtcpages/20041026_anaheimhills.htm
10. ^ http://realtytimes.com/rtcpages/20041026_anaheimhills.htm
11. ^ http://www.anaheim.net/citydepartments/planning/specific_plans/highland/
12. ^ http://www.amlegal.com/nxt/gateway.dll/California/anaheim/title18zoning/chapter18102sycamorecanyonspecificplanno?f=templates$fn=default.htm$3.0$vid=amlegal:anaheim_ca$anc=JD_Chapter18.102
13. ^ http://www.amlegal.com/nxt/gateway.dll/California/anaheim/title18zoning/chapter18104thesummitofanaheimhillsspeci?f=templates$fn=default.htm$3.0$vid=amlegal:anaheim_ca$anc=JD_Chapter18.104
14. ^ http://www.anaheim.net/article.asp?id=1225
15. ^ http://www.agiweb.org/geotimes/apr05/NN_CAlandslides.html
16. ^ http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/2005/02/06/sections/local/local/article_400632.php
17. ^ [2]
18. ^ [3]
19. ^ [4]
20. ^ http://www.nbc4.tv/news/11225840/detail.html?rss=la&psp=news
21. ^ http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-031107fire,1,4111286.story?track=rss
22. ^ http://pressbox.mlb.com/pressbox/downloads/y2005/postseason/lcs/laa_lcs_roster.pdf
23. ^ http://www.stevehofstetter.com/unpublished.cfm?ID=52 A few paragraphs down describing his Anaheim Hills estate
24. ^ http://www.smmirror.com/Volume1/issue6/bristol.html
25. ^ http://www11.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/leestma.html
26. ^ http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/cws/team/exe_bios/shaffer_duane.html
27. ^ http://www.tv.com/ashley-force/person/445590/biography.html
28. ^ http://www.johnforceracing.com/newsx2.cfm?id=684
29. ^ http://www.xent.com/FoRK-archive/2001.02/0365.html
30. ^ http://www.nationalbar.org/news/releases/release110806b.shtml
31. ^ http://pressbox.mlb.com/pressbox/downloads/y2007/ana/front_office.pdf
32. ^ http://www.slayerized.com/band/didyouknow.html
33. ^ http://dartmouth.org/classes/66/newsletters/Newsletter23/Newsletter23.html
34. ^ http://www.halosheaven.com/story/2006/2/22/34451/1006
35. ^ http://www.irvinecompany.com/aboutus/in_the_news/field_of_dreams/page_3.asp
36. ^ http://curtpringleformayor.com/2006/03/
37. ^ http://shsdemo.stats.com/cfb/rosters.asp?team=0104
38. ^ http://usctrojans.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/usc-m-basebl-mtt.html
39. ^ http://www.longbeachstate.com/bko/bkw/BIO/05BIOS/flowers.html
40. ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/player/profile?playerId=15644
41. ^ http://mlb.mlb.com/usa_baseball/roster_junior.jsp
42. ^ http://www.bluejackets.com/news/features/arts/1576.0.html
43. ^ http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=12&p=8&c=1&nid=2487263
44. ^ http://soapoperadigest.com/soapstarstats/schaeharrisonbio/

• City of Anaheim
• "The Community of Anaheim Hills"
• Anaheim Hills Landslide Update

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