When my children were growing up, I used to load them in the van, every year, to go around villages during the Christmas season to see the Christmas displays. Now, the tradition has been passed on as it is my daughter who takes me along with her family, each year, to enjoy the Christmas ambiance in different sections of town. This year, we went to Old Towne Orange to check out their holiday decorations and Christmas lights.
Old Towne Orange is a historic district in the city of Orange, with over 1,300 homes and other town buildings. It is just about one square mile in size. It reflects life in the city of Orange in the late 1800s to the mid 1900s. The homes were built in a variety of 50 architectural styles. In it are the oldest operating bank and oldest operating soda fountain. It is complete with churches, schools, an Old Santa Fe Depot, a post office, packing houses, industrial buildings, clubhouses, parks which are all still in use.
It was declared a historic district in the National Register of Historic Places in 1997, and is ranked second as having the highest number of historic buildings. All structures in this community predate 1940.
Since 1973, she annually host the Orange International Fair every Labor Day weekend with food and drink stalls, held in the Plaza, bound by West and East Chapman Avenue and North and South Glassell Street, reminiscent of the 1910 Orange Street Fair. Aside from it being an international food fair, there is also live music and entertainment from the local businesses and non-profit organizations serving the community.
The architectural styles in this neighborhood have been identified as California Bungalow, Craftsman Bungalow, American Craftsman, Hip-Roof Cottage, Mediterranean, Prairie, Spanish Colonial, And Victorian.
The walk is over a two-block strip on Pine street. Just on this street alone, there were different architectural styles that we noted
Cinderella theme...
...with the reindeer pulling the carriage
Peace, love and joy
The star-motion lighting makes this so magical, with the angel blowing the trumpet...to announce the Good News.
A very pretty illumination on this property
An orange-holiday theme, after which the City is named
A set-up on the driveway by a homeowner for visitors to have a photo op
This display "Ugly Sweater Factory" made us all laugh. We could relate to it.
It was a windy evening and some of the display items were blown out of place.
Kids and kids at heart loved this wrap-around display...
...with hot cocoa and cookies were being served to the visitors.
Happy Hannakuh!
A life-size nativity...the reason for the season
A Christmas trolley plying up and down the street
I am still trying to figure out which house represents which period architecture. The property values in this two to three-bedroom houses range from $800,000.00 to over a million.
What a lovely evening it has been. It's a live Christmas village in Old Towne Orange. Christmas is surely in the air. Have a merry one!
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