El Modena is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) surrounding

El Modena High School El Modena High School, colloquially called El Mo or ElMo, is a traditional four-year public high school located in the El Modena neighborhood of the City of Orange in Orange County, California. It is one of four high schools in the Orange Unifie ...

and within the city of

Orange, California Orange is a city located in northern Orange County, California, United States. It is approximately north of the county seat, Santa Ana, California, Santa Ana. Orange is unusual in this region because many of the homes in its Old Town District ...

and the surrounding unincorporated county area. It is located near and east of the intersection of Hewes Street and Chapman Avenue. Much of the area was annexed by Orange in the 1960s and 1970s, but there are still

enclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is so ...

s of unincorporated county land to the east of the high school. The neighborhood is named after Modena, Italy, plus the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

article .

History

The area was historically, and remains, a

barrio ''Barrio'' () is a Spanish language, Spanish word that means "Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter" or "neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city delimited by functional (e.g. residential, comm ...

or ''colonia'' settled by

Hispanics The term Hispanic () are people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an ethnic or meta-ethnic term. The term commonly appli ...

of Mexican heritage, as well some

Californio Californios (singular Californio) are Californians of Spaniards, Spanish descent, especially those descended from settlers of the 17th through 19th centuries before California was annexed by the United States. California's Spanish language in C ...

and Spanish American settlers in the first half of the 19th century (1790-1850) before the annexation of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

by the United States during the

Mexican American War Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

(1846-1848). In 1883

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

settlers arrived and established a local chapter of the Society of Friends.David W. Kean, ''Wide Places in the California Roads: The encyclopedia of California's small towns and the roads that lead to them'' (Volume 1 of 4: Southern California Counties), pp. 62-3 El Modena's agricultural days have had a rich cultural impact on the town's history. Between the time of its foundation in the 1880s to the suburban development boom in the late 1950s, El Modena was an area filled with citrus groves. Roses grown and shipped to Eastern markets were also a major part of the agricultural industry. It is now fully urbanized with the majority of its residents being low to middle income families; the annexed areas of the city became upper income in the real estate booms of the 1990s and 2000s (decade). The original Quaker church still exists and currently operates as a Mexican restaurant. Like the trailer parks of western Santa Ana facing the

Santa Ana River The Santa Ana River is the largest river entirely within Southern California in the United States. It rises in the San Bernardino Mountains and flows for most of its length through San Bernardino County, California, San Bernardino and Riversid ...

, and Panorama Heights within Orange and facing Tustin, the El Modena neighborhood is among the poorest parts of Orange County. By the 1970s, much of the older residential areas were poorly maintained: No paved streets, no gutters or sewer caps, poorly dimmed street lighting and mobile home parks without proper utilities. As time progressed, however, El Modena's living environment has gradually improved. In June 1993, the El Modena Family Resource Center opened to combat gang violence in the area. The project valiantly succeeded, and gang related crime dropped drastically, as well as violent incidents. The center and surrounding neighborhood is declared neutral turf by the members of the rival Pearl Street and Varrio Modena Locos gangs, mutually agreeing on keeping relations peaceful between members when in the area. The

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the names ...

Railroad formerly had an El Modena Station, located off La Veta Avenue, just south of the present-day La Veta Park.

Demographics

El Modena was listed as a

as of November 2024.

Schools

*Esplanade Elementary School * Eldorado Emerson Private School *

In literature

Kim Stanley Robinson Kim Stanley Robinson (born March 23, 1952) is an American science fiction writer best known for his ''Mars'' trilogy. Many of his novels and stories have ecological, cultural, and political themes and feature scientists as heroes. Robinson has ...

's novel '' Pacific Edge'' is set in El Modena circa

2065 In contemporary history, the third millennium is the current millennium in the ''Anno Domini'' or Common Era, under the Gregorian calendar. It began on 1 January 2001 ( MMI) and will end on 31 December 3000 ( MMM), spanning the 21st to 30t ...

.Web Page: Pacific Edge: Three Californias (Three Californias Series)
/ref>

References

External links

El Modena Branch Orange Public LibraryEl Modena Park1920s postcard of David Hewes Realty Corporation in El Modena1952 AAA map showing the location of pre-annexation El Modena
{{authority control Neighborhoods in Orange, California Unincorporated communities in Orange County, California Unincorporated communities in California Chicano and Mexican neighborhoods in California