Orange knows its business history

The city of Orange is known for its deep-rooted history – 125 years, a shift from agriculture and more than 100,000 residents later, Orange is still trying to be Orange.

“We are a big city that still feels like a small town,” Paul Sitkoff, spokesperson for the city, said.

That small-town feel, Sitkoff said, is due to the city’s history, strong sense of community and the city’s sense of self.

“While some cities may still be young and finding themselves, Orange knows what it is and who is,” Sitkoff said.

Back in the day, the city was a shipping hub for a variety of fruit, from grapes to lima beans, especially all things citrus.

Surprisingly enough, the city was not named after its oranges.

“Not that people did not grow oranges here,” said Phil Brigandi, a local historian who has been researching Orange County cities since 1975, “but it was not the dominant crop when these names came up. It was the crop that had the best cache. Even in later years, we grew a lot of sugar beets and lima beans, but those didn’t have the whole feel – the image – that oranges do.”

At that time, trading citrus fruits was the economic backbone of the city.

The fruit trade in Orange was organized by the Orange County Fruit Exchange, made up of local growers. Its building, later named Sunkist, was said to be the Empire State Building for the Orange County fruit industry.

Today, that building is owned by Tom Porter, who was born and raised in Orange and whose family history touches that original farming community.

“It was the headquarters for the Southern California fruit exchange,” Porter, 67, said. “They handled three quarters of the citrus out of Orange County … The citrus business was a huge industry. It was almost like a company town.”

Owning that building has meant a lot to Porter, not only because of its history, but also because he appreciated the building’s architecture.

“I grew up in this town,” said Porter. “From the time I was in my early 20s, I just admired this building. I thought it was such a beauty – never imagining that I would one day get the opportunity to acquire it. That was 15 years ago, and I’m still pinching myself.”

In 1906, Porter’s grandfather, Fred Eckhoff, came from Nebraska to Orange where he bought a 12-acre plot of land, which eventually became 60 acres. Porter’s grandfather went into the orange and walnut business. Porter’s parents would later grow oranges.

That all changed after World War II, a time when housing demands increased dramatically all over Southern California.

Between 1950 and 1970, the city’s population grew from 10,000 to 50,000 people – forcing the city make some changes.

“The city used zoning to promote orderly growth,” said Brigandi, 53, born and raised in Orange. “They knew the change was coming. They knew they had to deal with it, but they wanted to deal with it on their terms. I think that we got a better city because of that.”

Because rezoning led to increased property values and taxes, many growers could not afford operations and opted to sell their land and leave. Within decades, the city changed from agriculture to a more diversified economy.

“My parents were caught up in that same dynamic,” Porter said.

Porter’s parents, Ralph and Elsie Porter, who rented apartments on the side, made the decision not to sell their property.

“Instead of selling their orange groves like 95 percent of orange growers did,” Porter said. “My parents said, ‘No we’re going to hang on to the property and develop it ourselves.'”

Though their business is not the oldest in the city, it does have the longest membership with the Orange Chamber of Commerce.

Porter Apartments were later renamed Porter Business Park Leasing, as the family developed the orange groves into a multi-tenant business park, which today leases space to businesses. Porter later took on managing the family business.

Semi-retired, Porter is still helping manage Porter Business Park Leasing – spending much of his time in the Sunkist Fruit Exchange building, which he turned into an art gallery.

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Originally published in the Orange County Register.