Anaheim, << AN uh `hym,` >> California (pop. 346,824), is a residential and light-industrial city and tourist center in southern California. It lies 28 miles (45 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles and 16 miles (26 kilometers) from the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metropolitan area, which has a population of 13,200,998. Anaheim’s industries include aircraft, automotive, electronics, engineering, and hardware plants.
Disneyland, an amusement park that opened in 1955, is the largest employer. A second park, Disney’s California Adventure, opened in 2001. The Los Angeles Angels baseball team plays in the American League. The Anaheim Ducks play in the National Hockey League.
Anaheim was originally part of a Spanish land grant to the San Gabriel mission. The city was founded in 1857 as an agricultural community by a group of former forty-niners, mostly of German descent (see Forty-Niners). The name Anaheim means home by the Santa Ana River. Anaheim has a council-manager form of government.
