Welcome to Garden Grove, we are a vibrantly progressive and growing city, "The City of Youth and Ambition."  We are definitely a friendly, spirited community rich in diversity, with a healthy share of thriving businesses.  While increasingly diverse, Garden Grove still maintains its tight knit community feel.  This sense of community means people tend to stay awhile, and there are still plenty of folks around who remember when all (or almost all) of Garden Grove was orange groves.  Garden Grove is in a great spot, just south of Los Angeles in Orange County, we are less than a mile from Disneyland, seven miles from Knott's Berry Farm, nine miles from beautiful local beaches, and 10 miles from John Wayne Airport.  The beautiful Mojave Desert and San Bernardino Mountains are also just a short drive away.  Garden Grove is home to four annual cultural festivals that celebrate Vietnamese, Korean, Arabic, and American heritage.  Garden Grove is home to the highest number of churches and places of worship per capita in California, including the world-famous Crystal Cathedral.  With safe streets, warm, sunny weather year-round, and religious and cultural diversity, Garden Grove is a good place to call home.

Garden Grove is a great place to get an excellent education.  Schools in the Garden Grove Unified School District have been rated as some of the best and safest in the County.  The school programs focus on student achievement, high standards, and opportunities for all students to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to lead productive lives.  Students participate in a comprehensive and rigorous curriculum.  The community is proud of the great achievements of our local school system and after two consecutive years as a finalist for the nations top education prize, this third year has paid the richest dividend for our Garden Grove Unified School District.  The district recently accepted $500,000 for scholarships as the winner of the 2004 Broad Prize for Urban Education, the annual $1-million award honoring the most outstanding urban school systems in America.   We are now a national symbol of educational improvement and innovation.  It truly is the dedication, caring, and never ending pursuit of quality education opportunities and academic growth that earned this prize.  It is a product of teachers, students, parents and community working together to benefit all students in the district.  Now more deserving students than ever will have an opportunity for a college education that they might not otherwise have had.  

Business is good in Garden Grove.  In addition to our business friendly environment, Garden Grove is strategically located adjacent to six major freeways providing easy access to markets, government centers, tourist and recreation centers, and other cities in California.  We are near business centers in Huntington Beach and Anaheim.  Huntington Beach is home to great companies like Quicksilver INC, Equity Office Properties Trust, The Boeing Co., Simple Green, Cambro Manufacturing Co., Dynamic Cooking Systems, and C & D Aerospace, giving employment opportunities with high profile companies in a myriad of industries.  Anaheim is also a leading manufacturing center in the county, with more than 1,000 firms.  Great companies like Disney, Boeing North American, Kaiser Permanente Foundation Hospital, AlStyle Apparel, Anaheim Hilton and Towers, AST Sportswear Inc., CB Richard Ellis Inc., Lee & Associates, and Leach International Corp.  Garden Grove boasts top employers like Garden Grove Hospital, Air Industries Corp., Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics, Pilkington Aerospace, and AEGIS.  With the City's close proximity to major universities, community colleges, and technical schools, there is a substantial supply of well trained professional and technical employees.  We are also home to the Korean Business District, which currently boasts nearly 1,000 businesses.  Garden Grove is always growing, and it has innovative programs for companies wishing to remain, expand, or relocate into our city.

There is much to see and do in Garden Grove.  For Garden Grove history the Stanley Ranch Museum is home to 17 buildings from Garden Groves first settlers including the Ware-Stanley House, built in 1892, the first post office, the Electric Shoe Shop/Barber Shop, Garden Groves #1 fire engine, and homes dating from the late 1800's to early 1900's.  The Crystal Cathedral is an architectural feat, and was designed by American Institute of Architects gold medal winner Philip Johnson.  The Cathedral has more than 10,000 windows of tempered silver colored glass and two 90 foot tall doors that open behind the pulpit, exposing the sky and air from outside.  The church grounds include gardens, reflection pools and numerous statues.  The Orange County Symphony is a great regional orchestra playing classical and pops concerts bringing music from diverse cultures to our community.  The symphony also provides free educational childrens concerts.  Many of the cultural arts events and festivals take place at the Village Green where you will find the Grove Theater Center which is home to the Gem Theater, a onetime movie house turned live theater, and the Festival Amphitheater.  The complex offers year-round plays, including world-premieres, classics, and participatory events like "Mystery Tuesdays" and "Comedy Mondays."  If sports are your thing, or you just enjoy fresh air, try any of the 20 parks throughout the city.   From roller and in-line hockey games, to swimming, basketball courts and baseball fields, there is something for anyone.  Unique to our area is the Garden Grove Arena Soccer Park, a great complex with many fields and the best place for league and pickup games with players coming from all over the county.  There is always something great going on in Garden Grove. 

There is one thing for sure, Garden Grove has awesome community events.   Garden Grove's Strawberry Festival, now more than 50 years old, is the largest community-based Memorial Day event in the western United States.  To celebrate the strawberry harvest over 300,000 visitors and participants come for the parade, celebrity autograph breakfast, four-day carnival and arts and crafts fair.   The Vietnamese Tet Festival celebrates the arrival of spring and the first day of the lunar year.  The Korean Festival is a great way to celebrate Korean history, tradition and culture.  This family-oriented event features a parade, and carnival, and includes an open-air market with performing arts and martial arts displays throughout the festival.  The Arab American Festival Each is a weekend of cultural experiences and celebration.  You can enjoy authentic Middle Eastern food, entertainment, with game booths and rides as an added bonus.  Every summer we enjoy our free outdoor concert series featuring a variety of musical genres from swing and big band, to pop, rock and jazz.  The Concert Series is always free for anyone to enjoy.  Another way to enjoy great music is the Symphony Under the Stars with classics as well as pops favorites performed by the Orange County's Pacific Symphony.  For a little food for thought, each year, the Garden Grove Community Foundation invites 200 junior and senior high school students from the Garden Grove Unified School District to an afternoon Speaker Luncheon.  Students receive a catered lunch and listen to a motivational or inspirational speaker.  Past speakers have included Michael Josephson, founder of the Josephson Institute of Ethics, Peter Vidmar, 1984 Olympic Gold Medalist, Reggie Berry, former NFL player and world-renowned mountain climber Nancy Feagin. 

Garden Grove isnt just a great city, its a great community.  In Garden Grove we have all the things that make life great with excellent schools, a healthy business environment, and of course great community spirit.  We are so happy to have found Garden Grove, I wouldnt choose anywhere else to call home.