The Real Anaheim: Before Disneyland, There Was the Colony

Downtown Anaheim Is Not the Resort

When people say Anaheim, they mean one thing — the parks, the hotels, the miles of tourist infrastructure built around them. Almost no one means downtown Anaheim: a 15-block historic district a mile north of the resort that tells the actual story of the city and rewards the curious visitor in ways the resort corridor rarely does.

Anaheim was founded in 1857 by a cooperative of German immigrants from San Francisco who pooled resources to buy land and plant vineyards. They called it Ana-heim — the home on the Santa Ana River. The original colony grid they laid out still exists. You can walk it.

The Packing House

The Anaheim Packing House, built in 1919 as a citrus packing facility for Sunkist growers, is the anchor of the neighborhood's current chapter. The building was converted in 2014 into a two-story artisan food hall with the original industrial bones intact: high ceilings, exposed wooden beams, the wide floor plan of a working warehouse. Around 30 vendors rotate through over time — counter service, sit-down spots, specialty food producers — and the overall quality is genuinely good without the contrived feel of many food halls. Go for lunch on a weekday when it breathes. The outdoor plaza adjacent to the building hosts a Sunday farmers market.

The Colony Historic District

The blocks surrounding the Packing House contain the original Colony neighborhood: Victorian, craftsman, and Queen Anne homes built between the 1870s and 1920s on streets named for the original German settler families and California geography. Philadelphia Street, Lemon Street, Chartres Street — the names map the colonial history. Several homes are designated historic landmarks; a walking map is available from the Downtown Anaheim Association and takes about 45 minutes at a comfortable pace.

Muzeo

The Muzeo Museum and Cultural Center, housed in a Carnegie library building from 1908, hosts rotating exhibitions ranging from national touring shows to deep California history content. Admission is often free or low-cost. It's a proper small museum in a beautiful building that operates largely under the radar of Orange County's broader cultural conversation — which, depending on how you look at it, is either a shame or exactly what makes it worth going to.

The Bottom Line

The Colony Historic District is what Anaheim was before it became what everyone assumes it is. It requires a slight detour from the freeway and zero interest in theme parks. What it offers is a genuinely rare thing in Southern California: a neighborhood that has been something for a very long time. Take the walking tour. Get lunch at the Packing House. Leave before the resort traffic starts.