Anaheim: History, Nature and Events

Anaheim combines culinary history, natural areas and a variety of event venues. If you’re looking for a hotel in Anaheim, it helps to first decide the purpose of your trip. If you’re traveling for a specific event, check its date before booking your hotel.

Food Hall and Historic Heritage

The Packing House was originally an orange-packing facility built in 1919 and was converted into a two-story food hall. Its selection reflects the area’s diverse population and showcases fresh produce and Southern California’s culinary talent. Here, the building’s former use meets today’s food culture. The Anaheim Packing District includes four historic landmarks: The Packing House, Packard Building, Farmers Park and MAKE Building.

Nature in Anaheim Hills

Oak Canyon Nature Center is a 58-acre nature park in Anaheim Hills. Four miles of trails wind through oak woodland and coastal sage scrub. The park is also home to the John J. Collier Interpretive Center, a small museum with live animals and exhibits on the region’s natural history. The trails and museum offer different perspectives: the landscape’s vegetation outdoors and its natural history in the exhibition space.

The Santa Ana River Trail offers another perspective on the landscape: from Anaheim Hills, it follows the river to the Pacific Ocean.

Muzeo and Anaheim’s History

The Anaheim Heritage Center is located in Muzeo’s downtown complex. Its history room contains nearly one million organized and cataloged objects for use by scholars, students, researchers and the public. The collection covers Anaheim’s history, from Indigenous peoples and early explorers to Disneyland, Angels baseball and the Convention Center.

Muzeo includes Anaheim’s original Carnegie Library and a modern gallery space. Muzeo is open Wednesday through Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; check opening hours before your visit. Among the older buildings is the Mother Colony House: built in 1857, it is the oldest surviving wood-frame building in Orange County and was designated California State Historical Landmark No. 201 in 1935.

Events and Sports

The Anaheim Convention Center welcomes more than one million visitors each year and hosts approximately 300 events annually. Angel Stadium of Anaheim is a 45,000-seat venue for baseball and events such as concerts, Supercross and monster truck shows. The Grove of Anaheim has 1,700 seats for live music, comedy and special events. These capacities give you a concrete comparison of the size of the stadium and the event venue.

The Honda Center hosts concerts by well-known artists, sporting events and family programs such as Disney on Ice each year. Pearson Park Amphitheatre also combines event and architectural history: built in 1927, it draws on Spanish architectural style and has offered family entertainment since 1933.

More Things to Do

Disneyland Park is in the heart of Anaheim. For public skating sessions, Anaheim ICE offers daily opportunities for guests of all ages on NHL- and Olympic-sized ice rinks. Flightdeck + Rogue Racing offers guided flight experiences in a Boeing 737 simulator for both pilots and non-pilots. The destinations mentioned here range from nature trails and local history to sports, stage shows and simulation experiences.

Discover more destinations: Brea, Buena Park, Laguna Woods, Laguna Beach, La Habra, Huntington Beach, Surfside, Fullerton

For the broader travel overview: Orange.