Essential English phrases

The Anaheim Resort district — Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, the hotels and the convention centre, about 4 square kilometres in the middle of the city. Locals say 'I work at the Resort' the way people elsewhere say 'I work downtown'.

A Disneyland employee, in the company's own vocabulary and in everyday Anaheim speech. With around 36,000 of them this is the largest employer in Orange County, and the word turns up in rental listings, bus timetables and small talk.

The 1978 measure that pegs a property's taxable value to its purchase price with a roughly 2% annual cap until it changes hands. It is why a long-tenured neighbour's tax bill can be a fraction of yours on an identical house.

Nothing to do with parades — it is the local shorthand for the shift economy. A very large share of Anaheim works hospitality hours: evenings, weekends and holidays are peak, and Tuesday is the weekend.

Orange County. Distinct from Los Angeles County immediately north, with its own courts, its own transit agency, its own politics and its own weather. People here locate themselves as 'in the OC', not 'in LA'.

Anaheim Public Utilities — the city-owned electric and water utility, the only one of its kind in Orange County. Your power bill comes from the city here, not from Southern California Edison, and the rates are set by the city council rather than the state regulator.

California's statewide Tenant Protection Act, which caps most annual rent increases at 5% plus regional inflation to a 10% ceiling on buildings over 15 years old. In Anaheim it is the only rent cap there is — the city has no ordinance of its own.

The eastern third of the city, up in the canyons past the 91 — larger houses, better schools, a completely different price band, and a wildland–urban interface where fire risk is a real line in the household budget.

Freeways, always with 'the' in front. The 5 runs through the middle of Anaheim past Disneyland, the 91 east–west towards Riverside is notoriously the worst commute in Southern California, and the 57 links to the north county. Directions here are given in freeway numbers.

The Brookhurst Street corridor between Ball Road and Broadway, officially designated by the city council in August 2022 — believed to be the first formally recognised Arab American district in the United States, after two decades of community campaigning.

The Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center and the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium, both in the Platinum Triangle beside the 57. The Angels kept 'Anaheim' in the stadium lease long after dropping it from the team name, which is a mild local sore point.

The hot dry offshore winds that blow down through the canyons in autumn, dropping humidity into single figures and driving the region's worst fire weather. When people say 'the Santa Anas are coming' they mean check the fire map, not fetch a jacket.

The free health and social services referral line, run in Orange County by 211OC. It is the number for housing help, food assistance and benefits questions — 911 stays for emergencies.

The 1919 Sunkist citrus packing house on Anaheim Boulevard, converted into a two-storey food hall. It anchors the Anaheim Packing District and it is the standard answer to 'where should we meet' downtown.