Tustin is a city in Orange County, California.  The city is located next to the county seat, Santa Ana, but does not include the Tustin Foothills.  The city is home to mostly middle and upper middle class residents.  Unincorporated Northern Tustin contains areas of exceptional wealth.  As of the 2005 census report the city's population was 70,871, the median household income was $55,985, and the median home value was $610,000 Today, people who know the area sometimes refer to Tustin as "The City of the Trees".  A wide variety of trees are responsible for this nickname, it's a distinctive quality of the area which dates back centuries.  Most of the orchards today are gone, and now Tustin is an urban area.  However, you can still see signs of the City's proud history.  Historic old buildings, some dating back to the 1880s, are maintained in "Old Town" on Main Street and El Camino Real.  The museum shows a living history of those times gone by.  The city still has three of the original massive sycamores, and everywhere lining the streets, one still see trees, trees and more trees in Tustin, The City of Trees.

History -  Columbus Tustin, a carriage maker from Northern California, founded the city in the 1870s on 1,300 acres of land from the former Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana.  The city was incorporated in 1927 with a population of about 900.  During World War II, a Navy ant - submarine airship base (later to become Marine Corps helicopter station) was established in unincorporated land south of the city, the two blimp hangers are among the largest wooden structures ever built and are listed on the National Register of nearby unincorporated land including the base, and development of orchards and farmland into housing tracts and shopping malls.

Education - Primary and secondary eduction in Tustin and surrounding unincorporated areas is overseen by the Tustin Unified School District.  Tustin High School is a California Distinguished School and well - known regionally for its strong Model United Nations program.  About half of university-bound high school graduates attend nearby University of California, Irvine. Famous People - Rex Hudler, former Major League Baseball player and announcer of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Cuba Gooding Jr. attended Tustin High School, but did not graduate from that school. Alfonso Gomez, professional boxer and participant in The Contender 1. Geography - Tustin has a total land area of 11.4 miles. Politics -  The Tustin City Council is composed of five members elected at large: the Mayorship rotates among the council members and is primarily a ceremonial role. Local politics in the late 1990s and early 2000s have been dominated by the 1997 closure of the local Marine Corps Air Station and plans for subsequent commercial development of the land, including an unsuccessful bid by neighboring Santa Ana to build a school on the land, part of which is within Santa Ana Unified School District's territory. Economic Development -  The city of Tustin participates in the Federal Community Development Block Grant Program.  The CDBG Program was developed in 1974 to return federal funds to local communities for the purpose of creating housing and other entitled cities and counties to develop viable urban communities. The City of Tustin became an entitlement community in 1994.  As an entitlement community, the City receives approximately $900,000 annually to allocate to activities such as acquisition, rehabilitation, construction and improvements to public facilities, public services activities, and assistance to business to carry out economic development and job creation / retention activities.

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Visit Rick Stuart's Tustin listings or  search the Orange County MLS to see what is available in the area. You can contact Rick at: Rick Stuart  CRS, e-PRO Coldwell Banker Real Estate 27742 Vista del Lago, Suite 1 Mission Viejo, CA 92692 Business: (949) 702-4499 Fax: (949) 837-1036 E-Mail: Rick@RickStuart.com