Laguna Hills

Laguna is a Spanish word for lagoon, and the city's name points to its nearness to Laguna Canyon and to the much older city of Laguna Beach. The first word is said luh-GOO-nuh.

The name is part of a family. Other newer cities nearby, Laguna Niguel and Laguna Woods, are named in the same way. All three take their name from the beach town that came first.

Laguna Hills sits on one of the big land grants of the rancho era. After Mexico became independent from Spain in 1821, people who had served in the government, or who knew people in power, were given huge areas of land for grazing cattle. Three ranchos covered much of the western part of the Saddleback Valley: Rancho Lomas de Santiago, Rancho San Joaquin and Rancho Niguel.

Don Juan Avila received the 13,000 acre Rancho Niguel, and Laguna Hills lies on it. In 1894 Lewis Moulton bought the rancho from Avila and enlarged it to 22,000 acres. Moulton and his partner, Jean Piedra Daguerre, used the land to raise sheep and cattle.

The Moulton Ranch was divided into smaller pieces in the early 1960s. Part of that division became the Laguna Hills of today.

Laguna Hills first showed up in the U.S. census in 1970 as an unincorporated community. By the 1980 census it was a census designated place, which is an area counted as a community even though it has no city government. Efforts to form a city began in 1987.

On March 5, 1991, 86 percent of the residents voted for forming the City of Laguna Hills. It officially became a city on December 20, 1991. The city grew a little after that. The North Laguna Hills area was annexed in 1996. The Westside Annexation followed in 2000 and added 149 acres of homes, including Sheep Hills Park.

In 2004 the city moved its City Hall to an office building on El Toro Road. The Civic Center sits near the old Laguna Hills Mall.

The Laguna Hills Mall opened in stages starting in the spring of 1973. Sears came first, with a 214,000 square foot store. A two-level Buffums store followed on September 5, 1973. The Broadway opened in August 1975 and J.C. Penney in 1976. By then the mall had cost an estimated $50 million to build. The first phase held 393,000 square feet of shops with 55 stores, and the second phase added 832,000 square feet with 83 stores.

The mall changed over the years. Buffums closed in 1991, and three years later its upper floor became a food court. That food court ran from 1994 to 2011. The Broadway became a Macy's in May 1996. A new owner bought the property in 2013 and bought the Sears store a year later. Sears closed in July 2014.

Macy's closed in March 2018 and J.C. Penney in October 2018. The enclosed mall closed on December 31, 2018, and was completely demolished in 2023, though the stores on the outside edge stayed open.

Another busy shopping area is El Toro Road at the I-5 freeway. The area has plenty of traffic and long-distance travelers, so it has many strip malls and fast-food restaurants.

Interstate 5 has five interchanges in the city. From south to north they are Oso Parkway, La Paz Road, Alicia Parkway, El Toro Road and Lake Forest Drive. El Toro Road is also County Route S18, and it is a major road that runs from the 5 freeway up to the 73 toll road. Alicia Parkway and Oso Parkway are the main north-south streets, and Moulton Parkway is the main east-west street. John Wayne Airport is the closest airport.

The Saddleback Valley Unified School District serves all of Laguna Hills. Local elementary schools include Lomarena, San Joaquin and Valencia. The middle schools are La Paz Intermediate in the city and Los Alisos Intermediate in neighboring Mission Viejo. The city has its own high school, Laguna Hills High School. It was built in 1978 and is the smallest school in the district. It has been named a National Blue Ribbon School and a California Distinguished School more than once.

Fire protection comes from the Orange County Fire Authority, and the Orange County Sheriff's Department provides law enforcement. The city also has a hospital with a full emergency room.

For things to do, a travel guide points to ice skating in Aliso Viejo, a five minute drive from the center of town, and to beach and ocean sports at Laguna Beach and Dana Point.