Lake Forest

There are two lakes, and both are man-made. Condominiums and custom homes line the shores, and neighborhood associations manage them. Lake 1 is known as the Lake Forest Beach and Tennis Club, now also called Hidden Lakes, and Lake 2 is the Sun and Sail Club. Each has tennis courts, gyms, basketball courts, barbecue pits, volleyball courts, several swimming pools, saunas, hot tubs and clubhouses.

The forest is man-made too. It lies between Ridge Route, Jeronimo, Lake Forest and Serrano roads and is mostly eucalyptus. Early in the 1900s a landowner named Dwight Whiting planted 400 acres of eucalyptus near Serrano Creek as part of a lumber operation meant to draw development. In the late 1960s the Occidental Petroleum company built a residential community in and around the groves, which by then had grown much denser.

From 1863 the community was known as El Toro, Spanish for the bull. In 1847 José Serrano and his family occupied 11,000 acres of the Rancho Cañada de los Alisos, which Mexico had granted to them. The land eventually reached Dwight Whiting, who was instrumental in bringing the Santa Fe rail line through the region.

The Rancho Niguel was granted to Juan B. Alvarado, Juan Avila and his sister Conception, the widow of Pedro Sánchez. From them it passed to other owners and was divided into plots. By 1874 Cyrus B. Rawson owned most of it, and Jonathan E. Bacon owned 1,600 acres. The Serranos lived in Aliso Canyon, and a group of pioneers settled in the foothills several miles above El Toro. Many of them were among the first settlers of the neighborhood.

Residents voted to incorporate in 1991, and the city was incorporated on December 20, 1991. They also picked the name Lake Forest in a referendum. The vote was not peaceful. People in the newer subdivisions said Lake Forest sounded better. Longtime residents complained that the change erased the town's history in favor of an artificial name taken from man-made lakes. El Toro High School kept its name, and still has it.

After that, mentions of El Toro in the press usually meant the Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, which was decommissioned in 1999 and later repurposed. The base was one mile from Lake Forest, in Irvine. At one time El Toro was considered a military town, but the city grew on its own in the 1980s and 1990s, before the base closed.

In 2000 voters approved expanding the city limits to take in the master-planned developments of Foothill Ranch and Portola Hills. That brought new homes and commercial centers to the northeastern boundary.

El Toro Road, also County Route S18, runs the whole length and width of the city, about 10.5 miles. It passes through many communities, including Portola Hills. At Live Oak Canyon Road it becomes Santiago Canyon Road, forms the far northeast boundary of the city, then crosses the Santa Ana Mountains and turns into Chapman Avenue in northern Orange County.

The old commercial center was El Toro Road at the Interstate 5 freeway, which was the epicenter of the Saddleback Valley from the late 19th century to around 2000. Then it slid. Most of the shops closed or moved to other cities. After years of planning, the city worked with owners of aging strip malls and built the Arbor at Lake Forest commercial district, which now competes with the big shopping centers in surrounding cities. Nearby, the Irvine Spectrum and The Shops at Mission Viejo draw shoppers too.

Heritage Hill Historical Park and Museum holds some of Orange County's oldest buildings. They include the Jose Serrano Adobe, built in 1863, the old El Toro School House, which was El Toro's first school, and St. George's Episcopal Church, its first church. The Harvey Bennett Ranch House was built in 1908 and gave its name to the Bennett Ranch development. The Bennetts raised oranges for Sunkist and held state-deeded water rights to Aliso Creek, which was very rare in California and key to their success.

Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park, in the eastern part of the city, covers approximately 2,500 acres of oak woodland canyons, grassland hills and steep chaparral slopes. A mountain lion mauling there in 2004 drew attention from West Coast news media.

The Lake Forest Sports Park and Recreation Center opened on November 1, 2014, across from Saddleback Church. The 86.2 acre Sports Park is one of the largest in Orange County, and the center has classrooms, activity rooms and a gymnasium. The city also has etnies Skatepark, the largest public skatepark, with over 40,000 square feet.

Saddleback Church, Rick Warren's megachurch, is in Lake Forest and is the sixth largest evangelical church in the United States. The city puts on a summer concert at Pittsford Park. On the Fourth of July there is a 5K run and a fireworks show over the lake at the Sun and Sail Club. A farmers market meets on Wednesdays at 4 pm at the Sports Park and Recreation Center.

The Orange County Public Library system has two branches in the city, El Toro and Foothill Ranch. In 2020 the classical music group Chamber Music OC moved its headquarters from Chapman University in Orange to the Lake Forest Business Center.

Several well known companies are based here. They include the eyewear maker Oakley, in-flight entertainment provider Panasonic Avionics, and Karem Aircraft, which develops unmanned aircraft. Medical equipment maker Apria Healthcare is another, along with the restaurant chains Johnny Rockets and Del Taco and the barbecue retailer Barbeques Galore.

Skateboarding is a local industry. Sole Technology, Etnies and Tilly's are on the list of companies based in the city, which fits with the big public skatepark.

Interstate 5 runs along the western border and marks the line with Laguna Hills. It has two interchanges in the city, at Lake Forest Drive and El Toro Road. State Route 241, a toll road, passes through Foothill Ranch with three interchanges, at Alton Parkway, Portola Parkway and a partial one at Lake Forest Drive. The 241 ends about 5 miles south of the city, and I-405 begins a few miles north.

John Wayne Airport is the closest commercial airport, and Los Angeles International is the largest in the area. The closest Amtrak station is in Irvine, which Metrolink shares. OCTA runs a pretty thorough bus service, but a visitor guide still advises renting a car.

The Saddleback Valley Unified School District serves all of Lake Forest. The city has one high school, El Toro High School, which opened in 1973. Its mascot is a bull, its teams are the Chargers, and its colors are blue and gold. Trabuco Hills High School sits on the border with Mission Viejo. There are also eight elementary schools and a middle school.