Soon after Alonzo Gerry Cook arrived in the Santa Ana Valley in 1874, he
established a small crossroads village among the barren plains of
coastal Southern California. With little more than a church, school and
post office, he planted the seeds of a community that reinvented itself
through times of decline and development, disaster and triumph. When the
railroad arrived in 1905, the population doubled. The town flourished as
an agricultural hub thanks to the bounties of oranges, walnuts, chili
peppers and the crop that earned the city's nickname--the strawberry.
Despite damage from the Long Beach earthquake of 1933, the postwar years
witnessed booming development, and today, Garden Grove exists as a
celebrated part of Orange County. Longtime resident and author Jim
Tortolano tells the complete story of a resilient community and its
memories, people, places and events that have stood the test of time.