Old Towne Orange Plaza Webcam, California

The Old Towne Orange Plaza Webcam looks down on Plaza Park, the oval of lawns, palms and shade trees in the middle of the traffic circle where Chapman Avenue meets Glassell Street in Orange, California. The City of Orange runs the camera and links it from its homepage as the Plaza Camera. From a raised position the lens takes in the curve of the roundabout, the brick-red paths, benches and lamp posts inside the park, tall cypresses with the fountain’s blue basin showing between them, and two-story storefronts beyond the trees. It follows the rhythm of Old Towne: near-empty lanes before sunrise, cars easing around the circle by day, and on event days the crowds that come for the fairs and holiday celebrations held on the Plaza. After dark the park lamps and street lights keep the scene lit.

About Old Towne Orange Plaza

Orange grew on land that two attorneys, Alfred Chapman and Andrew Glassell, held along Santiago Creek from at least 1864, and their names survive in the two streets that meet at the Plaza. The settlement was first called Richland, but in 1873 the post office refused that name because Sacramento County already had a Richland, so residents chose Orange. The city incorporated on April 6, 1888. It is known as the Plaza City because it was the only town in Orange County planned and built around a plaza. Orange had 139,911 residents at the 2020 census and sits at an elevation of 58 meters (190 feet).

According to the City of Orange, Plaza Park was designed in 1886 and still keeps its original layout: an elliptical park with a fountain at its center, ringed by mature trees. The first fountain arrived in February 1887, decorated with birds whose beaks spouted water, and local people raised the $535 it needed through bake sales and a play. An electric tile fountain replaced it in 1937. The American Planning Association named the Plaza one of its Great Places in America in 2018 and calls it the community’s living room.

Many of the buildings facing the circle are a century old or more. The building at 71 Plaza Square began as Campbell’s Hall, an opera house, before the Orange Grove Masonic Lodge 293 bought it in 1923. A Classical Revival bank from 1927 stands at 101 E. Chapman Avenue, on a site that has held a bank since 1886. All of it lies inside the Old Towne Orange Historic District, about 2.6 square kilometers (one square mile) around the Plaza, which joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1997 and is the largest National Register district in California.

Weather and Climate in Old Towne Orange

Orange has the mild, mostly dry climate of inland Orange County. Open-Meteo’s archive for the Plaza, averaged over 2015 to 2024, puts winter afternoons from December to February at about 19°C to 20°C (66°F to 68°F) and winter nights at about 8°C to 9°C (47°F to 48°F). Roughly 320 to 350 millimeters (13 to 14 inches) of rain falls in a typical year, and about 85 percent of it comes between November and April, with December and January the wettest months. A gray, rain-soaked circle on the camera is therefore most likely in winter.

Summer is warm and dry. From July to September afternoons average about 29°C to 30°C (84°F to 86°F), with nights near 17°C to 18°C (63°F to 64°F), and the summer months see almost no rain. Heat waves can go far higher: the city’s recorded high is 45°C (113°F), set in June 2016. Through the year the Plaza hosts events that change the picture, from car shows and food festivals to Treats in the Streets and the city’s Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony.

Things to Do Near Old Towne Orange Plaza

Plaza Park is the first stop on the City of Orange’s Historic Plaza Tour, a self-guided walking map that leads on to the Orange Theatre on North Glassell Street, which opened on May 22, 1929, the 1935 Orange Plaza Post Office, a New Deal project, and the Vineland Hotel, an 1885 Victorian cottage that is one of the oldest remaining hotel buildings in Orange County. Antique shops are spread along Glassell Street, including the Orange Circle Antique Mall. Metrolink trains stop at Orange station, roughly 0.6 kilometers (0.4 miles) on foot from the circle.

Chapman University sits on the edge of Old Towne, a short walk from the Plaza. Its Hilbert Museum of California Art holds more than 1,000 works, many from the California Scene painting movement, with free admission, and the campus also displays a section of the Berlin Wall. Farther out, Irvine Regional Park lies about 9 kilometers (6 miles) east. James Irvine gave the original land to the county in 1897 for one dollar, making it California’s first regional park, and today it holds the Orange County Zoo, which focuses on animals native to the American Southwest, and the Irvine Park Railroad. Disneyland in Anaheim is about 7 kilometers (4 miles) northwest. Each Labor Day weekend the Orange International Street Fair fills the streets around the Plaza and draws about 500,000 visitors, according to the American Planning Association.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Old Towne Orange Plaza located?

The Plaza sits where Chapman Avenue meets Glassell Street in the city of Orange, in Orange County, Southern California. Disneyland in Anaheim is about 7 kilometers (4 miles) to the northwest, and Irvine Regional Park about 9 kilometers (6 miles) to the east.

What can you see on the Old Towne Orange Plaza Webcam?

The camera looks across the traffic circle to Plaza Park in its middle, with lawns, hedges, palms, cypresses and shade trees, brick-red paths, benches and lamp posts, and the fountain’s blue basin between the cypresses. Crosswalks and the lanes of the roundabout fill the foreground, and storefronts line the far side of the circle.

What is the weather like in Orange, California?

Mild and mostly dry. Winter afternoons average about 19°C to 20°C (66°F to 68°F), summer afternoons about 29°C to 30°C (84°F to 86°F), and most of the rain falls from November to April.

Who operates the Old Towne Orange Plaza Webcam?

The City of Orange. It streams the camera on its YouTube channel and links it from the city’s homepage as the Plaza Camera.

How old is the fountain in the Orange Plaza?

The present electric tile fountain dates from 1937. It replaced the Plaza’s first fountain, which arrived in February 1887.

Why is Orange, California called the Plaza City?

Orange was the only city in Orange County planned and built around a central plaza. Plaza Park was designed in 1886, two years before the city incorporated, and still keeps its original layout.

When is the Orange International Street Fair?

Every Labor Day weekend, in the streets around the Plaza.

Source: City of Orange, CA