Buena Park sits in northern Orange County, California, about 20 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles and roughly 12 miles northwest of Santa Ana. It is a long-established city whose name, Spanish for "good park," dates to its 1887 layout by James A. Whitaker, a Chicago grocer who bought nearly 700 acres of the former Rancho Los Coyotes. The city's population is about 84,000. Buena Park is best known to the wider world as the home of Knott's Berry Farm, Southern California's original theme park. What began as a family berry farm and chicken-dinner restaurant grew into a 57-acre amusement park that now draws more than four million visitors a year, making tourism and entertainment central to the city's economy and identity. Around the park, the E-Zone entertainment district and Buena Park Downtown shopping center add to the visitor-oriented mix. Beyond the theme park, Buena Park is a settled residential city. Established single-family neighborhoods built largely in the mid-twentieth century fill much of its roughly 10-square-mile footprint, and the city's three state highways — Interstate 5, State Route 91, and State Route 39 (Beach Boulevard) — make it one of the more connected points in the county. A Nabisco factory on Artesia Boulevard was for many years a well-known local industrial landmark. Daily life combines suburban neighborhood character with easy access to the entertainment, employment, and dining of both Orange County and the greater Los Angeles basin. The city's schools, parks, and community events give it a grounded, family-oriented feel, while its central freeway position keeps the region's attractions and job centers within reach.