By Brooklynn Wong
This Sunday the Anaheim Packing House will turn 100. Though its many restaurants and hip hideaways have only been delighting the building’s Orange County patrons in its current form since 2014, it is the building, built in 1919, we’re paying homage to.
The large industrial food hall that resides in the Anaheim Colony Historic District near downtown, is situated in the larger “Packing District,” one of the city’s old industrial hubs, and former home in particular to the fruit packing industry. The Packing House, a former Sunkist facility, is one of Orange County’s last surviving citrus packing warehouses, and the last one in Anaheim.
The Packing House ceased operation and closed its doors in 1955.
But it was a developer’s dream, just waiting to be turned into a trendy gathering place of some type, and in the early 2010s, Shaheen Sadeghi, developer of The Camp in Costa Mesa, had gotten his hands on it, and on May 31, 2014, the Packing House opened, having been repurposed and filled with dozens of diverse eateries, small bars, dessert stands and novelties like a grilled cheese bar and a Japanese creperie, with a couple of shops with quirky, mostly local artisanal knick-knacks to boot.
Travel website Afar calls the Packing House “a virtual United Nations of food.” And that it is, as visitors’ options include everything from Vietnamese, Mexican, Indian, Chinese, Syrian, French, and for those who want something a little more familiar, a pizzeria, a couple of Southern comfort cafes and a salad bar.
And rounding out the District are the MAKE Building across the street, which is a former marmalade factory, and now houses a brewery, a wine bar and a barbecue joint, as well as the Packard Building, a former Packard car dealership, which now is home to Umami Burger and Anaheim Brewery.
The Packing House is a treat for all senses, almost overwhelming with its two levels of eating, drinking and shopping options, the huge TV screens often showing whatever the can’t-miss sporting event of the day is, and the stage at the center of it all where live music is often being made.
It is an experience-seeker and quality-food-seeker’s paradise, and has worked out beautifully for the developer and the city.
Sadeghi, the developer, along with his wife Linda, are also considered the Packing House’s owners and designers, and said, “This year we celebrate a 100-year-old story of immigrants; their industry, energy and hard-earned success in turning empty fields into blossoming orange orchards and a bustling commercial hub named Orange County. Their story continues today with richly diverse neighborhoods, successful family businesses and colorful culinary landscape. More than anything, we celebrate the Anaheim local community who saved their last remaining citrus packing warehouse, the Anaheim Packing House, so history remains present.”
Hundreds pass through each day, and it has become a real tourist and local attraction, helping to revitalize and rebrand downtown Anaheim, assisting in the effort to help people see Anaheim as more than just the host to Disneyland.
This Sunday, April 7, is the actual date on which the Packing House will turn 100. But this summer, on June 1, a 100 Year Summer Celebration will take place. On this day, visitors can take historical guided tours and attend a free screening of a documentary on the history of the Packing House.
It is a rare and marvelous thing that this facility that helped build and solidify Anaheim is still around 100 years later, bringing attention to the city’s history and delighting its residents in new ways.
Happy birthday to an important piece of Anaheim history!
