Tustin sits in central Orange County, bordered by Santa Ana to the west and Irvine to the south and east, roughly 35 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles. The city takes its name from Columbus Tustin, a carriage maker who founded the settlement in the 1870s amid the region's early agricultural boom. For much of its first century Tustin remained a small farming town, its identity anchored by a tree-lined Old Town that still forms the historic core. In the 1940s the federal government built Marine Corps Air Station Tustin, whose enormous wooden blimp hangars became some of the largest structures in the country and dominated the local skyline for decades. After the base closed in the 1990s, the city began converting that land into Tustin Legacy, one of Orange County's most significant mixed-use redevelopment projects. Today Tustin is a predominantly residential city of about 80,000 people. Its built character spans several distinct eras of Southern California growth: early bungalows and Craftsman-style homes in Old Town, ranch-style tracts built in the postwar decades, and larger master-planned communities such as Tustin Ranch developed from the 1980s onward. The District, a large open-air retail and entertainment center, serves as a regional shopping destination, while Old Town retains independent restaurants, a farmers market, and community events that keep its historic character alive. The city appeals to families and commuters who want a central Orange County location with strong schools and convenient freeway access. Tustin Unified School District operates the public schools, and the city sits close to major employment centers in Irvine, Santa Ana, and the broader county, as well as John Wayne Airport and the Orange County coast. Tustin's blend of historic character, newer housing, and large park investments through Tustin Legacy gives it a distinct identity among Orange County's mid-sized cities — neither fully an old town nor entirely a planned suburb, but a place where both coexist comfortably.