Make it stand out
Historic Fullerton CA
Downtown Fullerton offers a rustic old town atmosphere with a cluster of more than 70 historic buildings, beautiful shade trees, and decorative walkways, providing a comfortable setting to gather with friends, enjoy music, and catch up on the latest news. Downtown is equipped with more than 2,500 "free" public parking spaces to support the over 350,000 square feet of retail and more than 275,000 square feet of office space.
Downtown is more than just another shopping center - it also serves as a vibrant cultural center with facilities, such as the award-winning Museum Center, the Downtown Plaza, and Plummer Auditorium. It is also home to financial, religious, and governmental institutions, as well as a bustling regional transportation center that serves more than 350,000 passengers every year.
Fullerton's historic Downtown District hosts numerous restaurants and clubs ranging from fast-food favorites to five-star gourmet establishments. The Downtown, which has won several awards, also hosts a variety of unique stores, such as gift and antique shops, clothing stores and more.
After twenty years of steady revitalization, Downtown Fullerton is experiencing a "renaissance" evidenced by a growing number of sidewalk cafes, specialty restaurants, unique shops, entertainment venues, and upscale apartments.
Fullerton is home to a vibrant music scene. In the early 1990s, downtown featured several venues that featured bands such as Room to Roam and Trip the Spring. It was a center for the Orange County hardcore punk music scene, producing acts such as The Adolescents, Agent Orange, Social Distortion, D.I., the "fathers of hardcore punk" The Middle Class, Gwen Stefani, lead vocalist of the alternative rock group No Doubt, was a student at CSUF and the group performed there regularly. Other popular groups and musicians from the area include Lit, 80s synthpop acts Berlin and Stacey Q, and Mike Ness.
Mariachis and the Dixiedelics perform on Fullerton Day Of Music
Singer-songwriter Jackson Browne attended Sunny Hills High School in the city. Singer-songwriter Tim Buckley also attended Fullerton College and dropped out after only a few weeks to focus on his music career.
Fullerton is also home to one of the signature cities in the MMariake Music Day Alliance. Make Music Day is a global annual music celebration occurring on the summer solstice (June 21) each year in more than 1,000 cities in 120 countries across the globe. Starting in 2015, The Day of Music Fullerton began as a grass roots initiative by a team of volunteers to create a unique and free music festival in alliance with the internationally renowned Fête de la Musique. Each year on June 21 Fullerton comes alive from morning to night with musicians of all ages and musical persuasions performing in musical venues, shops, bars, restaurants, plazas, churches, parks and parking lots.
From high school bands to established musicians/bands, Day of Music Fullerton is open to anyone who wants to perform and enjoyed by everyone who wants to attend for free. Since inception, Day of Music Fullerton has grown into a popular and critical success hosting over 150 performance in more than 40 venues around the city including the Museum Plaza, Historic Fox Theatre, Hillcrest Park, Villa del Sol, The Muckenthaler Cultural Center among others.
Contributing greatly to Fullerton's musical heritage was the Fender Musical Instrument Company. The Stratocaster and Telecaster electric guitarsthe Stratocaster and Telecaster electric guitars, Precision Bass bass guitar, and Twin Reverb guitar amplifier revolutionized the music business and contributed greatly to the development of rock and roll.
Leo Fender sold the company to CBS in 1965; production continued in the Fullerton plant until 1985, when the then-ruined company was sold to a group of private investors. (It was later reconstituted as Fender Musical Instrument Corporation, with its major production facilities in neighboring Corona and across the US-Mexico border in Ensenada, Baja California, and its headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona.)
In 1980, Leo Fender and his original partner George Fullerton (relation to the Fullerton founder of the same name unknown) reunited and started a new company, G&L (George and Leo) Guitars, which are built in what had been Leo Fender's CLF Research factory in Fullerton.
Preservation
The City's historic preservation efforts, coupled with the assistance of Fullerton Heritage, have resulted in several buildings being placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Most recently, the City was designated a "Preserve America Community" in conjunction with the federal Preserve America Initiative which was designed to recognize cities that protect and celebrate their heritage, use their historic assets for economic development and community revitalization, and encourage people to appreciate and experience local historic resources through education and historic tourism programs.