Orange Curtain

The Orange Curtain is a term that refers to the border between Orange County and Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California.^[1] It is a sometimes derogatory, sometimes lighthearted term, that is used to describe Orange County's more conservative and suburban population as compared to the more liberal and urban population of Los Angeles.^[2][3][4] The Orange Curtain is a word play on the infamous Iron Curtain which separated communist and capitalist Europe.^[5] The city of Santa Ana could be said to be a liberal enclave within the curtain.^{[citation needed]}

According to Colleen Cotter, "Because [Orange County] has a reputation for political conservatism, people from Northern California especially worry about what happens 'Behind the Orange Curtain'."^[4]

Karin Aguilar-San Juan describes the Orange Curtain as being between 1890 and 1950, as "the region's controlling elite also embraced a John Birch-style ideology of white supremacy and small government.^[6]

The song "Orange County Girl" by Gwen Stefani uses this term, stating "I guess behind the orange curtain it's not so bad."

References

1. ^ Dickson, Paul (2006). Labels for Locals: What to Call People from Abilene to Zimbabwe (Revised ed.). HarperCollins. p. 174. ISBN 9780060881641. http://books.google.com/books?id=MJpt4QCXWWoC&lpg=PA174&pg=PA174#v=onepage&q=orange%20curtain&f=false. Retrieved 2011-02-10. "The term "Orange Curtain" is being used to mark those characteristics, real or imagined, that differentiate Orange County from Los Angeles and the rest of California." 
2. ^ Overley, Jeff (January 4, 2008). "Are we on TV too much?". Orange County Register. http://www.ocregister.com/article/county-orange-dean-1954473-little-among. Retrieved 2008-04-08. 
3. ^ http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/dictionary/orange_curtain/
4. ^ ^{a b} Cotter, Colleen (2001). Lonely Planet USA Phrasebook: Understanding Americans & Their Culture (Lonely Planet Phrasebooks). Hawthorn, Vic., Australia: Lonely Planet Publications. p. 199. ISBN 1-86450-182-0. 
5. ^ Jennifer Lefurgy; Lang, Robert (2007). Boomburbs: the rise of America's accidental cities. Washington, D.C: Brookings Institution Press. p. 165. ISBN 0-8157-5114-1. 
6. ^ Aguilar-San Juan, Karin (2009). Little Saigons: staying Vietnamese in America. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. p. xii. ISBN 0-8166-5486-7.