LAT: Yes, Orange County has always had a neo-Nazi problem. A new deeply reported book explains why

[DBoon]

I dropped my LA Times subscription long ago but I can still access the full test of this article

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2026-01-05/eric-lichtblau-american-reich-orange-county-white-supremacy?sfmc_id=65206d357204863029083b26&utm_id=43359580&skey_id=b160f62432cf29a32f10f2c84837b2b19c5d0c9e18c4b43118a44658786ffdb3&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NLTR-Email-List-Essential%20California-20260105&utm_term=Newsletter%20-%20Essential%20California

It should come as no surprise that Orange County, a beloved county for the grandfather of modern American conservatism, Ronald Reagan, would be the fertile landscape for far-right ideology and white supremacy. Reaganomics aside, the O.C. has long since held a special if not slightly off-putting place, of oceanfront leisure, modern luxury and all-American family entertainment — famed by hit shows (“The Real Housewives of Orange County,” “The O.C.” and “Laguna Beach,” among others). Even crime in Orange County has been sensationalized and glamorized, with themes veneered by opulence, secrecy and illusions of suburban perfection. To Eric Lichtblau, the Pulitzer Prize winner and former Los Angeles Times reporter, the real story is far-right terrorism — and its unspoken grip on the county’s story.
...;
These [Nazi] networks didn’t appear out of nowhere. They had long been planted in Orange County’s soil, leading back to the early 1900s when the county was home to sprawling orange groves

Mexican laborers, who formed the backbone of the orange-grove economy (second to oil and generating wealth that even rivaled the Gold Rush), were met with violence when the unionized laborers wanted to strike for better conditions. The Orange County sheriff, also an orange grower, issued an order. “SHOOT TO KILL, SAYS SHERIFF,” the banner headline in the Santa Ana Register read. Chinese immigrants also faced violence. They had played a large role in building the county’s state of governance, but were blamed for a case of leprosy, and at the suggestion of a councilman, had their community of Chinatown torched while the white residents watched.

Leading up to the new millennium brought an onslaught of white power rock coming out of the county’s music scene. Members with shaved heads and Nazi memorabilia would dance to rage-fueled declarations of white supremacy, clashing, if not worse, with non-white members of the community while listening to lyrics like, “When the last white moves out of O.C., the American flag will leave with me… We’ll die for a land that’s yours and mine” (from the band Youngland).

You can find this at Thriftbooks:

https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/american-reich-a-murder-in-orange-county-and-the-new-age-of-hate_eric-lichtblau/54606554/?resultid=ed7b602c-e943-4e6d-b699-54da69e4c165#edition=72588475&idiq=83471189

... because I will NEVER link to Jeff Bezos' Amazon.

[haele]

1. Nixon was an Orange County "Quaker". A most peculiar branch of Quakerss.

I know several from Quaker families that settled in OC when it was orange groves and ranchland sold off from old Spanish Charter families that had morphed from White Mexican-American farmers and ranchers to White professionals and real estate speculators/developers with Latino names. Flan folk, as it were.
Orange County Quakers tend to be simple, peaceful, "welcoming" middle class folks who have no problems at all with people who kept to their god-mandated - state if you know what I mean...
Nor did they have any problems with Sundown towns, even after then- Governor Brown directed in the 1970's that intimidation and curfews of groups of people to leave public spaces based on race or religious affiliation was illegal in the state of California.
All those tall hills with crosses on them in California? They aren't memorials to WWI/WWII fallen or to some non-existent Spanish Mission or Mission run coach stop.
Those hilltop crosses were 1920's -1950's real estate shorthand for "This is a Covenant community - Whites only, and no Jews, either."

[Celerity]

2. Cleaned up original link plus an archive link

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2026-01-05/eric-lichtblau-american-reich-orange-county-white-supremacy

https://archive.ph/z70T7

[DBoon]

3. My original link did not block non-subscribers

The cleaned up link does

[Celerity]

4. It dosen't block me. Plus I added a paywall immune archive link.

The LA Times site probably gives you a few free reads per month, and after the free views are spent, any direct link may end up paywalled.

[DBoon]

5. so you don't get the "Get Immediate Access" subscription prompt that I find unremovable (Can't close it)?

[Celerity]

9. No, not at all. I am in the EU (Stockholm) so that may play a factor.

As an aside, we here in the EU are geo blocked by many US sites (especially US newspaper sites, but not the LA Times, obviously) due to their refusal to comply with our privacy regulations, especially the GDPR. I can use a VPN to get around the US blocking.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regulation

The General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679), abbreviated GDPR, is a European Union regulation on information privacy in the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA). The GDPR is an important component of EU privacy law and human rights law, in particular Article 8(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. It also governs the transfer of personal data outside the EU and EEA. The GDPR's goals are to enhance individuals' control and rights over their personal information and to simplify the regulations for international business. It supersedes the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC and, among other things, simplifies the terminology.

The European Parliament and Council of the European Union adopted the GDPR on 14 April 2016, to become effective on 25 May 2018. As an EU regulation (instead of a directive), the GDPR has direct legal effect and does not require transposition into national law. However, it also provides flexibility for individual member states to modify (derogate from) some of its provisions.

[Initech]

6. I live in Orange County, I can confirm.

I'm surrounded by MAGA extremists on all sides where I live. I think I can count the number of Harris voters in my neighborhood on one hand. It sucks.

[BuddhaGirl]

8. I grew up in Huntington Beach

The city council is all MAGA. I'm so disgusted by what's happened to my hometown

[keep_left]

7. Apropos, there is a book by Lisa McGirr about the history...

...of Orange County which covers much of the same ground, but more from a perspective of the political economy of the region. The book is Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right (2015, revised edition).

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/suburban-warriors-lisa-mcgirr/1129969754