Overview
About Zoo District
Zoo District covers 79.2 acres and is carried in unusually large pieces: the county records only 33 parcels and 32 site addresses inside it, on 30 distinct legal lots at a median of 61,698 square feet, or 1.416 acres. Nine named streets run 2.43 miles within it, among them Zoo Ln, Golden Circle Dr, Parkcenter Dr, Cabrillo Park Dr and Tustin Ave.
The Santa Ana Zoo at Prentice Park sits inside the boundary at 18.7 acres, and the city records a zoological garden, a stage amphitheater, a picnic area, a concession stand, a playground and off street parking on it. The zoning layer gives 17.1 acres to professional, 15.3 acres to open space land and 8.4 acres to Specific Development No. 54, with 5.1 acres in the Metro East Overlay Zone. Two school districts share the ground, Tustin Unified over 68.7 percent and Santa Ana Unified over 31.3 percent.
View available homes in Zoo DistrictHistory
How Zoo District was built
The Zoo District takes its name from the Santa Ana Zoo at Prentice Park, and the park takes its name from a man with a weakness for monkeys. Joseph Edward Prentice bought the old Burge mansion, a three story Italianate house with a six sided turret standing on about 19 acres known as Melwood Estate, in 1931, out of foreclosure and two years after the citrus rancher E. D. Burge lost it. Prentice kept four or five monkeys loose in the 16 room house at 1660 E. First Street, which made household staff hard to keep, and told anyone who asked that monkeys make the best pets in the world.
Everything else here went to work rather than to houses. Beyond the zoo's 18.7 acres at 1801 E. Chestnut, the district is offices along Parkcenter Drive and Golden Circle Drive and commercial frontage on First Street and Tustin Avenue, which is why a neighborhood of this size holds so few homes, and why the address most people mean when they say Zoo District is the front gate.
By the Numbers
Zoo District by the numbers
Lifestyle
The Zoo District lifestyle
Schools
Schools serving Zoo District
This boundary is shared. Tustin Unified covers 68.7 percent of it and Santa Ana Unified covers 31.3 percent, and neither district publishes a boundary map, so the campus for a specific address is worth confirming with the district before it matters to an offer. Enrollment below is the 2024-25 federal count.
KG-05 · 502 students
06-08 · 936 students
06-12 · 36 students
KG-05 · 456 students
KG-05 · 380 students
09-12 · 1,519 students
06-08 · 583 students
KG-05 · 675 students
KG-05 · 557 students
FAQs
Common questions about Zoo District
Is the Santa Ana Zoo inside the boundary?
Yes. The city records the Santa Ana Zoo at Prentice Park inside the boundary at 18.7 acres, with a zoological garden, a stage amphitheater, a picnic area, a concession stand, a playground and off street parking.
Why are there so few parcels here?
Because the ground is carried in large pieces. The county records 33 parcels and 32 site addresses across 79.2 acres, on 30 distinct legal lots at a median of 61,698 square feet, or 1.416 acres.
Which school district serves the Zoo District?
Both. Tustin Unified covers 68.7 percent of the boundary and Santa Ana Unified covers 31.3 percent, so the district for a specific address depends on where in the boundary it sits.
What is the oldest map here?
The Mellette and Evans Tract, drawn from the notes of a February 1887 survey and recorded on 25 January 1892. It lays three blocks of twenty four fifty foot lots each, between First, Second, Third and Fourth Streets.
How old is the building stock?
The county carries a year built on 22 parcels inside the boundary, 16 of them in the 1970s and 4 in the 1980s. The middle year is 1977 and one parcel is dated 1931.