Rancho Santa Margarita, Orange County
Rancho Santa Margarita has the longest name of any city in California. It was planned in the 1980s on a plateau below the Santa Ana Mountains by the O'Neill family, whose cattle ranch had covered the area for a century. The first homes opened in 1986, and the community became a city on January 1, 2000. A man-made lake is its centerpiece.