By Daniel Langhorne

The Orange City News, a weekly newspaper with roots dating back to 1888, published its last edition on March 28 following more staff cuts at the Southern California News Group.

The Orange Daily News was published from 1888 to 1892 and then from 1912 to 1976, according to the Orange Public Library. It’s former building still stands in the southwest corner of the Orange Plaza and is occupied by Starbucks. The Orange City News was born in 1977 and has been published in various formats since it was acquired by Freedom Communications, the Orange County Register’s former parent company.

Reporters, editors, photographers, and designers with Register have published the weekly paper for decades. However, with now just four city reporters to cover all 32 Orange County cities and unincorporated areas, it appears the storied publication is no longer tenable.

This brief with the byline of the Register’s Senior Editor Todd Harmonson was published in the March 28 edition:

“Beginning next week, the Orange City News will become a part of the Anaheim Bulletin and will be delivered Thursdays. You will find coverage of Orange and the weekly features you are used to reading in addition to coverage of the neighboring communities where you shop, eat and work.”

Similar statements were made before the Register folded other historic weeklies such as the Yorba Linda Star, Brea La Habra Star-Progress, Placentia News-Times, and Garden Grove Journal. Staffing cuts led to the creation of regional weeklies like the North County News-Tribune and Coastal Current.

The death of the Orange City News leaves a huge hole in Orange’s news community.

The Foothills Sentry newspaper still publishes a monthly newspaper that covers Orange, Villa Park, Anaheim Hills and the unincorporated areas of El Modena, North Tustin, Orange Park Acres, and Orange County’s Canyons. The Orange Plaza Review newspaper focuses on light-hearted coverage of Old Towne Orange businesses and human interest stories.

Personal Note: When I started interning for the Orange County Register in 2009, some of my first stories were printed in the Orange City News. After being hired as a staff writer to cover Orange and Villa Park in 2012, I was the lead reporter for the weekly newspaper before being later moved to Yorba Linda.