And already the desperately needed revenue is changing Orange County’s poorest – and scrappiest – city. The placard on the visitor’s counter at Stanton City Hall captures this comeback story.

Stanton is a 1950s-era north Orange County suburb, known mainly for its nondescript tract-house neighborhoods and commercial strips. Officials there have long dreamed of a new town center.

At first glance, Stanton does not fit the Orange County cliche. There are no beaches, no blockbuster theme parks, no fancy restaurants, just four square miles of aging suburbia.