For years, a handful of artists have been working, mostly unnoticed, in the cheap (and unimproved) factory spaces in the Valley. Victor Davson who founded Aljira Center for Contemporary Art had a studio there as did my good friend, the painter Doug Kenney. So when more than 100 people came together on a Saturday in June of 2001 in a cafeteria at Orange High School under the banner “Orange Model City 2010”, it wasn’t unthinkable that the Valley could become an arts district. Planning for how to make that vision become a reality was set in motion that day.