FOUNDED: 1951
LEGACY LEADERSHIP: A high school dropout and former fruit stand vendor, Ross Cortese, who grew up in Long Beach, started building homes in an area known as Rancho Los Alamitos, owned by the Fred Bixby Ranch Co. Cortese formed the Rossmoor Corporation in 1951, bought the land from the Fred Bixby Ranch Co., and began building the red-bricked walled exclusive community in 1956. He later developed retirement communities, including the 533-acre Leisure World in Seal Beach and the nearly 13,000-unit Rossmoor Leisure World in Laguna Hills, now a city called Laguna Woods. He later built homes across the country, including developments in Walnut Creek, Maryland and Arizona. In 1966, Practical Builder magazine named him “the biggest home builder in the United States.”
HQ: Los Alamitos
OC SIGNIFICANCE: His development of Rossmoor, one of the first large master-planned suburban communities in Orange County, pioneered the master plan concept of combining homes with parks, schools, recreation centers and shopping areas.
DEFINING MOMENT: When Rossmoor began in 1957, it became one of the most important residential developments in Orange County.
BY THE NUMBERS: Rossmoor development provided about 3,400 homes for 10,000 people. Leisure World Seal Beach has more than 6,600 homes and has become one of the largest retirement communities in the country.
QUOTABLE: “It just took off like a bomb.” —Ross Cortese on success of Leisure World
FUN FACT: The name Rossmoor combined developer Cortese’s first name with the area’s marshy landscape. The first residents moved into the master-planned community in 1957, purchasing homes for between $17K and $20K.
