Overview
About Olinda Village
Olinda Village runs 128.3 acres in Carbon Canyon and holds only 156 addresses, on six street names: Copa De Oro, Lilac, Olinda Drive, Buckthorn, Verbena, Olinda Place and Mariposa Way. The lots run to a median of 0.435 acres, the largest of any community of detached houses in Brea, with structures to a median of 2,509 square feet and four bedrooms. The parcel layer counts 157 parcels, 144 of them residential, and the zoning splits 107.3 acres of R-1 from 5.7 acres of neighborhood commercial.
This is the most geologically exposed ground the city maps. The landslide layer covers 127.8 of the community's 128.3 acres, effectively the whole of it and by far the largest landslide footprint in Brea, and 112.9 classified acres fall in the Very High fire hazard severity class. Olinda Village sits deep in the canyon and a long way from its schools: Olinda Elementary is 2.89 miles off with 649 students, Brea Olinda High 4.05 miles with 1,676, and Brea Junior High 5.14 miles with 921, all in Brea Olinda Unified.
View available homes in Olinda VillageHistory
How Olinda Village was built
La Vida Mineral Springs operated in this stretch of Carbon Canyon from the 1910s into the 1980s, bottling mineral water in many flavors and promising all manner of cures, and a second resort ran in Sleepy Hollow over the county line in the 1930s and 1940s. Beginning in 1964 developers revived the Olinda name for a hillside residential community here: about 120 homes, many with equestrian facilities, plus a condominium group, on six streets. The city records 156 addresses on 128 acres with a typical house near 2,509 square feet on lots close to half an acre.
The streets are named for what grows on the canyon walls. Copa de Oro is Spanish for cup of gold, the golden chalice vine that climbs through Southern California canyons, and Buckthorn, Lilac, Verbena and Mariposa fill out the list, mariposa being both the butterfly and the native lily. The community adjoins Carbon Canyon Regional Park and Chino Hills State Park, and the chaparral around it holds coyotes, owls, hawks and rattlesnakes. It is also demanding ground: nearly all 128 acres sit in the Very High fire hazard class and the city's landslide layer covers essentially the whole boundary.
By the Numbers
Olinda Village by the numbers
Lifestyle
The Olinda Village lifestyle
Schools
Schools serving Olinda Village
Olinda Village sits inside Brea Olinda Unified but is one of the two most remote communities in the city from its campuses. Olinda Elementary is 2.89 miles away, Brea Olinda High 4.05 miles and Brea Junior High 5.14 miles. Enrollment below is the 2024-25 federal count. Attendance boundaries set the assignment, so confirm a specific address with the district.
9-12 · 1,676 students
9-12 · 41 students
7-8 · 921 students
K-6 · 649 students
K-6 · 544 students
K-6 · 504 students
K-6 · 498 students
K-6 · 460 students
K-6 · 434 students
K-6 · 13 students
FAQs
Common questions about Olinda Village
When was Olinda Village built?
They run to a median of 0.435 acres, the largest of any community of detached houses among the 43 the City of Brea maps. Structures on them run to a median of 2,509 square feet with four bedrooms.
What should a buyer check about the ground?
The City of Brea's landslide layer covers 127.8 of the community's 128.3 acres, effectively all of it and by far the largest landslide footprint in the city, and 112.9 classified acres fall in the Very High fire hazard severity class. Both belong in an early conversation with an insurer and a geotechnical review.
Where does the name come from?
From Olinda, the oil camp four miles west where drilling in the Brea-Olinda field began in 1896 and which grew into a settlement of bunkhouses and worker cottages. The Map of the Olinda Tract, made for the Olinda Crude Oil Company and recorded in 1902, still underlies parts of La Floresta and Vesuvius across town.
Which schools serve Olinda Village?
Brea Olinda Unified, at a distance. Olinda Elementary is 2.89 miles away with 649 students on the 2024-25 federal count, Brea Olinda High is 4.05 miles with 1,676, and Brea Junior High is 5.14 miles with 921. Confirm a specific address with the district.
How does the city treat Olinda Village?
As a place of its own. The general plan directs the city to preserve a rural atmosphere in Olinda Village, to limit commercial uses there to those that serve local neighborhood needs, and to keep an undeveloped greenbelt corridor bordering it. The city's 2021 survey counts 147 detached homes.