Overview
About Eastside
Everyday commerce on the Eastside runs along East 17th Street, which the General Plan counts as 92 acres of retail, service and office space serving local homes and businesses. The city still carries a specific plan over that corridor, adopted as SP-84-01A across 77 acres to set landscape buffers and special development standards where commercial property meets housing, and a second one, SP-86-01, over three lots on Avocado Street totaling 0.6 acres for the same reason. New single family work here is almost all infill: the General Plan records that residential densities in the Medium and High Density designations can run above what the current code allows, because so many units went up before the city existed to permit them, and between 2012 and 2016 the city approved small lot subdivisions in multi-family zones on the Eastside.
Two city parks carry the neighborhood's oldest names. Heller Park covers 4.7 acres at 257 East 16th Street, on the site of the 1906 water reservoir, and Harper Park covers 4.9 acres; the city's school layer records the Harper campus at 425 East 18th Street on 9.1 acres. Citywide, Costa Mesa publishes 41 named park and open space polygons, the largest Fairview Park at 219 acres. Newport-Mesa Unified School District runs every public campus in the city, 20 of them on the 2024-25 federal count with 9,235 students between them, and assignment is set by address.
View available homes in EastsideHistory
How Eastside was built
The Eastside sits on the high ground above Newport Bay that was once the seaward corner of Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana, granted in 1810 to Jose Antonio Yorba and Juan Pablo Peralta. In 1906 the La Habra Land and Water Company cut 1,700 acres of that mesa into five acre farms and sold them under the name Newport Heights, with the Townsend-Dayman Investment Company of Long Beach doing the promoting. A water reservoir went up the same year on 16th Street between Orange Avenue and Santa Ana Avenue, on the ground that is Heller Park today. The next year drillers put in oil wells at the north end, near 21st Street, 22nd Street and Irvine Avenue.
The village that served those farms was Harper, named for the rancher Gregory Harper, whose railroad siding on Newport Boulevard had been in use since the 1890s. Harper's first school opened in 1908 in a remodeled farmhouse at what is now 17th Street and Newport Boulevard, and the Ozment General Store went up that same year at the northeast corner of 18th Street and Newport Boulevard. In 1920 three local associations put up a twenty five dollar prize for a better name for the town. A former schoolteacher named Alice Plumer won it with Costa Mesa, Spanish for coastal tableland.
By the Numbers
Eastside by the numbers
Lifestyle
The Eastside lifestyle
East 17th Street is the shopping street. The General Plan describes the corridor as 92 acres of retail, service and office space serving local residences and businesses.
Heller Park covers 4.7 acres at 257 East 16th Street. Harper Park covers 4.9 acres, and the city records a 9.1 acre school site under the same Harper name at 425 East 18th Street.
Schools
Schools serving Eastside
Newport-Mesa Unified School District runs every public campus in Costa Mesa. The campuses below are the 20 the 2024-25 federal count places inside the city, enrolling 9,235 students between them. Assignment is set by address, so confirm a specific address with the district.
7-12 · 1,730 students
9-12 · 976 students
9-12 · 177 students
9-12 · 143 students
7-12 · 48 students
7-8 · 501 students
K-6 · 570 students
3-6 · 539 students
K-2 · 487 students
K-6 · 473 students
K-6 · 473 students
K-6 · 454 students
K-6 · 373 students
K-6 · 371 students
K-6 · 367 students
K-6 · 344 students
K-6 · 323 students
K-6 · 321 students
K-6 · 301 students
K-6 · 264 students
FAQs
Common questions about Eastside
What is the Eastside known for?
Being the oldest laid out part of Costa Mesa. The La Habra Land and Water Company subdivided 1,700 acres here into five acre farms in 1906, forty seven years before the city incorporated, and the General Plan records that residential densities in its Medium and High Density designations can exceed what the current code allows because so many units predate the city.
What kind of new housing goes up on the Eastside?
Infill. The General Plan records that single family construction in Costa Mesa is now primarily infill, particularly on the Eastside and the Westside, and that the city approved new small lot subdivisions in multi-family zones on the Eastside between 2012 and 2016. Because many of the existing units predate the zoning code, a specific lot's permitted density can differ from what stands on it, which is worth checking with the city before an offer on a redevelopment site.
What is on East 17th Street?
The neighborhood's commercial spine. The General Plan puts the East 17th Street corridor at 92 acres of retail, service and office uses generally serving local residences and businesses. The city carries a specific plan over it, SP-84-01A, covering 77 acres on the published polygon and setting landscape buffers and special development standards where commercial property adjoins housing.
What parks are on the Eastside?
Heller Park covers 4.7 acres at 257 East 16th Street and stands on the site of the water reservoir built there in 1906. Harper Park covers 4.9 acres. Across the whole city Costa Mesa publishes 41 named park and open space polygons, the largest Fairview Park at 219 acres and the largest developed neighborhood park TeWinkle Memorial at 43 acres.
Which schools serve the Eastside?
Newport-Mesa Unified School District. The 2024-25 federal count places 20 of its campuses inside Costa Mesa, enrolling 9,235 students between them, from Costa Mesa High at 1,730 and Estancia High at 976 down through Charles W. Tewinkle Middle at 501 to the elementary campuses. Assignment is set by address, so confirm a specific address with the district.