Located in the heart of downtown Santa Ana, Grand Central Art Center is a mixed residential, commercial, and educational complex. It was established as a result of a unique partnership between Cal State Fullerton and the city of Santa Ana. Don Cribb (Santa Ana community activist and visionary) and Mike McGee (Cal State Fullerton Gallery Director) were the driving forces behind the making of the center, in 1994.
Covering an area of 45,000 square foot, the art center is a three-level structure. It features live/studio spaces for visual arts graduate students, the Grand Central Gallery, the Project room, the Grand Central Theater, Watermark Press, the Gypsy Den Cafe, a Rental and Sales gallery, classrooms and computer lab, and a studio and living space dedicated to the center’s international artist-in-residence program.
The city of Santa Ana purchased the building, which was originally built in 1924 and served as the central market for Orange County until the 1940s, and had it renovated by Louisiana-based architect Steven Ehrlich.
The Grand Central Gallery and Project Room conducts exhibitions by internationally noted artists while new exhibitions are arranged monthly in the Rental and Sales Gallery. The theater is available, throughout the year, for various performance groups and theater companies.