Cypress has dairy roots and a racetrack with another town's name

Cypress has a little naming twist that is easy to miss. Los Alamitos Race Course is one of the area’s best-known landmarks, but the property sits in Cypress. So the city has a major sports place with a nearby town’s name on the sign.

Cypress also has a strong farm chapter. The city traces its name to the Cypress School District, formed in 1895, where cypress trees were planted around the schoolyard to help block strong winds. The Pacific Electric Railway station later used the Cypress name in 1906.

Dairy came next in a big way. Cypress incorporated as Dairy City on July 24, 1956, when the area still had deep agricultural roots. The next year, residents voted in a straw ballot to use the name Cypress instead. During the “Moo Valley” years, the area had about 1,000 residents and more than 13,000 cows.

The racetrack adds another layer. Informal match races began on Vessels Ranch in 1947, and the first pari-mutuel meeting came in 1951. The track grew into a major California home for Quarter Horse racing.

That history matters because the racecourse area is also part of the Town Center Commons planning discussion. Future plans there sit on land with a long local sports history, a dairy-era city story, and a name that started with a schoolyard windbreak.