Start with Christ Cathedral. Philip Johnson's glass sanctuary on Chapman went up in 1980 as the Crystal Cathedral and was rededicated as a Catholic cathedral in 2019. The campus is open to walk and the interior is genuinely breathtaking.
The Strawberry Festival takes over Main Street every Memorial Day weekend — parade, carnival, and the giant strawberry shortcake that has been the city's calling card since 1958.
Atlantis Play Center inside Garden Grove Park is a small, beloved, sea-themed playground that generations of Orange County kids grew up on.
Eat your way down Brookhurst for Vietnamese and Garden Grove Boulevard for Korean. Both are destinations, not neighborhood options.
Great Wolf Lodge's indoor waterpark, the Festival Amphitheater's summer concerts, the Friday Main Street farmers market, the Tet Festival in late January, and a bike ride on the Santa Ana River Trail round out the list.
And when you want the big stuff: Disneyland is 10 minutes up Harbor, Huntington Beach 20 minutes west, and Angel Stadium 15 minutes north.