The Orange Curtain is a local term for the border between Orange County and Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. It is a sometimes derogatory, sometimes lighthearted term, that is used to describe Orange County's more conservative and suburban population as compared to the more liberal and urban population of Los Angeles.
The phrase is a wordplay on the so-called Iron Curtain which separated communist and capitalist Europe.
According to Colleen Cotter, "Because [Orange County] has a reputation for political conservatism, people from Northern California especially worry about what happens 'Behind the Orange Curtain'."
Karin Aguilar-San Juan describes the Orange Curtain as being between 1890 and 1950, as "the region's controlling elite also embraced a John Birch-style ideology of white supremacy and small government.
The song "Orange County Girl" by Gwen Stefani uses this term, stating "I guess behind the orange curtain it's not so bad."
Since the inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the United States on January 20th, 2017, there has been an uptick in the number of people using the term "orange curtain" loosely to refer to the United States.