On the anniversary of the Danish Constitution June 5, 1906, four Danish-Americans in Los Angeles decided that they wanted to have their own Danish Church. Shortly thereafter the first Danish service was held in a rented building. This was the humble beginning to the remarkable efforts by many Danes and Danish-American to have their own Danish Church and cultural center. The church today is a thriving testimony to those efforts.

The first Danish churches in Denmark dating 800-1000 A.D. were built from wood. Ironically, the first Danish church in Los Angeles was also built from wood. It was erected in 1916 on 46th Street. In 1937 the Danish people in Southern California finally reached their ultimate goal: They had raised enough money to build a typical Danish country church with a meeting hall and a parsonage. This church was built on the corner of 43rd Street and 3rd Avenue in Los Angeles.

In the early 1990 the Danish colony was spread over a large geographical area in order to preserve the church for generations to come, it was decided to build a combined Danish cultural center and a Danish church in an area which is central to most Danes and  Danish-Americans in Southern California.

A perfect lot was found in the city of Yorba Linda and through an impressive amount of work and effort it became possible. Emmanuel Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Cultural Center was dedicated on March 19, 1995.