Late summer and fall is when they most often occur, and we occasionally have them in the winter and spring. They rarely occur in late spring and most of the summer. They are generated by ridges of high atmospheric pressure over Eastern California, Nevada and Utah.
In Ventura County, west of LA, they are called east winds.
I spent 20 years on a boat in the Ventura Harbor. Have never heard 1 person refer to Santa Ana’s as East Winds.