Tuesday, March 13, 2012

The End of Downtown Anaheim, Part II

My March 4th post about the destruction of Downtown Anaheim (with photos from Dave Mason) clearly touched a lot of nerves. And it definitely generated a lot of comments, emails, and links on Facebook. I'm told it even gave a renewed burst of energy to  some folks in Anaheim who are currently working on a preservation-related project.  

The best response I received, however, was from Diann Marsh herself, who -- along with Andy Deneau -- led the charge to save Downtown Anaheim. She now lives out of the area, but read my post. She began in the comments section of the post, writing...
"I LIVED that time--right in the middle of it! ... We lived north of redevelopment, but I fell in love with the buildings downtown. Andy Deneau and I went to Norman Priest, Redevelopment Director and asked him how the buildings could be saved. He said that if they were listed on the National Register of Historic Places, we would save them. We looked at each other and thought, 'We can do that.'"
Diann continued the story in an email to me: 
"We attended the State Historical Commission hearing in Los Angeles and managed to get the nomination approved. When it went to Washington, Anaheim officials went along to block it. They persuaded the feds to deny it on the basis that an archaeological study was not done. As far as we know, that excuse wasn't used for any other applications. I guess ours was special!"
"Andy was a dispatcher for the Anaheim Fire Department. I was a housewife, mother of seven, and an artist. So I guess we could be termed as 'nobodies.' Andy was the first president of the Anaheim Historical Society and I was vice-president, in 1977. The fledgling group of 12 people were harshly criticized for wanting to save downtown. To say that a lot of people didn't like us is putting it mildly."
Diann went on to describe some vicious personal attacks by people you'd THINK would support the preservation of their own town. I'm leaving out some names here not because I want to protect the guilty, but because I don't want this blog to turn into something political. (People of all political stripes can and have been blinded by redevelopment madness in Orange County over the years.) Suffice it to say that people in the community who wanted redevelopment handouts stood against her, some city officials stood against her, and state officials who thought thwarting preservation was their ticket to Washington, D.C. also stood against her.

One important elected official was quoted in the newspapers, saying, 'We don't care how we get the buildings torn down. We just want them gone.' According to Diane, another official, when told that 25 square blocks of homes would be demolished, "remarked that the people in those neighborhoods didn't care and probably didn't even speak English."
The photo above is a 1955 view of the S.Q.R. Store (1925) at 202 W. Lincoln Ave. It was demolished in 1978 during "Redevelopment Project Alpha." S.H. Kress & Co. is visible on the far right.

Diane continued,...
"My husband and I, lived north of Redevelopment, on North Philadelphia St., and I represented the Anaheim Historical Society on the Project Area Committee. ...I  met a fellow who lived on Broadway, in Redevelopment. He and I printed and distributed flyers throughout the neighborhoods.  The next Tuesday night 68 mad people turned up at the P.A.C. meeting! Of course [the committee leadership] cancelled the meeting and, by the time we met two weeks later, had developed a plan to divide the neighborhoods into five sections. That's called Divide and Conquer -- I think it was invented by the Romans.

"Four  of the neighborhoods worked with the city and were saved, including the 50's neighborhood between the railroad tracks and East Street. However, the people in the 72-house Kroeger-Melrose neighborhood did not like the city officials and would not go to meetings. Then someone got a notice that the bank would not okay their refinancing because they were going to be demolished!"
 
[Ed: The photo above shows the Martenet Hardware Store, at 323 W. Center St. in 1979 -- the year it was demolished.]

But not everyone was an impediment to preservation. The dozen or so original members of the Anaheim Historical Society put up a good fight, and according to Diann,...
"The staff in the State Office really wanted to help preservationists. During the 22 years I worked with them they stood up for historic preservation time after time and rescued me more than a few times.

"Aaron Gallup worked with me on the National Register application on that 72-house neighborhood, including the layout. The process included a visit by a member of the State Historic Preservation Commission.  Aaron was driving, with the Commissioner in the front seat. Aaron cut across the front yard of one house, so the Commissioner would not see an ugly carbuncle of an addition on the roof of one of the houses.

"At the Commission hearing, Anaheim officials were told that they ought to be ashamed of themselves for wanting to destroy the neighborhood. A reporter from the local newspaper wrote a true account of the proceedings and was promptly fired. I really felt bad about that but he said it was okay. Six meetings later,  I was voted off of the P. A.C right in front of my face. I was proud of myself for not bursting into tears. Oddly, most of the members did not get what they wanted from the city."
Efforts at preservation were not a total loss, as the Kraemer Building, the Carnegie Library, Pearson Park, and many square miles of charming historic neighborhoods are still standing. But Downtown Anaheim is still essentially M.I.A., a fact that has served as an object lesson for other cities.

Diann went on to work for preservation in other places, beginning with French Park in Santa Ana. She writes,...

"We moved [away] from Anaheim in 1986, because we found an Italianate house in Santa Ana that was going to be torn down if no one agreed to take it the next day. We agreed and moved the house three times before it was put on our lot in the French Park Historic District. The people that bought our house, in Anaheim (the Olesons) banded together with  the Torgersons, the Hortons, the Caldwells and others. They  took over the fight and were able to do some great things. They continued with the neighborhood work and were responsible for a lot of the restoration of Kroeger-Melrose District.

"We lived in and were active in Santa Ana for 11 years before moving to Illinois in 1999...

"I don't regret our time in Anaheim. It was really a special time and I knew so many wonderful people in Anaheim as well as in several other cities. It was the beginning of my interest in historic houses. Times were so different! Most people didn't even understand what a Craftsman house was or its significance.

"I guess I would do it all over again, but be a lot wiser and a lot more politically savvy."

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd like to thank Diann, and the others mentioned, for their work. Even though much of what they tried to accomplish never came came to be, at least they stood up and acted. Some of those buildings are - WERE - beautiful.

JG said...

Chris, I have been reading (and figuratively weeping) over this account.

Unbelievable how a city could so single-minded set out to destroy it's past ON-PURPOSE.

I'm used to seeing this sort of thing come about via creeping "redevelopment" or one project at a time, till it's all gone, but this account is unprecedented in my experience.

Thank you for sharing it. Like many others, I never thought much about the rest of Anaheim beyond Disneyland, Harbor and Katella aves.

JG

Chris Jepsen said...

JG: Sadly, Anaheim is far from the only city (even within Orange County) to be this shortsighted. Huntington Beach traded 97% of their historic downtown for oversized crackerbox stripmalls. Brea totally redeveloped their downtown too. And I was hearing noises about Yorba Linda doing the same, but perhaps the death of redevelopment agencies will slow their march toward self-destruction.

Tony Lewis said...

After graduating from Anaheim High in 1974, I started traveling the world. I remember coming home a few years later and seeing the desolation left after the heart of the town had been razed. For years it stayed an open scar, and has not healed well since. Some developers/politicians made some big bucks off that deal. I still feel a great sense of loss when visiting my old home town. 10 years later, with that bitter taste still in my mouth, I actively tried to save Huntington Beach. At the City Council meeting, 90% of the people spoke against leveling the downtown, but the politicians could not be swayed- they already had the cash in their pockets. I wrote a song about it though: SO LONG SURF CITY

A SKINNY KID BACK IN '64
WOULD WALK HALF THE DAY TO GET TO THE SHORE
WITH THIRTY-FIVE CENTS AND CREW-CUT HAIR
TO SEE 'EM RIDE THE WAVES FROM THE FOOT OF THE PIER

AROUND THE COUNTRY THEY DREAMED OF SUNSET AND DOHENY
LA JOLLA, SAN ONOFRE AND WAIMEA BAY
BUT FOR US YOU WERE THE PEARL OF THE PACIFIC
AND THE END OF THE RAINBOW AT THE END OF THE DAY

BUT NOW IT'S SO LONG SURF CITY
GOODBYE SURF CITY FAREWELL
SO LONG SURF CITY
GOODBYE SURF CITY FAREWELL

GUARACHI SANDALS AND BUSHY BLOND DOOS
ALL SINGIN' THE REDEVELOPEMENT BLUES
HOMOGENIZED, SANITIZED, TICKY-TACK JIVE
THEY WANT TO BURY YOU WHILE YOU'RE STILL ALIVE

WE LIVE IN A TIME WHEN CHANGE COMES FAST
BUT YOU DON'T BUILD A FUTURE DESTROYING THE PAST
A FIVE-STORY GARAGE WHERE THE DUKE HELD COURT
DOZIN' MAIN STREET DOWN SELLIN' HISTORY SHORT

AND NOW IT'S SO LONG SURF CITY…

SINCE THE SHARKS HAVE LEFT THE WATER FOR THE SHORE
DON'T MATTER WHAT THEY SWALLOW
THEY ALWAYS WANT MORE
AND THOUGH THE BEACH BUNNIES ARE BLONDER THAN EVER BEFORE
YOU GET THE FEELIN' THAT GOLD IS ALL THEY'RE GLITTERIN' FOR

A BRAVE NEW WORLD FROM SEATTLE TO SAVANNAH
KNOCK IT ALL DOWN AND START OVER AGAIN
A NEW WAVE BREAKIN' THE TIDE COMES IN
OVER CASTLES OF SAND AT THE SUMMER'S END

SO NOW IT'S SO LONG SURF CITY…

NOW I GOT A LITTLE MORE WEIGHT AND A LOT LESS HAIR
BUT I GOT TWO GOOD LEGS'LL STILL TAKE ME THERE
BACK TO HUNTINGTON WE'LL HAVE FUN FUN FUN
IF THERE'S ANYTHING LEFT WHEN THEY GET DONE

© 1988 Tony Lewis

Anonymous said...

My family use to own The Ranch House Coffee Shop in Down town Anaheim by Mc Mahans Furniture .

Unknown said...

I loved this area. My grandparents, the Olesons, lived at 124 S. Bush St. From 1967 to the demolish state of the 90's. My Mother, Ellen Petritz was the last to be forced out of this district. She got the turn of the century victorian at 302 N. Citron, next to Anaheim H. S. in the deal.
I attended Lincoln Elementary, Sycamore JHS and St. Anthony Claret, then on to Servite H.S. Great times and memories of my "Hood". So, so sad to see what happened to My Lincoln Ave, when I returned from the service in 1980.