Today's photos come from Roberta Reed's new book, Santa Ana, 1940-2007, which I featured in my post of July 25th. Both came from the collection of Rob Richardson. The first image (top) shows the Fashion Square mall, which was built in 1958. It was replaced, on the same location, by MainPlace mall in the 1980s. Fashion Square was anchored by Bullocks and Desmond's department stores. .
The second photo shows the old First American Title headquarters at 241 N. Main St, in 1966. They still use this building, but have a new main office, just off the 55 Freeway in South Santa Ana. In addition to being an old-line Orange County business, First American also has possibly the best collections of local historical photos of the region.
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Huell Howser was in Anaheim last week, and historian Cynthia Ward got to be his tour guide. Among their stops was the enormous Moreton Bay fig tree on West St., which was mentioned on this blog a couple days ago. Huell asked if the tree was on a historic register of some kind. Although the anwer was "no," it was an interesting idea, and the folks in the Anaheim Colony Historic District are starting to discuss what might be done to make that happen. For a glimpse into the Huell-y happenings, see Cynthia's blog, Anaheim Life.
I recall that the old First American building originally a Bullocks or a Broadway department store.
ReplyDeleteAhh, Fashion Square, the epitome of ugly, uninspired, functional mid-century architecture.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad it's gone.
With respect to the fig tree, check the online archives of the LA Times over the last month. A hundred year old tree located at or near a Buddhist temple in Little Tokyo was designated as a historical monument.
ReplyDelete"Ahh, Fashion Square, the epitome of ugly, uninspired, functional mid-century architecture.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad it's gone."
Well, the Bullock's store isn't gone. It's still there, albeit as Macy's. I haven't been inside that store for awhile, but you could definitely tell it was from the '50s. I think it's kinda cool, though, since I like architecture from that era.
"Ugly", "uninspired" mid-century architecture?
ReplyDeleteI beg to differ!
To me, the style (and it had LOTS of it), was clean, sleek and gorgeous. Quite a contrast to the ugly architecture of today.
I'll take "mid-mod" any day!
The Curator
Mall Hall of Fame Blogspot
Yes. It's about as inspiring and attractive as a concrete tilt up industrial park building. Or the Civic Center in Santa Ana.
ReplyDeleteWe had a great visit with Huell here in Old Town Tustin. I took him to the Tustin Museum, the Tustin Blacksmith Shop, the Wooden Indian Barbarshop and the Beach Pit BBQ which won our award for outstanding Adaptive Reuse. Look for the show in early October.
ReplyDeleteLinda Jennings, president
Tustin Preservation Conservancy