Attachment No. 2 - HPC Staff Report and Attachments — City Council / Housing Authority, May 18, 2026

DEV ELO P MENT S ERV IC ES | PLANNING DIVIS ION
Staff Report
City of Pomona Historic Preservation Commission

C I T Y O F P O M O N A
5 0 5 S O U T H G A R E Y A V E N U E , P O M O N A , C A 9 1 7 6 6 9 0 9 . 6 2 0 . 2 1 9 1
w w w . p o m o n a c a . g o v
April 1, 2026
FILE NO: SHISTORIC-000110-2026
A request for Single Historic Landmark Designation for the property located at 1057 E. Mission Boulevard located in the Midtown Segment of the Pomona Corridors Specific Plan.

ADDRESS: 1057 E. Mission Boulevard
APPLICANT: City of Pomona, Development Services Department – Planning Division PROJECT PLANNER: Carlos Molina, Associate Planner

ENVIRONMENTAL
REVIEW:

This project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Section 15060 of the California CEQA Guidelines.

RECOMMENDATION: Approve File No(s). SHISTORIC-000110-2026 and adopt HPC Resolution No. 26-018.

Project Information:

GENERAL PLAN DISTRICT: Urban Neighborhood ZONING DISTRICT: Midtown Segment TRANSECT: T4-A SPECIFIC PLAN DISTRICT: Pomona Corridors Specific Plan
GENERAL PLAN DENSITY: 70 DU/AC
Application Background:
• On January 29, 2025, the property owner applied for a Determination of Historic Significance (DHS-000112- 2025) for the purpose of determining any potential historic significance of the existing structures located at 1057 E. Mission Boulevard.
• On May 29, 2025, the Historic Preservation Commission determined that the structures on the subject site are historic, adopted HPC Resolution No. 25-014 (Attachment No. 2), and directed staff to bring back a nomination to designate the property.
• On February 26, 2026, pursuant to HPC Resolution No. 25-014 and Section 1190.B. of the Pomona Zoning and Development Code, the Planning Division mailed a letter of notification (Attachment No. 3) to the property owner and the listed applicants of DHS-000112-2025 of the City’s intent to begin the designation process of the site as a Single Historic Landmark.

ATTACHMENT NO. 2
April 1, 2026, Historic Preservation Commission Staff Report SHISTORIC-000110-2026
P A G E 2 O F 10 DEV ELO P MENT S ERV IC ES | PLANNING DIV IS ION Architectural Style:

The structure is built in the Googie architectural style (Attachment No. 4). Googie has been described as Modernism for the masses. With its swooping lines and organic shapes, the style attempted to capture the playful exuberance of postwar America. Named for the John Lautner-designed Googie’s Restaurant in Los Angeles, the style was widely employed in roadside commercial architecture of the 1950s, including coffee shops, bowling alleys, and car washes.

Architectural Description:

In comparison between the original design rendering and photos of the Pomona location while in operation (Attachment No. 6), the existing building and sign remain in good to excellent condition (Attachment No. 7). The building maintains its original form, inclusive of its window type and style, roof line, red and white tile exterior façade, and the non-structural arches that terminate at the ceiling.

RELEVANT ALTERATIONS:

1. Removal of arches above roof

2. Replacement of sign face

3. Removal of neon elements
Character-Defining Features:

1. Expressive sloped roof with cantilever

2. Organic, abstract, and parabolic shapes

3. Clear expression of materials, including concrete, steel, asbestos, cement, glass block, plastic, and plywood

4. Large expanses of plate glass

5. Primacy of signage, including the pervasive use of neon

6. Original tile work
HISTORY:

The site (formerly addressed as 1075 E. 5th Avenue) is located on the eastern portion of Mission Boulevard; a principal arterial roadway spanning approximately six miles from the City’s western boundary to its eastern boundary.

According to LA County Assessor data and historic aerial imagery dating back to 1938 (Attachment No. 8), the area west of the site consisted of residential neighborhoods with homes dating back to the early 1900s whereas the bulk of the land located east of the site was undeveloped, consisting primarily of agricultural land. Following the beginning of the post-war boom in the late 1940s, both Assessor and aerial data confirm that the regional trend of commercial development along major transit corridors began to make its way along Pomona’s major transportation corridors, inclusive of Mission Boulevard.

According to available building permits (Attachment No. 9) held by the City of Pomona Building and Safety Division, the site was issued a building permit for the existing, original building on June 15, 1954. The building permit describes the structure as a 30’x44’ drive-in restaurant built in the concrete block construction style with a flat builtup cover roof. Additional building permits found for the site include a myriad of electrical, refrigeration, and miscellaneous construction permits ranging from 1954-2011.

April 1, 2026, Historic Preservation Commission Staff Report SHISTORIC-000110-2026
P A G E 3 O F 10 DEV ELO P MENT S ERV IC ES | PLANNING DIV IS ION Historic Context Statement:

The property falls under the Residential Development Theme of Chapter X. Postwar Growth, Diversification, and Redevelopment (1946-1980) (Attachment No. 10). The subject site was developed in 1954, at a time where the end of World War II had already begun to usher in a time of prosperity and optimism in American life. For Southern California, it was also a time of great population growth. Many veterans came through Southern California during the war on their way to the Pacific theater – experiencing the mild climate and broad vistas firsthand. Others learned of the promise of California through national magazines that focused on ideas about postwar lifestyles rooted Southern California’s gentle climate and ample opportunity.

In Pomona specifically, the population rose to 50.4% between 1940 and 1950 to 35,405 residents; between 1950 and 1960 it rose 89.7% to 67,157 residents. The decade between 1960 and 1970 saw another 30.1% increase, with residents numbering 87,384 at the end of the decade.

In Pomona, commercial growth was seen along Route 66 (present-day Arrow Highway), Garey Avenue, Mission Boulevard, Holt Avenue, Valley Boulevard, and Indian Hill Avenue. Many of the commercial structures built after the war responded to both the growing middle class and suburban leisure culture, and the automobile: coffee shops, fast food establishes and restaurants, supermarkets, department stores, and specialty retailers all designed to appeal to the passing motorist and conveniently located away from downtown. Commercial development along Route 66 picked up after World War II with the development of properties commonly associated with a tourist corridor: gas stations, motels, and restaurants.

A more exuberant, expressive Modernism emerged in commercial design after the war, capturing both the zeitgeist and playful exuberance of the moment and appealing to the modern, automobile-oriented consumer. The style became known as Googie, after Googie’s Diner in Los Angeles designed by John Lautner in 1949. The style has been described as Modernism for the masses. It was widely employed in roadside commercial architecture of the 1950s, including coffee shops, bowling alleys, and car washes. Henry’s Restaurant and Drive-in (not extant) was one of the premiere examples of the Google architectural style. It was located along Route 66, at Garey Avenue and Foothill Boulevard.

Because of its suburban development and auto-oriented road system, Pomona enjoys a wealth of roadside architecture that extended beyond Route 66. These expressive modern buildings, some more elaborately Googie than others, relied on structure expression, large expanses of glass, neon and kinetic signs both to display their goods and services and to lure in motorists. Pole signs often remain at some of Pomona’s roadside buildings that have been altered.

To support its postwar population, greater Pomona was dotted with several fast-food restaurants and coffee shops.

One prime example is the subject site, known as McDonald’s #7. Although altered as it’s no longer operating as a McDonald’s, the building and primary sign retain their primary elements and forms. Other extant early examples of iconic fast-food restaurants located in Pomona from the postwar period include Der Wienerschnitzel (794 E. Mission Blvd), two original Arby’s (2250 N. Garey Avenue and 1175 E. Holt Avenue), Tastee Freeze (794 E. Mission Blvd), Donahoo’s Fried Chicken (1074 N. Garey Avenue), and a diner located at 1280 E. Holt Avenue originally built as a Breakfast at Carl’s. Keeping in line with the Googie style, key similarities across these buildings include their expressive building forms, expansive façade windows, and prominent, easy-to-find signage.

April 1, 2026, Historic Preservation Commission Staff Report SHISTORIC-000110-2026
P A G E 4 O F 10 DEV ELO P MENT S ERV IC ES | PLANNING DIV IS ION Survey Information:

At the time of the 1993 Citywide survey, the property had not been developed for more than 50 years, therefore the subject property was not included in the survey.

Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps:

The City keeps a 1928 Sanborn Map that was updated by the Building and Safety Division approximately up until 1958. The building on the site is included in the Sanborn Map and is reflective of what is currently existing (Attachment No. 12).

Significance:

According to articles published in the Progress Bulletin (Attachment No. 13), the building had its grand opening as a McDonald’s on Friday, September 3, 1954. The McDonald’s operated for approximately 14 years until the location closed in 1968. Following its closure in 1968, limited information was found regarding how the site was used throughout the 1970s; unofficial records indicate that the building may have operated as a taco shop. By 1984, City business license records began to show Star Taco as the occupant of the building up until 1986; from 1985–1986 the site operated as Hong’s Fast Food, and from 1986-present, the site has operated as AMA Donuts. The building on the site is modeled after the original McDonald’s design (Attachment No. 5) designed by Stanley Clark Meston; an architect based out of Fontana, CA. Meston was hired by the McDonald brothers in 1952 to design a restaurant capable of maximizing operational efficiency while also serving a visually striking building capable of setting it aside from the competition. Many of the first franchise locations used the original design. The first location to debut the design opened in Tucson, Arizona in May of 1953; three months later, the second location sporting the design opened in Downey, CA. The Pomona location was the seventh McDonald’s location to open which had its grand opening on September 3, 1954. As of 2025, several of the original locations have been demolished, including its Arizona location. As of 2025, the Downey location is the oldest extant McDonald’s, leaving the Pomona location to be the second oldest original McDonald’s building in existence.

Designation Criteria:

Staff reviewed the National Register, California Register, and local designation criteria to determine whether the property is historic.

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CRITERIA

1. Is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history (Criterion A).

The site related to the general suburbanization of the region; however, no specific events were found associating the site to this criterion. Therefore, the site does not meet this criterion.

2. Is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past (Criterion B).

The structures on the site were designed by the architect, Stanley Charles Meston who had worked closely with the McDonald’s brothers to design the iconic restaurant design which the site is modeled after.

April 1, 2026, Historic Preservation Commission Staff Report SHISTORIC-000110-2026
P A G E 5 O F 10 DEV ELO P MENT S ERV IC ES | PLANNING DIV IS ION Meston’s work can be found regionally, nationally, and internationally; much of which was tailored for commercial and institutional purposes. Therefore, the site may be eligible for designation under this criterion.

3. Embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period or method of construction, or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction (Criterion C).

The property retains many of the original Googie architectural design details and materials which includes their building forms, expressions, window shape and style, and façade materials. The Googie style represented a dramatic change in architecture because of the influence of the automobile, making the style distinctive. Therefore, the property meets this criterion.

4. Has yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in history or prehistory (Criterion D).

This criterion relates to archaeological resources and there is no information that this site could have been important to Native American tribes in the area. Therefore, the property is not likely to yield any information and does not meet this criterion.

CALIFORNIA REGISTER OF HISTORICAL RESOURCES

1. Associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of local or regional history or the cultural heritage of California or the United States (Criterion 1).

There are no specific events related to this site that are significant even though the property is related to the general suburbanization of Pomona and Southern California. Therefore, the property does not meet this criterion.

2. Associated with the lives of persons important to local, California or national history (Criterion 2).

Meston’s work can be found regionally, nationally, and internationally; much of which was tailored for commercial and institutional purposes. Therefore, the site may be eligible for designation under this criterion.

3. Embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, region or method of construction or represents the work of a master or possesses high artistic values (Criterion 3).

The building is an excellent example of the Googie architectural style and a rare example of early roadside architecture; therefore, the site meets this criterion.

April 1, 2026, Historic Preservation Commission Staff Report SHISTORIC-000110-2026
P A G E 6 O F 10 DEV ELO P MENT S ERV IC ES | PLANNING DIV IS ION

4. Has yielded, or has the potential to yield, information important to the prehistory or history of the local area, California or the nation (Criterion 4).

CITY OF POMONA LANDMARK DESIGNATION CRITERIA
Architecture / Physical Features

1. It embodies distinctive characteristics of a style, type, period, or method of construction, or is a valuable example of the use of indigenous materials or craftsmanship (Criterion 3 in previous ordinance); The existing structures on the site retain their distinctive Googie-style elements and is an excellent example of roadside architecture; therefore, the site meets this criterion.

2. It is the work of a notable builder, designer, landscape designer or architect (Criterion 5 in previous ordinance);
The structures on the site were designed by the architect, Stanley Charles Meston who had worked closely with the McDonald’s brothers to design the iconic restaurant design which the site is modeled after.

3. It embodies elements of architectural design, detail, materials, or craftsmanship that represent a significant structural or architectural achievement or innovation (Criterion 7 in previous ordinance); Although the existing structures retain many of the original architectural design details and materials which include their building forms, expressions, window shape and style, and façade materials, the Googie style was not known for its structural or architectural innovation and achievements. Therefore, the property does not meet this criterion.

4. It is similar to other distinctive properties, sites, areas, or objects based on an historic, cultural, or architectural motif (Criterion 8 in previous ordinance); The buildings present several features that are especially unique and exemplary of notably significant examples of the Googie style. The design is not based on a motif. Therefore, the property does not meet this criterion.

April 1, 2026, Historic Preservation Commission Staff Report SHISTORIC-000110-2026
P A G E 7 O F 10 DEV ELO P MENT S ERV IC ES | PLANNING DIV IS ION

5. It has a unique location or singular physical characteristics or is a view or vista representing an established and familiar visual feature of a neighborhood, community, or the city of Pomona (Criterion 6 in previous ordinance);
The location of the existing structures along a major transportation corridor and the abundance of asphalt were intentional design choices as the site was designed to cater to the automobile. Therefore, the property meets this criterion.

6. It reflects significant geographical patterns, including those associated with different eras of settlement and growth, particular transportation modes, or distinctive examples of park or community planning (Criterion 9 in previous ordinance);
The overall site design significantly reflects the pattern of settlement as the site was developed amid a massive population boom which brought with it sudden shifts in architecture, prominent modes of transportation, and community planning efforts which began to be tailored to accommodate the automobile. Therefore, the property meets this criterion.

7. It is one of the few remaining examples in the city of Pomona, region, state, or nation possessing distinguishing characteristics of an architectural or historical type or specimen (Criterion 10 in previous ordinance).

The building on the site is the seventh McDonald’s built and is currently the second oldest of its original restaurants in existence. Given the good to excellent condition of the building on the site, the property is one of the few remaining examples of early roadside commercial architecture. Therefore, the property meets this criterion.

Person(s) and Events Important in Our History

1. It is identified with persons or events significant in local, state, or national history (Criterion 2 in previous ordinance);
The site is identified with the original architect of the iconic McDonald’s restaurant, Stanley Charles Meston and is also reflective of the post war population boom which had significant cultural impacts from the local to national level. It is also associate with the McDonald Brothers and the impact that the McDonald’s chain had on American culture. Therefore, the property meets this criterion.

2. It exemplifies or reflects special elements of the city of Pomona's cultural, social, economic, political, aesthetic, engineering, architectural, or natural history (Criterion 1 in previous ordinance); The property reflects the impact that the postwar population boom had on the City’s development patterns which arguably has had major impacts to the City’s cultural, social, economic, political, and architectural history. Therefore, the property meets this criterion.

April 1, 2026, Historic Preservation Commission Staff Report SHISTORIC-000110-2026
P A G E 8 O F 10 DEV ELO P MENT S ERV IC ES | PLANNING DIV IS ION Archaeology

1. Has yielded, or has the potential to yield, information important to the prehistory or history of the local area, California or the nation.

CITY OF POMONA HISTORIC DISTRICT DESIGNATION CRITERIA

1. It is a contiguous area possessing a concentration of eligible historic resources or thematically related grouping of structures which contribute to each other and are unified by plan, style, or physical development; and (b) embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, region, or method of construction; represents the work of a master; or possesses high artistic values (Criterion 4 in previous ordinance);
The surrounding neighborhood does not possess a concentration of eligible historic resources which would make the neighborhood eligible for designation as a historic district. Therefore, the property does not meet this criterion.

2. It reflects significant geographical patterns, including those associated with different eras of settlement and growth, particular transportation modes, or distinctive examples of a park landscape, site design, or community planning (Criterion 9 in previous ordinance); and The overall site design significantly reflects the pattern of settlement as the site was developed amid a massive population boom which brought with it sudden shifts in architecture, prominent modes of transportation, and community planning efforts which began to be tailored to accommodate the automobile. Therefore, the property meets this criterion.

Meets at least one of Landmark Designation Criteria as follows:
a. Architecture / Physical Features Criteria 1, 2, 3, or 4; and/or b. Person and Events Criteria 1 or 2.

While the property itself is eligible, the surrounding neighborhood is not historic, and therefore the property would not be a contributor to a historic district.

April 1, 2026, Historic Preservation Commission Staff Report SHISTORIC-000110-2026
P A G E 9 O F 10 DEV ELO P MENT S ERV IC ES | PLANNING DIV IS ION CONSIDERATIONS IN EVALUATION PROPERTIES (INTEGRITY):

In addition to having significance, a resource must have integrity for the time period in which it is significant. The period of significance is the date or span of time within which significant events transpired, or significant individuals made their important contributions. Integrity is the authenticity of a Historical Resource’s physical identity as evidenced by the survival of characteristics or historical fabric that existed during the resource’s period of significance. Only after significance has been established, should the issue of integrity be addressed. The following should be considered when evaluating properties for integrity.

1. Design. Any alternations to the property should not have adversely affected the character-defining features of the property. Alterations to a resource or changes in its use over time may have historical, cultural, or architectural significance.

As previously discussed, the structures retain a high level of integrity, with only a few minor alterations to the structures.

2. Setting. Changes in the immediate surroundings of the property (buildings, land use, topography, etc.) should not have adversely affected the character of the property.

Mission Boulevard continues to be a major commercial corridor in Pomona. The commercial setting that existed when McDonald’s was constructed still exists.

3. Materials and Workmanship. Any original material should be retained, or if they have been removed or altered, the replacements have been made that are compatible with the original materials.

As previously discussed, the structures have only a few alterations. The tile, glass windows and structural columns still exist.

4. Location. The relationship between the property and its location is an important part of integrity. The place where the property was build and where historic events occurred is often important to understanding why the property was created or why something happened. The location of a historic property, complemented by its settings, is particularly important in recapturing the sense of historic events and persons. Except in a few cases, the relationship between a structure and its historic associations is destroyed if the structure is moved.

The structures are in their original location and still retain its integrity.

5. Feeling. Feeling is a property’s expression of the aesthetic or historic sense of a particular period of time. It results from the presence of physical features that, taken together, convey they property’s historic character.

The structures still convey the nostalgia that comes from the early fast food establishments. This particular property still retains its feeling and the character that creates it.

April 1, 2026, Historic Preservation Commission Staff Report SHISTORIC-000110-2026
P A G E 10 O F 10 DEV ELO P MENT S ERV IC ES | PLANNING DIV IS ION

6. Association. Association is the direct link between an important historic event or person and a historic property. A property retains association if it is the place where the event or activity occurred and is sufficiently intact to convey that relations to an observer. Like feeling, association requires the presence of physical features that convey a property’s historic character. For example, a Revolutionary War battlefield, the natural and manmade elements of which have remained intact since the 18th century retains its quality of association with the battle. Because feeling and association are subjective criteria, their retention alone is never sufficient to support eligibility. Historical Resources must retain enough of their historic character or appearance to be recognizable as Historical Resources and to convey the reasons for their significance.

The property, visually, still retains its association with McDonald’s. The look and feel of the property still still conveys the Speedee design that became synonymous with McDonald’s.

Required Findings:

The findings required in Section 800.C.2.a. Historic Landmark Designation Criteria of the Pomona Zoning and Development Code for a Single Historic Landmark Designation are contained in the attached resolution (Attachment 1).

Conclusion:

Based on the designation criteria discussed above, Staff has determined that the property meets multiple local designation criteria as outlined in the attached draft HPC Resolution NO. 26-018. Therefore, staff has determined that the site is eligible to be designated as a local historic landmark and is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and the California Register of Historic Resources.

Attachments:

1. Draft HPC Resolution No. 26-018

2. HPC Resolution No. 25-014

3. Notification Letter to Owner/Applicant (DHS-000112-2025)

4. Googie Architectural Description

5. Original McDonald’s Rendering (~1952)

6. Photograph – Pomona McDonald’s (date unknown)

7. Photographs – Existing Site Conditions

8. Aerial Photographs (1938, 1972)

9. Selected Building Permits (1954-2011)

10. Online Articles

11. Historic Context Statement – Chapter 10 (1946-1980)

12. Sanborn Fire Insurance Map

13. Library Archive Findings
DRAFT HPC RESOLUTION NO. 26-018

A RESOLUTION OF THE HISTORIC PRESERVATION

COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF POMONA, CALIFORNIA,

RECOMMENDING CITY COUNCIL APPROVAL OF THE

SINGLE HISTORIC LANDMARK DESIGNATION
REQUEST (SHISTORIC-000110-2026) FOR THE
PROPERTY LOCATED AT 1057 E. MISSION BOULEVARD
(APN: 8326-009-018)

THE HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF POMONA DOES RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS:

WHEREAS, the applicant, David Lee, submitted an application for Determination of Historic Significance (DHS-000112-2025) to determine the historic significance of the property located at 1057 E. Mission Boulevard;
WHEREAS, the Historic Preservation Commission of the City of Pomona, has, after giving notice thereof as required by law, held a public meeting on June 4, 2025, concerning the requested Determination of Historic Significance (DHS-000112-2025); and WHEREAS, the Historic Preservation Commission approved Historic Preservation Commission Resolution No. 25-014 on June 4, 2025, determining that the property addressed as 1057 E. Mission Boulevard is historic;
WHEREAS, Historic Preservation No. 25-014 directed City staff to initiate the designation of the property as a local historic landmark; WHEREAS, the Historic Preservation Commission of the City of Pomona, held a public hearing on April 1, 2026, concerning the requested Single Historic Landmark Designation (SHISTORIC-000116-2026); and
WHEREAS, the Historic Preservation Commission has carefully considered all pertinent testimony and the staff report offered in the case presented at the public hearing.

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED by the Historic Preservation Commission of the City of Pomona, California, as follows:

SECTION 1. Based on the policies contained in the Pomona General Plan and Historic Preservation Ordinance, the Historic Preservation Commission concludes as follows:

1. Preserving Pomona’s diverse architectural styles reflecting phases of the City of Pomona's history and encouraging complementary contemporary development inspires a more livable urban environment;
Historic Preservation Commission Resolution
File No. SHISTORIC-000110-2026
April 1, 2026

Page 2 ends

2. Pomona’s historic places should be preserved to build civic pride by promoting the understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment of the City's rich heritage and cultural resources;

3. Preserving Pomona’s historic places enhances property values and increase economic and financial benefits to the City;

4. Preserving Pomona’s historic places enhances the City of Pomona for residents, tourists and visitors thereby stimulating business and industry; and

5. Preserving Pomona’s historic places conserves valuable material and energy resources by fostering ongoing use and maintenance of the existing built environment.

SECTION 2. The Historic Preservation Commission hereby finds and determines that the application requesting a single historic landmark designation (SHISTORIC-000110-2026) for the property located at 1057 E. Mission Boulevard provides sufficient documentation and information indicating that the subject property meets the following City of Pomona Landmark Designation Criteria as presented in Section 800.C.2. “Designation” of the Pomona Zoning and Development Code:

1. It embodies distinctive characteristics of a style, type, period, or method of construction, or is a valuable example of the use of indigenous materials or craftmanship; The existing structures on the site retain their distinctive Googie-style elements and is an excellent example of roadside architecture.

2. It reflects significant geographical patterns, including those associated with different eras of settlement and growth, particular transportation modes, or distinctive examples of park or community planning;
The overall site design significantly reflects the pattern of settlement as the site was developed amid a massive population boom which brought with it sudden shifts in architecture, prominent modes of transportation, and community planning efforts which began to be tailored to accommodate the automobile.

3. It is one of the few remaining examples in the city of Pomona, region, state, or nation possessing distinguishing characteristics of an architectural or historical type of specimen; The building on the site is the seventh McDonald’s built and is currently the second oldest of its original restaurants in existence. Given the good to excellent condition of the building on the site, the property is one of the few remaining examples of early roadside commercial architecture.

Historic Preservation Commission Resolution
File No. SHISTORIC-000110-2026
April 1, 2026

Page 3 ends

4. It is identified with persons or events significant in local, state, or national history.

The site is identified with the original architect of the iconic McDonald’s restaurant, Stanley Charles Meston and is also reflective of the post war population boom which had significant cultural impacts from the local to national level. It is also associate with the McDonald Brothers and the impact that the McDonald’s chain had on American culture.

5. It exemplifies or reflects special elements of the City of Pomona’s cultural, social, economic, political, aesthetic, engineering, architectural, or natural history; The property reflects the impact that the postwar population boom had on the City’s development patterns which arguably has had major impacts to the City’s cultural, social, economic, political, and architectural history.

SECTION 3. All documents described in Section 1 of Historic Preservation Commission Resolution No. 26-018 are deemed incorporated by reference as set forth at length.

SECTION 4. The Secretary shall certify to the adoption of this Resolution and forward the original to the City Clerk.

APPROVED AND PASSED THIS 1ST DAY OF APRIL 2026.
____________________________________

BRITNEY GALLIVAN

HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION

CHAIRPERSON
ATTEST:
___________________________________

GEOFFREY STARNS, AICP, AIA, LEED AP

HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION

SECRETARY
Historic Preservation Commission Resolution
File No. SHISTORIC-000110-2026
April 1, 2026

Page 4 ends

STATE OF CALIFORNIA)

COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES)

CITY OF POMONA)
AYES:

NOES:

ABSTAIN:

ABSENT:

Pursuant to Resolution No. 76-258 of the City of Pomona, the time in which judicial review of this action must be sought is governed by Sec. 1094.6 C.C.P.

February 26, 2026
Young Hee Chang
221 Lockhart Way
West Covina, CA 91790
Sent via e-mail to: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
RE: Historic Landmark Designation for 1057 E. Mission Boulevard Dear Young Hee Chang,
Consistent with the requirements of Section 1190.B. “Designation of Local Historic Landmarks, Districts, and Points of Historical Interests” of the Pomona Zoning and Development Code (attachment 1), this letter is a formal notification to the listed applicant and property owner associated with Determination of Historic Significance (DHS-000112-2025) (attachment 2) of the City’s upcoming actions to designate the property addressed as 1057 E. Mission Boulevard as a Local Historic Landmark.

The designation process will be undertaken to be compliant with HPC Resolution No. 25-014 (attachment 3) which was issued by the Historic Preservation Commission on June 04, 2025. The attached resolution will outline the findings deeming that the site is historically significant to the City of Pomona and therefore recommended for designation as a historic landmark.

The initial step will include a hearing with the Historic Preservation Commission currently scheduled for Wednesday, April 01, 2026. Following the commission’s decision, the item will be taken to City Council for their review at a date to be determined.

Please note, pursuant to Section 1190.B.7. “Owner Objection to Designation” of the Pomona Zoning and Development Code, the property owner has the ability to object

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against the proposed historic designation. See attachment 1 for additional information relating to procedures regarding objections to proposed designations.

Should you have any questions, please contact me at [email protected] or (909) 620-3634. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Carlos Molina
Associate Planner
Development Services Department
Attachments:

1. Pomona Zoning and Development Code, Section 1190.B. “Designation of Local Historic Landmarks, Districts, and Points of Historical Interests”.

2. Application: Determination of Historic Significance (DHS-000112-2025)

3. Historic Preservation Commission Resolution No. 25-014 Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 295 GOOGIE
Googie has been described as Modernism for the masses. With its swooping lines and organic shapes, the style attempted to capture the playful exuberance of postwar America. Named for the John Lautner-designed Googie’s Restaurant in Los Angeles, the style was widely employed in roadside commercial architecture of the 1950s, including coffee shops, bowling alleys, and car washes.

Character-defining features include:
x Expressive rooflines, including butterfly, folded-plate, and cantilevers x Organic, abstract, and parabolic shapes
x Clear expression of materials, including concrete, steel, asbestos, cement, glass block, plastic, and plywood
x Large expanses of plate glass
x Thematic ornamentation, including tiki and space age motifs x Primacy of signage, including the pervasive use of neon Googie: Extant Examples
1280 E. Holt Avenue (1959). 1057 E. Mission Boulevard (1954).

The Pomona Guide to Historic Preservation
2-75CHAPTER 2: POMONA’S HISTORIC ARCHITECTURE

GOOGIE ARCHITECTURE
1950S
Often called coර ee shop architecture, the Googie style became a dominant style for coර ee shops, car washes, drive-ins, and other roadside architecture. The Googie style was Á amboyant and expressive.

It was the À rst architectural style that combined America’s love of the automobile with the hope and promise of the future. It was space age architecture. It was suburbia. No place did Googie take a bigger hold than in Southern California. The style took elements out of the technological advancements of the time, including jet planes and spaceships. Googie illustrated this new age so well, that the original Tomorrowland at Disneyland was Googie. The original McDonald’s and Bob’s Big Boy restaurants were a classic example of Googie architecture.

The Googie style was used for commercial buildings primarily restaurants and other roadside architecture.

CHARACTER-DEFINING FEATURES
• One-story in height
• Angled roofs
• Large overhangs
• Roofs that appear to Á oat over building
• Large expressive signage
2-76

PRESERVING POMONA

MASSING AND PLAN
• One story in height.
• Rectangular of L-shaped in plan.
• Sharp angles, and shapes.
• Elements that were low and horizontal combined with
soaring angled vertical elements.

FACADES
• Exterior walls were stucco.
• Various elements would be mosaic tile, stone, or
metal.
• Exposed decorative steel beams glass block, stainless steel, etc., would be used to accent the building forms.

PAINT COLORS
• Colors varied building to building
• Corporate colors and signage.
• Colors were very bright, great deal of contrast
between colors.

ROOFS
• Large roof structures that appeared to Á oat over the walls.
• Roof at angles to make them appear to take oර .

TRIM AND ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS
• Simple to non existent.
• Decorative features included exposed decorative
steel beams and tile work.

DOORS AND WINDOWS
• Simple doors, and could include glass.
• Doors could also be stained or painted.
• Large single pane picture windows.

PORCHES
• None
• Entryway covered by roof

FENCES AND WALLS
• None except to hide trash and equipment – integrated
into building.

SIGNAGE
• Signage part of design.
• Neon was king.
• Signs were bright and big.
• Sometimes, as in the case of Mc Donald’s golden
arches, the signs were actually part of the building.

Site Photographs
May 20, 2025
1057 E. Mission Boulevard
DHS-000112-2025
Exterior Facades

Interior

Surrounding
Neighborhood

Site Photographs
May 20, 2025
1057 E. Mission Boulevard
DHS-000112-2025

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 180 X. POSTWAR GROWTH, DIVERSIFICATION, AND
REDEVELOPMENT (1946-1980)
Summary Statement
In post-World War II Pomona, the city dramatically grew in population and diversified in residential, commercial, civic and institutional, and industrial character. Pomona experienced several waves of growth, recession, and redevelopment from the late 1940s through the 1970s.

During this period, residential development was mostly composed of single-family tract development, multi-family residences, and some trailer parks. Commercial activity continued to expand beyond downtown along several commercial corridors that connected north, south, and west Pomona. In the 1960s, redevelopment projects were prevalent in Pomona, including completion of the Pomona Mall and Civic Center. Institutional development was located throughout the city to cater to the growing population, and particularly to serve new residential subdivisions.

In summary, the postwar period transformed the character of Pomona’s industrial, commercial, and residential development. White flight plagued the city and integration was a contested battle in a city with rapidly changing demographics. Pomona experienced one of the most dramatic ethnic shifts among Southern California cities in a relatively short period of time.

This context examines Pomona’s growth, diversification, and redevelopment in the decades following World War II.

Historical Background
The end of World War II ushered in a time of prosperity and optimism in American life. For Southern California, it was also a time of great population growth. Many veterans had come through Southern California during the war on their way to the Pacific theater—experiencing the mild climate and broad vistas firsthand. Others learned of the promise of California through national magazines that focused on ideas about postwar lifestyles rooted Southern California’s gentle climate and ample opportunity.

Pomona had over 50 annexations between the years of 1946 and 1980 (shown in the map below). These were mostly limited to the northern and western regions of the city and included the small area that historically encompassed Spadra (annexed in 1965). This annexation added 3,000 people to the city’s population and included the Pacific Colony Hospital. Spadra’s post office had already been subsumed into Pomona’s postal system in the late 1950s.332 332 “Spadra Area Annexed by Pomona,” Los Angeles Times, January 9, 1965.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 181 City of Pomona Annexation Map, 2022. Historic Resources Group.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 182 This era also saw the growth of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. In the 1940s and 1950s, postwar opportunity did not extend to all residents, as housing restrictions, school segregation, and other discrimination was rampant in communities throughout the country. This extended to the opportunities in local government. Expanded city infrastructure and economic incentives in the postwar years did not translate to the integration of the local government. By 1969, people of color comprised approximately 40% of the city’s residents, however, of the 685 civil servants employed by the City, fewer than 100 identified as African American or Latino.333 Most of these workers were assigned to either the sanitation or parks departments. Frustrated at the lack of representation, in the Spring of 1969, community advocates called for the City to hire more people of color. During the early 1970s, Black residents joined the police force and the school district’s staff, but the transition proved difficult, and in 1973, the City was sued for its discriminatory practices.

One of the most influential factors in the postwar development of Southern California was the freeway system. Interstate 10, also known as the San Bernardino Freeway (and as the Ramona Freeway), was completed in 1954 linking Pomona with downtown Los Angeles. Interstate 10 traversed some existing residential neighborhoods in the western portion of the city, resulting in several homes being moved, others destroyed, and some neighborhoods divided in half. It otherwise cut its path through agricultural lands and the new subdivisions of the early 1950s were planned around it.

U.S. State Route 60, also known as the Pomona Freeway, built in the early 1970s, traversed an undeveloped area at the very southern tip of the city. California State Route 57, also known as the Orange Freeway, was developed in the early 1970s as well, along the pathway of Route 272.

By the mid-1970s, the expanded freeway network between the foothill communities and Orange County stimulated a new wave of residential construction. The expanded freeway system made Pomona a convenient commute to Orange County as well as Los Angeles.

As the city grew, car culture increased, and commercial and residential developments were increasingly located away from downtown. As a result, the downtown area began to decline. In response, the City of Pomona initiated a major redevelopment project to reinvigorate the historic core of the city.
333 “Pomona Requested to Hire More Minority Workers,” Pomona Progress Bulletin, April 22, 1969, 37.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 183

REDEVELOPMENT & REVITALIZATION
Aerial View of Pomona Mall, c. 1962. Pomona Public Library.

Pomona Mall
In 1960, residents in Pomona saw the benefit of creating a pedestrian mall in their original downtown, to re-establish a “central meeting place to a city that was rapidly losing its unity because of the decentralization of its core area.”334 As a direct pushback against suburbanization and urban sprawl, private enterprise built the Pomona Mall with input from a mall committee, composed of businessmen from each block of the development. The Pomona Mall was the first pedestrian mall west of the Mississippi River and one of the earliest urban pedestrian malls in the United States.

The nine-block Pomona Mall was designed by artist Millard Sheets with art installations by Arthur and Jean Ames, Betty Davenport Ford, and John Svenson.335 The mall had a central corridor that ran east to west along 2nd Street from Park Avenue to Palomares Street. The mall featured trees, fountains, benches, and artworks. New commercial buildings anchored the pedestrian mall, including prominent new construction for the Home Savings and Loan and Buffums’ department store.
334 “Mall Gives ‘Heart’ Back to City,” Progress-Bulletin, November 18, 1962. 335 “Pomona Mall Group Studies Early Sketches,” Los Angeles Times, May 1, 1960.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 184

Pomona Fountain by Millard Sheets, c. 1969 (top) and 2022 (bottom). Pomona Public Library and HRG.

At the encouragement of Millard Sheets, in 1962, Home Savings & Loan built a seven-story building designed by Sheets with additional architectural and engineering services by Langdon & Wilson (100 W. Second Street).336 An interlocking pattern of concrete block derived from the “H-S” logo shades the windows. The building featured a large Sheets mural on the east façade.

In a commitment to the mayor of Pomona, Home Savings founder Howard Ahmanson said, “Millard will design a building that will…make it worthy of the new Pomona.”337 336 The building has been identified as eligible for listing in the National Register. See Report LA-189745. Report on file at the South Central Coastal Information Center at the California State University, Fullerton. 337 Adam Arenson, Banking on Beauty: Millard Sheets and Midcentury Commercial Architecture in California (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2018), 139.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 185

Rendering of Home Savings and Loan Building, c. 1961 (left) and 2022 (right). Pomona Public Library and HRG.

In 1962, Welton Beckett and Associates designed the Buffums’ department store building (521 E. 3rd Street), which anchored the eastern end of the mall and included an interior mural designed by Millard Sheets.338
Another prominent building constructed along the pedestrian mall was the 1965 Lytton Savings and Loan (300 W. 2nd Street). Lytton engaged architect Kurt Meyer, FAIA to design their Pomona branch. Founder Bart Lytton had commissioned architect Kurt Meyer, FAIA to design the majority of their branches, and he again engaged Meyer for the new building in Pomona.

The Late Modern design included New Formalist elements, including the colonnade, and exterior walls of travertine.

Exterior of Lytton Savings and Loan by Kurt Meyer. Photo by Julius Shulman. © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)
Although initially a great success, the Pomona Mall was ultimately a failure of urban planning.

By 1972, over one-third of all stores in the downtown pedestrian mall were vacant or being used for storage. In 1973, the Pomona Mall was reopened to car traffic, although the pedestrian-oriented landscape improvements remain.
338 “Welcome to Buffum’s,” Progress-Bulletin, September 30. 1962.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 186 Pomona Civic Center
The Pomona Mall was just one part of a citywide plan for civic improvements. The City concentrated municipal efforts in the downtown area with construction of a new civic center, designed on 25 acres bounded by Garey Avenue, 5th Avenue, 8th Street, and Park Avenue. Six of the 12 buildings originally planned for the center were constructed: the Public Library, City Hall, Council Chambers, Police Department, Superior Court, and Public Health buildings.

Pomona Civic Center, 1969. Pomona Public Library.

The lead architect for the project was Welton Becket and Associates, although other architectural firms completed individual designs for the buildings. Local architect B.H. Anderson, in association with Becket and Associates, designed the City Hall, Police Department, and Council Chambers.

Everett L. Tozier and Smith & Williams designed the Public Library.339 The Superior Court was designed by architect Maurice Fleishman of Beverly Hills.340 Architect Kenneth Wing of Long Beach designed the Public Health Building.341
339 “Library Board Studies $800,000 Proposals,” Progress-Bulletin, July 1, 1962; “Ground Broken for $1.4 Million Pomona Public Safety Building,” Progress-Bulletin, March 14, 1962. 340 “Superior Court Drawings Okayed,” Progress-Bulletin, July 17, 1963. 341 “Surprise Grant Moves Project Up One Year,” Progress-Bulletin, October 9, 1963.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 187 Pomona Public Library, 2022. HRG.

Buildings constructed for the Civic Center were primarily New Formalist in style, a fitting architectural statement for a civic monument to a growing city.342 Landscaping, reflecting pools, and water fountains constructed in the 1960s break up the large pedestrian courtyards between buildings. At the time of its completion, the Los Angeles Times described the Civic Center:

Both buildings [City Hall and the Library] represent entirely unique structural design approaches and, like the entire Civic Center, are readily expandable to meet Pomona’s needs to 1980... The two structures have been designed to harmonize with one another while presenting completely individual identities.343 Pomona City Hall, 1969. Pomona Public Library.
342 “Pomona Civic Center,” Los Angeles Conservancy, https://www.laconservancy.org/locations/pomona-civic-center (accessed April 18, 2022).
343 “Pomona City Council Approves City Mall, Library Plans,” Los Angeles Times, September 1, 1963.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 188 Financial District
In 1969, the Pomona City Council formed a local Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) to spearhead revitalization efforts. The redevelopment program primarily sought to encourage reinvestment in the downtown core, specifically by introducing “a central area blending financial, business, governmental, commercial, retail, and other types of activities.”344 The CRA purchased a large “blighted area” in downtown and resold parcels to private developers.345 The redevelopment area was bounded by 1st Street, Towne Avenue, Mission Boulevard, and Park Avenue. According to City administrator Fred W. Sharp, the downtown improvements were expected to “be the beginning of the great renaissance in Pomona and the Pomona Valley.”346 Toshio Ishikawa, executive director of the CRA, and Samuel Rue, store manager for Buffums’ Pomona analyze a model prepared by Kurt Meyer & Associates illustrating possibilities for projects in the downtown redevelopment plan area. “Looking Into Future,” Progress Bulletin, May 15, 1969, 16.

In 1971, developer John Speidel secured land in the redevelopment area and constructed the $4- million, nine-story Speidel Building and parking structure (300 S. Park Avenue). The building was designed by architect Everett Tozier and constructed by William Burke of Burke Construction Co.347
344 Tony Navarro, “Council Okays Redeveloped Downtown,” Progress Bulletin, May 4, 1969, 40 345 Tony Navarro, “Council Okays Redeveloped Downtown,” Progress Bulletin, May 4, 1969, 40; “Old City Hall Gives Way to New Financial Complex,” Progress Bulletin, October 16, 1973, 11. 346 “Pomona Tallies 1971 Accomplishments,” Progress Bulletin, December 29, 1971, 8. 347 “City Issues Permit for 9-Story Building,” Progress Bulletin, June 5, 1971, 1.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 189 Speidel Building, 2022. HRG.

In 1972, City Hall (1911) and the Federal Building (originally the Post Office; 1932) were sold to the CRA for $475,000 and $275,000, respectively. 348 By this time, City Hall had been vacant for several years after city offices moved to the newly designed Civic Center across the street on Mission Street. Postal operations moved from the Federal Building to the west lobby of the Speidel Building in 1973. Other carriers worked out of the Diamond Bar office.349In 1973, City Hall and the Federal Building were demolished to make way for a new, multi-million-dollar officefinancial center north of Mission Boulevard between Garey Avenue and Main Street. Following demolition of City Hall, construction began on a new $1.2 million building for Bank of California.

Although there were grandiose plans for downtown improvements in the early 1970s, many of the projects were not completed. In 1973, the CRA terminated agreements with the Speidel and Smith Development Co. as the exclusive developers for the proposed $8 million retail center on Pomona Mall East. The CRA determined that the developers had difficulty obtaining sufficient funds for the project, and development in the area slowed.350 It appears that the CRA in Pomona was dissolved circa 1974.351

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL DIVERSIFICATION
The 1950s and 1960s ushered in a period renegotiated public space in Pomona and greater Southern California. Consisting of Mexican Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders, and whites, Southland communities engaged in a greater degree of intercultural communication during the post-war period.

One vehicle for this increased communication was the construction of parkways and freeways.

Although parkways and freeways often divided neighborhoods in the urban core of Los Angeles, 348 “Old City Hall Gives Way to New Financial Complex,” Progress Bulletin, October 16, 1973, 11. 349 “Post Office is Moving to Speidel Building,” Progress Bulletin, July 6, 1973, 11. 350 “Pomona Urged to Cancel Agreement on Mall Project,” Progress Bulletin, October 14, 1973, 13. 351 “Public Heading to be Held on Sale of One-Block Area,” Progress Bulletin, July 24, 1974, 11.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 190 they reinforced links between communities in the orbit of Los Angeles with communities previously accessible via interurban railways. Another venue that exhibited demographic and economic changes was the creation of multiethnic and multiracial dance halls. The relative prosperity of the 1950s provided greater movement, thereby creating a multiracial youth culture that challenged the social relations in Pomona and greater Southern California.352 In Pomona, one example of this was the establishment of Rainbow Gardens as a venue for Latin American music. Prior to this time, the dance hall hosted big band productions. When asked if a Mexican Americans attended Rainbow Gardens in the 1940s, Pomona local Calendario Mendoza replied:

Oh, no. Absolutely not. In fact, I hesitate to say this, but I think that even before then a Mexican American had to be extremely well dressed and not even look too much like a Mexican in order to get into Rainbow Gardens on a Saturday night [with the white bands]. It just was one of those things. It was a sign of our times, at that time, when discrimination was still there.353
This changed in the 1950s. Beginning in 1950, the dance hall began hosting mid-week Latin American dances with live performances. The event was hosted by Mendoza, who had taken over a regional Mexican radio program in 1949. Mendoza was recognized by many Mexican Americans in the citrus belt as the central figure in promoting Latin American music. As the popularity of the dance hall increased, it exclusively played Latin American music, and became a central gathering spot for Latinos in the Pomona Valley.354

THE FIGHT FOR FAIR HOUSING & SOCIAL JUSTICE
Historically, marginalized communities of color in Pomona were centered in specific enclaves of the city. It was not until the 1963 passage of the Fair Housing Act, also known as the Rumford Fair Housing Act, that discrimination was legally outlawed.

Prior to the passage of the Fair Housing Act of 1963, most Black residents in Pomona resided in a section of south Pomona surrounding White Avenue and west of Garey Avenue.355 One hundred and fifty housing units in this area were occupied by non-white renters or owners.356 During the 1960s, two other Black communities blossomed in the northeastern and northwestern regions of the city. Of the 22,000 residents that Pomona gained in the 1960s, 17,000 were Black residents; this represented an increase from just 1% of the city’s population to about 20%.357 The Los Angeles Times documented three derogatory names given to the three predominantly Black districts of the city: “The Island” in northeast Pomona near Pomona High School; “Sin Town” in the northwest near Ganesha High School; and “The Flats” in the southwest near Garey High School.358
352 Garcia, 191. 353 Interview with Calendario Mendoza, February 7, 1995, as recorded in Garcia, 192. 354 Garcia, 194. 355 “Pomona’s Council Reaffirms Support of Open Housing,” Los Angeles Times, August 7, 1969, SG1. 356 U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census of Population and Housing, 1960, Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, 722. 357 “Pomona Gropes for Stability in Storm of Ethnic Chaos,” Los Angeles Times, January 24, 1971, A1. 358 “Pomona Gropes for Stability in Storm of Ethnic Chaos,” Los Angeles Times, January 24, 1971, A1.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 191 In contrast, Pomona’s Latino population estimates from the 1950s are difficult to calculate, given the Census methodology at the time that categorized Latinos as white. By 1960, the Latino community was largely concentrated in the area south of Holt Avenue and to the west of Garey Avenue.359 During the 1960 Census, the government began tracking Spanish surname populations (domestic and foreign born). Officially, the Census data records nearly 4,200 residents with Spanish surnames in the 1960 Census.360 The majority of Pomona’s enumeration tracts contained residents with Spanish surnames, although six tracts contained the vast majority of these groups, which were in the area west of Garey Avenue, both north and south of the railroad tracks; the areas roughly correlated to the redlined neighborhoods of Pomona from 1939. By 1970, the Latino population was more widely dispersed across the city. The community of Cherrieville, one of Pomona’s oldest neighborhoods and comprising 75 homes, was home to one of Pomona’s oldest Latino areas, and associated with several groups, including Los Cherries, Los Dukes, and Mas Locotes.361
During the 1960s, the California State Legislature passed several bills aimed at ending discrimination in business, employment, and housing. The Fair Housing Act of 1963 made it illegal for “anyone selling, renting or leasing a residence to discriminate based on race, creed, color or national origin.”362 The law was not universally well received and realtor home association groups in Southern California collaborated with similar groups around the state to spearhead Proposition 14, which aimed to repeal the Fair Housing Act.363 One of Pomona’s leading developers, Robert A. Olin, was one of the original signatories to Proposition 14. “The aim of Proposition 14,” said Olin, “was to assure for anyone the right to sell to whom he chooses…People want to know who the people are next door before they buy.”364 However, there were numerous staunch advocates in the Pomona who were active in the fight for fair housing. Local developer Ralph Lewis was a resolute supporter of the Fair Housing Act and served as the chairman of the fair housing committee of the Home Builders Council of California. Lewis formally debated against Olin, his former partner, at professional meetings, and lauded the new legislation alongside representatives of the NAACP. Lewis referred to Proposition 14 and other campaigns as “a futile expenditure of effort and funds which will hurt race relations in California.”365
Other proponents for fair housing in Pomona included John McGlothin, who was one of the few local realtors to be a voice for fair housing. The president of the local chapter of the NAACP, Moody T. Law, was also a vocal advocate. Important early advocacy was undertaken by the Pomona Valley Fellowship for Social Justice. The significance of this issue to the local community is evidenced by the fact that the largest demonstration against the repeal of Fair Housing laws in California occurred in Pomona in January 1964, when 500 National Association 359 “Pomona Gropes for Stability in Storm of Ethnic Chaos,” Los Angeles Times, January 24, 1971, A1. 360 U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census of Population and Housing, 1960, Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, 104. 361 Jesse Katz, “Blood Spills as Pomona Gang War Fails to Die,” Los Angeles Times, April 12, 1987. 362 Lawrence P. Crouchett, “Assemblyman W. Byron Rumford: Symbol for an Era,” California History 66, no 1 (1987): 19. 363 “Housing Long Beach: A Brief Historical Context and Framework for Equitable Housing Policy in Long Beach,” http://www.housinglb.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/HousingLB-Paper5-8-13.pdf (accessed November 11, 2019), 2. 364 “Landlords Admit They Bar Negroes,” Los Angeles Times, December 8, 1966, B1. 365 Carpio, 192.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 192 for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) members picketed in downtown Pomona.

In 1962, when lay-offs began at the Convair plant, homes in Valwood Estates, a postwar subdivision recorded in 1954, were vacated on almost every block and property values plummeted.366 By 1963, there were 52 vacant homes; of the remaining residents, 213 were white and 96 were Black. Vacancies were caused by a combination of overbuilding, hard economic times, and repossessions. Due to the vacancy rate and rundown nature of those properties, home values dropped as much as $2,500 below their original purchase price.367 Some people blamed the decline in value on the presence of Black neighbors.

Context view of Valwood Estates, 2022. HRG.

In 1963, the Valwood Property Owners Association was formed to help stem the sale of homes by white owners and beautify the recently integrated neighborhood. The association was led by Mrs. Rudolph Augarten and Mrs. Louis Robinson, white and Black residents, respectively. The association began a “not for sale” campaign of yard signs to discourage selling by white owners, and to prevent “blockbusting” by realtors who were encouraging panic selling among white residents. In 1963, the Homeowners Association voted to support an open housing covenant.

The association’s efforts proved fruitful. By 1964, all but 20 of the vacant houses were occupied and white flight had effectively been curtailed—making Valwood one of the first, if not the first, successfully integrated neighborhoods in Pomona.

In 1964, the Pomona Valley Fair Housing Council was established.368 The purpose of the organization was to create better understanding between people, promote construction of lowincome housing, and prevent discriminatory practices in housing. The Fair Housing Council’s office was located at 1238 W. Mission Boulevard. In March of 1969, Monroe Jones was elected 366 “Valwood Group Hopes to Prove Integrated Tract Can Prosper,” Los Angeles Times, August 18, 1963, SG1. 367 “Valwood Group Hopes to Prove Integrated Tract Can Prosper,” Los Angeles Times, August 18, 1963, SG1. 368 “Rumford Act Supporters to Organize,” Pomona Progress Bulletin, April 17, 1964, 15.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 193 President. Jones arrived in Pomona in early 1968 after serving on the City Council in Seaside, near San Francisco. In an extensive interview in the Pomona Progress Bulletin, Jones called for realtors to cease and desist steering people to certain areas of Pomona based on their race. He also noted that Black residents who were fleeing the inner-cities of Los Angeles had few choices for relocation.369 In 1969, a study found that nearly three-quarters of the Black residents living in Pomona came from other Southern California cities, establishing a migration pattern from cities to suburbs.370
Another local voice for fair housing was John P. Sloane, chairman of the Pomona Human Relations Council. Human Relations Councils were often formed by city governments as a gesture to ease tensions, though they typically lacked authority. Pomona formed a Human Relations Council around 1960; however, it was widely criticized as ineffective. In order to affect some progress in the city, in 1969, Sloane asked that the Pomona City Council draft a letter reaffirming the open housing principle.

In January 1970, police responded to a disturbance complaint that resulted in injuries to several people. When the police chief exonerated the officers handling of the situation, Black leaders held protests in City Hall, condemning the report as a “complete whitewash.” The Black community listed the incident as one of many prejudices and discriminations they faced in Pomona. Monroe Jones, a local leader of the Pomona Valley Fair Housing Council, recalled that ten months ago he “brought to the attention of the council the fact that there are fewer than 20 Blacks among the city’s nearly 700 city employees…in all this time there has been no action or response.”
Black Residents Protesting Discrimination at Pomona City Hall, 1970. Los Angeles Times. 369 “A Militant Voice of Reason Speaks,” Pomona Progress Bulletin, May 31, 1969, 2. 370 “Recreation Use Urged for Lot in Negro Area,” Los Angeles Times, March 30, 1969, SG_A6.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 194 When the police chief claimed that only a small segment of the population had complaints about the incident, Scott Jones, a local leader of the NAACP, replied that, “What the chief is really saying is that Negroes shouldn’t say anything. And if a black does complain, he’s a loudmouth. But if a white complains, action is taken at once.”371 By the early 1970s, a survey found that the majority of white residents in Pomona “professed a desire to move from their current neighborhood,” suggesting the role of white flight in Pomona’s complex racial makeup.372 Redistricting was again evident in the 1970 Census. At this time, additional enumeration tracts were added in a clear attempt to identify those areas with concentrations of non-white residents. In particular, a new enumeration tract was drawn that was composed of 77.7% Black residents, whereas other Pomona tracts hovered at around 3%.

SEGREGATION AND DISCRIMINATION IN SCHOOLS
By the late 1940s and early 1950s, Latinos and African Americans living in Pomona and Southern California sought greater inclusivity and protested segregation. World War II served as a catalyst to a more aggressive movement for demanded equal rights. For example, Mexican American Calendario Mendoza, who had been denied a teaching position prior to the war, remembered a changed attitude when he again tried to secure a teaching job in Pomona after the war. He recalled:

I said, “Here I am, I’m back again!” [laughs] And, you know this time I was a little more assertive I guess, because I said to myself, “My gosh, I went into World War II, and I was overseas for two years, and served with George Patton’s third army as an infantryman attached to a tank and battalion, and… if they tell me they are not going to give me the job this time, they’re going to find the activist in me coming out.” [laughs] So, things had changed by that time, and they did give me a job.373 In the 1960s, local schools were a great cause of unrest for the African American and Latino communities in Pomona. Because of housing segregation, the city’s elementary schools were sharply divided into Black and white dominated schools. North San Antonio was described as 91% Black; Lexington Elementary School was 52.8% Black; and Arroyo Elementary School was 51% Black. Palomares Junior High School, however, drew from these schools as well as Yorba Elementary School and Harrison Elementary School, where the students were predominantly white.374 As one student explained, “We’ve never seen a Black man until we were in junior high school.”375 Lack of integration at the high school level was even more pronounced. The Palomares Multi-Racial Parents Committee was formed to address the issues. By early 1970, the District’s enrollment was 65% white students, 17.6% Black students, and 15.7% students with Spanish surnames.376
In 1966, representatives of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Mothers’ League 371 “Pomona Council Told to Expect More Picketing,” Los Angeles Times, February 5, 1970. 372 Scott Kurashige, The Shifting Grounds of Race (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008), 275. 373 Mendoza interview, May 6, 1994 as recorded in Garcia, 234. 374 “Pomona School Board Faces Student Unrest,” Los Angeles Times, November 16, 1969, SG_A1. 375 “Pomona School Board Faces Student Unrest,” Los Angeles Times, November 16, 1969, SG_A1. 376 “Pomona School Board Faces Student Unrest,” Los Angeles Times, November 16, 1969, SG_A1.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 195 picketed the Pomona Unified School District, demanding the district transfer vice principal Margaret McCleery of Marshall Junior High School for racial prejudice. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, McCleery had blamed a Black girl for fighting with a white girl and had her arrested by the police. Protestors outside of the Pomona Unified School District building on Garey Avenue sang “We Shall Overcome,” and held signs that read “Stop False Arrests,” “How Long Has This Been Going On?,” and “Banish Jim Crow from Our Schools.”377 Protestors Outside of Pomona Unified School District at 800 S. Garey Avenue, c. 1966. Historical Society of Pomona Valley.

During the late 1960s, the discrimination and education inequality for Black students inspired parent groups to appear before the Pomona Board of Education to demand the integration of schools. A Citizens Committee on Integration was established, and a recommendation was made on bussing programs between white dominated and Black dominated schools.

By June of 1969, frustration had reached a pinnacle, and students protested for three days at Pomona High School and Palomares Junior High School. Both students and police officers were injured.378 In July, the Board of Education voted against the plan developed by the Citizens Committee on Integration. In November 1969, Detective Richard Hill of the Pomona Police Department was assigned to Pomona High School as a “resource officer” for the students.

The Black community was not the only group facing discrimination in Pomona. Latinos also protested the inequality of the Pomona Unified School District. This activity was part of the much broader Chicano Civil Rights Movement, or El Movimiento. The 1960s and 1970s was a 377 “Picketers Seek Transfer of Pomona School Vice Principal,” Los Angeles Times, March 31, 1966, 173; Historical Society of Pomona Valley, “On Telling the Whole Story,” April 2, 2021, https://www.pomonahistorical.org/post/on-telling-the-whole-story (accessed April 15, 2022).
378 “Solutions to Flareups Under Study in Pomona,” Los Angeles Times, June 26, 1969, 153.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 196 pivotal era for Latinos in Southern California. During this period, Latinos mobilized with “increasing resolve to claim their rights and assert their place in American life.”379 The classroom became one of the major arenas where young Chicanos and Chicanas addressed systemic discrimination. During the climax of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, Mexican American students demanded equal educational opportunities, sought to resist Anglo-American culture, and asserted a unique cultural identity and ethnic pride. By 1971, approximately 16% of Pomona’s population was Latino.380
On September 16, 1969, 450 Chicano students walked out of Pomona Unified School District classes and picketed at the school district’s administration building. A little more than a year after the 1968 High School Blowouts in Los Angeles, the Pomona residents’ demands were similar: representation in faculty and more curricula on Mexican-American culture. In the Spring of 1970, La Raza Unida de Pomona, a coalition of the city’s Chicano organizations, again protested the District’s use of classroom materials that perpetuated stereotypes, and the lack of Latino school administrators.

A unified mission appears to have temporarily eased tensions in Pomona, but after police arrived at a peaceful gathering in Sharkey Park (present-day Tony Cerda Park) on May 31, 1970, protests again erupted in the city. In the ensuing days, the Latino population staged several peaceful protests, condemning police brutality, a lack of educational opportunities, and underfunded city services in Latino neighborhoods.

David Ochoa, a lead activist for La Raza Unida de Pomona was joined by other activists including Ron Gonzales, chairman of United Mexican American Students at Ganesha High School; Mike Quinonez, head of the Pomona office of the Mexican American Opportunities Foundation; and representatives from the Mexican American Political Association, Association of Mexican American Educators, and members of the Human Relations Council. Ochoa went on to become Hispanic Affairs Coordinator for the Democratic National Convention, before returning to Pomona in 1977.

IMMIGRATION
The end of the Vietnam War in 1975 produced a large wave of immigrants from South Vietnam to the U.S. The first wave included over 100,000 high-skilled and well-educated Vietnamese who had been friendly to U.S. interests during the war and were airlifted out of the country. In 1975, President Gerald R. Ford signed the Indochina Migration and Refugee Act that granted the refugees special status to enter the country. Most of this wave of immigrants came to California and Texas.

In the 1970s, two important sponsors were instrumental in bringing the first groups of refugees to Pomona. Gerald Martin, Director of Southern California Minority Capital Corporation arranged for Vietnamese refugees to be housed in the Sunflower Apartments on Holly Way, just south of Phillips Boulevard. The first group arrived in September of 1975. Martin organized a gardening business to provide employment for refugees. However, the plans went awry, and Martin’s 379 GPA Consulting and Beck Nicolaides, Latino Los Angeles Historic Context Statement, 23. 380 Ricci Lothrop, 118.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 197 refugees ended up with no jobs, no medical care, in debt for necessities, and in unfurnished apartments. Most were forced to accept government assistance.

B. E. Tsagris, a professor at California State University, Fullerton, sponsored an additional group to be housed in vacant apartments in South Pomona. Subsequent groups of refugees resided in the La Fiesta Apartments on N. Garey Avenue and on Angela Street in South Pomona. Still other refugees were sponsored by local churches or families. This migration was quickly evident in the city’s public schools: Asian students rose from 186 to 345 between 1975 and 1976.381 381 “White Flight from Pomona Continues,” Pomona Progress Bulletin, January 4, 1976, 1.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 198 Theme: Residential Development
Across the United States, as GIs returned from the frontlines and began to settle back into civilian life, the nationwide demand for housing dramatically increased. The GI Bill provided significant economic benefits to returning veterans, including reasonable loan terms for home purchases, and credit for college tuition.382 To address the housing shortage, developers responded with tracts of mass-produced single-family homes built quickly and cheaply. The first and most influential planned community in the United States was Levittown, New York.

Developers of Levittown constructed thousands of homogenous tract homes in response to the housing crisis, a model which was repeated across the country and ultimately transformed suburbia.383
Like so many Southern California cities, Pomona’s population density increased during the immediate postwar period. Communities with large agricultural parcels, such as those in the Pomona Valley, offered the room necessary for residential expansion and the development of large-scale postwar tracts. Large developers like Weber-Burns and Kaiser Community Homes adopted similar models of quick, cheap tract home construction in communities throughout the region. Although these large housing developments typically featured Ranch-style homes, some developers also partnered with architects to offer homes that leveraged modern architectural ideas and elements to distinguish their products. Custom, single-family residences designed by architects appear to be rare in Pomona. Unlike some communities that have a substantial number of individual Modern residential designs, the emphasis in Pomona during the postwar period was clearly on tract housing development.

There were approximately 400 residential tracts recorded in Pomona between 1945 and 1980, significantly expanding the footprint of the city. This section provides an overview of residential subdivisions in Pomona. Table 5 at the conclusion of this section lists the largest postwar housing developments that are now located within the city limits. Details about select postwar tracts in Pomona are included in Appendix A.

POSTWAR SUBURBANIZATION IN POMONA
One of the earliest and largest postwar tract developments in the Pomona area was Pomona Homes, first developed in 1946.384 Spearheaded by builders C.T. and W.P. Stover, Edwin A.

Tomlin and Company, and R. J. Daum Construction Co., the new development was located on 475 acres of the former ranch lands of S. W. Beasley, southwest of present-day Mission Boulevard and S. Dudley Street.385 The planned community comprised 2,500 homes developed in conjunction with FHA guidelines with plans to sell to veterans. 382 Though as with many other government programs, the GI Bill primarily benefitted white veterans, and the “wide disparity in the bill’s implementation ended up helping drive growing gaps in wealth, education and civil rights between white and Black Americans.” Erin Blakemore, “How the GI Bill’s Promise was Denied to a Million Black WWII Veterans,” https://www.history.com/news/gi-billblack-wwii-veterans-benefits (accessed April 2022). 383 Levittown also had restrictive covenants that prevented non-white residents to own or rent property in the development. 384 At the time it was subdivided, the tract was located outside of the City limits; it was later annexed by the City of Pomona. 385 Beasley and his wife had donated land to the Seventh Day Adventist College of Medical Evangelists in 1944.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 199 Pomona Homes was a large and early example of the mass production of tract houses. Its construction was delayed until the fall of 1946 as the developers worked to compile the needed construction materials that had been scarce during the war. Once the necessary materials were obtained, the development adopted many of the efficiencies used during the war effort, including establishing a production assembly line for the prefabricated housing components.386 To aid construction, the project established a five-acre warehouse containing 2.8 million feet of lumber, 15 carloads of cedar shingles, 2,000 doors, and large quantities of plumbing, electrical, and other building supplies.387 Pomona Homes also established a concrete plant west of the stockpiles so they could quickly pour the foundations for up to four to five residences each day.

Residences in the development were planned by Long Beach-based architect Hugh Gibbs so that no two houses of the same design and color on the same block. The three-bedroom houses consisted of twenty-two different styles on four different concrete pad configurations, and with 64 different color schemes. The slightly curving streets were named after early Pomona pioneers: McComas, Buffington, Fleming, and Vejar, among others. By January of 1947, there were 490 homes for sale at Pomona Homes.388
Pomona Homes ushered in a wave of new subdivisions in Pomona. The development of Pomona Homes, along with the establishment of the Convair industrial plant, spurred the creation of some of Pomona’s largest residential tracts in what is now the western part of the city, adjacent to the Kellogg Arabian Horse Farm. These included Kellogg Park Units 1 and 2 (1952) by the Liberty Building Co.; Kellogg Park Units 3 and 4 (1953) by George and Robert Alexander; Pomona Estates (1954) by Weber-Burns; Valwood Estates (1954-1956) by WeberBurns; and Parkview Pomona (1954-1955) by Mark Taper’s Biltmore Homes.

During and immediately after the war, the architectural community began to experiment with new technologies and building techniques that would influence residential subdivisions for decades. The influential Case Study House program was the creation of John Entenza, the Southern California-based editor of Arts & Architecture magazine. During the war, Entenza, along with a number of other architects, discussed new ideas in residential design and construction that could only be talked about because of wartime service and restrictions.389 Among them were Ralph Rapson, John Rex, Richard Neutra, Charles Eames, J.R. Davidson, Whitney Smith, and Thornton Abell. The program announcement stated that each “house must be capable of duplication and in no sense be an individual 'performance'... It is important that the best material available be used in the best possible way in order to arrive at a ‘good’ solution of each problem, which in the overall program will be general enough to be of practical assistance to the average American in search of a home in which he can afford to live.”390 386 Another early tract to employ the assembly line method of construction was the Towne House development in southeast Pomona.

Here, the 120-man Curlett-Harwood Co. crew (plus 40 other building trades) constructed all walls and partitions in the project yard and trucked them to the home sites for assembly.
387 “90 Units Started in Pomona Homes Housing Project,” Pomona Progress Bulletin, November 8, 1946, 1. 388 “90 Units Started in Pomona Homes Housing Project,” Pomona Progress Bulletin, November 8, 1946, 1. 389 David Travers, “Case Study House Program: Introduction,” http://www.artsandarchitecture.com/case.houses/index.html (accessed April 2022).
390 Travers, “Case Study House Program: Introduction.”
Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 200 Over the course of the program, which lasted from 1945 until 1962, over 30 projects were designed by many of Southern California’s most renowned Modernists. The real impact of the program was the national attention that it brought to modern design in California. “Publication in Arts & Architecture became a door to national and international renown for West Coast architects. Reyner Banham said that ‘Arts and Architecture changed the itinerary of the Grand Tour pilgrimage for European architects and students: America replaced Italy and Los Angeles replaced Florence.’”391
Many prominent developers in the postwar era commissioned architects to help layout their subdivisions and provide residential designs, further amplifying the tenets of the Case Study program and other experiments in low-cost housing. In Pomona, numerous residential subdivisions were designed by noted architects and designers. Marshall Tilden’s Cliff May Homes development was designed by Cliff May and Chris Choate. Valwood Estates was designed by Palmer & Krisel, AIA; College Grove Ranchos was designed by Roland Logan Russell, AIA; Pomona Rancho Village was designed by Roy M. Watkins. Val Vista was designed by L. C. Major & Associates.
391 David Travers, “About Arts and Architecture,” http://www.artsandarchitecture.com/about.html (accessed April 2022).

College Grove Ranchos, photographed by Julius Shulman in 1956. Photos by Julius Shulman. © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10) Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 201 One of the first postwar developments in Pomona with architect-designed residences was Westmont Homes, designed by architect Arthur Lawrence Miller. Westmont Homes was developed by the same group as Pomona Homes and sited immediately to its west.392 The subdivision was an early example of total design, including the planning and execution of a community center, school, and commercial/retail stores. By 1949, 550 three-bedroom homes were built within the former walnut grove.393
The Los Angeles Times declared Westmont Homes to be the first Mid-century Modern style tract development in Pomona and one of the first in the Los Angeles area.394 Miller’s Midcentury Modern designs for the residences included clerestory windows to provide views of the surrounding hills, a wall of glass leading out to the patio, and an open plan. Miller used carports, storage units, and fences to create a unique architectural cadence not found in most tract home construction. The more typical practice to achieve this type of cadence was to vary the rooflines, which was much more costly than Miller’s approach. The three residential plans were paired on angled on the lots to create a thoughtful approach to the siting and create a varied streetscape.

Renderings of Westmont Homes. Arts & Architecture, May 1950.

In 1950, Westmont Homes was featured in Arts & Architecture magazine as an exemplar of tract home design—specifically calling out the superior plan design and siting on exceptionally narrow lots as “…much better than on the conventional tract plan layout of lots 10 to 15 feet wider.”395 The tract was designed with three different plans, each with three variations in the treatment of the primary façade. The initial price point of $8,500 and the availability of FHA financing made the design achievement even more noteworthy. Westmont Homes were featured in Life magazine in 1954.
392 Tract maps from 1947 through 1952 indicate the formation of seven new tracts with different combinations of investors. 393 “Ground is Broken for Westmont Area Shopping Center,” Los Angeles Times, May 22, 1949, E9. 394 Edith McCall Head, “Contemporary Gets Down to Business,” Los Angeles Times, July 15, 1951, F4. 395 “New Tract Houses,” Art & Architecture, May 1950, 33.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 202 Site Plan for Westmont Homes. Arts & Architecture, May 1950.

By 1957, the pending freeway infrastructure made outlying areas such as Pomona viable “suburbs” for those who worked in downtown Los Angeles. This spurred investment in residential tract development in the northern part of the city, including new subdivisions both north and south of La Verne Avenue.396 The Pomona Valley was heavily marketed to Angelenos, although many tract developments within the city limits were frequently described as in neighboring communities of Claremont or Upland rather than Pomona.397 In the mid-1950s, Pomona tract developers coordinated to create a marketing campaign for the Pomona Valley, employing the slogan “Live, Work and Play in Pomona Valley.”398 Also known as the “Move to Pomona Valley” campaign, this marketing effort targeted veterans and nonveterans alike, encouraging them to purchase homes in one of six residential communities.399 According to historian Genevieve Carpio, “developers underscored career opportunities in the valley’s growing industrial plants, appealing to young families who sought proximity to employment and a suburban ideal of open space, safety, and shopping.” In early 1957, the Los Angeles Times reported that some 35,000 people toured the model homes of five Pomona Valley residential developments.400
In addition to the large regional development firms that built in the area, there were several local developers of note. In 1957, Robert A. Olin (1914-1973) established Olin Construction Co. in Claremont. After the war, Olin started as a general contractor in Chicago. After moving to the Pomona Valley, Olin built many civic and commercial buildings. By 1953, he was building tract homes in Covina. As president of the Home Builders Council, Inc. in the early 1960s, Olin was one of the original five signers to the petition to repeal the Rumford Act.401 Ralph Lewis was another influential local developer in the Pomona Valley. Lewis partnered with Robert Olin to develop Claremont Highlands before founding Lewis Homes with his wife and sons. The Lewises were Jewish developers, a minority which was increasingly recognized as 396 The largest of these was Parkview Pomona by Biltmore Homes, Inc., with 374 units. 397 This may have been an ongoing repercussion of the redlining labels assigned to Pomona back in the 1930s. 398 “Developers Sponsor Campaign in Pomona,” Los Angeles Times, March 24, 1957, F9. 399 Genevieve Carpio, “From Citrus Belt to Inland Empire, 1945-1970” in Collisions at the Crossroads: How Place and Mobility Make Race (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2019), 190. 400 “Thousands View New Pomona Dwellings,” Los Angeles Times, February 3, 1957, F10. 401 “Builders Will Discuss Rumford Housing Issue,” Los Angeles Times, March 1, 1964, Q24.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 203 white in postwar California. According to Carpio, “as the racial category of ‘white’ shifted to include previously excluded minorities in the postwar period, so too did residential patterns.”402 The Lewis family adopted a racially inclusive strategy of residential development in the Pomona Valley.

Gee Builders, Inc. Land Subdividers and Developers was a Chinese American-owned company.

Gee Builders were responsible for the development of West Pomona Manors.403 Roy Chan, one of the owners of West Pomona Manors, received a degree in architectural engineering from California State Polytechnic College. Gee Builders also hired J. Thomas Wilner, a tract home designer, for the plans and elevations for West Pomona Manors.404 During the 1960s, Pomona led all San Gabriel Valley cities in the number of dwelling units authorized. Between 1960 and 1963, 74 tracts comprising 1,993 lots were developed. Between 1964 and 1967, another 25 subdivisions were recorded.405 Through the 1960s and 1970s, it was standard practice for developers to establish Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC&Rs) that included restrictions on the sale of residences within these newly-established residential communities to people of color and members of the Jewish faith. However, according to historian Gloria Ricci Lothrop, developers over saturated the housing market in Pomona and cutbacks from a declining defense industry forced the VA and the FHA to repossess homes.

Vacancies abounded and many local realtors, eager to do business, signed non-discrimination policies and announced the availability of the repossessed homes to people of color. As a result, by 1977, a special state Census conducted in Pomona revealed that 52% of all Pomona residents had lived in the city for three years or less.406
With the onset of the economic recession in the early 1970s, residential development in Pomona stalled. As described in the Los Angeles Times, “…new housing construction was virtually unknown” in Pomona from 1974 to 1976.407 In 1976, there was just one single-family residence constructed in the city.408
As economic conditions improved in the latter part of the decade, construction activities resumed accordingly. In Pomona, one of the largest developments from this period was the redevelopment of the 2,241-acre Phillips Ranch into new residential communities. The former ranch land was purchased in the 1960s by Westmore Development Co., led by Al Lesser. Lesser embarked on a comprehensive master plan for the community which included 260 acres of land reserved for open space and a network of pedestrian and biking trails. No construction was undertaken until the late 1970s, when Lesser began selling tracts to other developers to create residential subdivisions. There were ultimately seven different subdivisions within the former 402 Carpio, 191-192. 403 Prior to developing West Pomona Manors, Gee Builders constructed the Planz Park development in Bakersfield. 404 It is currently unknown whether Gee Builders placed any restrictive covenants on West Pomona Manors. 405 Ricci Lothrop, 115. 406 Ricci Lothrop, 117. 407 “Pomona Development Accent on the Positive,” Los Angeles Times, June 22, 1986, J1. 408 “Pomona Development Accent on the Positive,” Los Angeles Times, June 22, 1986, J1.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 204 Phillips Ranch, allowing for a wide variety of single-family homes at various price points.409 An emphasis on “country living” combined with trends in architecture of the period resulted in most of Phillips Ranch being designed in a rustic contemporary style in accordance with strict standards of design and construction.410 Most of the developments were only partially completed by 1980—with thousands of homes still to be built in the following decade. By 1980, however, buyers had purchased some $60 million in new homes in Phillips Ranch.411

Hearthstone Homes, one of seven new subdivisions on the former Phillips Ranch, photographed by Julius Shulman in 1980. Photo by Julius Shulman. © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10) However, a lack of funds and community opposition led to the abandonment of several other redevelopment projects in the city. This included a project that involved the City acquiring the Paretti Tract of 350 homes via eminent domain for commercial development. The project was opposed by protesting homeowners, many of whom were African American, Latino, and elderly white residents; the project ultimately failed. Another redevelopment project that never came to fruition was the Pomona Trade Center, a planned 12-story office, hotel, and retail complex. The center failed to secure sufficient funding and was abandoned by investors. 409 The seven developments within the former Phillips Ranch were Country Wood, by Kaufman & Broad; Diamond View Homes, by Criterion Development, Inc. and the John Martin Co.; Hearthstone, by W & A Builders; Falcon Ridge, by Griffin/Fletcher; Marlborough Country, by Marlborough Development; Meadow Ridge Homes, by Bauer Development Co.; and Sunnyslope, by Pacesetter Homes. 410 “Display Ad 149,” Los Angeles Times, March 25, 1979, I6. 411 “Move-Ins Start Hub of Activity at Philips Ranch Neighborhood,” Los Angeles Times, June 28, 1980, I8.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 205 TABLE 5: SELECTED TRACT DEVELOPMENTS IN POSTWAR POMONA

NAME DATE DEVELOPER
TR 13124 (Town House
Tract)
c. 1947 Rogert Titus Smith, et. al.

TR 14197 c. 1947 A. Harold Wilkins/ Percy E. Wilkins
Pomona Homes 1947 Pomona Homes (Edwin Tomlin, et. al.)
Towne House 1947 Roger Titus Smith, Rufus Rountree, et. al.412 Homes of Tomorrow, Inc. 1947 Jack G. Booth, Booth Brothers and Pomona Homes, Inc.

Westmont Homes 1947-53 Edwin Tomlin, et. al.

TR 14792 c. 1947 Arthur H. Lichte
TR 17877 c. 1952 Capital Company/ Nate Bershon and David Bershon TR 17386 c. 1952 Magnolia Downs
TR 18090 c. 1952 Edwin Saville
TR 16662 c. 1952 C. Douglass Ferry and Merle W. Ferry
Kellogg Park Unit 1 and 2 1952 Liberty Building Co./ Samuel Firks and Norman Feintech Pomona Rancho Village 1952-53 Booth Brothers + H. Frank Nelson Co.

Hacienda Gardens (#1) 1952-55 Covina Park Homes Corporation/ Jack G. Booth et. al.

Prudential Homes 1952-54 Harry L. Scholer/Equitable Homes Palmgrove Park 1953-54 Bershon Construction Co./Nate Bershon, David Bershon et. al.

Cary Lane Homes 1953 Allan-Williams Corporation
President Manor 1953 Braemar Homes of Pomona
Kellogg Park Unit 3 and 4 1953 George Estates/Reseda Homes Inc., a.k.a., George and Robert Alexander
Pomona Estates 1954 Arthur B. Weber and Associates/ Lee S. Burns, a.k.a., Weber-Burns
Parkview Pomona 1954-55 Biltmore Homes/S. Mark Taper
Valwood Estates 1954-56 Arthur B. Weber and Associates/ Lee S. Burns, a.k.a., Weber-Burns
Mayfair Homes 1954-55 Mayfair Homes Construction Co./Paul J. Wiener and Wade J. Howells
Cliff May Homes 1955-56 Marshall Tilden
TR 21183 c. 1955-
56 Gary Development Company/Arthur and Gilbert Katz
TR 21678 c. 1955-
56 Emerald Development Corp./ David Young et. al.

Cliff May Homes 1955-56 Phil Hunter and Joe Green
Crown Homes 1956 Curtis Mc Fadden/Campus Village Builders West Pomona Manors 1956-57 Pomona Manors/Jasmine Gee and Roy Chan with Gee Builders, Inc.

Fairlane Park 1956-57 Fairlane Builders/Walter Smith and Paul E. Cooper 412Although Jack G. Booth is not listed on the tract map, some newspaper accounts document that Booth Brothers was also an early investor in this development.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 206

NAME DATE DEVELOPER
Northgrove Homes 1956-61 Palmgrove Park Co./ Nate Bershon and David Bershon Cinderella Homes 1956 Olin & Lewis/Claremont Highland Homes TR 21309 c. 1956 Albert C. Johnson and Freda P. Johnson Linda Lee Homes 1956-57 D & E Corporation
College Grove Ranchos 1956-58 Cherry-Hadley/Ray K. Cherry and John Hadley, et. al.

Garey Gardens 1957-60 Garey Gardens/ Hadley-Cherry; Ray R. Cherry and Max B. Elliot
Cinderella Royalty Homes 1960-61 Cinderella Land Co./Olin Construction Co./Robert A.

Olin and John M. Watkins
Hacienda Gardens (#2) 1961-63 Hacienda Gardens Development Co./Jack Wagoner and John Barker
Benito Gardens 1962 Boyce Built Homes/ W. H. Boyce et. al.

Val Vista 1962-63 Forman Development Co./ Maston T. Noice County Fair Homes 1963 Monarc Estates, Inc./ John C. Wilcox and Lawrence E.

Cook
Carriage Homes 1963 Carriage Homes, Inc./ Olin Construction Co./Robert A.

Olin and John M. Watkins
Meadow Ridge Homes 1978-79 Bauer Development Co./George A. Campbell Marlborough Country 1978-80 Marlborough Development/ Ronald S. Lushing Diamond View Estates 1979-80 Criterion Development, Inc. and John Martin Co./ Donald E. Boucher and Frank L. Fehse
Sunnyslope 1979-80 Pacesetter Homes
Country Wood 1979-80 Kaufman & Broad
Falcon Ridge 1979-80 Griffin/Fletcher
Hearthstone Homes 1979-80 W & A Builders
Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 207

POSTWAR MULTI-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT
Trailer and Mobile Home Parks
Trailer and mobile home parks were largely a post-World War II phenomenon, though they have their roots in prewar America. Growth in automobile ownership, combined with a post-World War I restlessness led to the rise of family camping trips as a popular past time during the mid1920s. Enterprising car campers began building their own canvas tent trailers on wooden singleaxle platforms. The idea caught on and soon several manufacturers were making recreational tent trailers; these were called “travel trailers” or “trailer coaches” by the nascent industry. Soon manufacturers began building larger trailers and adding amenities such as camp stoves, coldwater storage, and fold down bathroom fixtures.413 The Great Depression proved a boom for the travel trailer industry as thousands of migrants from the Dust Bowl made their way to California—many in modified travel trailers. With housing for the new migrants scarce, many turned to travel trailers as full-time living accommodations.414 Campgrounds that accepted the trailers were referred to as “trailer parks” and their more urban concrete counterparts became known as “trailer courts.” By 1938, the American Automobile Association calculated the number of travel trailers at 300,000 and estimated ten percent of them were used for extended full-time living, not recreational travel.415 Trailer Display on Second Street in Pomona, 1960. Pomona Public Library. 413 John Grissim, The Complete Buyers Guide to Manufactured Homes and Land, (Sequim, WA: Rainshadow Publications, 2003), 15. 414 Grissim, The Complete Buyers Guide to Manufactured Homes and Land, 15. 415 Grissim, The Complete Buyers Guide to Manufactured Homes and Land, 15.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 208 Some citizens reacted to these new trailer parks as unsightly and argued they were occupied by people of questionable character. In response, many cities passed zoning ordinances designed to keep the trailer villages out: banishing them from the city limits, prohibiting the use of such trailers for living, or require that they be moved every few days. However, the dire need for housing in many communities changed the perceptions of trailer living after World War II.416 Most of the trailer parks in Pomona were established after World War II in response to the city’s housing shortage.

The Orange Blossom Trailer Court and Motel (1437 W. Holt Avenue) appears to be Pomona’s oldest trailer park, dating back to at least 1944 and possibly earlier. This hybrid motel and auto court has generous landscaped areas as well as a motel along its eastern flank. The Vagabond Trailer Court (present-day Thunderbird Mobile Home Park) located at 1761 E. Mission Boulevard is another early trailer park. Newspaper accounts first mention the Vagabond in 1946. Another court dating to this period is the Gypsy Trailer Park, which relocated from 1627 W. Holt Boulevard to 1737 W. Holt Boulevard.417
Thunderbird Mobile Home Park (previously the Vagabond Trailer Court), 2022. HRG. 1950s-1960s Apartment Development
Postwar residential development in Pomona appears to have been primarily centered on the construction of single-family residences, as apartments and other multi-family types do not appear in the same numbers as in other communities in Southern California during this period.

This may be due in part to the zoning changes required for multi-family residential construction, 416 The industry responded quickly to the need for housing and designed the first true house trailer: a 22-foot long, eight-foot-wide trailer with a canvas top that included a kitchen and bathroom. 417 Other trailer parks from this period include Kottage Trailer Kourt (1446 E. Holt Boulevard, not extant); Gold Star Trailer Park (4300 Holt Boulevard); 5th Avenue Motel and Trailer Park (1052 E. Mission Boulevard); Gypsy Trailer Park (1737 W. Holt Boulevard); Bordner’s Trailer Park (1829 W. Mission Boulevard, not extant); Big’s Trailer Park (1461 W. Mission Boulevard); and the Midway Trailer Park (5017 Holt Boulevard).

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 209 which were cumbersome and often met with resistance from nearby homeowners. However, some multi-family residences, apartment buildings, and condominiums were built in Pomona in the immediate postwar period. Examples from the 1950s include the Manning E. Roeder-designed 36-unit Berkeley Manor Apartments (1660 Berkeley Avenue) built in 1956, and the 30-unit Pomona Plaza Apartments (1675 Berkeley Avenue) by Rochlin & Baran, AIA from 1959. These garden apartments were laid out around a central courtyard, sometimes with pool and patio.

During the 1960s, the projects tended to be larger in scale. One interesting approach to multifamily residential development in the city was the 1962 Grand Terrace Duplexes by Boyce Built Homes. The Grand Terrace Duplexes comprised 25 modest, Minimal Traditional residences lining Penmar Lane and Elliott Court at Eleanor Street. The duplexes were advertised as “own your own” opportunities.418 Another large Pomona apartment development was Tahiti Village, built in 1963 and located on the northwest corner of 9th Street and Buena Vista Avenue and built in 1963.

The complex of 17 buildings contained a total of 73 one-bedroom units.

One of the largest and most architecturally significant of these developments was Key CoOperative Village (1500 E. San Bernardino Avenue), built in 1961 and designed by prominent South Pasadena-based architects Smith and Williams (Whitney R. Smith and Wayne R. Williams) with landscape architect Garrett Eckbo. The eight-acre, $1,500,000 development included 112 units arranged in triplexes located on the east and west sides of Benedict and Appleton Streets.419 The complex is dominated by six-unit buildings composed of two sets of three triplexes. Building facades include both a board-and-batten Ranch Style and a Modern Spanish-style with arches and cement plaster exterior wall cladding. A small open park area was set aside in the center of the complex. Golden Key Co-Operative Village was an early example of co-operative apartments in which residents were able to purchase their units instead of renting.420 Mount San Antonio Gardens (900 E. Harrison), a 276-unit senior housing project was designed by Kenneth Lind Associates for client Congregational Homes/Mount San Antonio Gardens, with financing from the FHA.421 The 14-acre site incorporated a variety of accommodations including cottages, one-bedroom apartments, efficiency units, suites and semi-suites, guest rooms, and staff quarters all in the Mid-century Modern architectural style. The three congregate buildings, at the center of the plan, featuring communal living, dining, and recreational spaces, were designed with circular wings surrounding an open patio. Glass was extensively used to provide a connection between indoor and outdoor space. Lind planned the project with the use of ramps instead of stairs. The first unit to be constructed was just east of San Antonio Avenue between Bonita and Harrison Avenues. A unit in the eastern portion of the project opened in 1963. In 1969, a new auditorium was constructed—an enlargement of the former assembly hall. The project was featured in Architectural Record and received an Honor Award for superior design from the FHA in February 1964.422
418 “Advertisement,” Pomona Progress Bulletin, June 12, 1962, 16. 419 “Planners Okay Zone Changes Despite Residents’ Protests,” Pomona Progress Bulletin, July 28, 1960, 13. 420 Boundaries of the complex to be confirmed through additional research. 421 The project was originally awarded to Smith and Williams; however, their design was not implemented. 422 “Pomona Development Given FHA Award,” Los Angeles Times, February 9, 1964, L10.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 210 Mount San Antonio Gardens, c. 1963. Mount San Antonio Gardens.

Condominiums and the Growth of Leisure
During the late 1960s and through the mid-1970s, several new real estate trends influenced the development of multi-family properties throughout Southern California. These include the widespread adoption of the condominium financing structure, and the introduction of extensive recreational facilities as amenities for residents in large-scale developments. These trends reflected a movement away from single-family residential ownership as empty nesters elected to downsize and eliminate responsibility for property maintenance.

The condominium movement was born out of the earlier co-op apartment trend. However, condominiums diverged from co-op apartment arrangements, like Golden Key, in that the residences were not technically owned collectively; each unit was owned individually but common areas were subject to collective ownership. Typically, homeowners’ associations were established, and monthly ownership dues funded maintenance of the common areas. A lack of financing for the new ownership concept, however, suppressed initial development of the concept. In 1961, the FHA was only authorized to insure mortgages on condos for 85 percent of the appraised value. It wasn’t until September 1963 that tax appraisal methods for condominiums were settled, and developers began building condominiums in earnest.423 The condominium craze was relatively subdued in Pomona, likely due to the overbuilt nature of housing in the city.

In the 1970s, multi-family residential development increasingly emphasized leisure activities.

Boating, golf, and tennis became popular sports and many complexes incorporated recreational facilities into their amenities. An example of this in Pomona is the Sonrisa Country Club Apartments (2261 Valley Boulevard), constructed in 1971 and designed by architect Gared N.

Smith. The complex included an extensive facility, along with volleyball courts, a swimming pool, gas barbecues, a recreation pavilion clubhouse, and separate men’s and women’s gymnasiums. 423 Dan Mac Masters, “Condominiums—The Most Exciting Housing Development in 15 Years,” Los Angeles Times, July 26, 1964, 44.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 211

ELIGIBILITY STANDARDS
Summary Statement of Significance
The 1960s and 1970s brought on the widespread development of the condominium. Individual properties or historic districts that are eligible under this theme may be significant as the site of an important event in history; for an association with an ethnic or cultural group or a person important in local, state, or national history; for exemplifying an important trend or pattern of development (typically, as contributors to historic districts). Resources significant under this theme may include single-family residences constructed in vast residential tracts recorded during the period immediately following World War II, and the multi-family residences that were increasingly popular by the late 1950s and early 1960s. Properties may also be significant as an example of a style or type; architectural styles in Pomona are discussed in the Architecture and Design Section.

Period of Significance 1946-1980
Period of Significance Justification Broadly covers post-World War II residential development in Pomona.

Geographic Location Citywide.

Associated Property Types Residential: Single Family Residence, MultiFamily Residence, Tract Features/Amenity, Historic District.

Property Type Description Significant property types are those representing important periods of residential
development in Pomona, including single-family
residences, multi-family residences, such as
mobile home/trailer parks and garden
apartments, and tract features and amenities,
including street trees/other significant
landscape features and streetlights. These
properties can be single-family or multi-family
residences and may collectively form a historic
district.

Criterion A/1/1,9 (Events/Patterns of Development)
Individual residential properties that are eligible under this criterion may be significant:
x As the site of an event important in history; or
x For exemplifying an important trend or pattern of residential development; or Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 212 x As a rare remaining example of a residential development type (ex. trailer park/mobile home, garden apartment).

Note that in order to be individually eligible for designation for representing a pattern of development, the property must be the first of its type, a rare remnant example of a significant period of development, or a catalyst for development in the city or neighborhood.

Merely dating from a specific period is typically not enough to qualify for designation. Tract homes are typically not eligible individually for representing a period of development, due to widespread residential development during this period. Residences that are eligible for an association with a trend or pattern of development from this period may be more appropriately evaluated as part of a historic district.

A collection of residential properties that are eligible under this criterion as a historic district may be significant:
x For representing an important pattern or trend in postwar residential development, such as the establishment of a notable postwar tract.
x As an intact collection of residences that represent the postwar growth of Pomona.

District boundaries may represent original tract boundaries, or they may comprise a portion of a tract or neighborhood. The district must be unified aesthetically by plan, physical development, and architectural quality. Historic districts representing post-World War II housing tracts will be eligible if they are excellent and intact examples of residential development representing the growth of the city during this period, for an association with an innovative type of housing development, or for other distinguishing characteristics that differentiate it from other subdivisions from the period. Residences from this period will be eligible as contributors to historic districts. Local designation for historic districts includes Criteria 4, 6, and 8.

Integrity Considerations:

In order to be eligible for designation under this criterion, a property must retain sufficient integrity to convey its historic significance.
x Residential properties from this period should retain integrity of location,424 design, material, setting, workmanship, feeling, and association in order to convey their significance.
x An individual property that is eligible for a historic association must retain the essential physical features that made up its character or appearance during the period of its association with an event or historical pattern. x Note that some properties that may not retain sufficient integrity for listing in the National Register may remain eligible for listing at the state and local levels.

For historic districts:
424 Unless the property was moved during the period of significance.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 213 x The majority of the components that add to the postwar district’s historic character must possess integrity, as must the district as a whole. o The historic district must retain a majority of contributors that date from the period of significance.
o A contributing property must retain integrity of location, design, workmanship, setting, feeling, and association to adequately convey the significance of the historic district.
o Some alterations to individual buildings, such as replacement of roof materials, replacement garage doors, and replacement of windows within original openings may be acceptable as long as the district as a whole continues to convey its significance.
o Original tract features may also be contributing features.

Registration Requirements:

To be eligible under this criterion, an individual property must:
x Date from the period of significance; and
x Have a proven association with an event important in history; or x Represent an important catalyst for a pattern or trend in postwar residential development; or
x Display most of the character-defining features of the property type or style; and x Retain the essential aspects of historic integrity.

A historic district eligible under this theme must:
x Retain a majority of contributing buildings from the period of significance; and x Retain significant character-defining features from the period of significance, including any important landscape or hardscape features; and x Retain the original layout, reflecting planning and design principles from the period; and
x Retain the essential aspects of historic integrity.

Criterion B/2/2 (Important Persons)
Individual residential properties eligible under this criterion may be significant:
x For an association with persons significant in our past; or x For a proven association with a specific significant ethnic or cultural group that made a demonstrable impact on the community in the postwar period, for example in the civil rights movement in Pomona.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 214 Note that according to National Park Service guidance, persons significant in our past refers to individuals whose activities are demonstrably important within a local, state, or national historic context. A property is not eligible if its only justification for significance is that it was owned or used by a person who is a member of an identifiable profession, class, or social or ethnic group. In addition, the property must be associated with a person’s productive life, reflecting the time period when he or she achieved significance.

Integrity Considerations:

In order to be eligible for designation under this criterion, a property must retain sufficient integrity from the period of significance to convey its association with the important person. x Residential properties from this period should retain integrity of design, workmanship, feeling, and association, at a minimum, in order to convey the property’s association with the significant person’s productive period.
x A general rule is that the property must be recognizable to contemporaries of the person with which it is associated.

Registration Requirements:

To be eligible under this criterion a property must:
x Have a proven association with the productive period of a person important to local, state, or national history; and
x Display most of the character-defining features of the property type or style from the period of significance (i.e., the period when the property was associated with the important person); and
x Retain the essential aspects of integrity.

Criterion C/3/3,5,7 (Architecture and Design)
Individual residential properties that are eligible under this criterion may be significant as:
x An excellent or rare example of an architectural style, property type, or method of construction; or
x A distinctive work by a noted architect, landscape architect, builder, or designer.

Mid-Century Modern style tract homes are typically not eligible individually for architectural style. A collection of residential properties that are eligible under this criterion as a historic district may be significant:
x For an association with an important merchant builder or architect; or x As a collection of excellent Mid-century Modern architecture.

District boundaries may represent original tract boundaries, or they may comprise a portion of a tract or neighborhood. The district must be unified aesthetically by plan, physical development, and architectural quality. Residences from this period will be eligible as Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 215 contributors to historic districts. Local designation for historic districts includes Criteria 4, 6, and 8.

Integrity Considerations:

In order to be eligible for designation under this criterion, a property must retain sufficient integrity from the period of significance to convey its architecture. x Residential properties significant under this criterion should retain integrity of design, setting, materials, workmanship, and feeling, at a minimum. x A property that is eligible for designation as a good/excellent or rare example of its style or type retains most - though not necessarily all - of the character-defining features of the style.
x A property is not eligible if it retains some basic features conveying massing but has lost the majority of the features that once characterized its style.

Registration Requirements:

To be eligible under this criterion a property must:
x Date from the period of significance; and
x Represent an excellent or rare example of a style or type; and x Represent quality of design and distinctive details; and x Display most of the character-defining features of the style or type; and x Retain the essential aspects of integrity.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 216 Theme: Commercial Development
Southern California’s postwar population boom and rise in consumer culture spurred retail and commercial development throughout the region. Pomona was no exception. Postwar commercial development was characterized in part by the modernization of existing commercial buildings in an effort to update downtown retail centers. One prominent example in Pomona was Ora-Addies, a women’s boutique established by Mrs. Ora Milner and Mrs. Adelade Tate at 163 W. 2nd Street.

The owners engaged Sumner Spaulding and John Rex to completely redesign the two-story interior of the original building to make it a showcase space. The ultra-modern design featured a floating staircase, mezzanine, and custom cabinetry. The design was featured in the December 1945 issue of Arts & Architecture.
425

Ora-Addies by Sumner Spaulding and John Rex, c. 1945. Photo by Julius Shulman. © J. Paul Getty Trust.

Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)
However, most commercial development during this period expanded outside of the original commercial core to provide much-needed services in proximity to the growing suburban communities. In Pomona, commercial growth was seen along Route 66 (present-day Arrow Highway), Garey Avenue, Mission Boulevard, Holt Avenue, Valley Boulevard, and Indian Hill Avenue.

Many of the commercial structures built after the war responded to both the growing middle class and suburban leisure culture, and the automobile: coffee shops, fast food establishments and restaurants, supermarkets, department stores, and specialty retailers all designed to appeal to the passing motorist and conveniently located away from downtown. Commercial development along Route 66 picked-up after World War II with the development of properties commonly associated with a tourist corridor: gas stations, motels, and restaurants.426 As a result, commercial activity in downtown Pomona declined—eventually forcing a large urban renewal project in an attempt to upgrade and revitalize the downtown area.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 217 Angeles designed by John Lautner in 1949. The style has been described as Modernism for the masses. It was widely employed in roadside commercial architecture of the 1950s, including coffee shops, bowling alleys, and car washes. Henry’s Restaurant and Drive-In (not extant) was one of the premiere local examples of the Googie architectural style. It was located along Route 66, at Garey Avenue and Foothill Boulevard. Henry’s was designed in 1957 by architect John Lautner as the fourth location of the Henry’s chain of restaurants. It featured a football-shaped plan, with one side arranged for indoor dining/cocktails and the other for carhop service. The roof had an expressionistic shape characteristic of Lautner’s architectural vocabulary. As described by author Alan Hess, Henry’s was “…a whale with a long dual backbone of laminated timbers arching long and low on doubled concrete columns…large glass walls set well within broad eaves, opened to the dining room.”427 The restaurant was later known as Tiffaney’s.

Henry’s Restaurant and Drive-In, designed by John Lautner, 1954. Lautner A-Z.

Perhaps because of its suburban development and reliance on the automobile, Pomona enjoys a wealth of roadside architecture that extended beyond Route 66. These expressive modern buildings, some more elaborately Googie than others, relied on structural expression, large expanses of glass, neon and kinetic signs both to display their goods and services and to lure in motorists. Pole signs often remain at some of Pomona’s roadside buildings that have been altered.

To support its burgeoning postwar population, greater Pomona was dotted with a number of fastfood restaurants and coffee shops. McDonald’s #8 (1057 Mission Boulevard), constructed in 1954, is the second oldest extant example of the iconic fast-food chain. 428 The McDonald brothers worked with architect Stanley C. Meston on the design. They provided a small rough sketch of two half circle arches, from which the architect refined the forms; he also designed the factory427 Alan Hess, Googie Redux: Ultramodern Roadside Architecture, (San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 2004), 73. 428 There is some disagreement between scholars as to whether this is store #7 or #8. The Azusa and Pomona locations were opened nearly simultaneously.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 218 like assembly line kitchen.429 Although altered, the hamburger stand and the large original roadside golden arches retain their essential form, although the building has now been repurposed to sell donuts.

Other early examples of iconic fast-food restaurants from the postwar period include Der Wienerschnitzel (500 E. Mission Boulevard) and Pioneer Chicken (2250 N. Garey Avenue). There is a 1950s Tastee Freeze (794 E. Mission), with its signature orange A-frame soft serve stand and sign, and a Donahoo’s Fried Chicken (1074 Garey Avenue), a Mid-century Modern building from 1966 with its original fiberglass chicken high atop a pole sign advertising “Golden Chicken boxed to go.” Two original Arby’s in Pomona (2250 N. Garey Avenue and 1175 E. Holt Avenue) with chuckwagon shapes were constructed in 1970.

Another early Googie-style restaurant was the Mission Family Restaurant (demolished). Opened in 1958 at 888 W. Mission Boulevard, the restaurant featured dimensional tilework by Pomona Tile and a “Jury Room,” which was used by jurors from the nearby courthouses for meal breaks.430 The Googie-style diner at 1280 E. Holt Avenue was originally built as a Breakfast at Carl’s.

Former McDonalds #8 (top left), Wienerschnitzel (top right), Former Arby’s (bottom left), and Former Breakfast at Carl’s (bottom right) in Pomona, 2022. HRG.

Mom and pop donut shops and coffee shops were a staple throughout Southern California in the 1950s and 1960s. These modest, freestanding, Mid-century Modern-style shops enjoyed large expanses of glass with plenty of parking. Taylor Maid Donuts (488 E. Mission Boulevard) is a rare 429 Hess, 152. 430 The restaurant was originally named the Hull House. It was destroyed in a fire in 2020.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 219 and intact example of one of these buildings. The 1958 Danny’s Donuts (2085 Holt Avenue, not extant) by the Googie specialists Armet & Davis did not survive. In 1969, on the southeast corner of Holt and East End Avenue, Van de Kamps built one of its iconic windmill-design coffee shops designed by architect Harold Bissner, Jr. (not extant). Another example of a postwar specialty retailer with a Mid-century Modern-style building is the 1960 Pollock’s Flowers (715 Garey Avenue).

Another significant commercial type from the postwar period was the auto showroom. As with other types of commercial development, automobile sales moved outside of downtown commercial centers where they had the space to design eye-catching glass and steel buildings to showcase their sleek, modern wares. In Pomona, Tate Motors (888 E. Holt Avenue), completed in 1957 offered a large, two-story glass rotunda for displaying the latest Cadillacs and Pontiacs.

Inside, four “Flying saucer-like hanging fixtures each 12 feet across provided dramatic lighting and added to the out-of-this world look.”431 Designed by Arthur Lawrence Miller and Ted Criley, Jr., the dealership also had a towering sign and a sidewalk garden of exotic plants.

Tate Motors, 1957. Photo by Julius Shulman. © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)
In addition to standalone development along commercial corridors, the postwar period was also the era of the shopping center – including both small community shopping centers and larger, more regional shopping malls. Especially popular given Southern California’s climate was the development of the open-air mall. Three open-air malls were developed in Los Angeles County in 1955: Los Altos Center in Long Beach, Whittier Downs Center in Santa Fe Springs, and the 431 Charles Phoenix, Cruising the Pomona Valley (Los Angeles, CA: Horn of Plenty Press, 1999), 112-113.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 220 Pomona Valley Center which straddled the Pomona-Montclair city limits. Pomona Valley Center was designed by Sterling Leach.432 Anchor stores included the F.C. Nash Department Store, Market Basket supermarket, and Sears.433 Rows of specialty retailers connected the anchor stores with landscaped pedestrian corridors and generous overhangs. Cars were relegated to the substantial parking areas around the shopping center. In 1967, the mall was extended to the west.

A renovation during the 1970s was followed by the enclosure of the mall in the early 1980s when it was renamed Indian Hill Village. The complex ultimately failed to compete with the more popular Montclair Plaza.

Rendering of the Pomona Valley Center, Sterling Leach, 1954. Los Angeles Times, November 12, 1954.

As in other Southern California communities, banks and savings and loan companies proliferated in Pomona in the postwar period as a result of the booming real estate industry. Financial institutions would often open branch locations in proximity to new residential subdivisions. These new bank buildings often represented significant community and architectural statements, projecting an image appropriate for a successful financial institution. New postwar bank buildings in Pomona include the 1950 First National Bank of Pomona (401 E. 2nd Street, not extant). In 1956, B.H. Anderson designed the main office for Pomona First Federal Savings (399 N. Garey Avenue), a two-story, Mid-century Modern building that cost $500,000 to construct. The lobby included a Millard Sheets mural434 which was later purchased by the American Museum of Ceramic Art.435 Pomona First Federal Savings was featured in Architectural Record in June of that year. In 1957, Anderson designed the First Western Bank and Trust (1095 Garey Avenue) which opened its doors in 1958. That same year, a branch of Bank of America (2475 N. Garey Avenue) was built in north Pomona, designed by architect F.K. Lesan. 432 “Further Development of New Pomona Valley Center Slated,” Los Angeles Times, November 12, 1954. 433 The original Sears at Pomona Valley Center was designed by Stiles O. Clements in 1954 with the red brick, cut green stone, and palm trees that identified the retailer.
434 In 1982, the bank built a new ATM carport and commissioned Denis O’Connor, an associate of Sheets, to create a mosaic for the carport.
435 “Article 20,” Los Angeles Times, March 4, 1956, F7.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 221

Left: Rendering of First Federal Savings, 399 N. Garey Avenue, 1956. Right: Interior mural by Millard Sheets, n.d.

Pomona Public Library.

In 1958, Anderson designed a branch building for Pomona First Federal Savings (originally 550 Alexander Avenue, now Indian Hill Boulevard), which was completed in 1960. The design included decorative patterned brickwork, a folded-plate roof, and electronic pole sign mounted on steel beams. On the south wall of the interior, the building contained a 78-foot-long and 7-foot-high mural by Millard Sheets entitled, “Panorama of the Pomona Valley.” At the time of its completion, it was the largest mural ever painted by Sheets.

Rendering of First Federal Savings, 550 Indian Hill Boulevard, 1958-60. Pomona Public Library

ELIGIBILITY STANDARDS
Summary Statement of Significance
In the post-World War II era, economic activity in the city expanded to serve a growing population. Redevelopment projects were also common during this period, as the City sought to enhance the downtown core. Resources that are eligible under this theme may be significant as an excellent example of post-war commercial development and expansion, as the site of a significant event, or for an association with an ethnic or cultural group or a person important in local, state, or national history. Properties may also be significant as an example of a style or type; architectural styles in Pomona are discussed in the Architecture and Design Section.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 222 Period of Significance 1946-1980
Period of Significance Justification Broadly covers the period of commercial development in Pomona from 1946 to 1980.

Geographic Location Citywide.

Associated Property Types Commercial: One-story Building; One-story Commercial Storefront Block; Mixed-use
Building; Mixed-use Commercial Block; Retail
store; Commercial Office; Bank; Restaurant;
Theater; Hotel; Recreational Facility; Historic
District.

Property Type Description Commercial property types include malls and shopping centers, department stores,
supermarkets, coffee shops, fast-food
restaurants, and automobile showrooms.

Criterion A/1/1,9 (Events/Patterns of Development)
Individual commercial properties that are eligible under this criterion may be significant:
x As the site of an event important in history; or
x For exemplifying an important trend or pattern commercial development, such as an iconic business within the community, a long term business, or community gathering place; or
x As an excellent and rare example of a commercial building type from the period (ex. malls, shopping centers, department stores, supermarkets, coffeeshops, fast-food restaurants).

A collection of commercial properties that are eligible under this criterion as a historic district may be significant:
x For representing an important pattern or trend in commercial development. x As an intact collection of businesses that represent the growth of Pomona during the period.

Note that some commercial development may span several themes or periods of development. Local designation for historic districts includes Criteria 4, 6, and 8.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 223 Integrity Considerations:

In order to be eligible for designation under this criterion, a property must retain sufficient integrity to convey its historic significance.
x Commercial properties from this period should retain integrity of location, design, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association, at a minimum, in order to convey their significance.
x An individual property that is eligible for a historic association must retain the essential physical features that made up its character or appearance during the period of its association with an event or historical pattern.
x Note that some properties that may not retain sufficient integrity for listing in the National Register may remain eligible for listing at the state and local levels.

For historic districts:
x The majority of the components that add to the district’s historic character must possess integrity, as must the district as a whole
o The historic district must retain a majority of contributors that date from the period of significance.
o A contributing property must retain integrity of location, design, workmanship, setting, feeling, and association to adequately convey the significance of the historic district.
o Some alterations to individual buildings, such as replacement of roof materials and windows within original openings may be acceptable as long as the district as a whole continues to convey its significance.

Registration Requirements:

To be eligible under this criterion, an individual property must:
x Date from the period of significance; and
x Have a proven association with an event important in history; or x Represent an important catalyst for a pattern or trend in commercial development; or x Display most of the character-defining features of the property type or style; and x Retain the essential aspects of historic integrity.

To be eligible under this criterion, a historic district eligible under this theme must:
x Retain a majority of contributing buildings from the period of significance; and x Retain significant character-defining features from the period of significance, including any important landscape or hardscape features; and Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 224 x Retain the original layout, reflecting planning and design principles from the period; and
x Retain the essential aspects of historic integrity.

Criterion B/2/2 (Important Persons)
Individual commercial properties eligible under this criterion may be significant:
x For an association with persons significant in our past; or x For a proven association with a specific significant ethnic or cultural group that made a demonstrable impact on the community.

Note that according to National Park Service guidance, persons significant in our past refers to individuals whose activities are demonstrably important within a local, state, or national historic context. A property is not eligible if its only justification for significance is that it was owned or used by a person who is a member of an identifiable profession, class, or social or ethnic group. In addition, the property must be associated with a person’s productive life, reflecting the time period when he or she achieved significance.

Integrity Considerations:

In order to be eligible for designation under this criterion, a property must retain sufficient integrity from the period of significance to convey its association with the important person. x Commercial properties from this period should retain integrity of design, workmanship, feeling, and association, at a minimum, in order to convey the property’s association with the significant person’s productive period.
x A general rule is that the property must be recognizable to contemporaries of the person with which it is associated.

Registration Requirements:

Criterion C/3/3,5,7 (Architecture and Design)
Individual commercial properties that are eligible under this criterion may be significant as:
x A good/excellent or rare example of an architectural style, property type, or method of construction; or
Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 225 x A distinctive work by a noted architect, landscape architect, builder, or designer.

Integrity Considerations:

In order to be eligible for designation under this criterion, a property must retain sufficient integrity from the period of significance to convey its architecture. x Commercial properties significant under this criterion should retain integrity of design, materials, workmanship, and feeling, at a minimum.
x A property that is eligible for designation as a good/excellent or rare example of its style or type retains most - though not necessarily all - of the character-defining features of the style.
x A property important for illustrating a particular architectural style or construction technique must retain most of the physical features that constitute that style or technique. A property can be eligible if it has lost some historic materials or details but retains the majority of the essential features from the period of significance. These features illustrate the style in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation. x A property is not eligible if it retains some basic features conveying massing but has lost the majority of the features that once characterized its style. x Replacement of storefronts is a common and acceptable alteration. x Setting may have changed (surrounding buildings and land uses).

Registration Requirements:

To be eligible under this criterion a property must:
x Date from the period of significance; and
x Represent a good/excellent or rare example of a style or type; and x Display most of the character-defining features of the style or type; and x Represent quality of design and distinctive details; and x Retain the essential aspects of integrity.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 226 Theme: Civic and Institutional Development
Like elsewhere in Southern California, a growing population in Pomona put pressure on municipal resources and community services. As a result, the post-World War II period saw significant investment in city services, including the construction of new police and fire stations and schools.

City growth – in terms of both population and geography – also necessitated the construction of new religious buildings, along with social and cultural institutions.

POLICE AND FIRE STATIONS
Expansion of the city geographically necessitated new neighborhood police and fire stations to serve the growing suburban communities. In 1961, plans were drawn for a new police and fire headquarters (bounded by 5th and 6th Streets, Park Avenue, and Gordon Street), by Welton Becket & Associates and Pomona-based architect, B. H. Anderson. Other new fire stations, all in the Midcentury Modern style, included: Fire Station #3 built by Stone Bros (708 N. San Antonio); Fire Station #4 (1980 West Orange Grove); Fire Station #5 designed by architect Everett Tozier (925 E. Lexington Street); and Fire Station #2 (1059 N. White Avenue).

MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS
The Pomona Valley Community Hospital (1798 N. Garey Avenue) was expanded after World War II with a radiology department and an auditorium. In 1951, R. K. Pitzer and his second wife, Ina Scott Pitzer, donated funds for the creation of the Pitzer Home (1760-1770 Orange Grove Avenue, partially extant), designed by Jay Dewey Harnish. The Pitzer Home provided additional beds for acutely ill patients and space for elderly patients requiring medical supervision, at very little cost. In 1959, architect Jay Dewey designed a the six-story reinforced concrete east wing addition to the hospital.

Drawing of Addition to Pitzer Home by Architects Harnish, Morgan & Causey, 1975. Los Angeles Times.

In 1975, a new Outpatient Services and Critical Care Center by Harnish, Morgan and Causey opened after three years of construction. The addition brought available beds to 389 patients.

Casa Colina Hospital (255 E. Bonita Avenue, not extant) was dedicated in 1960, a modest MidCentury Modern building funded by a federal grant, donations and volunteers. Founded by Francis Eleanor Smith, the facility served children with disabilities from families of modest means.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 227 Also during this period, Dr. Thomas Wing, a Chinese chiropractor, opened a business in Pomona.

Dr. Wing served as a physician and inventory over the course of his life. Dr. Wing manufactured the first profitable and affordable personal radio paging system as well as the Accu-O-Matic microcurrent machine.436

POSTWAR SCHOOLS
The postwar period also saw significant new school construction. Any type of school expansion was halted during the war due to materials shortages; therefore, in the immediate postwar years, school administrators addressed the lack of space on existing campuses by constructing buildings that were intended to be temporary. In 1947, two temporary aluminum classrooms were constructed at Alcott Elementary School (1600 S. Towne Street). Similar classrooms were also constructed at Westmont School (1780 W. 9th Street), and they remained in use until the mid1950s when the facilities were formally expanded.

The wave of postwar residential development as the city expanded to the north, south, and west, required a significant expansion of school campuses; this resulted in a golden age of modern school construction that lasted into the late 1960s. The rush of new families into Pomona’s newly developed residential tracts created an urgent spike in enrollment. Between 1954 and 1964, the number of the students in the Pomona district grew by approximately 1,000 students each year, to a total of 19,000 in 1964.437
Grounded in the lessons learned from the 1933 Long Beach earthquake’s effects on traditional school design, California architects continued to innovate campus design during the postwar period. By the 1950s, many of the design ideas considered experimental in the 1930s had matured and become the national standard for schools.438 Overall, a unified campus design, building types and plans that accommodated a high degree of indoor-outdoor integration, ample outdoor spaces, and sheltered corridors marked the typology as the mature version of the functionalist school plant. Site plans, which often featured a decentralized, pavilion-like layout, lacked the formality and monumentality that characterized earlier eras of school design.

School types expressive of these ideals include the finger-plan,439 the cluster-plan,440 and variations on these basic themes according to available lot size and school enrollment. In general, postwar schools in Southern California were designed to “feel decentralized, nonhierarchical, approachable, informal, and child-centered.”441 436 Dr. Wing was Pioneer, Prolific Inventor,” Pasadena Star-News, November 20, 2010; Joe Blackstock, “Claremont’s Dr. Wing Used Old, New Methods,” Daily Bulletin, April 23, 2018. 437 Pomona Bicentennial Committee, Pomona Centennial History, 153. 438 Overview discussion of school design from this period excerpted and adapted from Sapphos Environmental, Inc., Los Angeles Unified School District Historic Context Statement, March 2014. 439 The finger-plan resembled a tree plan, with a central trunk and branches. 440 The cluster-plan retained the low massing and indoor-outdoor access and views for all classrooms. But rather than extending wings along an axis like the finger-plan, cluster-plan schools grouped buildings as modular, standalone units around a shared central courtyard.
441 Sapphos Environmental, Inc., “Los Angeles Unified School District Historic Context Statement, 1870-1969,” 78.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 228 Left: Aerial view of Emerson Junior High School, Pomona, 1947. Emerson is an example of the postwar finger plan.

Pomona Public Library. Right: A prototype of the cluster-plan, Walter Gropius, 1954. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, December 2008.

Stylistically, postwar schools were distinctly modern, employing steel post-and-beam construction with flat or low-pitched rooflines. Key elements of the new California school design were fresh air circulation and “school room day-lighting.”442 After World War II, integrating natural lighting and fresh air through a plethora of windows became a centerpiece of many designs.

Solutions such as offset clerestories, window walls of glass, and skylights were often employed in the school designs featured in Architectural Record in the late 1940s.443 California’s moderate climate lent itself to passive heating and cooling designs that employed full-length sliding doors to outside classrooms as well as operable windows at varying heights from different directions to draw in cool breezes and release warmer air.

Between 1947 and 1963, approximately 20 new schools were constructed in Pomona, all of which are extant. Postwar schools in Pomona reflect the broader trends in school design from the period. Most schools are one-story with a series of connected classrooms open to an outdoor corridor. The most common site plan utilized was the finger-plan given its flexibility and adaptability for future campus expansion. The Pomona School District’s go-to architect for school design during this period was Pasadena-based architect Keith P. Marston, AIA.444 Finger plan schools designed by Marston in Pomona include Emerson Junior High School (1947, 1780 W. 9th Street); San Jose Elementary School (1948, 2015 Cadillac Drive); Kingsley Elementary School (1951, 1170 Washington Avenue); Madison Elementary School (1953, 351 W. Phillips Boulevard); Marshall Junior High School (1955, 1921 Arroyo Avenue); and the Philadelphia School (1956, 600 Philadelphia Street).
442 School Planning the Architectural Record of a Decade (New York, NY: FW Dodge Corporation 1951), 394-397. 443 School Planning the Architectural Record of a Decade (New York, NY: FW Dodge Corporation 1951), 394-397. 444 Marston worked on some school commissions in the early 1950s with Eugene Weston, Jr.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 229 Left: Philadelphia School, 1956. Right: Madison Elementary, 1953. Pomona Public Library.

On May 14, 1956, Pomona High School (475 Bangor Street) burned to the ground. The school utilized portable buildings and double sessions to remain operational for the 1957 school year, while Pomona High School was rebuilt, and two new high schools were constructed. In 1958, the school district returned to Marston for the design of the rebuilt Pomona High School and the new Ganesha High School (1151 Fairplex Drive). Both Ganesha and Pomona High Schools utilized a modified finger-plan design augmented with stand-alone buildings for other purposes.

Although Marston designed most of the postwar schools in Pomona, the district commissioned several new school designs from Pomona-based architects. Amos Randall designed the San Antonio School (1950, 855 E. Kingsley Avenue), Yorba Elementary School (1961, 250 W. La Verne Avenue, site of present-day U.S. Social Security Administration), and Allison Elementary School (1962, 1011 Russell Place). Randall continued the finger-plan design tradition. B. H. Anderson also designed several schools including Harrison Elementary (1960, 425 E. Harrison Avenue), and Lexington Elementary School (1961, 550 W. Lexington).

By the late 1950s, the popularity of the finger-plan began to decline.445 Cluster-plan schools began to replace the tree trunk and branch model, resulting in more compact plans with stand-alone buildings around a shared central courtyard. Classrooms still had large expanses of windows, but views now included the courtyard and other classrooms that yielded a more communal feeling.

Franklin Junior High School (725 W. Franklin Avenue, now the Fremont Academy of Engineering and Design) built in 1962 by B. H. Anderson reflects this type of design, as does Garey High School (1962, 321 W. Lexington Avenue) by Blurock and Associates. Blurock also completed several schools’ expansion projects during the 1960s.
445 Sapphos Environmental, Inc., “Los Angeles Unified School District Historic Context Statement, 1870-1969,” 87.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 230 Model of Franklin Junior High School designed using the cluster-plan model in 1961 by B.H. Anderson.

Progress-Bulletin, October 18, 1961.

California State Polytechnic University
California State Polytechnic University (Cal Poly Pomona), Pomona grew and diversified during this period. In 1949, the 800-acre Kellogg Ranch was donated to the State of California for the southward expansion of the California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo (3801 W.

Temple Avenue). The donation was made on the condition that the breeding and showing of Arabian horses would continue.

In 1951, the State Legislature appropriated $1 million a year for three years to begin the development on the Kellogg campus of four-year programs in Agriculture, Engineering Occupations, Business Education, and Home Economics. At the time of acquisition, the campus included a 30-horse stable, exhibition pavilion, hay storage and stallion barn, glasshouse, and farm center with large hay storage barn, draft horse barn, machinery shed, and maintenance shops.446 The State Legislature also commissioned the architecture firm Allison & Rible to design the master plan when the California State Architect’s office proved too busy to take on the assignment. The master plan included 22 buildings with facilities for 3,600 students.447 The original focus of the college was agriculture, but over time, more emphasis was given to other academic areas, including engineering, architecture, and hospitality management. Initial construction on the campus proceeded over time through the late 1950s and into the 1970s; many campus facilities were designed in the Mid-century Modern style by notable architects of the period.

The first buildings to be completed on the campus were the Science Building and the Student Personnel Center. Designed by the California State Architect’s office, the buildings were completed in 1956. That same year, 550 male students and 30 faculty members moved from the Voorhis site in San Dimas to what was known as “the Kellogg campus.” 446 “Kellogg-Voorhis Campus,” California State Polytechnic College Bulletin, 1953-1954, 185-188. 447 “Three Million to be Expended at Cal Poly Kellogg Ranch Unit,” Pomona Progress Bulletin, September 3, 1951, 13; “Kellogg-Voorhis Campus,” California State Polytechnic College Bulletin, 1953-1954, 185-188.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 231 Rendering of Science Building, 1956.

Bulletin, 1956-1957. Robert E. Kennedy Library, Cal Poly Pomona.

In 1959, the Business Classroom Building was designed for instruction in business majors. It contained classrooms, offices, and laboratories for the operation of business machines. By 1959, enrollment at Cal Poly was approximately 1,200. Between 1960 and 1961, four new residence halls were completed: two for women and two for men. In 1961, women were accepted to the college for the first time.

Aerial View of California Polytechnic College, 1961.

Bulletin, 1961-1962. Robert E. Kennedy Library, Cal Poly Pomona.

In 1961, Kistner, Wright & Wright, who specialized in school design, were appointed to oversee the expansion of the campus. Additionally, over $9 million was allocated to the expansion of the Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 232 school for the 1961-1962 school year, including a new Engineering Center, theater and music building, gymnasium, and swimming pool. The College of Agriculture, designed by Carl Maston, was completed in 1963.448
The Kistner, Wright & Wright-designed master plan, which was based on a projected full-time enrollment of 10,000 students, was approved by the Board of Trustees of California State Colleges in 1964. The $16 million master plan included construction of a library classroom building, business building, science addition, men’s gymnasium, and several residence halls.449 In 1966, the institution officially separated from San Luis Obispo to become California’s sixteenth state college, known as Cal Poly Pomona.450 Development of the campus continued into the late 1960s. In 1968, Smith and Williams designed a residence hall for the campus.451 The School of Environmental Design was designed by Carl Maston in 1970; the landscape was designed by Armstrong and Sharfman. The Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles refers to the building as “an asymmetrical massing of cubic forms.”452 The interior featured movable interior wall panels to provide flexibility in the use of the space.

School of Environmental Design, Cal Poly Pomona, 1970. Cal Poly Pomona Library.

The Kellogg West Center for adult education was designed by architects Mosher and Drew and constructed in 1971. In the early- to mid-1970s, a $7.2 million Science Building of concrete construction was designed by Kistner, Wright & Wright and John Fortune and Associates, with landscape plans by Armstrong and Sharfman. The Student Health Services Building, originally 448 Maston was commissioned to design an addition in 1968. 449 “Trustees OK Cal Poly’s Master Plan,” Progress-Bulletin, September 4, 1964, 11. 450 California State Polytechnic College Staff Bulletin, May 24, 1966; “History of Cal Poly Pomona,” CalPoly Pomona University Library, https://libguides.library.cpp.edu/ (accessed April 14, 2022). 451 American Institute of Architects, AIA Directory, 1970 (New York, NY: R. R. Bowker, 1970). 452 Robert Winter and Robert Inman, The Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles, 6th ed., (Santa Monica, CA: Angel City Press, 2018), 453.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 233 constructed in 1959, was remodeled in 1975 by Mosher, Drew, Watson and Associates. The Student Union was designed by Pulliam, Matthews and Associates in 1975. Many of the academic buildings were situated around the campus’ central quad. .

Student Union Building, Cal Poly Pomona, 1975. Photo by Julius Shulman. © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)
Central Quad, Cal Poly Pomona, 2022. HRG.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 234

ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE
Inevitably with a growing population, new church construction was also on the rise in Pomona. In 1953, Trinity Methodist Church (676 N. Gibbs Street) hired B.H. Anderson to design a new Gothic Revival-style sanctuary to replace the existing church building. At a cost of $250,000 the brick and cut stone building was a departure from Anderson’s modernist aesthetic.453 Trinity Methodist Church, photographed in 1958. Pomona Public Library.

Other postwar churches included the avant-garde Modern-style First Evangelical Lutheran (395 San Bernardino Avenue) built in 1953 and designed by O.J. Bruer; the Church of God (1567 S.

Reservoir); the First Pentecostal Church of God (646 S. San Antonio Avenue); the Fifth Avenue Baptist Church (675 S. White Avenue); and the Lamont Church of the Nazarene (1938 S. Towne Avenue) designed by Harland H. Smith in 1950.

Church facilities serving the Black community were expanded during the postwar period. In November of 1947, ground was broken for the construction of a new auditorium at the Mount Zion Baptist Church. With a seating capacity of 500, the new auditorium was built by volunteers on the south side of the existing building. In the 1950s, the new auditorium housed the Pomona chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The expansive growth of the Black community in Pomona during the 1960s and 1970s precipitated a new sanctuary for the African American Methodist Church in 1977 (1938 S. Towne Avenue); at the same time, it was renamed the Primm Tabernacle African Methodist Episcopal Church. The congregation remains in the space to this day.
453 “Ceremony Sunday Will Launch $250,000 Sanctuary Project,” Pomona Progress Bulletin, January 2, 1953, 20.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 235 Mt. Zion Church, 2022. HRG.

The Temple Beth Israel (456 W. Orange Grove Avenue) was originally constructed c. 1949; by 1958 growing membership necessitated an expansion of the original facility. Construction included enlarging the social hall and kitchen and providing additional classrooms and a library.

Addition to Temple Beth Israel, 1958. Pomona Public Library.

SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
After the war, Pomona continued to have a robust group of fraternal and women’s organizations:
some 150 active organizations are listed in the 1959 City Directory. For men, this included the Lions Club, the Knights of Columbus, American Legion, Pomona Rotary Club, and the F & M Pomona Lodge 246. For women, there were the women’s auxiliary units of the above fraternal Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 236 organizations, as well as Daughters of Union Veterans, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, the League of Women Voters, and the Pomona Ebell Club.

During the late 1960s and 1970s with the rise of second wave feminism, new clubs popped up in the city: the Pomona Business and Professional Women’s Club and the American Association of University Women—both reflecting the changing role of women in society.

Another organization active in Pomona during the post-war years was the Unity League. In 1946, Calendario Mendoza and Ignacio López formed the Unity League, which sought to register marginalized voters and organize local political campaigns for minority candidates. The group also spoke out on numerous issues, from police brutality to segregation. 454 Pomona’s civic and social groups mostly continued meeting in earlier purpose-built buildings or in locations downtown. Surprisingly few purpose-built social or cultural buildings were constructed during the postwar period. Exceptions include the Pomona Elks Lodge (1471 W. Holt Avenue), designed by B. H. Anderson and Robert King and constructed in 1957. The Assistance League of the Pomona Valley (693 N. Palomares Street) was another exception with a building from the mid-1950 that the group still occupies. The Pomona Junior Women’s Club and the Pomona Valley Woman’s Club met at the Westmont Community Center, designed in 1954 by Theodore Criley.

ELIGIBILITY STANDARDS
Summary Statement of Significance
In the post-World War II era, civic or institutional development increase to serve the growing population. Properties that are eligible under this theme may be significant as the site of an important event in history; as an example of notable post-World War II civic or institutional development in proximity to new residential neighborhoods, as the site of activity related to fight for civil rights, or for an association with an ethnic or cultural group or a person important in local, state, or national history. Properties may also be significant as an example of a style or type; architectural styles in Pomona are discussed in the Architecture and Design Section.

Period of Significance 1946-1980
Period of Significance Justification Broadly covers the period of civic and institutional development in Pomona following
World War II.

Geographic Location Citywide.

Associated Property Types Institutional: Post Office, Fire and Police Station, School, Library, Hospital, Religious
Building, Social Club, Cultural Institution,
Fraternal Organization, Park, Civic Building,
454 Garcia, 235-236.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 237 Infrastructure Improvement, Civic Amenity,
Public Art.

Property Type Description Institutional property types include schools, hospitals, religious buildings (including
churches, convents, rectories, and schools),
clubhouses associated with social clubs or
fraternal organizations, parks, civic buildings like
post offices and police/fire stations, and civic
amenities.

Criterion A/1/1,9 (Events/Patterns of Development)
Individual civic/institutional properties that are eligible under this criterion may be significant:
x As the site of an event important in history, such as an important community gathering place; or
x For exemplifying an important trend or pattern in civic/institutional development, such as expansion of services in proximity to new residential neighborhoods, or postwar school planning principals, or civil rights related movements; or x As an excellent and rare example of a civic or institutional building type from the period (post-war school plants).

Integrity Considerations:

In order to be eligible for designation under this criterion, a property must retain sufficient integrity to convey its historic significance.
x Civic/institutional properties from this period should retain integrity of location, design, workmanship, feeling, and association, at a minimum, in order to convey their significance.
x An individual property that is eligible for a historic association must retain the essential physical features that made up its character or appearance during the period of its association with an event or historical pattern.
x Note that some properties that may not retain sufficient integrity for listing in the National Register may remain eligible for listing at the state and local levels.

For historic districts:

Registration Requirements:

To be eligible under this criterion, an individual property must:
x Date from the period of significance; and
x Have a proven association with an event important in history; or Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 238 x Represent an important catalyst for a pattern or trend in civic/institutional development; or
x Display most of the character-defining features of the property type or style; and x Retain the essential aspects of historic integrity.

Criterion B/2/2 (Important Persons)
Individual civic/institutional properties eligible under this criterion may be significant:
x For an association with persons significant in our past; or x For a proven association with a specific significant ethnic or cultural group that made a demonstrable impact on the community, such as a leader in the Civil Rights Movement.

Integrity Considerations:

In order to be eligible for designation under this criterion, a property must retain sufficient integrity from the period of significance to convey its association with the important person. x Civic/institutional properties from this period should retain integrity of design, workmanship, feeling, and association, at a minimum, in order to convey the property’s association with the significant person’s productive period. x A general rule is that the property must be recognizable to contemporaries of the person with which it is associated.

Registration Requirements:

Criterion C/3/3,5,7 (Architecture and Design)
Individual civic/institutional properties that are eligible under this criterion may be significant as:

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 239 x An excellent or rare example of an architectural style, property type, or method of construction; or
x A distinctive work by a noted architect, landscape architect, builder, or designer.

Integrity Considerations:

In order to be eligible for designation under this criterion, a property must retain sufficient integrity from the period of significance to convey its architecture. x Civic/institutional properties significant under this criterion should retain integrity of design, materials, workmanship, and feeling, at a minimum. x A property that is eligible for designation as a good/excellent or rare example of its style or type retains most - though not necessarily all - of the character-defining features of the style.
x A property important for illustrating a particular architectural style or construction technique must retain most of the physical features that constitute that style or technique. A property can be eligible if it has lost some historic materials or details but retains the majority of the essential features from the period of significance. These features illustrate the style in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation. x A property is not eligible if it retains some basic features conveying massing but has lost the majority of the features that once characterized its style. x Setting may have changed (surrounding buildings and land uses).

Registration Requirements:

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 240 Theme: Industrial Development
The citrus industry thrived through the end of World War II; however, after the war the combination of suburbanization and disease resulted in a significant decline in citrus production in Southern California. Many groves were eventually sold to make way for land development and the city’s growing population. In turn, Pomona began to diversify its industries. In the years immediately following the war, the Pomona Chamber of Commerce launched a campaign to bring new industries to the city. In 1948 alone, 41 new businesses settled in the area.455 The city’s location near several major national truck lines, proximity to rail lines, and within 45 miles of a major port made it attractive to companies who were developing a pattern of plant decentralization.456
In November 1946, construction started on a new $300,000 factory building for Fernstrom Paper Mills, Inc. (1450 W. Holt Avenue, not extant). The steel and transite building was designed to be fireproof and allowed the company to expand their manufacturing equipment. The expansion was expected to double the company’s production of fruit and vegetable wrapping papers. By 1952, when advances in technology made it no longer necessary to wrap each piece of individual fruit in paper, Fernstrom sold the mill to the Potlach Corporation.

The most significant industrial development in the history of Pomona was the announcement by Convair that it would build a new manufacturing facility just west of the Pomona city limits.457 Founded as Consolidated Aircraft Corporation by Ruben H. Fleet in the early 1920s, Convair was a manufacturer of airplanes originally based out of Buffalo, New York. In the fall of 1935, the company moved to San Diego where it merged with Downey-based Vultee Aircraft, Inc. The company emerged from the new partnership as Convair. After World War II, with the Cold War on the horizon, Convair’s guided missile-defense business was in transition from the research and development stage to the manufacturing stage. Initially handled out of the San Diego facility, the company realized it needed to expand its manufacturing capabilities. Several large parcels adjacent to the railroad tracks were acquired, creating a 140-acre site in Pomona.458 The $50 million facility was owned by the Navy’s Bureau of Ordinance but operated by Convair. It was known as the Convair Aircraft Corporation Guided Missile Division.

The Convair buildings were built using tilt-slab concrete construction.459 The specific process was called Panelcrete, developed by Buttress & McClellan. Each concrete wall weighed approximately 20 tons and was raised into place with large cranes and ultimately secured with steel beams. The facility included five large buildings, including a warehouse and manufacturing building, and several small ones, such as the training and engineering buildings.460 The plant opened in 1952. 455 Ricci Lothrop, 95. 456 Ricci Lothrop, 96. 457 In 1951, the area where American Brake Shoe Company, Convair, Fernstrom Paper Mill and the V.P. Hunt Transportation Co. was officially annexed into the city.
458 Prior to constructing the new facility, in 1951, Convair leased the old Southern California Edison building at 585 W. 2nd Street as an engineering laboratory, along with 305 E. 2nd Street. In 1952, Convair also leased three buildings at the county fairgrounds as temporary office space for engineers and other personnel. 459 The Convair plant is not extant. 460 “Convair Plant’s Buildings Here Rise Magically,” Pomona Progress Bulletin, November 14, 1951, 13.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 241 While the new plant was underway, Convair began recruiting workers to relocate from San Diego to Pomona. Classified ads in the Pomona Progress Bulletin indicate that the company hired design engineers, production design engineers, electronics system engineers, circuit designers, aircraft electrical designers, and draftsmen. Convair would provide jobs for 5,000 people, creating a great demand for new housing in proximity to the new plant.

Convair was purchased by General Dynamics in 1954. Over the years, the facility produced a variety of missiles and shipboard gun systems, including the Terrier surface-to-air missile, the Redeye weapon system, the Stinger, the Phalanx, the Mauler radar-guided rocket, and Tartar rockets, originally conceived as weapons for carrying nuclear warheads, but known famously to the public as the launch rockets for the Mercury and Apollo programs.

The 1950s brought several labor relations issues for Convair. Strikes and picketing occurred frequently in multiple departments, from tool and dye makers to engineers. By 1961, Convair’s Pomona facility had a work force of 6,274 people.461 By the early 1960s, three of the big five aerospace manufacturers, including Convair, were losing money and laying off workers.462 By 1978, General Dynamics suffered a $156 million quarterly loss. The facility was closed during the 1990s and the property sold off to various buyers.

Convair employees picket outside of Pomona facility, 1958. Los Angeles Examiner Negatives Collection, 1950-1961. USC Digital Library.

Another large industrial employer in postwar Pomona was the American Brake Shoe Company (215 Roselawn Avenue, not extant). In 1952, the company opened a foundry for the production of brake shoes for railways. The building was constructed of steel, masonry, and glass to accommodate approximately 80 workers. The Pomona plant was needed to replace an existing plant near the Los Angeles River that was slated for demolition due to freeway construction. 461 “Convair Officials Optimistic Despite Financial Setbacks,” Los Angeles Times, April 24, 1961, B1. 462 (Convair, Douglas, Lockheed, North American and Northrup).

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 242 One of the more architecturally significant industrial facilities was the Southern Counties Gas Co. facility (1540 W. 2nd Street) in 1955. The expressive design by B. H. Anderson featured fluted steel siding, a glass entry portal and a short tower topped with an abstract flame housed the company’s distribution, construction, and customer service departments. Three other buildings (warehouse, locker building and garage) rounded out the 29,000 square feet of space.463 The fifth and final building was an administrative building.

In addition to the industry in west Pomona, another pocket of industrial development was located east of Reservoir Street and south of Phillips Boulevard. The Wayne Manufacturing Co. moved from Los Angeles to Pomona in 1948 and expanded operations as the company grew nationally and internationally. The company manufactured street sweepers, water trucks, and power vacuums. In 1956, the company embarked on a $20,000 plant expansion to its 1201 E. Lexington Street facility (status unknown) with a new one-story, frame and stucco building by architect Theodore Criley Jr. In addition to more office space, the addition included a patio with a redwood and cement floor with redwood louvers along the west side for shade. In 1962, the company opened a new Product Development Center across Lexington Street from the manufacturing plant. By 1972, the Wayne Manufacturing Co. the largest locally headquartered corporation in Pomona.464
Another longtime Pomona business, Pascoe Steel (1301 E. Lexington) started in the area in 1947.

In 1951, it erected a factory and office building.465 In February 1953, the Betsy Ross Ice Cream Company opened a new manufacturing plant and retail store (969 E. Holt Avenue, not extant).466 The company was established in Pomona in 1927 by David Zaepfel and Thor Hanson to serve both wholesale and retail customers in the Pomona Valley. The factory and retail outlet were designed in American Colonial Revival-style by architect B. H. Anderson to reflect the American name of the brand. Betsey Ross ice cream was supplied to schools, restaurants, soda fountains and drug stores throughout the area.

Pascoe Steel, 2022. HRG.
463 “Gas Company Occupies New Pomona Facility,” Los Angeles Times, July 17, 1955, E23. 464 “Big Sweeper Orders Give Wayne Manufacturing Co. Record Sales,” Pomona Progress Bulletin, April 30, 1972, 15. 465 Additional permit research required to determine the architect. 466 Another retail store at 225 N. Garey Avenue has also been demolished.

Historic Resources Group Pomona Historic Context Statement 243 Several other industries were established in Pomona in the postwar years. In 1959, the Burlington Hosiery Co. (2300 W. Valley Boulevard) constructed a tilt-slab concrete building for hosiery manufacturing. The 85,000 square foot building was designed and constructed by Austin Co. of Los Angeles. In 1967, Industrial Brush Corporation (IBC) moved to Pomona. The firm, with roots as far back as 1896, had developed a partnership with Wayne Manufacturing Company in 1963 to market street sweeper brooms. Four years later, IBC constructed a new headquarters (1250 E.

Philadelphia Street) which was designed by architects Reiss and Brown.467

ELIGIBILITY STANDARDS
Summary Statement of Significance
The post-war era saw the diversification of industry in Pomona, which increasingly turned towards manufacturing, specifically for the aerospace industry. Resources that are eligible under this theme may be significant as an excellent example of industrial development in the City, such as those industries that introduced new industries to the City, as the site of a significant industrial event, such as workers strike, or for an association with an ethnic or cultural group or a person important in local, state, or national history. Properties may also be significant as an example of a style or type; architectural styles in Pomona are discussed in the Architecture and Design Section.

Period of Significance 1946-1980
Period of Significance Justification Covers the diversification of industrial development in Pomona following World War II.

Geographic Location Citywide.

Associated Property Types Manufacturing Facility; Transportation and Shipping-related Facility; Light Industrial
Building; Quonset Hut; Infrastructure
Improvement; Historic District.

Property Type Description Industrial buildings identified under this theme may represent a range of industrial building
types and uses. They are often utilitarian in
design but may represent architectural styles
prevalent during the period of construction.

Criterion A/1/1,9 (Events/Patterns of Development)
Individual industrial properties that are eligible under this criterion may be significant:
x As the site of an event important in history; or
467 Additional Permit research required to determine architect.

W E D N E S D A Y, A U G U S T 1 4 , 2 0 1 3
The oldest McDonald's as Architecture
Sixty years ago this Sunday, the oldest remaining McDonald's stand opened for business at the corner of Lakewood and Florence in Downey, CA. Its yellow neon-lined arches piercing its dynamic roof wedge, and its wrap-around sheets of slanting glass make an unmistakeable icon. And it deserves to be called an icon, no matter how often that over-used label is applied to eye-catching but less significant buildings.

Since it qualified for the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, Downey's McDonald's has also been certifiably historic -- now for exactly half of its existence. If anyone cares to think about it, that fact comes with a whole host of thorny questions and facts that shake up our ideas about what architecture is, where it comes from, and what makes a good architect.

Bud Landon and Roger Williams worked for General
Petroleum in 1953 when Roger's brother-in-law, Neil Fox, told them of a good investment: two brothers in San Bernardino were franchising their hamburger stand idea, and Fox had purchased the first franchise. He opened the first goldenarched stand in Phoenix in June, 1953 (long since demolished.) Bud and Roger bought the second franchise and opened two months later.

Dick and Mac McDonald sweetened their franchise terms to interest people, but they did require Bud and Roger to use the design for the stand that they had developed with Fontana architect Stanley Clark Meston. It was a gem; on a tennis court, the McDonald's, Lakewood and Florence, Downey, CA. 1953.

Stanley Clark Meston, architect
Original franchisees
Roger Williams (l),
Bud Landon (r). 1983
Alan Hess
Architect and
historian Alan Hess
is the architecture
critic of the San Jose Mercury News.

He has written nineteen books on
Modern architecture and urbanism in
the mid-twentieth century, including
monographs on architects Oscar
Niemeyer, Frank Lloyd Wright, and
John Lautner, as well as architectural
histories of Las Vegas and Palm
Springs. Hess’ other books include
Googie: Ultramodern Roadside
Architecture, Forgotten Modern, and
The Ranch House. He is currently
researching the architecture of Irvine,
California, one of the United States’
largest master-planned communities
of the 1960s and 1970s. Hess has
been very active in the preservation
of post-World War II architecture,
qualifying several significant buildings
for the National Register of Historic
Places.

View my complete profile

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Alan Hess on Architecture: The oldest McDonald's as Architecture https://alanhess.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-oldest-mcdonalds-as-architec... 1 of 4 5/13/2025, 11:22 AM
three of them (with Meston's draftsman, Charles Fish) had laid out the exact measurements of every piece of equipment for maximum efficiency. Dick and Mac had operated their original stand since 1948, perfecting a limited-menu self-service system. Meston's building embodied that system, right down to the built-in advertising: Dick had suggested large arches so the stand would catch the eye of customers through their windshields as they went about their daily life in new suburbs like Downey. That town was booming with aerospace companies at the dawn of the space age. Meston gave those arches the space-age spring of a bounding parabola, and made sure they glowed with multi-hued radiating neon.

It's a simple design and thoroughly and
functionally Modern; if form follows
function, one of a hamburger stand's
functions is advertising. Not only was it
made of modern steel and glass, it was
plugged into the cultural zeitgeist of new
technology that was changing the way
everyone lived. Steel and glass office
skyscrapers rose in America's city centers,
kinetic Googie coffee shops appeared on
major suburban corners, gleaming white
refrigerators stood in every middle class
kitchen in the new mass-produced Ranch
Houses across the nation. Meston's
McDonald's brought the same aesthetic to
the roadside of everyday life.

It's also a design that can be critiqued; the
way the arches plunge through the roof is
slightly awkward. But more interesting is to
compare it to another drive-in restaurant designed by a master of Modernism, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, for Indianapolis in 1948. No one can deny Mies' credentials. The Hi-Way Drive-In tried out his universal vocabulary of steel and glass made famous in his 1956 Crown Hall at the Illinois Institute of Technology, where he taught: large steel trusses supported on steel columns at either end rose above the roofline. As the building's entire structural skeleton, exposed to view, they left the interior space open and the exterior walls entirely glass. It was a theoretical tour de force: technically exquisite, but functionally tin-eared. The Hi-Way Drive-in was never built. For all his fame, Mies did not know how to design a building to serve hamburgers to the growing suburban population of America. Stanley Meston did, even though you'll rarely read about him in history books.

There are many good
reasons to visit the
McDonald's in Downey this
weekend to celebrate a
piece of history, culture, and
architecture. It is a time
machine: you can still buy a
burger, fries and shake by
walking up to the outdoor
service window, exactly as
Downeyites did August 18,
1953. You can still eat in the
comfort of your car. You can
look inside to see the ice
cream freezer where Ray
Kroc, a salesman who came
by to sell his MultiMix milkshake machine to Bud and Roger, sat when he got the idea to open his own McDonald's franchise back in Chicago. You can still see Downey, only fifteen minutes from downtown Los Angeles but still claiming its unique identity as builder of key parts of the Space Shuttle, and home to original musical talents from Pop's Karen and Richard Carpenter to Rockabilly's Blasters.

It's that strong civic sense that helped to preserve this piece of American history when sign, 1960
Meston and Charles Fish's original rendering of prototype franchise design for McDonald brothers, 1953.
(Charles Fish collection)
• Bernard Maybeck (2)
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© 2013 Alan Hess, architect. All
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Alan Hess on Architecture: The oldest McDonald's as Architecture https://alanhess.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-oldest-mcdonalds-as-architec... 2 of 4 5/13/2025, 11:22 AM
Posted by Alan Hess at 9:42 AM
Labels: Googie, Los Angeles Conservancy, McDonald's, Mies van der Rohe, Stanley Meston McDonald's Corporation demolished scores of them
nationwide. Back in the early 1990s, the McDonald's
Corporation wanted to tear this one down after they had bought out Roger and Bud's franchise. Downey citizens,
lead by Mayor Joyce Lawrence and aided by the Los
Angeles Conservancy, stalled demolition until wiser
corporate heads prevailed, and the stand was restored and re-opened in 1996.

In 1983, the idea of a McDonalds being a historic landmark was a punchline, even among architectural
preservationists. How could a hamburger stand be historic, let alone significant? How could a suburban building be good architecture? How could Stanley Meston stand in the pantheon of architects with Mies van der Rohe?
How? It's a design that's inseparable from its time, place and people. That's what really good architecture is.

Stanley Clark Meston,
architect, 1983
3 comments:

Unknown June 20, 2014 at 10:54 AM
a new friend posted this on You've Lived in Atl a Long Time If...

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ephemeralist November 7, 2015 at 11:00 AM
Great post! Thank you.

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Akseosolutions January 7, 2019 at 4:09 AM
Thanks for every other informative site. The place else may just I get that kind of information written in such an ideal means? I have a venture that I’m just now operating on, and I have been on the look out for such information. MCDVoice.com Alan Hess on Architecture: The oldest McDonald's as Architecture https://alanhess.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-oldest-mcdonalds-as-architec... 3 of 4 5/13/2025, 11:22 AM
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Learn Historic Places in L.A. McDonald’s Hamburgers
PLACE
McDonald’s Hamburgers
A Googie-style building designed and built in 1953 to reveal the restaurant's innovative food preparation techniques is home to the oldest McDonald's still in operation.

McDonald’s Hamburgers - LA Conservancy https://www.laconservancy.org/learn/historic-places/mcdonalds-hamburgers/ 1 of 13 5/13/2025, 11:01 AM
Saved
Since being saved from demolition in 1996, the World’s
oldest McDonald’s continues in operation as a fastfood historic landmark.

McDonald’s Hamburgers - LA Conservancy https://www.laconservancy.org/learn/historic-places/mcdonalds-hamburgers/ 2 of 13 5/13/2025, 11:01 AM

ADDRESS
10207 Lakewood Boulevard,
Downey, California 90241
Get directions

ARCHITECT
Stanley Clark Meston
YEAR
1953
STYLE
Googie
Modern
DECADE
1950s

DESIGNATION
Eligible For National Register
Preservation Award Recipient

PROPERTY TYPE
Restaurant
McDonald’s Hamburgers - LA Conservancy https://www.laconservancy.org/learn/historic-places/mcdonalds-hamburgers/ 3 of 13 5/13/2025, 11:01 AM

COMMUNITY
Downey
Adrian Scott Fine/ L.A. Conservancy

OVERVIEW ABOUT THIS PLACE OUR POSITION TIMELINE

RELATED LINKS
McDonald’s Hamburgers - LA Conservancy https://www.laconservancy.org/learn/historic-places/mcdonalds-hamburgers/ 4 of 13 5/13/2025, 11:01 AM
Overview
Once a �xture in most American suburbs in the 1950s and ‘60s, the distinctive McDonald’s hamburger stands with twin golden arches and red and white tiled exteriors were facing extinction. As McDonald’s Corporation changed branding and design requirements, the Googie-style drive-in’s were being demolished or substantially altered.

The Downey location survived intact because it was franchised not by the McDonald’s Corporation, but by the McDonald brothers themselves. By 1994, it was the World’s oldest remaining McDonald’s.

After corporate McDonald’s shuttered the location, the Conservancy and its partners undertook a two-year long campaign to save building. Saving an icon of America’s car culture increased the public’s awareness of the historic resources of the recent past and gave legitimacy to preserving other popular culture resources, making preservation understandable and more accessible to the public.

McDonald’s Hamburgers - LA Conservancy https://www.laconservancy.org/learn/historic-places/mcdonalds-hamburgers/ 5 of 13 5/13/2025, 11:01 AM
About This Place
The McDonald brothers had been in the restaurant business for several years when they invented the “Speedee Service System” to automate and optimize food production at their San Bernardino drive-in restaurant. They commissioned Stanley Clark Meston, a commercial architect from Fontana who specialized in auto showrooms and had once worked for architect Wayne McAllister, to design a new building in Downey that could be replicated by franchisees.

Completed in 1953, the Googie-style building features two thirty-foot-high parabolic arches made of sheet metal that pierce the stucco wedge of the shed roof and were originally outlined in �ashing pink neon. The brothers were proud of their food preparation techniques, so they revealed their operations with canted plate glass surrounding the kitchen to allow public inspection from all sides. In 1959, the original stock neon sign was replaced with a custom model featuring the original mascot Speedee running atop a 60-foot golden arch.

The hamburger stand received of�cial recognition as a historic resource in 1984, at only 31 years of age, when it was determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. Adjacent to the McDonald’s building is a replica of the McDonald brothers’ original stand in San Bernardino which houses a small museum.

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Our Position
In response to closure of the Downey McDonalds in 1994, The Conservancy, led by its volunteer Modern Committee, and the Downey Historical Society pressed for preservation by staging rallies at the site that helped generate international publicity.

A campaign encouraging people to write to the chairman of McDonald’s even prompted a response from state Governor Pete Wilson who urged the corporation to “preserve for posterity the home of the Golden Arches.” It also caught the attention of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, who designating it one of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. The site’s owners, Pep Boys, remained a crucial ally by resisting market pressures to lease the land to another tenant and kept the building secure and clean.

The stalemate was broken when internal politics at corporate McDonald’s brought a new regime of leaders who took a fresh look at the Downey Golden Arches and realized that it had to be saved. McDonald’s restored the landmarked stand’s distinctive features and incorporated a new structure to house a museum, gift shop and restrooms. The world’s oldest remaining McDonald’s, once claimed by the corporation to be losing money and threatened with demolition, is now thriving and capitalizing on its heritage and is celebrated by many McDonald’s fans.

Timeline
McDonald’s Hamburgers - LA Conservancy https://www.laconservancy.org/learn/historic-places/mcdonalds-hamburgers/ 7 of 13 5/13/2025, 11:01 AM
December 1996
The restored Downey McDonald’
drive-in continues to thrive today
McDonald’s Hamburgers - LA Conservancy https://www.laconservancy.org/learn/historic-places/mcdonalds-hamburgers/ 8 of 13 5/13/2025, 11:01 AM
Related Links
In the News
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Related Content
PLACE
Lincoln Place
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PLACE
Founder’s Church of Religious Science
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PLACE
Norms La Cienega Coffee Shop
523 W. Sixth St., Suite 826
Los Angeles, CA 90014
Of�ce: (213) 623-2489
Fax: (213) 623-3909
[email protected]
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BUSINESS
Architect’s Arches Got the Job Done
By Dirk Sutro
Jan. 5, 1989 12 AM PT
SAN DIEGO — The co-creator of McDonald’s Golden Arches, those 20th-Century American seducers of 70 billion burger buyers, sat in his small San Diego apartment recently and reminisced.

Architect Stanley Meston was 43 when he designed a new restaurant prototype for brothers Richard and Mac McDonald. By the early ‘50s, in San Bernardino, the McDonalds had food production down to a science. Now they wanted eye-catching shells for their operations.
“They were very smart men,” recalled Meston, who is slowly losing his eyesight to a degenerative eye disease. On a living room wall is a rendering of the first McDonald’s, all red, white, and yellow.

Richard McDonald had strong ideas, particularly that an arch should be somehow incorporated into the new drive-ins. But the high-powered Los Angeles architects he interviewed didn’t see the virtues of the arch idea. Meston was hired because he was willing to work with the McDonalds’ concept.

No Sketches by McDonalds
The commonly reported story is that McDonald gave Meston a sketch of a stand with two arches above it. But Meston doesn’t remember any sketches.

Sections
Architect's Arches Got the Job Done - Los Angeles Times https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-01-05-vw-153-story.html 1 of 5 5/13/2025, 10:54 AM
“They didn’t bring a sketch. They just came and introduced themselves, and we discussed what they wanted to accomplish,” he said. “I went to their place seven or eight miles away. The drawings I did were just what one does when trying to absorb the intentions of a client.”
As Alan Hess wrote in “Googie,” a book on ‘50s coffee-shop architecture, Meston’s subsequent McDonald’s design was not without precedent. Bold geometries had been used for years in the style Hess calls Coffee Shop Modern.

But what was new was the way the arches took off as a corporate symbol, the icons of the burger empire subsequently created by entrepreneur and former milkshake machine salesman Ray Kroc after he secured franchising rights from the McDonald brothers in the ‘50s.

There has been speculation that Meston took his inspiration from such predecessors as Eero Saarinen’s St. Louis arch.
“No. The problem was to design a building that would be noticeable and attract attention,” Meston said. “The shape developed for several reasons. If people were to line up outside three windows for service, they needed protection. The front of the first one faced east, and the roof sloped back to shed water. The arches were kind of a combination of thoughts. They’d had a sketch from some local design man, but nothing like they ended up. But it put a bug in their minds. We went on and developed the arches. Incidentally, those were not structural.” Dramatic Neon Rainbows
Although today the arches have been reduced to logos, in Meston’s day they were the chain’s dramatic calling card, beckoning motorists from a distance, twin neon rainbows in the night sky.

Architect's Arches Got the Job Done - Los Angeles Times https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-01-05-vw-153-story.html 2 of 5 5/13/2025, 10:54 AM
Ultimately, six clones of Meston’s original design were built, none of them in San Diego. Besides arches piercing a sloping roof, there were other distinct features.

Front windows were slanted so that customers would not be temporarily blinded by the glare of their own headlights. And to further enhance their allure, Meston helped select red and white tiles for the horizontal exterior bands. The red tiles, made with a gold pigment, “had a real brilliance,” Meston said.
“I took this job very seriously,” he explained. “I spent a lot of time studying their equipment, layout, manpower, efficiency. I wanted to take advantage of what they’d learned.
“They carefully weighed and measured all the portions. During lulls, men made malts and put them in a freezer for when things got busy. They had a production line that only required four people.
“One of the brothers knew more about potatoes than anyone in the world. I don’t think french fries’ll ever be that good again. They developed a machine to apply mustard and ketchup, but they never could get a machine to apply pickles.” As for whether or not Meston’s drive-ins were art, he has no pretensions. He agrees with a critic (not this one) who found them aesthetically lacking. “They were designed to get a job done,” said Meston, an architect who knows how important it is to listen to clients. “They were created purely to solve the clients’ selling problem.”
Of the original six Meston-designed buildings, only one remains, in the Los Angeles suburb of Downey. Hess is spearheading a movement to save it from demolition.

Meanwhile, McDonald’s has little place in its cold corporate heart for Meston. The Architect's Arches Got the Job Done - Los Angeles Times https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-01-05-vw-153-story.html 3 of 5 5/13/2025, 10:54 AM
company’s headquarters near Chicago reported that the first McDonald’s was built in Des Plaines, Ill., in 1955. Actually, that one was a knock-off of Meston’s original design. The first Meston McDonald’s opened in Phoenix in 1953.

As Hess reported in “Googie,” businessman Ray A. Kroc tinkered with Meston’s original design after he bought the franchise from the McDonald brothers, then replaced it entirely in the ‘60s. But its basic form was eventually replicated in more than 1,000 McDonald’s buildings across the country.

When you visit today’s typical suburban mansard-roofed McDonald’s, you feel yourself longing for the good old days when America celebrated commercial seduction where appropriate, instead of couching it in pseudo respectability.

When he was hired, Meston was given a choice of being paid a flat fee or a commission each time a new restaurant was built. He chose the fee, and sometimes dreams about what might have been.
“This is kind of a sad story to relate,” he said. “The fee was probably 8% back then, and a building might have cost $35,000. If I had accepted a participation agreement, I would probably have a residence on the Riviera and a 600-foot lot.” He paused and chuckled. “But, then, I’ve had a pretty good life.” DESIGN NOTES: Gerald Thiebolt, an associate of San Diego sculptor Rhoda Lopez, was responsible for the tile work on the San Diego Museum of Arts’ new fountain. He was not given credit in an item here last week. . . . San Diego architects Austin Hansen Fehlman are collaborating with San Francisco’s Kaplan McLaughlin Diaz on the new University Center for the University of California San Diego. They were not given credit in a recent piece on the campus’s new master plan. . . . Legorreta, Maki, Meier & Rogers are the architects who will participate in UCSD’s all-day seminar Feb. 4, “Architecture--Shaping the Future.”
Architect's Arches Got the Job Done - Los Angeles Times https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-01-05-vw-153-story.html 4 of 5 5/13/2025, 10:54 AM
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April 25, 2020
Could This Donut Shop Ever Flip Back to Its 'Golden Arches' Roots? In 1954, the McDonald brothers opened up their 7th or 8th McDonald's location at 1057 E. 5th Street in Pomona, California— about 30 miles west of their very first burger stand in San Bernardino. circa 1954 (original attribution unknown, via RoadsideArchitecture.com) It was designed by architect Stanley C. Meston of Fontana—the same one who designed most of those first red-and-white-tiled stores for Richard McDonald, starting in 1952.

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The McDonald's operation ceased at this location in 1968. The tops of the "golden arches" that burst through the roofline on either side of the building were hacked off sometime before the business became Star Taco—and 5th Street was renamed Mission Boulevard.

Star Taco occupied the former McDonald's building—and took over the Mickey Mouse-shaped sign, whose neon lettering and depiction of the chain's mascot "Speedee" were removed—through the 1970s and 1980s, until it closed in 1985.

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Star Taco's owner, Jim Phillips, had gotten to collecting classic Chevy Corvairs behind his taco stand—as well as at the neighboring auto body shop, which he owned as well. Phillips told the Los Angeles Times in a 1991 article, "The Star Taco collection was known all over the country."
He claimed that 80% of his 120 Corvairs was restorable—but local authorities (at the time, the area was considered unincorporated San Bernardino County) deemed the "collection" a junk heap ("illegal auto storage yard") and, in 1992, stormed the property and towed and impounded the lot of them. Some of the cars went into the crusher; others sold at auction for scrap.

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It's unclear how long of a gap there was between Star Taco and the current tenant, AMA Donuts—which has been operating in this location at least since 2004.

I've gone there twice this year alone—once in January to just see it in person after having read about it, and once in April during the coronavirus pandemic. Ironically, it was closed in January but open in April. Upon my second visit, I bought three donuts for $4-some-odd and gave them a $2 tip. Thank goodness for donuts during a health crisis.

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Sure, the AMA Donuts sign looks a little shabby. But they should keep it. They shouldn't touch it.

Maybe one day a McDonald's could move back in—and it'll be brought back to life much in the way that the Downey location was. I'm going to put that possibility out into the Universe and see what happens.

In the meantime, if it can't be a McDonald's, it might as well be a donut shop. Both are so incredibly Southern Californian.

And that design is still so unmistakable.

Photo Essay: How Billions of Burgers Got Their Start in Southern California Photo Essay: The Oldest Golden Arches, 65 Years Later
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ow*IOimuo «
After a hard set of tennis, a coke really
hits the spot at Mel's. Deanna and Donna
have worked up an appetite for a superduper hamburger and a coke.

MEL'S
304 E. Holt
Popular with the kids and older set alike,
McDonald's extends throughout Southern
California. It won't be long before 10
million is changed to 20 million — a sure
sign of good food.

McDONALD'S
1057 E. Fifth
Designed for speedy, efficient service,
the new Hi-Burger has become a favorite
spot for quick and easy snacks. So for
friendly service and good food stop in
at Hi-Burger.

HI-BURGER
1425 N. Garey
Sheila, JoAnn, Larry, and Wendell are
stopping at Badon's on their way to
the movies. Being right downtown, it
is also convenient for lunch after a hard
day's shopping.

BADON'S RESTAURANT
242 S. Garey
Seapy's is a favorite hang-out of the
Devils after school events and while
just kicking around. The barbecued
sandwiches are really good— a hit
with adults and students alike.

SEAPY'S
675 E. Hol t
Did you spend an exhausting day at
the Pomona Valley Center? Drop in at
Newberry's Snack Bar for a coke; Barbara Berry and Don Bone did after a hard day cheerleading.

J. J. NEWBERRY CO .
1550 On-The-Mal l
If you are tired of eating in the same
place at noon, take a jaunt down to
McDonald's. The service is fast; the
price is nominal; and the foo d is good.

McDONALD' S
1057 E. Fifth
Old-fashioned ice cream is hard to
find these days. But Mel's has it. Barbara Truesdell and Carolyn Robertson want a hamburger, then they will have
ice cream for dessert.

MEL'S
304 E. Hol t
mrw i

City Council / Housing AuthorityMay 18, 2026

City Council / Housing Authority
May 18, 2026