Preserving the Past and Planning the Future in Pasadena, Riverside and San Bernardino

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones 5-2010 Preserving the past and planning the future in Pasadena, Riverside and San Bernardino Charles Conway Palmer University of Nevada Las Vegas Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations Part of the Civic and Community Engagement Commons, United States History Commons, and the Urban Studies Commons Repository Citation Palmer, Charles Conway, "Preserving the past and planning the future in Pasadena, Riverside and San Bernardino" (2010). UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones. 194. http://dx.doi.org/10.34917/1439041 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. 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PRESERVING THE PAST AND PLANNING THE FUTURE IN PASADENA, RIVERSIDE, AND SAN BERNARDINO by Charles Conway Palmer Bachelor of Science California State Polytechnic University, Pomona 1988 Bachelor of Arts Sonoma State University 1999 Master of Arts Sonoma State University 2001 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy in History Department of History College of Liberal Arts Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas May 2010 Copyright by Charles Conway Palmer 2010 All Rights Reserved iii THE GRADUATE COLLEGE We recommend the dissertation prepared under our supervision by Charles Conway Palmer entitled Preserving the Past and Planning the Future in Pasadena, Riverside and San Bernardino be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History David Wrobel, Committee Chair Greg Hise, Committee Member Andrew Kirk, Committee Member David Baird, Graduate Faculty Representative Ronald Smith, Ph. D., Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies and Dean of the Graduate College May 2010 ii iii ABSTRACT Preserving the Past and Planning the Future in Pasadena, Riverside, and San Bernardino by Charles Conway Palmer Dr. David Wrobel, Examination Committee Chair Professor of History University of Nevada, Las Vegas This study examines how three Southern California cities—Pasadena, Riverside and San Bernardino—used the processes of urban renewal and historic preservation as development strategies for their downtown business districts. The ways in which these processes were employed has both reflected and shaped the cities‘ evolving definitions of community. These ideas of community were both inclusive and exclusive, favoring certain ethnicities and cultural practices over others to advance a particular civic image. The case studies are representative of cities in the region that are ―other than Los Angeles;‖ those founded in the nineteenth-century after the Spanish and Mexican periods, but prior to the expansion of suburbs linked to the metropolitan area. The three cities are of similar size, and each was created by specific group of immigrants intent on establishing a settlement of like-minded people, with shared values and viewpoints. Each city subsequently faced similar economic and social challenges imposed by rapid population growth in the decades following World War Two, but developed divergent responses vis-à-vis policies of renewal and preservation. iii iv Was Pasadena‘s nationally-recognized success in building civic character through historic preservation aided by a greater level of homogeneity within the community than was in evidence in San Bernardino and Riverside? Guided by this initial question, the study highlights the scholarly debates concerning the use of history as an element of community identity, and presents an overview of the origins and practice of urban renewal and historic preservation at the national level. Shifting to the specific histories of the three cities, the narrative illustrates how residents sought to develop and define their civic identities through promotion, agriculture, and architecture that evoked what has been termed the ―Spanish Fantasy Past.‖ At the same time, residents attempted to exclude or minimize the presence of ethnic minorities or others who did not fit into the preferred community image. After World War Two, government and business leaders attempted to use the federally-funded urban renewal process to reverse the economic fortunes of their aging central business districts. Renewal emphasized large scale rebuilding of the cityscape for maximum efficiency, and to better accommodate automotive traffic, but often at the cost of the older buildings that were key to the cities‘ distinctive identities. Such loss of local history through renewal became a national concern, and contributed to the passage of federal historic preservation legislation in 1966. Preservation‘s new legal standing gave added weight to the efforts of local history advocates, but also provided an impetus to developers who recognized that historic buildings could serve as the basis for attractive and economical commercial properties. From the mid-1970s onward, historic preservation became increasingly institutionalized as a planning and development strategy in Pasadena and Riverside. As a iv v result, the Spanish Fantasy Past received new life as a preferred means of revitalizing the cities‘ commercial fortunes through promotion to residents and visitors. However, preservationists worried that the drive to make history profitable compromised its integrity, while developers and members of minority groups contended that regulations put in place to protect historic properties hampered economic growth, or guided it in ways designed to maintain the existing racial status quo. By contrast, interest in historic preservation in San Bernardino remained minimal until Latinos gained a significant voice within the city government in the late 1990s. From that point on, city policy began to emphasize the preservation and development of the few historic properties remaining in the downtown area, in hopes of emulating the success apparent in Pasadena‘s efforts. The experiences of all three cities suggest that the success of historic preservation as a planning strategy does indeed reflect the level of homogeneity within a community, but with important distinctions. The community need not be synonymous with the entire population of a city, but may instead refer to a group within the city with access to political and economic influence. Further, the group‘s homogeneity need only be one of shared values, and a shared vision for the city as a whole. It is fair to conclude that preservation on a citywide scale thus depends on the presence of people similar to the early founders and boosters of towns. As with the initial efforts in the nineteenth century, however, success can come at the price of marginalizing residents with differing viewpoints and excluding alternate representations of history that do not support commercial development. Technical Note: Images included in the study are in .jpeg format. v vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The title and abstract pages have the words, ―by Charles Conway Palmer,‖ but in fact this dissertation is a collaborative project involving a number of people, spread throughout the West. First and foremost are the members of my examination committee: David Wrobel (chair), Greg Hise, Andy Kirk, and David Baird. Their collective guidance, pointed questions and depth of experience are largely responsible for turning a rather vague research topic into a complete academic study. Professors Hise and Baird are due special thanks for agreeing to join a project so late in the game. Lynette Webber in the UNLV History Department office also deserves recognition for shepherding me through all the necessary paperwork, and responding with unfailing good humor to the many times I nearly forgot to register for dissertation units. And, a special thank you to my M.A. advisor at Sonoma State University, Daniel Markwyn. When I was looking at Ph.D. programs for the history of the American West, Dr. Markwyn asked the critical question, ―Have you considered UNLV?‖ Writing a dissertation means becoming a regular fixture at libraries and archives. My thanks go out to the staffs of the Lied Library at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; the Feldheym Library‘s California Room in San Bernardino; the Pfau Library at California State University, San Bernardino; the Pasadena Central Library; the Rivera Library at the University of California, Riverside; the Riverside Public Library, Downtown Branch; the University of California, Los Angeles‘s Arts Library; Sonoma State University‘s Jean and Charles Schulz Information Center; the Doe, Moffitt, Ethnic Studies, Intergovernmental Studies, and Environmental Design libraries at the University vi vii of California, Berkeley; and the Huntington Library, with special thanks to Peter Blodgett. I wrote this dissertation primarily while employed by the National Park Service, first at Yosemite National Park, and subsequently at the

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