- An Original Building of the Irvine Ranch -
The American Bicentennial stirred patriotic feelings throughout the country. One of the manifestations of those feelings was a renewed interest in local history and, for Irvine, that meant the creation of the Irvine Historical Society. When the City announced that Sand Canyon Avenue would be widened, and the Store demolished to support development, the Society lobbied the City and Irvine Company to save the General Store. This effort grew into the Old Town Irvine center that exists today. A partnership was created that would own and operate the center. The Irvine Company sold the land and the buildings to the partnership for $1. The hotel and the store were moved across Sand Canyon Avenue. All the buildings were brought to municipal and building codes in effect in 1986 and other changes were made to improve the commercial viability.
The center was not economically successful and the partnership soon went into bankruptcy. Old Town was repossessed by the bank who sold the property to a real estate Investor. The Investor sold the individual buildings and vacant lot. (Investor has been capitalized here to identify the investor who purchased Old Town Irvine from the foreclosing lender during the bankruptcy. Other investors came into play during the life of Old Town but this Investor ceased to be associated with it after he sold off the individual buildings.) Today each building is owned by a different company or individual. Here is the story of what happened to each building.
Old Town Irvine - 1986
On the corner is the Irvine garage. The first tenant was the Orange Inn, which moved from it's Pacific Coast Highway location. The business didn't last long and was soon replaced by Burrell's BBQ Pit. Burrell's original location was and is near the Orange County government offices in downtown Santa Ana. Some investors came into the picture and several additional locations were opened including the one in Old Town. These new locations were not successful but Burrell's continues in the original Santa Ana location. The old garage sat empty for years. Finally the Investor sold the building to a Denny's franchisee who had to spend a significant amount to improve the stability of the floor, walls and roof. Denny's is the current occupant.
Continuing along Sand Canyon Avenue towards the railroad tracks, the blacksmith shop is next. This was an operating blacksmith until 1986. To raise money for the development of Old Town, the partnership had to sell two of the buildings. The blacksmith shop was one of those two. It was purchased by the Knollwood's hamburger chain and is a Knollwood's today, although the ownership of the company has changed hands as the chain has gone through expansion and contraction over the years. One can see impressive supports holding up the roof inside the dining room. The kitchen is inside a new building adjacent to the original shop.
Continuing towards the railroad tracks and turning left, the next building is the bulk warehouse. This is the other building the partnership sold to pay for the development of Old Town. La Quinta Inn purchased the warehouse and converted the silos to rooms. A new wing of rooms was added perpendicular to the silo building. La Quinta Inn still operates there today.
Next to the bulk warehouse is the sack warehouse. This wood structure has never had a single tenant occupying the total space. The first tenant to occupy the majority of the floorspace was Tia Juana's Long Bar and Restaurant. It was a restaurant by day and a night club with frequent special events at night. Other first tenants also in the space were Sirius Cellars, a wine store and a model train shop. While Tia Juana's enjoyed a long run, the other spaces in the sack warehouse have had many tenants over the years includes sports bars, an architect office, a children's activity company, and marketing companies.
Across the parking lot, lining Burt Road, are the remaining Old Town Irvine business spaces. Starting at the far end of Burt Road from Sand Canyon Avenue, there is the third of three entrances to the shared parking area. The original plans for Old Town called for the construction of a new building just past this third entrance. For many reasons, including parking issues, this lot was never parcelized or developed.
On the other side of the entrance to the parking lot is a bungalow, typical of what was provided to tenant farmers throughout the Ranch. See the walking tour page of this site for the locations of several of these bungalows in the area of Old Tow . This bungalow was on the other side of Sand Canyon Avenue and was moved to this spot in 1986 with the development of Old Town. The first tenant was the East Irvine branch of the United States Post Office. The prior location for the post office was in the front left corner of the General Store. It had been there since 1911. With the Main Office of the post office just down the street on Sand Canyon Avenue, the USPS continued to cut the operating hours and postal supplies inventory (they often had no stamps to sell!) at this location until the lease expired. An investor who had purchased the post office bungalow from the Investor sold the property when that lease expired. The new owner's family operates a dental office in the bungalow now.
Next to the bungalow is the general store. The first tenant of the first floor was Wee House Gifts. Upstairs was originally the living quarters of the owner of the store lease. Very few changes were made to the upstairs of the store for the 1986 conversion to retail space. The kitchen was removed, the original bathroom reconfigured into two, the interior stairs were removed and exterior stairs were added. The only access to the second floor was then only by a staircase on the side of the building that was exposed to the elements. This design choice dampened the market appeal for prospective second floor tenants. Upstairs in 1986 then was entered through a side door into a hall way which ran in a T shape which individual rooms, that had been primarily bedrooms, off of it. The bathrooms were also off this corridor. The first upstairs tenants were several short lived, unconnected businesses including a fortune teller.
An investor purchased the store and immediately put it back on the market for substantially more than he paid for it, hoping to turn a quick profit. But with the top floor space being almost always empty and the downstairs gift shop lease locked in a low rate from the time of the Old Town bankruptcy, there was no interest. Various tenants came and went but none ever lasted more than a few months. Finally the gift shop lease expired and a hair salon moved into the first floor. They lasted a few years until they abandoned the property in a dispute over rent with the owner- the tenant stopped paying it and was locked out of the building. Another hair salon followed but the tenants walked away before the lease had expired. The entire building sat empty until it was sold in 2020 to a veterinary hospital. After an extensive remodel which removed almost all internal vestiges of the building's days as a general store including major changes to the second floor apartment, the hospital is the current use of the site.
Continuing down Burt Road, the hotel, which had been moved across Sand Canyon Avenue in 1986 with the general store and bungalow, is next. For it's conversion to modern use, very few of the internal walls were removed on either the first or second floor. A second floor kitchen (one of two) and both kitchens downstairs were removed. A couple of walls were added and a couple of doors were moved. The first tenant upstairs was the western regional headquarters for the La Quinta Inn chain. Downstairs was leased by the Irvine Travel Company in the front of the building and a State Farm insurance agent in the back. Neither business lasted long. The travel agency gave way to a court reporting company that sublet an office to an attorney who took over the lease when the court reporting firm decided not to renew. The back space was used primarily for storage for the gift shop next door. The upstairs became the office for a local government official who used for his law practice as well as his headquarters for when he ran for President of a United States. The Investor sold the hotel during this time to the current owner. Tenants that have occupied the space since that time including attorneys, a software development company, an after school tutoring company, a psychologists group, a photography studio, a church office and a chiropractic office.
Perhaps the oddest story of Old Town Irvine buildings has been saved for last. Next to the hotel, adjacent to the second parking lot entrance, was a vacant pad in 1986. Various uses were contemplated by possible buyers but nothing came to fruition for several years. One day, a group working out of an El Toro post office box purchased the land with borrowed money. They were interested in constructing a building and provided a very vague purpose. They submitted plans to the City for a large building with undefined rooms and no facility name or intent. After continuing odd behavior with both the City and other Old Town principals, the group simply vanished one day and the property was taken over by the lender. The next buyer to come along claimed that they bought the property to add another location of their pizza chain. A building was constructed that was designed to blend in with existing buildings. As the facility neared completion from the outside, no floor was ever installed. Nothing but bare dirt with walls and a roof over it. It turned out that the pizza place was a ruse to allow them to build on speculation. There were no takers though and the property went into foreclosure once again. The last buyer was a dental office which, after making some minor changes to the outside shell, added a floor and some walls and is still a dental office to this day.