The A Walking Tour page shows the locations of many of the buildings discussed here. Some of these buildings were saved and consolidated into a center called Old Town Irvine which was created in 1986. The area went through final development in just the last few years.
The hotel is one of several buildings that date back to the ranch days, prior to modern development that began in the 1960s. The descriptions below include only those buildings that were in the immediate area of the hotel. Other significant buildings included the home ranch area (those in the area of the current Katie Wheeler Library), the original ranch house (near the Rancho San Joaquin Golf Course), the many tenant and employee farmhouses located and relocated throughout the Ranch, the cattle ranch homes and bunkhouses, and the assorted buildings (such as the Duck Club at the IRWD headquarters and the salt works in the upper Newport bay), some of which still survive.
The Irvine Company owned the land of the Irvine Ranch. Over the years, some parcels were sold were sold for various reasons. These parcels were large pieces of property comprising many, many acres. All the businesses discussed here were on land owned by the Irvine Company and conducted in buildings owned by the Irvine Company. Business owners on the Ranch owned the lease to operate the business and the business. Sale of the lease when a business changed hands was subject to the approval of the Irvine Company. Several businesses came with housing. The operator of the store had the entire second floor for their personal use. The manager of the hotel received substantially reduced rent. The train station agent also lived above that station with his family. The hotel also provided housing for the operators and their families of the other businesses in town. The cafe owner and employees, the gas distribution center employees, warehousemen and their families, and the garage/car dealership owner and his family all lived at the hotel at one time or another. Given the relatively small size of the hotel, rooms were rarely offered to the public,
The Irvine Store
The store was built for Kate Munger. Kate had recently celebrated her 22nd birthday when the coming of the store was announced in October of 1911. It was described as 50 by 54 feet, of a Colonial style, and a total construction price of $5500. The labor and materials were provided by contractor Chris McNeil who was hired for the job. He constructed many other buildings, as well as bridges, throughout Orange County. A couple of his other works that still stand today are the Balboa Pavilion and the Old Orange County Courthouse. The store was completed and opened in early December of 1911. The store was originally only the two story portion-the first floor was expanded in 1949. The ground floor was a display area in front and a storeroom in the back. The second floor was an apartment for the shopkeeper and family. The external stairs that exist today were added in the 1986 remodel to office space. The post office (a fourth class station) was moved from it's original location in a house across the railroad tracks to inside the store and gasoline was sold outside along the side of the store. In January of 1921 the store lease was sold to the Mr and Mrs. A.C. Newell. The Newells continued as lessees until 1927 when Horace Munger took over the store. He joined the Blue and White chain, which allowed independent grocery stores to advertise as one of the chain, reducing advertising costs and also to sell goods labeled under the Blue and White brand. Apparently either Horace or Blue and White did not find the relationship satisfactory and the relationship ended in just a month. Horace remained in charge of the store until August of 1935 when the lease transferred to Boyd Munger. Boyd and his family stayed for a dozen years.
Later store owners were Paul and Thelma Zitlau (1947). Paul was a butcher from Huntington Beach who ran the business and Thelma acted as post master. They continued until at least 1951 with the help of clerk Rosie A Craft. William A Cook took over the lease in late 1951 and was there with his wife Lodema. There is a story that there were many William Cooks living in the Irvine area. It is true that there were more than one, two in fact. And both of these men were prominent in the community for a long time. William A Cook was a farmer who had a home at the northeast corner of the 101 highway and Central Avenue. He later purchased the store lease. The home that he had rented has been saved and is part of the bungalows preserved on the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary. The "other" William Cook was William C Cook. He was the last Irvine warehouse manager. His home was the home original built for James Irvine's son "Jase" who never occupied it because of his battle with tuberculosis. The home was located across the railroad tracks and across Central Avenue from the warehouse.
All the homes built for tenants and leaseholders on the Irvine were pretty much identical. Comfortable but not luxurious. This home was larger and had nicer fixtures than the typical bungalow, in line with the old adage "All men are equal, but some men are more equal than others".
An early photo of the store looking east. The cars are on the alignment of Highway 101 when it passed on the west and south sides of the store to where it intersected with Munger Road/Central Avenue just north of the railroad tracks. The hotel is to the left. A portion of the blacksmith facade can be seen between the right two automobiles. The service station is located behind the store so this picture was taken before 1930. as the autos would also indicate.
The Irvine Cafe
Known as a cafe, a lunch room, a coffee shop and a restaurant, the origin of the cafe is not well documented. There is mention of a Good Will Lunch room located near the Irvine station in 1927. The cafe was moved to it's final site in 1929 by house mover OV "Ted" Dart. Elmer Dietrich was noted as making improvements to the restaurant in May of that year when he took over the lease from George Angle who was the first proprietor. By December, Harlan "Dick" Diggs, his wife and their son were in charge. Their ownership lasted until July of 1935 when Mr, and Mrs. Lyndon Young took over. There is a photo that shows the interior of the cafe with a menu for "Lyn's Place" and stayed until October of 1939 when they moved to Tustin and operated a cafe there on Second Street. The cafe in Tustin was called "Trucker's Inn" when the Youngs were the owners. After they left in 1945, it changed hands and names many times, ending it's days as Ruby's Cafe when it was torn down in 1990. In 1934, Marshall L and Lucy M Strickler may have assisted the Youngs in the cafe. The Irvine cafe next was managed by Mr. and Mrs. Russell Simmons for Elmer Dietrich who returned as business owner again by 1942. Simmons and Dietrich didn't stay long in the position and turned operations over to Mr. and Mrs. Richard Hughes. The Hughes' also moved on quickly as they sold to Isadore Vermeulen in October of 1945. By the end of 1946, Henry Sizer owned the cafe. He and his family lived upstairs in the hotel. The Sizers were long time operators and ran the business for at least eight years. The last reference to be found for the cafe was a burglary in August of 1960.
One of the biggest challenges of operating the cafe was the frequent robberies and burglaries. Incidents occurred in January 1938, March 1939, January 1942, August 1942, January 1954 and August 1960
The Irvine Cafe, here painted as the Irvine Coffee Shop, was also known as Lyn's Place at the time this photo was taken.
The Irvine Super Service Station
When Kate Munger opened the store, she sold Red Crown gasoline too from an area attached to the rear of the building. This was the only station until about 1926 when it was replaced by a stand alone station on the northeast corner of what became Central Avenue and the State Highway.
The Warehouses
There have been a total of six warehouses were built along the north side of the tracks on both sides of what is now Sand Canyon Avenue to provide shipping facilities for the tenant farmers. The warehouses were managed by both hired contractors as well as grower associations. These warehouses were used as the shipment points for barley, lima beans, barley, and black eyed peas. Citrus was shipped out of other warehouses located further north and west and also in Tustin. Walnuts were shipped from Tustin. Five of these were sack warehouses, meaning that all the products were shipped in 80 or 100 pound burlap sacks, the weight depending upon the product and the shipping standards of the time. The warehouse that was built last was designed to handle lima beans in bulk.
The first warehouse was built in 1891, followed by additional warehouses in 1892, 1895 and 1897. One was built on the west side of the crossing and two were built on the east side. The location of the fourth is uncertain. The warehouse on the west side burned in 1913. The original warehouse just east of the crossing was replaced at some point with another wooden warehouse that was removed in 1948. The sixth warehouse is the concrete silo warehouse that is now part of La Quinta Inn, was built in 1949. The other warehouse remaining today was built in 1895.
Here are some of the labels used by the Irvine growers for oranges and lemons. Walnuts and beans were shipped in burlap sacks stamped with the grower information.
The Garage (and used car lot with office)
The first garage was built by the Irvine Company in 1927. Gene Thomas was the first manager. In 1930, the garage was rebuilt in it's current location and Gene Thomas took over the lease of the blacksmith shop as well. There were frequent auctions of cars left for repair that were not picked up by their owners. Later, the garage sold new Ford and used cars as well as repairing cars.
In August of 1952, the owner of the Irvine Garage opened a used car lot on the corner of the 101 highway (now Progress) and Central Avenue (now Sand Canyon Avenue). It started with a 60 foot by 120 foot area paved with asphalt. At the end of August, an 8 foot by 10 foot office was added to the side of the lot next to the Irvine Hotel. There is a long history of selling used cars at this intersection. In the 1920s and 30s, many owners brought cars to the Garage for repairs and never came back for them.
The Blacksmith Shop
There were at least two blacksmith shops on the ranch. One other was located across what is now Jamboree Road from the Irvine home. There is a sepia tone photograph of that shop which was popular wall art sold at swap meets in the 1980s.
The Train Station
There is a long and dramatic story related to the railroad tracks. Both the Southern Pacific and Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe were competing for the right of way through the ranch in the 1880s . After James Irvine passed away in 1886, the ranch was almost sold on several occasions to a variety of entities included the Southern Pacific. No legal sale ever happened and the AT&SF finally got the right of way in 1887.
The first building in the area was a waiting area built for along the train tracks. It had a roof and mostly open sides. There were several locations and sizes for this station until c 1907 when the formal, traditional station was built. The station was demolished in 1970.
US Marines disembark on their return from the Korean Conflict,
on March 7 1951
Tenant homes
Tenant homes were 1 to 3 bedroom houses built for use by tenant farmers, Irvine Ranch supervisors key employees, and owners and employees of businesses located on the ranch. Like all buildings on the Ranch, tenant homes were built so that they could easily be moved. Many were built in the area that is now Old Town. On the west side of Sand Canyon Avenue, south of Burt Road and north of the Santa Fe tracks was the original route of El Camino Real, later the San Diego Highway, then Highway 101 and finally (on a slightly northernly parallel route), Interstate 5. At least three homes were built on the south side of this road, facing north. One of them was demolished in the 1980s and the remaining two were used as homeless shelters by Irvine Temporary Housing. Prior to the development of Old Town, there was an attempt to convert the hotel to housing for the homeless. On the east side of Sand Canyon, there were three homes built on the south side of what is now Burt Road. These homes also faced north. These last two homes were removed shortly before the Traveland RV center lease was terminated. There was an adobe house on the property that became Traveland and it was used as office space by them. It housed a deputy sheriff assigned to the ranch at one time. The house was demolished when Traveland was bulldozed.
While this site does not include the history of the other original buildings on the Ranch , some of them still exist and are worth a visit.
The Irvine Historical Society Museum
The first wooden structure on the Ranch was a farmhouse built in 1868 for the ranch manager C. E. French near what is now the Rancho San Joaquin Golf Course. He lived in the house with his wife and daughter until about 1880 when he moved to Santa Ana and became postmaster there. The structure was later expanded. Over the years, the building served many purposes. Eventually, the original house was torn down but the expansions survive and hold the Irvine Historical Museum. The house was built on the Newport Back Bay! The bay originally extend even further inland, past the current San Diego Freeway. Because the bay was just a hundred yards behind the San Joaquin Ranch house, it was later used a hunting club with ducks in the bay being the primary game.
Duck Club
Located at the Irvine Ranch Water District headquarters, the building is frequently used as a meeting places for various functions. This description is from the IRWD website: The IRWD historic Duck Club was originally home to two duck hunting clubs, which were still in operation when IRWD built the Michelson Water Recycling Plant in 1966. Both the Ricker-McHone and Old San Joaquin Duck clubs operated under permits from the Department of Fish and Game and the City of Irvine until 1988 when the city chose not to renew the permit in light of the rapidly developing residential community in the area.
The Duck Club was originally located on the former Tustin Marine Base (AKA: Lighter than Air Base) and moved to its current location in the 1940s when the Marine base was built. IRWD took over ownership of the Duck Club in 1992.
While the Audubon House served as the old bunk house for the two hunting clubs, the Duck Club was used as a gathering place for the hunters. They would build a roaring fire in the fireplace and share stories over dinner. The next day they would head out early in the morning to hunt.