Landscape: Felix Gillet Institute, North San Juan, CA.

Photo found at the Felix Gillet Institute.

This posting will introduce a new topic to Cal-Tales; historic landscapes throughout California.  We are fortunate to have several available resources that research California's landscapes, such as the California Garden & Landscape History Society (CGLHS) and the Northern California Chapter of the Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALSNCC).  Both routinely report on historic gardens and landscapes throughout our state.

For example, Marlea Graham, Editrix emerita for CGLHS, recently reported about a new nursery in the Sierra Foothills dedicated to the propagation of historic fruit trees.  Originally introduced by a Frenchmen, Felix Gillet, some of his trees from the mid-1800s can still be found in the area.  Now, the Felix Gillet Institute is striving to search out Gillet's trees to propagate and make them available to the public.  I encourage everyone to support their effort.

After attending the Historic Landscape Institute at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, I am encouraged to see a similar preservation strategy occurring here on the Left Coast by Gillet followers.  The Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants similarly seeks out and propagates plants brought to the United States by Jefferson himself.  Organizations like the Felix Gillet Institute, the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants, and Luther Burbank Home & Gardens provide invaluable resources for understanding our country's introduced plant species.

Threatened: China House, Rancho Cucamonga, CA.

China House, Rancho Cucamonga, CA.  Photo found at The Press-Enterprise.

"Rural Chinatowns served as geographic sanctuaries where ethnicity, language, and cultural practices were held in common and where the amenities of traditional Chinese life where readily available," writes Richard Steven Street.  Marginalized ethnic groups at the turn of the 20th century needed a sense of community as Street recognized, "Chinese field hands encased themselves in a variety of protective institutions aimed at preserving their dignity and self-respect amid a hostile society."

Photo found at Flickr.

The unreinforced brick building is the only remaining structure of Rancho Cucamonga's Chinatown.  Buildings built of wood and scraps burned to the ground in 1919, after a man caused a cooking accident.  As a testament of perseverance, the China House remained long after the destruction of the community.

Rubbing the salt in the proverbial wound of erasing the physical places of immigrant history is the City of Rancho Cucamonga's decision to proceed with red tagging this early 1900s China House.  Set for demolition in as early as 60 days, the current owner, Cucamonga Valley Water District, does not have the interest or funds to restore or retrofit the building.  Its demolition would occur regardless of the city council's 1979 designation of China House as a landmark.

The demolition of this building would also come in the wake of greater interest in Asian history and preservation in California and throughout the United States.  This interest brings to question, what indeed are the motivations of the water district behind allowing this historic building to decay?

Update:  Kudos to the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California and the Chinese American Citizens Alliance for exploring options for saving China House, as reported by Neil Nesperos of the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.

Update:  The plight of China House has just received national attention!

Update: Demolition delayed!

Update: The National Trust for Historic Preservation has just announced 2013's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places, and China House is one of them.  This year, the Trust's President, Stephanie Meeks, has taken to YouTube to further their cause.  For further information, see Save Chinatown House in Rancho Cucamonga.  Supporters are also on Facebook.

Learn: California Architecture Webinar

What better way to learn about California's architecture than from Architect and Author Allen Hess?  Learn about Northern and Southern California comparisons with emphasis on 20th century trends and innovations...from the comfort of your office or home.  This webinar begins at high noon on November 13, hosted by the California Preservation Foundation.  Register here!

Saved: Locke, CA.

Star Theater, Locke, California.  Photo found on flickr by Kansas Sebastian

The Sacramento River's ebb and flow mimics the rhythmic changes in migrant labor throughout California's Central Valley history, where ethnic groups coursed from farm to farm in search of seasonal work as unpredictable as any undercurrent.  Harsh living conditions, abusive employers, a nomadic lifestyle, but mostly a story of perseverance all contributed to a life of uncertainty in a foreign landscape.  Life was (and is) challenging for migrant workers and best encapsulated by author Richard Steven Street in Beasts of the Field: A Narrative History of California Farmworkers, 1769-1913.  Yet we can moor our preservation barge in Locke, California and wander through what remains of one town that immigrants called home...even if they intended to leave sooner rather than later.

There is no better way to experience places than to visit them firsthand.  Sometimes however, we need to rely on others: Bitter Melon, Inside America's Last Rural Chinese Town by authors Jeff Gillenkirk and James Motlow offers readers a view that is both sensitive and articulate.  Originally written in 1987, the 2006 fifth edition includes an afterword by the authors that contemplates Locke's future. Today, stakeholder groups including Locke's ethnically diverse modern population, California State Parks, the National Parks Service, and local governments have all dropped anchor within the community.  Locke is indeed a place to watch as it draws upon its past to navigate its future.

Threatened: Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park, Allensworth, CA.

Tulare County Free Library.  Photo found at the Library Road Trip.

There is no denying that writing about Allensworth has its challenges, but not for reasons one might think.  Readers could argue that this State Historic Park should not be listed as threatened, given its protection under the state's umbrella. Can we however, definitively declare that our parks are really saved?  The continued budget problems in Sacramento have caused many state parks to be fiscally challenged.  Subsequently, they are suffering from deferred maintenance and understaffing, particularly parks involving historic buildings.  Until the state parks are supported by sufficient funding, their sustainability is at risk.

What perturbs this blogger most is missing Allensworth's story for the 48 years I have been a Native Californian.  During my formative years, California history was limited to grand statements of land and gold discoveries, romanticized visions of the California Mission system, and field trips to seek out a railroad's golden spike.  A similar narrative was presented on our American history, which I always associated with "over there" and to the east of California's left bank.  Places affected by Civil War in particular seemed far, far away.  

It was not until I watched California Forever, a film David Vassar and Sally Kaplan, that I discovered Colonel Allensworth and understood California's connection to American lives affected by the Civil War. His story, and the story of free people creating a self-governing place in California's Central Valley, is indeed a story that follows the American dream.  It is also a story that greatly contributes to the mosaic of California's past.

Threatened: Tankhouses, Windsor, CA.

Photos by Thomas Eddy

The sentries of Mendocino's skyline are the town's water towers, or tankhouses in preservation speak.  As if securing the town from an approaching fog bank, the redwood tankhouses also help us identify Mendocino as a one-of-a-kind place in coastal California.  They are a community's icons that have new found purposes; everything from wedding backdrops to hotel accommodations.

  

Tankhouses are indeed unique to the west coast, and in particular to California.  Our long, dry summers meant water needed to be stored for months until the winter rains replenished the soil.  Elevating the tanks helped to transport the water by gravity.  Noted geographer Leon Pitman has identified six different types of tankhouses with each style being unique to a particular region in California.  However, it is clear that Windsor farmers did not pay attention to this apparent "rule."

Slanted or straight walls, attached houses or windmills, all are visually top heavy due to the immensity of the redwood tanks. At least eight tankhouses can be found within and around Windsor.  Most exemplify others found throughout our state. New pumps, pressure tanks, and municipal water connections have made these tankhouses obsolete.  Today, many are turned into living spaces or storage barns, but too many others are either severely deteriorating or already lost. The skeletal remains of one is slated for demolition to make way for a modern hotel on Old Redwood Highway.  Another, with only one story remaining, is slated for a future parking lot near the new train depot.

As these iconic landmarks find their way onto wine labels and bookshelves, will others be embraced by the community as heritage resources spotted all over the vernacular landscape...or will they strictly become fodder for retail kitsch? We should be looking toward places like Mendocino to understand their value as repurposed and functional structures that can also define sense of place.

Stay: Inn at Furnace Creek, Death Valley, CA.

Inn at Furnace Creek.  Photo found at Everett Potter's Travel Report.

If big city vacations are not your cup of tea, Death Valley will certainly provide a completely other world experience.  This is the perfect time to plan your winter vacation away from the wet and dark days to come.  Set below sea level, the valley floor supports unexpected wildlife.  Spring is particularly beautiful when the cacti and other wildflowers are in full bloom.  

The 1927 Inn at Furnace Creek started with a simple preservation interest of a different sort....business salvation.  According to the National Parks Service, the Pacific Coast Borax Company saw the writing on the wall for their Death Valley Railroad when the borax mines started closing.  The hotel attracted tourists as it does today; a welcomed oasis in the dry valley heat.  Despite the hotel's success, the rail line closed only three years later.  Furnace Creek supplied the water, so yes, they have a pool!