The Los Angeles metropolitan area can be visualized as a giant octopus, with the head being the city proper and the tentacles being the long strands of the suburbs that stretch along valleys bordered by low hills . Major freeways snake through these valleys in all directions, serving approximately 20 million people.
The press of development has run up against the base of towering mountains in all directions, especially to the north, where the San Gabriel Mountains rise thousands of feet above the San Fernando Valley towards Mt. Baldy northeast of the city at over 10,000 feet. The San Gabriel Mountains rise as the northern border of the metropolitan area for nearly 80 miles where they meet the San Bernardino Mountains stretching to the southwest. The San Bernardino’s are home to legendary LA area retreats at Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead, in the shadow of their highest peak, Mt. San Gorgonio, at 11,500 feet. My plan is to skirt the edges of the urban sprawl, starting in the south at one of California’s fastest growing cities, Temecula, and ending at one of the more mature suburban areas, the San Fernando Valley to the north.
Temecula, CA
The narrow valleys southeast of Los Angeles were home to Native Americans for hundreds of years until the Spanish missionaries first came to the area in 1798. During the next 50 years control of the Temecula Valley passed form the missionaries to Mexico to the United States at the end of the Mexican-American War. The Mexican government had sectioned the land off into three large “ranchos” (Ranchos Temecula, Pauba, and Santa Rosa) and one smaller rancho, the Little Temecula, that was given to the Indian leader Pablo Apis. All four would primarily run livestock on the land for over a century. The hills surrounding the valley are covered with granite boulders and the coming of the railroad in 1882 allowed the granite to be quarried and shipped anywhere. In 1905 Walter Vail, a successful rancher in Arizona, moved into the area and eventually amassed over 87,000 acres in and around the Temecula Valley. The small town of Temecula was established in a narrow valley along the railroad and served as the commercial center of the valley for the next 80 years. Today “Old Town Temecula” is now a center of shops, restaurants and galleries surrounded by “New Temecula.”
In a nod to the legacy of the railroad, sidewalks in the city center are composed of old railroad ties.
Above the narrow old town to the east is a Mission style government center and plaza. Standing on the plaza the view west is down the hill to the town center, to the east is the imposing government building.
The Vail Ranch dominated the local area until 1964 when it was sold for development. Now known as “Rancho California” the area developed slowly until the completion of Interstate 15 connecting San Diego to Los Angeles spurred the planning of the first subdivisions. Rapid growth has occurred in the subsequent years and Temecula is one of the fastest growing communities in California. Part of the current “boom” is being fueled by wine enthusiasts now flocking to the area. Grapes had been introduced to the valley by the Spanish missionaries but the area did not develop into a commercial wine-making enter until the 1970’s. The developers of Rancho California brought in experts to plant a demonstration garden of 57 different varieties of grapes and wine makers soon followed. Today the hills east of Temecula are home to numerous vineyards.
Turning around and heading back towards Temecula the suburban sprawl stretches to the northwest up the valley towards Los Angeles, 85 miles away.
As I head up the I-15 freeway towards Corona I pass through an incredible scene. While it is gray and misty today, a couple of days earlier brilliant sunshine had brought nearly 50,000 people to this stretch of interstate near Lake Elsinore to see this year’s incredible “super bloom.” The wet winter has created a brilliant wild flower bloom across Southern California.
Traffic had been brought to a stand-still and the back-up went for miles in both directions as people parked on the shoulders to take in the view. Today orange cones are in place trying to prevent parking but, as you can see, some people ignored the cones and “No Parking” signs to take in the view. If you look closely at the picture above on the left you can see a dirt road climbing into the hills. What you can’t see is that even today, a Wednesday, in the middle of the morning, there is a non-stop line of people going up and down the road to see the canyon beyond. Obviously, I didn’t stop but a photographer for the LA Times had taken the pictures for me. This is what lies beyond the hills.
After a great lunch with nephew Chris in Corona I veer to the northeast to explore the eastern edge of the LA area around the town of Redlands. The reality is that, even though on a map one sees many different cites listed in the area between Los Angeles and the San Bernardino Mountains, it is one continuous 85 mile long urban sprawl from the beaches to the base of the mountains.
Redlands
When the Spanish missionaries first came to the area in 1810 a small Native American village was already flourishing at the base of the mountains. In 1819 the mission at San Gabriel established an outpost in the area named the San Bernardino Assistencia. The first irrigation ditch was dug in 1820 to serve the assistencia to bring cultivated agriculture to the area. The assistencia complex has been restored on the original site above the plain to the north.
The Mexican government sold the Rancho San Bernardino land grant to the Lugo family who became the first settlers other than the mission in the area. The rancho was purchased in 1851 by a group of Mormons who founded the town of San Bernardino on the rancho and built a successful farming community. However, the presence of the Mormons did not last long as they were all recalled to Salt Lake City by Brigham Young in 1857 as reinforcements in the brief Utah War. The rancho was sold off in pieces and settlement began to spread at the foot of the mountains. The coming of the railroads in the early 1880’s brought a land boom to the area, leading to the establishment of the city of Redlands. Citrus production rapidly became the driving force in the local economy and for nearly 75 years Redlands was the center of the largest navel orange growing area in the world. The city flourished and today many of the original buildings from the early 1900’s survive in a bustling downtown core.
The railroad tracks run along the north side of the historic town center and the 1909 Sante Fe Railroad depot is undergoing a complete renovation.
The south end of the compact city center is marked by the 1940 Spanish mission style original city hall (now the police department) and across the street the newer city hall, built in a somewhat undetermined and perhaps regrettable architectural style.
West of the police department building is a civic complex that includes three remarkable buildings. The first is the 1898 A.K. Smiley Public Library, one of the first privately funded libraries in California.
The interior is just as striking as the exterior, unfortunately the stained glass windows throughout do not photograph well.
Across a grassy plaza from the library sits the Lincoln Memorial Shrine.
Lincoln Memorial Shrine
It seems rather odd to find a shrine dedicated to President Lincoln here in Redlands, a place that didn’t even exist when he was president. The story actually begins with Robert Watchorn, an Englishman who began work in the coal mines of England at age 11. He immigrated to America in 1880, where he worked in the coal mines of Pennsylvania and became fascinated and inspired by the life of Lincoln. He quickly prospered and became a wealthy oil tycoon. Along the way he pursued his interest in Lincoln by purchasing items associated with Lincoln’s life and times. He chose Redlands to be his winter home and became an involved citizen in local affairs. His son fought in World War I and upon return to the United States endured some health problems, resulting in his death in 1921. The Watchorns built the Lincoln Memorial Shrine in Redlands as a memorial to their son. The stately octagon center opened in 1932, the fountains and wings were added in 1998.
The entrance opens up in the octagonal center room, home to a bust of Lincoln.
The wing to the right is a small theater, the wing to the left houses artifacts from the Civil War as well as a few items from Watchorn’s Lincoln collection.
A highlight is a pair of cufflinks worn by President Lincoln. You can’t see very well in the picture, but there are cameos engraved on the stones.
A small book presented and inscribed by Mary Todd Lincoln to Mary Remann on December 25, 1856, is on display. Incredibly some pressed wild flowers and clover picked from the yard of the Lincoln home in Springfield, Illinois in 1856 are still preserved.
An original program from the ceremony in 1865 at Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, where the original flag that had been lowered at the beginning of the Civil War was raised again to signify the end of the war is next to the actual carpet bag used by Peter Hart to carry the flag back to Fort Sumter in 1865.
Across the street is the Redlands Bowl, built in 1931 as a gift to the city of Redlands from Florence and Clarence White. Above the stage is a portion of Proverbs 29:18, “Without vision a people perish.” The Redlands Bowl Summer Music Festival runs from June through August each summer with two concerts a week for the public. It is the oldest continuous music festival in the United States at which no admission is charged.
The blocks west of the library are lined with Victorian homes from the early 1900’s.
The city rises up the hillsides to the south where the citrus millionaires built their mansions. One of the mansions, the 1890 Edwards Mansion, has been moved down onto the valley floor and serves as an event venue.
Homes on the crests of the hills have dramatics views. This is to the south, away from the city, across valleys lined with orange groves to the hills beyond.
Panorama Point above I-10, east of downtown Redlands, gives dramatic views northwest towards San Bernardino and east to the San Gorgonio Mountains.
As I return back to the RV Park I’m reminded of a line from the 1970 song “Big Yellow Taxi” by Joni Mitchell where she sang “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” Just behind my RV Park (one of the few that survive in the area) orange groves are being destroyed for a suburban subdivision.
Next up: Part 2 of the “LA ‘Burbs’”, The North
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