Old Homes Make Comeback : New Breed of Urban Pioneers Works to Preserve Willmore City

In its turn-of-the-century heyday, the Drake Park area of Long Beach attracted some of the young city’s finest citizens. They built strong, elaborate houses as big as their dreams.

The dreams remained, but over the years their once-proud homes fell into disrepair and decay or were razed to make way for apartment buildings. Beautiful carvings disappeared beneath layer upon layer of enamel.

The gentry moved out. Sailors home from the sea and large families looking for cheap digs moved in. Later, graffiti-scrawling gangs divided turf in the neighborhood a few blocks north of downtown.

Then, about a decade ago, the turnaround started.

Along came a new breed of urban pioneers lured by low home prices and preservationist zeal. They banded together with a close-knit improvement association that pressured city officials to install street-light poles, scrub the gutters weekly and create a special historical zone that would preserve the local character by warding off high-density developments.

Today, they have given the grand homes a new lease on life. They spend their evenings behind paint strippers instead of in front of television sets, and spinning power saws blades instead of record albums as they go about the painstaking tasks of rehabilitating the old homes they have bought.

The newcomers have cut a niche for themselves in the neighborhood and actively promote it as a respectable place to live.

“It takes a lot of guts to go into a deteriorating neighborhood and turn it around,” said police Lt. Robert Kalowes, who heads the Community Relations Section that works closely with the residents. “They are investing a lot of money in an area that others had given up on.”

The effort has paid off. Residents say their houses have doubled in value in the last three to five years. And with the development of the World Trade Center about a mile south, they expect prices to keep rising.

They have given the Drake Park area a new name--the Willmore City Historical District. It is bounded by Pacific Avenue, Anaheim Street, 7th Street and the Los Angeles River.

One of three historical districts in the city, the area’s name harkens back more than a century ago when William Willmore tried to develop the site as a resort for snow-weary Midwesterners. Although his development failed, the area was incorporated as Long Beach in 1888.

That bit of history is related by Brenda Hinton, a Long Beach tour guide whose husband, Michael, is president and treasurer of the Willmore City Heritage Assn.

Brenda Hinton said they wanted to buy a historic fixer-upper, such as those in the affordable West Adams District in Los Angeles or the Northern California city of Petaluma.

“All of a sudden we discovered here in Long Beach--the city that we love--a historical district,” she said. After a bit of searching, the Hintons settled on a rambling 1905 Queen Anne-style house with a large yard and plenty of fruit trees.

Hundreds of work hours later, their preservation efforts are beginning to take shape. The Hintons have restored their dining room, delicately stripped layers of paint off the carved wood and are planning to rebuild the grand staircase.

Apart from the enjoyment of her own house, Brenda Hinton said she loves the neighborhood. She said an evening stroll can last a couple of hours because of all the stops to chat.

“The neatest thing about Willmore City is that we know our neighbors,” she said. “This area has come alive. . . .We have a common goal and we work on old houses.”

The new residents share not only renovation tips, but the fine points of city rehabilitation programs as well. Hinton said she and others have made ample use of the city’s tool and dumpster loans, as well as graffiti removal programs.

Graffiti Removed Quickly

She takes special pride in the effort to rid the neighborhood of graffiti. Either by calling on the city, or residents who take brush in hand with city-provided paint, gang slogans and monikers are usually removed before they have barely had time to dry. Without visibility, Hinton said, gangs head elsewhere.

To publicize its efforts, the heritage association hosts a tour of historical homes every June. This year, Hinton said 600 people attended. The $5,000 in proceeds is returned to the neighborhood through various projects. In 1985, about 100 volunteers scraped, sanded and painted the exterior of a historic home owned by an elderly woman on Chestnut Avenue.

The association also has a special home tour, barbecue and softball game for police officers only. By fostering good relations, Hinton said officers get to know residents and the special problems in the area.

Neither Hinton nor the Neighborhood Watch block captain, Barbara Peebles, hesitate to telephone police to report problems that might be considered mere annoyances.

One particular peeve is the driver of a small pickup truck who cruises the neighborhood while blasting his stereo tape player. “Boom-boom,” as they call him, is loathed enough to merit mention in the association newsletter as “this jerk who drives around the area with a car stereo that ought to be included in the US/USSR arms limitation talks.”

Police Welcome Such Calls

Hearing him approach as she talked with Hinton and a reporter, Peebles ran to telephone police. This time, however, a dispatcher refused to send a patrol car to investigate the complaint. Hinton and Peebles decided to mention the problem to Lt. Kalowes.

Reached later, Kalowes said that police are not bothered by the frequent calls from the “pleasantly militant” preservationists.

“That’s exactly what we want them to do. Those are people we want to help out,” he said.

Peebles lives with her husband, Jim, in a circa-1899 home. She said she has grown accustomed to living in a neighborhood in transition. Besides blasting stereos, she said she has seen neighbors brandishing guns and sometimes hears loud--and physical--domestic fights.

“It’s very mixed,” she said of the neighborhood. “It will gentrify. I know it will.”

But, interjected Hinton, “It’s not always going to be white yuppies.” Both said they enjoy the multicultural elements of the neighborhood--the tamale guy who drives through every day and the fresh tortillas at Star’s Market.

Area Has Been a ‘Secret’

Gentrification weighs heavily on the mind of Rita C. Woodbury. Her real estate business based a block from Drake Park involves selling and rehabilitating historic buildings. Interest in Willmore City, she said, has never been higher.

Still largely a well-kept secret in Long Beach, she said the area has become better known as the city’s centennial celebration nears. The popularity has spilled over to property values, she said.

While the neighborhood was once studded with houses selling for about $100,000 three to five years ago, only one remained last week. A typical home that sold for $100,000 a few years ago would now cost about $130,000 unrestored and closer to $200,000 fully restored, Woodbury said.

Woodbury, an active member of the city Cultural Heritage Commission, co-owns Preservation Partners. The firm restores apartment buildings in the area to not only preserve them, but also to help finance the improvements from the higher rents that landlords can charge tenants.

“As it gentrifies, I know there will be people displaced,” she acknowledged. “I have tenants I gave increase in rent notices to and I know they won’t be able to stay.”

Large Stock of Rentals

Even as some buildings are brought back to their original grandeur--drawing higher monthly rent checks--the area still has a large stock of rental housing.

That is due in large part to the unassuming Earl Buchs, who owns 47 units on 19 lots along Loma Vista Drive. Buchs said he started buying homes along the street in 1967 and never quite stopped.

“Property was very cheap here then,” he said. He pointed to the first house he bought, divided into three units, that cost $15,000 back then. It sold last month, he said, for $190,000.

“I like old buildings. I wanted to save all I own,” he said.

With the World Trade Center and other downtown developments, Buchs said he has no vacancies.

“Some years it’s as high as three (at any given time),” he said. “Now, we’re lucky to have one or two.”

Buchs’ said the biggest problem is absentee landlords who fail to maintain their properties. “They don’t know what the problems are,” he said. “You’ve got to be here.”