Once a Santa Ana Landmark : Joe’s Store Is Back to Its Former Glory

In the 1870s, Levi Gilmaker’s store at 4th and Broadway was the hub of Santa Ana, a place where farmers gathered and gossiped and locked their cash in a vault until the next stage to Los Angeles came along.

Today, the building is no longer the hub of town, but it is in the heart of Santa Ana’s Latino community. A business that cashes checks, sells money orders and wires dollars back home to Mexico stands right about where Levi Gilmaker’s store would have been. A travel agency specializing in flights to Central America, a small zapateria (shoe store), a beauty salon and a TV shop occupy the other storefronts of the building, known as the Gilmaker Block.

The single-story, 10,000-square-foot building has just undergone major restoration, returning it to its appearance in 1922, when Joe Gilmaker, Levi’s son, razed his father’s building and erected a new one. That building, too, saw much of the young city’s wealth at one time or another pass through its doors; it housed the Bank of Italy (a predecessor of Bank of America), Daley’s Chain Store and, in later years, a popular drugstore and soda fountain.

Bruno Ledwin bought the building two years ago from Joe Louis Gilmaker, Joe’s son, and had to bring the building into compliance with the city’s seismic code. At the city’s prodding and with the help of a low-interest loan through the city’s commercial rehabilitation program, he also undertook restoring the building to its original state.

Stucco Scraped Away

The stucco exterior was scraped away to reveal the building’s old gold bricks and white brick inlays. New bricks that matched were bought from brickyards in Nebraska and Mexico, and scrollwork was added to the building’s parapet. Windows and doors that had been walled over were reopened.

“It looks nice--my dad would have been proud,” said Joe Louis Gilmaker at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday.

The restoration work, including seismic reinforcement, cost $260,000, according to Robert Dodge, a Santa Ana loan officer. The city-subsidized loan, which also helped finance the purchase of the property, totaled $680,000. Heritage Orange County loaned Ledwin another $43,000.

The building is expected to qualify for the National Register of Historic Places, Dodge said.