Homeowners Want to Save Slice of 1930s

They were built a few at a time on streets with names like Lemon and Lime and Olive--modestly sized, Spanish-style homes of the sort that embodied the California dream in the city’s pre-World War II oil and land boom days.

With their red tile roofs, leaded windows and arches, the houses have by and large endured, leaving California Heights much the same as it was 50 years ago. To hold at bay what they regard as the desecration of modern design, a group of neighborhood homeowners are lobbying to have their area named an historic district. It would be the city’s fourth and largest historic district, encompassing more than 1,000 houses that would be subject to preservation guidelines.

Although the idea of giving the heights historic status was discussed a number of years ago, it wasn’t until a bitter zoning battle erupted in the tree-lined neighborhood last year that the proposal resurfaced.

Area Not Officially Historic

Mike Donelon, a leader of the successful drive to outlaw the construction of rental units on the area’s single-family home lots, referred to the heights as a historic district in a flier advocating the zoning change. He was quickly informed that the neighborhood, which is west of the Long Beach Municipal Airport, may have been around for half a century, but it isn’t officially historic.

“I didn’t know a historic district from anything,” recalled Donelon, who does now. After the zoning dispute was over, he and about 14 others formed a group to push for a district, which would be bounded by Bixby Road on the north, Wardlow Road on the south, Atlantic Avenue on the west and Walnut Avenue on the east. Last month the city’s Cultural Heritage Commission nominated the area for historical status.

A public meeting will be held on the nomination May 15, and if residents support the proposal, it will go before the Planning Commission and City Council for approval.

The preservation guidelines of each historical district vary according to what the neighborhood wants, but they generally govern significant changes in a house’s appearance or its demolition. Typically a homeowner would have to get city permission to repaint or re-stucco the house, or change the roof or exterior design.

Minor Changes Routinely OKd

If the alterations are minor, such as a repainting, the approval is routinely granted by city staff, said Nan Nutt, chairman of the Cultural Heritage Commission. More sweeping changes would have to be approved by the commission, which usually reviews about a dozen such requests a year from the three existing historic districts, all of which are in the downtown area.

The commission cannot stop a house from being torn down in an historic district, but it can delay the demolition for up to a year while it negotiates with the owners. Any new construction in the neighborhood would have to fit in with the general character of homes in the area.

In some instances, Donelon said the heights preservation standards may be less stringent than those in the city’s other districts, allowing, for instance, repainting without city review.

Having won the rezoning battle, Donelon said he doesn’t perceive any particular threat to California Heights. He said: “We’d like to preserve what we worked so hard to maintain.”

Although some of his neighbors stopped talking to him after last year’s rezoning fray, Donelon says he is not aware of any organized opposition to the establishment of a district.

Along with the Spanish-Colonial Revival style houses that typify the heights, there are examples of period revival homes, such as Norman cottages, and California Bungalows that were moved to the area from nearby Signal Hill when it was developed for oil production.