NIXON’S LAW OFFICE

While the Richard M. Nixon Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda basks in the limelight as the primary showcase for the 37th President’s career, the building that housed his former law office here sits vacant and badly in need of repair.

Although there are no immediate plans to tear it down, its fate is uncertain, according to Assistant City Manager Eddie Edwards. Seismic engineers are conducting tests to determine whether the 71-year-old brick structure at 135 W. La Habra Blvd. can be renovated and brought up to code. The building is owned by the city, which purchased it for $90,000 in 1988.

“Even though a renovation would be extremely expensive, I hope there is some way to save it,” said Esther Cramer, a local historian and author. Since the early 1970s, Cramer has participated in several efforts to have the building declared a state landmark, but all attempts have failed. “I think the other places associated with his life have overshadowed the law office in importance. Still, I would hate to see it lost forever,” she said.

Nixon’s law career began in 1937, when he was hired for $250 a month by the Whittier firm of Bewley & Wingert. In August, 1939, he opened the firm’s La Habra office in a small, rented space in the Benjamin S. Roberts building on Central Street, which later became La Habra Boulevard.

“He worked there alone for about three afternoons a week,” said former La Habra Mayor Bill Roberts, whose late father owned the one-story building and operated a real estate office in the front portion while the future President worked out of a 10-by-15-foot room in the back. Roberts recalls seeing Nixon working in the office at a homemade desk that he built himself out of a solid oak door and pieces of plywood. “I don’t think he ever had a secretary,” Roberts said. Nixon’s first La Habra client was Emma Wygal, who paid him $5 to collect $700 in back payments owed her from the sale of some property.

Nixon practiced in La Habra until January, 1942, when he left to work at the wartime Office of Price Administration in Washington.

“He left the homemade desk behind, but it was shipped to him in Washington when he became vice president,” said Kevin Cartwright, spokesman for the Nixon library. “He still owns it. Remember, he never throws anything away.”

Numerous other businesses have occupied the building, including an accounting firm and a medical transcription service. The room Nixon rented has no view. There are two windows near the ceiling, but they are barred and look out onto an alley. Elsewhere, there are piles of chipped plaster and acoustic ceiling tiles that have crumbled to the floor. And the place would benefit by a visit from a plumber, since a leaky pipe is forming a puddle on the floor outside Nixon’s ex-office.

A sign and a bronze plaque similar to those marking state landmarks are posted out front. The plaque reads: “Richard Milhous Nixon 37th President of the United States established his law office in this building in August 1939 and practiced law in La Habra until January 1942.”

Although the forlorn structure was never declared an official landmark, it still serves as one of the best illustrations of the former president’s humble beginnings and rise to power. It’s a far cry from the Oval Office.