A Home for All Ages : A couple Who Have Lovingly Preserved a Lincoln Park Home Want Pomona’s City Council to Save the Neighborhood for Posterity.

When Beverly and Lou Yedinak bought a historic house in Pomona’s Lincoln Park neighborhood four years ago, they quickly realized they were living inside an endangered species.

Their house, overlooking the circular park, was among 16 homes constructed in the area, mainly in the 1920s, by the city’s wealthiest residents. But changing economic tides had transformed the neighborhood by 1965, and many homeowners rented out their houses and moved away. Once-stately residences became run-down and some were destroyed, the Yedinaks said.

But the Yedinaks were movers of a different sort.

They decided to tackle a two-pronged improvement project. Their targets: the city and their own 4,000-square-foot, 10-room house.

The Yedinaks bought the house for $240,000. It was built in 1924 and 1925 for $35,700--a tidy sum in those days. Raymond Smith, who founded the First National Bank in Pomona, built it for himself and his family, and was so meticulous about detail that construction took a full year.

Except for the dramatic color contrast of the blue, deep-pitched roof, the exterior of the white wood house has the simple elegance of Classic Georgian Revival architecture, including a columned portico.

Inside, the detailing is especially visible in the 12-foot ceilings’ “picture frame” molding--so called because paintings can be hung from it--and the quarter-sawn oak floors, cut so only the heart of the wood was used.

A wide, “Gone With the Wind” stairway, flanked by walls of solid mahogany, faces the front door. At its landing, a stained-glass window, circa 1870, mostly aqua and gray, would dominate most homes, but in the Yedinaks’ house, it’s simply another antique.

Beverly Yedinak, 53, ran an antique shop in Azusa for nine years, and her husband, Lou, 54, is an avid collector.

The house is a testament to a lifetime of collecting:

* Fifty-four clocks dating back to 1750 chime and cuckoo throughout the house. And 150 more await repair in Lou Yedinak’s basement workshop.

* Two porcelain stand-up dolls--dressed in satin, velvet and lace--dangle drawstring purses from their turning wrists.

* About 40 “Wizard of Oz” books have been banded together into a private “Munchkinland” inside a special bookcase. Many volumes of the Frank L. Baum classic are first editions.

* A William Jenkins parlor pianoforte, circa 1835, has pull-out stands for candlesticks and a draped pink fabric over the upright back.

* Engravings that date back to 1802. One, by an unknown artist, depicts a biblical character leaning on a staff and holding a young child.

* A small collection of Hummel figurines was painted in 1965 by Berta (Maria Innocentia) Hummel, a German nun.

The Yedinaks purchased their Pomona showplace after living in West Covina for more than 25 years. They arrived in the San Gabriel Valley by way of Reading, Pa., where they met as high school students with a common love of Bavarian folk dancing.

“Bev was the only girl in the class who could do the polka,” Lou Yedinak said, “so of course we were married.”

When they moved to Pomona, the Yedinaks joined the city’s Historical Society, of which Lou Yedinak is now president, and were put on the board of directors of the then-fledgling Pomona Heritage Group, dedicated to preserving the city’s old homes.

Pomona Heritage has since moved to upgrade the city through zoning changes, Lou Yedinak said.

“Now there’s a sense of community, especially among homeowners around the park,” he said. “And people aren’t afraid to go out jogging here at 8 o’clock at night.”

The Police Department does not keep neighborhood-by-neighborhood crime statistics, Capt. Richard Shaurette said, but he noted that crime remains a citywide problem. “Violence associated with gangs and drugs are still way up there,” he said.

Currently, the Yedinaks are involved in Pomona Heritage’s efforts to obtain state historic designation for the Lincoln Park area.

But first, Beverly Yedinak said, the city must act.

If it receives preservation status from the city, Lincoln Park would be Pomona’s first historic neighborhood.

Pomona Mayor Donna Smith said the proposal is expected to come before the City Council this month.

Meanwhile, Lou Yedinak, a plant engineer for Bert-Co Graphics in Los Angeles, is planning to retire in about a year. The couple, who have two sons, Brian, 30, and Paul, 28, plan to move to Missouri after the retirement.

However, the Yedinaks say they will take pride in what they’re leaving behind. “Pomona is beautiful now,” Lou Yedinak said. “It’s blooming like a flower.”