CLIPBOARD

One hundred years before apartment buildings and housing tracts were the norm, west Anaheim was covered with acres of orange trees.

“It was back in 1943 that we found this place,” said Royal C. Marten , longtime west Anaheim resident and former city councilman. “I had always wanted to live in an orange grove. When I saw the house and the groves, I knew this was where I’d hang my hat.”

The Martens were drawn to the pillared home built in 1891 by Walter Koehler, even though it had sustained structural damage in the 1933 Long Beach earthquake, .

“The Koehlers were a very social family,” he said. “All sorts of parties and social events were held in this house.”

Marten’s wife, Louise, viewed the dilapidated Victorian house as a marred gem in need of polishing. Although plaster was falling off the walls and the staircase had been torn down and replaced with an extension ladder, the couple moved into the two-story mansion with 10 acres of groves on Western Avenue.

According to Marten, Walter Koehler dubbed the ranch “Hard-Scrabble Acres.” Hard-scrabble refers to barren or marginal farmland.

“Our friends couldn’t believe we would actually chuck everything to move out here in the boondocks,” Marten said. “There wasn’t anything out here but this house, untended groves and raw land.”

During the early 1940s, while downtown Anaheim was considered the hub of the county, the outskirts of the city remained rural. The managed growth of the area was a skill that Anaheim residents seem to have inherited from their forefathers.

According to county historian Jim Sleeper, in 1857, a group of San Francisco Germans paid $2,330 for 1,165 acres to start a wine colony. The vintners drew up plans for the city and hired civil engineer and surveyor George Hansen to implement the detailed vision for the future community. Hansen created an irrigation system, cordoned off land for housing and vineyards, and built a fence of living willow trees to keep cattle from roaming into the grape vines.

When the colonists moved to the area, they agreed on an appropriate moniker for their newly planned city. By blending the Spanish word “Anna” (which refers to the Santa Ana River) with the German word “heim” meaning home.

Thirty years later, a blight killed the grape vines and destroyed a thriving industry. By the turn of the century, while oranges had replaced grape production, dairy farming and ranching were profitable ventures in west Anaheim.

The Hansen family chose to harvest wheat on the flat low-lying land west of the new territory. At the southwest corner of Knott Avenue (formerly called Hansen Street) and Ball Road was the Hansen stop on the Pacific Electric Railroad.

“We used to take the Red Car to Los Angeles at that train stop,” Royal Marten said. “And, a few blocks over, the Venice Beach-to-Santa Ana line ran right down the street. All that’s changed now.”

But the changes did not get passed without going through Marten first. At 81, he has seen all the motions of a city in progress.

In the early 1950s, Marten was instrumental in making sure west Anaheim did not get swallowed up into the boundaries of the newly-formed city of Stanton.

“I later received the City of Stanton’s Man of the Year Award,” Marten said. “I guess they didn’t know how hard I fought to keep the Stanton city boundary south of my land.”

Marten later sold the 10 acres of land behind his home on Western Avenue to a developer, who built the Princess housing tract.

As part of the sales agreement, the builder named one of the streets Teranimar Drive, after the four Marten boys: Terry, Randy, Nick and Mark.

Marten was inspired by the naming of Katella Avenue. At the turn of the century, John Rea built a ranch on his 120 acres of southwest Anaheim land. He named the road to the ranch and the ranch itself after his two daughters, combining their names, Kate and Ella.

Around Orange County, Katella has become a household name. In west Anaheim, Teranimar Drive is simply hard to remember and difficult to pronounce.

“I always wondered where that word came from,” said Bob Hogan, who rents a house around the corner from Teranimar Drive. “Actually, most the people around here think it’s an Indian word.”

For Hogan, the neighborhood’s best assets are affordable housing costs and easy access to freeways. Along Lincoln Avenue, grocery stores, shops and restaurants offer quick-stop shopping.

“I can get to and from work in about 25 minutes,” he said. “It’s is a quiet neighborhood and everybody gets along. Now that I know a little about the history, that’s cool, too.”

This year marks the 100th anniversary of “Hard-Scrabble Acres.” While no official celebration has been planned, this mansion set back on a lot off Western Avenue will always commemorate west Anaheim’s link to Orange County’s beginnings.

Population Total: (1990 est.) 6,272 1980-90 change: +7.1% Median Age: 29.0

Racial/ethnic mix: White (non-Latino): 74% Latino: 16% Black: 1% Other: 9%

By sex and age: MALES Median age: 28.4 years FEMALES Median age: 29.7 years

Income Per capita: $11,528 Median household: $22,877 Average household: $26,556

Income Distribution: Less than $25,000: 54% $25,000-49,999: 34% $50,000-74,999: 10% $75,000-$99,999: 1% $100,000 and more: 1%