THE FUZZINESS FACTOR

The buffalo of Irvine have been saved.

The four shaggy beasts that roam the Lange Financial Plaza have been spared relocation, just as the historic buildings of the complex have been spared razing. For now.

Lange Plaza sits on the edge of a passel of undeveloped hills bordering Newport Beach and Irvine. To accommodate a soon-to-be-built tollway nearby, the Transportation Corridor Agencies decided to reroute a road to run through the plaza so commuters could approach the new freeway at 40 m.p.h. instead of 30.

Over Judy Liebeck’s dead body, the agency discovered. Ten months ago, Liebeck, a curator of the Irvine Historical Museum, got wind of the plans, which would have meant demolition or relocation of the buildings, some of which date from the 1930s. She immediately organized a campaign to preserve the site, which from 1953 to 1960 was the home of the Buffalo Ranch, a drive-through theme park featuring Wild West exhibits, bison and Geronimo’s grandson as a guide. In 1962, architect William L. Pereira (daddy of the Bonaventure Hotel and LAX) moved his offices onto the site, christening the complex Urbanus Square. Some 20 years later, businessman William L. Lange bought the buildings, took over the lease and brought along the buffalo, which are cared for by those who work at the plaza.

Liebeck’s crusade to save this rare bit of Orange County history was opposed by the mighty Irvine Co., which has owned the land since the mid-1800s. The company wants to buy the buildings from Lange, but on June 11, the transportation agencies unanimously voted not to route the road through Lange Plaza. At the same time, the Irvine Co., still determined to buy the buildings, announced a plan to study their historical significance and reconfigure it, bison or no. This, Liebeck sighs, could be the kiss of death. “This battle,” she says, “is not won by any stretch of the imagination.”