In Contrast to Past, New Black Residents Say Buying O.C. Home a Positive Experience : Putting Out Welcome Mat

When Percy and Minnie Burton arrived in Orange County as newlyweds in 1946, race-restricted deeds prevented blacks from owning property in most of the area.

So the Burtons had to rent, but they were not warmly received in the neighborhood where they rented their first house. Someone deliberately took out their water pipes, forcing the Burtons to drive every day for two years from El Toro to Laguna Beach, where a sympathetic service station owner allowed them to fill large barrels from his spigot.

When at last the Burtons bought their first house in Santa Ana in 1964, the white realtor who had listed the house was so mad at the Burtons’ agent for handling a sale to blacks, “he wouldn’t give her the key until the day we moved in,” said Minnie Burton, shaking her head at the memory.

The Burtons say they were the first black family to move north of Santa Ana’s Civic Center Drive, in those days a racial dividing line.

But in the 47 years since the Burtons came to Orange County, more than just housing prices have changed. Attitudes toward minorities have, too.

Once restricted to pockets of Santa Ana, Fullerton and El Toro, black residents today are widely dispersed throughout the county’s 31 cities and have their pick of locations when they search for a home. While some say things could still be better and that racism still exists, many new black residents say their experiences have been positive and they find the county a desirable place to live.

When Tanya and Charles Hutchison went looking for a home in late 1991, they searched throughout Los Angeles and Orange counties and picked a new four-bedroom house in an affluent Trabuco Canyon subdivision.

They moved in a little more than a year ago without a problem, and their biggest gripe about living in Orange County is the commute to Los Angeles, where both work.

So why do they live in Orange County?

“You know what? I feel safe,” said Tanya Hutchison, 30, a model who also teaches modeling. Charles Hutchison, 43, is a computer consultant. The couple was living in West Los Angeles and Tanya was pregnant with the couple’s first child when they searched for their house.

“Out here, I feel more secure,” she said. “I’m not so paranoid someone is going to attack me, whereas in L.A., I’m kind of paranoid with all the drive-by shootings and everything.”

They found a good deal on a house on Pinnacle Drive, a private and quiet street at the top of the Trabuco Highlands subdivision, which has a low crime rate.

They say they haven’t been the victims of racism, but they don’t go into the community as much as they used to since the birth of their daughter, Erice, 10 months ago. While the couple has gotten to know a few other black couples in the county, they still drive up to Los Angeles to attend church and see other friends.

For Angela Harris, another newcomer to Orange County, new friends came through involvement with civic organizations. She and her husband, Orville, president of ARCO Transportation Alaska, moved from Anchorage to Huntington Beach about a year ago when he was transferred to the firm’s Long Beach office.

“This was an area where we chose to live not because of the area’s racial composition, but because the housing was affordable to us, the location was desirable, and we’re close to the beach and to my husband’s workplace,” she said. “You find a place that’s desirable to live, then you can still do things socially, either in the community, or through your work, or other organizations.”

Harris said she enjoys being able to walk to the beach or nearby cafes, and she likes seeing surfers of all ages around the town. “I love this whole scene,” she said. “It’s like being on vacation all the time.”

But while Harris and other new homeowners are content with their homes, racial problems do persist.

Earlier this month, the county’s Fair Housing Council filed suit against the management of a Fullerton apartment complex, saying it discriminated against a black man who wanted to rent an apartment. The managers have denied the allegations.

“There’s still bias in the housing industry, but it’s not as prevalent as it was,” said James Colquitt, president of the Orange County chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People. “It’s not eliminated now. . . . I wouldn’t even think it’s all over, but it’s a lot better than it was.”

Colquitt said he was the victim of housing discrimination when he first moved to the county. “I tested the market personally,” he said. “I came out here, a retired military man with enough money to buy a house in cash if I wanted to, and I still couldn’t get anyone to sell me a house. And that’s not a century ago, that was 1968.”

David Quezada, executive director of the Fair Housing Council, said racial discrimination generates the second highest number of complaints his agency handles. Only discrimination against families with children generates more, he said.

Last year the council received 209 complaints of racial discrimination in Orange County, most of them in the rental market. It was one of the highest numbers of such complaints in the country, according to Quezada.

“The current year (total) is increasing significantly compared to the prior year,” he said. But he believes that the reason for the jump is not necessarily more discrimination but more willingness to file complaints.

“I think there is heightened awareness communitywide,” Quezada said. “People are becoming more sensitive and tolerating it less.”

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1948 that race-restricted deed covenants were illegal, “but realtors commonly used the covenants to keep minorities, especially blacks, from better neighborhoods,” said Lawrence de Graaf, professor of history at Cal State Fullerton.

“The National Real Estate Assn. took it upon itself to enforce these (covenants), and if you were a licensed realtor you could lose your license if you didn’t enforce them,” he said.

Only after concerted efforts by agencies like the NAACP and the Fair Housing Council during the 1960s did Orange County open up to minorities, de Graaf said.

Richard Naylor, a 57-year-old engineer, has seen the difference firsthand. He said buying his Mission Viejo house in 1981 was quite different from buying his Santa Ana house in 1964.

Back then, he said, realtors would steer blacks only to certain areas of the city. In 1981, he and his wife clearly outlined what they wanted in a house and specified Mission Viejo as the location. Realtors showed them all of the properties in the area within their price range. “It was a lot easier,” he said. “We went everywhere.”

During the 1970s and 1980s the black population spread throughout the county, so that by 1990, census figures showed blacks making up less than 6% of the population in each of the county’s cities.

One of the results of the population dispersal is that newcomers sometimes have difficulty finding products and services tailored to blacks. “I still go to Los Angeles to get my hair cut,” said Charles Hutchison.

Coincidentally, the Burtons had faced a similar struggle when they moved to Santa Ana all those years ago. There was only one beauty salon for blacks, so Minnie Burton opened a second.

While those earlier times were “tough, tough, tough,” both Burtons say they do not regret their years in Orange County. Their children are grown now, and the couple own their home, as well as three others. Minnie Burton closed her shop when she retired; Percy Burton retired in 1981 after 31 years as a carpenter at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

“Orange County is still a great place,” he said, “and any city or county is what you make it. I think determination is the word I want to use. If you are determined, you can make it.”