La Habra : Bitterness Lingers After Center Flap

Construction will begin soon on La Habra’s new community center, which will be located where former President Richard M. Nixon once practiced law.

The city demolished 12 buildings, including Nixon’s law office, earlier this year to make room for the center, which will house the Community Services Department, a senior citizens’ hall, meeting rooms for service organizations and banquet areas for parties and wedding receptions, city officials said.

A number of residents, who fought for two years to preserve the demolished buildings they considered historical, are still bitter.

“People will be sorry for years and years that the city destroyed so much of La Habra’s history,” said city historian Esther Cramer, who published a book on the town’s history. “A remarkable slice of history that could have been saved is gone forever. Children of the future will look back at the council and city manager’s actions and say, ‘Shame.’ ”

City officials maintained that the old buildings would have been too costly to renovate and would not have been as useful as a community center.

“I’m sure in the eyes of some, it was a loss,” City Manager Lee Risner said. “However, it is our belief that it was not a significant historical loss. Nixon even wrote a letter saying that he did not mind if his building was demolished because he did not want to stand in the way of progress.”

Preservationists still mourn the loss.

Cramer said that in addition to the building that contained Nixon’s law office, built in 1917 or 1918, residents fought to preserve the city’s first two-story brick business building, built in 1916, which housed the first post office and the Wester Hotel.

She said the hotel was the site of a notorious murder during the World War I era, in which one of the town’s wealthiest men shot a blacksmith for breaking into his room and trying to force him to salute the flag. “That made national headlines,” she said. “It’s a shame there’s no way to replace those buildings. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.”

Nevertheless, city officials said the community center is badly needed.

“It’s going to be beautiful,” Councilman Steven C. Anderson said. “Unfortunately, the project separated the community, but I think we are going to have something we are all going to be proud of.”

Risner said the project will cost about $2.8 million. Construction will begin within the next three months, after the City Council awards a construction contract in October.