TUSTIN : New Video Preserves the History of a City

The city Community Development Department has produced a video that provides a glimpse of the city’s history.

The 20-minute video features historic residences and buildings in the Old Town area and describes efforts being made to preserve them. It includes anecdotes, tales and interviews of longtime residents.

Work on the video started in September, 1992, when the city received a $7,500 grant from the state’s Office of Historic Preservation. It was completed in November, 1993. The filming took nine months.

Senior Planner Dana Ogdon said the video is intended to be an educational and promotional tool to be presented at schools, libraries, historical societies and neighborhood organizations.

Ogdon said the video is available for $5.65 at the Community Development Department at City Hall, 300 Centennial Way. Residents may also borrow the video, he said.

A video company from Newport Beach, Videography, produced the video with the assistance of members of the city’s Cultural Resources Advisory Committee.

The interviews were conducted in March and April of longtime residents who reminisced about Tustin at the turn of the century and provided some anecdotes about Columbus Tustin, who founded the city in 1868.

Included in the video is a collection of photographs of such historic structures as the Tustin Bank building and the old high school and hotel, which were demolished in the 1960s. There are also shots of a blacksmith shop, a ballet studio and Stevens Square, which were created in the early 1900s.