A New Mission : District Face Lift Earns Award

San Gabriel Mayor Sabino M. Cici says everybody from local business owners, who sponsored trees and benches, to fourth-graders, who designed sidewalk tiles for a historic walking tour, pitched in to help revitalize his city’s historic Mission District.

And now, for those efforts in beautifying the area surrounding the San Gabriel Mission to attract new businesses and tourists, the city has been named the recipient of the National League of Cities 1994 award for urban enrichment.

San Gabriel was selected from more than 100 cities nationwide that have populations of 50,000 or less to receive the James C. Howland Award, given for urban enrichment programs that involved public participation.

In the past year, the city has given a $1.8-million face lift to the district anchored by the 224-year-old mission and the San Gabriel Civic Auditorium. Three new restaurants are now moving into the district, which had been in steady decline since the 1987 Whittier earthquake closed the mission for five years.

“The Mission District project is an outstanding example of what can be accomplished when the city, the business community and residents work together,” said Cici, who received the award at a national cities conference last month.

The extensive street scape, developed with residents and local businesses, unifies the district with trees, street lamps, benches and paving that reflect the mission’s architectural style. A “cafe row” sprang up opposite the auditorium. The city widened sidewalks to invite more pedestrians, closed part of Mission Drive to extend Plaza Park to the front of the mission and built a park-and-ride system.

“This project is the culmination of a 30-year dream of a former mayor to honor San Gabriel’s place in history as the birthplace of the Los Angeles region,” said John Nowak, deputy city administrator.

*

The Mission San Gabriel Archangel was founded as the fourth of California’s missions in 1771 by Father Junipero Serra. Ten years later, a contingent of 11 men, 11 women and 22 children from the mission founded a settlement nine miles to the south, named El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles--the first white settlement of the Los Angeles area.

Nowak said community involvement such as the walking tour of the district, featuring sidewalk tiles depicting scenes of early California life, clinched the award. Although the city paid for most of the project out of state gas tax money, county transit funds and development fees, more than $15,000 came from local residents, he said.

The mission’s tourist traffic has been slow since the Northridge earthquake caused the closure of the museum, but the district received a boost in October when the city signed agreements with Music Theatre of Southern California and Pasadena Dance Theatre to become performing companies at the auditorium, city officials said. Later this month, the Pasadena Pops will raise the venue’s profile by making an appearance there.

Local officials and community leaders are hoping that the face lift, the performance offerings and new restaurants will draw more businesses to the district bordered by Mission, Las Tunas and Junipero Serra drives.

*

“We have the Cafe Beltrans, Strictly Ribs and the Brave Bull restaurants all about to open and a number of people are waiting to see if they can move in,” said Judy Brown, executive director of the San Gabriel Chamber of Commerce. “I think with the revitalization, things are looking very positive.”

The Beltrans, a bistro opposite the auditorium on Mission Drive, is scheduled to open next month. Its neighbor Strictly Ribs and the Western-themed Brave Bull are expected to be open by the time the mission museum reopens later this year. The city-owned site for Brave Bull, the old Panchito’s restaurant at 540 W. Mission Drive, is currently in escrow.

San Gabriel’s Cici said: “Once the restaurants come in, it will only be a matter of time before other businesses follow.”