City Celebrates Recovery From 1994 Quake

The smell of fresh paint and the hubbub of bustling crowds Saturday replaced the construction dust and sparsely populated sidewalks that have characterized this small Santa Clara Valley town for the last two years.

When two-thirds of Fillmore’s modest four-block business district came tumbling down in the January 1994 Northridge earthquake, residents feared their urban island in a sea of citrus would never be the same.

But Saturday, Fillmore rocked and rolled again as an estimated 5,000 people at what officials dubbed a “Restoration Celebration” listened to live music on three stages.

Celebrants lined up outside sidewalk cafes. They listened to 1 1/2 hours of speeches on the new Central Park plaza in front of the almost-complete neoclassical City Hall. And they cheered when 1,800 red, white and blue balloons rose into the sky as a steam train blew its horn in salute, moments after singer Kayte Wolfe sang specially composed “Fillmore, You Fill My Heart.”

“The Federal Emergency Management Agency and others are just amazed at how fast we have [rebuilt],” said Shirley Spitler, who was hired as a temporary city employee two years ago to process the pile of paperwork needed to move out the mountains of crumbling masonry the earthquake generated. “We did it in 2 1/2 years, and they expected us to take at least five years. . . . It’s more beautiful than it’s ever been.”

More than 90% of the homes damaged or destroyed in the earthquake and about 95% of the buildings that housed downtown businesses have been repaired or rebuilt, officials said.

Equal parts self-congratulation and self-promotion, the small-town festival provided not only a sense of closure for residents but also introduced Fillmore’s revamped tourist-friendly image to visitors.

“They’ve made it inviting,” said Roberta Diehl, a Ventura resident who said she and her steam train aficionado husband were visiting Fillmore--as opposed to simply driving through it--for the first time in about 20 years. “It should be a source of community pride.”

It was pride--and what might be called fortuitous planning--that enabled the community to rebound so quickly.

The 6.6 magnitude earthquake caused more than $200 million in damage to the city of 12,000 people. In all, 424 houses and businesses and 217 mobile homes were damaged or destroyed--more than 10% of the city’s entire housing stock.

A disaster of such magnitude could have dealt a deadly blow to the poor agricultural community, which has one of the lowest per capita incomes and sales tax revenues in the county.

But the same week of the Jan. 17 earthquake, hearings had been scheduled for a detailed plan that was more than two years in the making and provided a blueprint for the revitalization of the aging business core.

The quake destroyed the city’s central business district, which consisted largely of unreinforced masonry buildings built earlier this century.

The three-story, 75-year-old Masonic Lodge, the tallest and perhaps most cherished structure in the city, was irreparably damaged.

Severely damaged, too, was the nostalgia-filled building many regarded as the heart of the community--the historic Fillmore Towne Theater. Its balcony--the only one in a movie theater in the county--had been a prime teenage dating spot for generations since the theater’s 1916 opening.

Eight businesses, including a computer company that employed 15 people and relocated to Moorpark, never reopened.

But other businesses, including 20 that spent more than two years in a large white tent and a collection of trailers, survived.

“When the earthquake hit, my first thoughts were that it was just going to wipe everything out,” said Nick Deitch, the Ventura architect whose company wrote the downtown revitalization document. “We didn’t realize it was a tremendous opportunity to kick things into high gear.”

Today, many of the plan’s components that officials had originally thought would take years to complete are well on their way to fruition.

“In a real general and broad sense, yes, [the earthquake] was a blessing in disguise,” said city Manager Roy Payne. “We still have a quaint historic downtown, but it does have a shiny new face.”

The city received more than $8 million in state and federal funding for earthquake recovery projects. Historic Preservation Partners for Earthquake Response, a nonprofit organization backed by the National Park Service, provided almost $730,000 to help the city keep its 1920s and 1930s architecture.

Among the historic buildings the city retained was the theater, despite the extensive damaged it suffered in the earthquake.

Purchased from its owner by the city, the theater has undergone a $1.2-million renovation and will reopen Oct. 18.

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The original stage, where vaudeville acts performed before its 1930s conversion into a movie theater, has been restored, allowing the building to showcase both community theater and films. Patrons will enjoy such amenities as new seats and modern sound and film projection, while the charm of the theater’s marquee and original ticket booth remain.

“Its importance is its importance to the community,” said Los Angeles restoration architect Gordon Olschlager. “It’s a very modest building and in some ways that’s what makes it an interesting project. It’s important we preserve the things from our past that are modest, as well as great landmarks.”

Another updated Fillmore landmark is the Ballard Furniture Building. The original 1919 structure has been replaced by what Deitch said is the first mixed-use building constructed in the county in 30 years.

Six two-bedroom apartments have been built above six first-floor stores.

Architects like Deitch and Olschlager see such buildings as examples of New Urbanism, a rejection of zoning restrictions that led to urban sprawl and lifeless city centers.

But owner Ron Stewart sees the mixture of commercial and residential uses as the only way to ensure the $1.1-million structure’s economic viability and the continuation of a business his grandfather began 59 years ago.

“I would just as soon have the old building,” he said. “I would owe a lot less money.”

Still, many residents believe Fillmore has emerged from the earthquake reinvigorated, with a new direction and more purposeful outlook.

“It really has put us on the map,” said Janet Foy, president of the Fillmore Chamber of Commerce. “There’s been so many more inquiries into Fillmore. Business people inquiring about businesses, people inquiring about homes.”

UCLA physics professor Edouard R. Giessinger was among them.

Giessinger is building a 5,500-square-foot winery directly behind City Hall that will incorporate a tasting room, bakery and light laser shows. The winery is slated to open in November, and Giessinger is also exploring planting a vineyard in the region.

“I felt confident they are planning on doing something to the city and I wanted to be part of it,” he said. “It’s almost like the birth of a city . . . and I want to be one of the pioneers.”

In large part, the city’s commerce has recovered and surpassed pre-quake conditions.

Municipal sales tax revenue in 1992-1993, the last full fiscal year before the earthquake, was about $442,000, city officials said. After dipping 15% in the earthquake’s aftermath, revenues rose to almost $545,000 in the fiscal year ending June 30.

There are indications that it will increase even more in the coming year.

The $8-million Balden Towne Plaza, a 100,000-square-foot strip mall, opened recently. And each of the city’s two car dealerships is constructing new, larger quarters on California 126.

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Chappy Morris Sr., whose father founded the town’s Chevrolet dealership in 1929, decided to move after suffering $3 million in damage to several buildings. The new lot will be double the size and include a restaurant where customers can eat while their vehicles are serviced.

“Nature made its move and forced us to make a move we probably should have done a long time ago,” said Morris, 66. “Nature gave us a clean sweep. . . . We’re anticipating more growth in Fillmore.”

Over the next year, the city plans to refine the strides it has made.

A $30,000 marketing campaign that includes new signs on California 126 will help lure visitors. It is pushing the Heritage Trail, a marketing gimmick intended to link the small cities of the valley as a destination in conjunction with the excursion train that runs between Fillmore and Santa Paula.

About $100,000 in redevelopment money has been committed in hopes of luring a microbrewery.

And November should see the much-delayed completion of City Hall, a $2-million three-story edifice complete with ionic columns and copper cupola.

Nearby, where the old Masonic building once stood, sits the newly landscaped Masonic Park.

City Hall--surrounded by train tracks, winery, brick plaza and enlarged Central Park--is a slice of heartland Americana that exemplifies everything Fillmore is trying to achieve.

“Fillmore is ready to move forward,” Mayor Roger Campbell proclaimed Saturday, “as the last best small town in Southern California.”