Integrity House Finds Clubhouse of Its Own

One thing about a place that looks like a saloon: It can bring out the ornery in people.

But the arguing this week inside a long-shuttered restaurant heralds a new beginning for Integrity House. By the end of the month, the Fullerton nonprofit organization for people with brain trauma and developmental disabilities will move into the former Viva Mexico, ending a desperate, months-long search for a few thousand square feet of real estate.

Just a few days into the cleanup of the dusty dive at 1933 Sunnycrest Drive, Integrity House members--faced with the rich potential of a place straight out of a Sergio Leone film--bickered about the decor.

“There’s so many great opportunities for this place. . . . There’s going to be a lot of fighting just over where to put the pool table,” said Sam Durbin, 38, a woman who has become an Integrity House leader after years of living on the streets.

She suggested putting in swinging doors as she mimicked a cowboy’s bowlegged walk.

“Never underestimate a disabled person’s ability to come up with an awesome idea,” boasted Durbin. In the time it took to sign a lease and get the keys last week, the spirits of Integrity House’s members became noticeably lighter.

It’s no wonder.

Integrity House Director Cathy DeMello had been searching for months for a new home that would be acceptable to a state agency that funds the nonprofit group’s job-training program. Plus, the rent for the current digs in an industrial strip was about to jump.

Then, Bruce Seldeen, owner of the former Viva Mexico building, read about Integrity House’s plight. His 6,350-square-foot building northeast of downtown Fullerton near the Brea Dam had been vacant for three years after a police raid closed down the restaurant in connection with bikini contests.

Seldeen, of Long Beach, donated the contents of the former restaurant, including wooden chairs and tables, ovens, griddles, refrigerators and coffee machines. The $5,700 in monthly rent is higher than Integrity House’s current rent, but still lower than Integrity House would have to pay at its present home off Imperial Highway near a railroad spur.

And while the new place isn’t quite as close to downtown Fullerton as hoped, it is better laid out and has cooking facilities that should make it easier to create the diner that Integrity House’s members hope to open Sept. 19.

Plans call for the Yesterday Cafe to be a 1950s-style malt shop, also selling vinyl albums and CDs.

Founded in 1997, Integrity House helps its 75 members find housing, counseling and jobs. Its most important function may be the clubhouse environment that it offers, which helps people who often are isolated by their reversals of fortunes build lasting friendships.

All of that was at risk because Integrity House stood to lose about $10,000 a month in funding from the state Department of Rehabilitation if it didn’t find a new place by Sept. 1. The state had deemed its location in an industrial complex dangerous, posing a threat to disabled people who had to navigate between parking lots teeming with cars.

DeMello said people would have been laid off, and the job-training program--which has helped 20 people find jobs at places ranging from video stores to Cal State Fullerton since April--would have been shut down.

But as DeMello looked around the city for another home, she ran into obstacles. There were zoning issues, plus some landlords expressed concerns about the kind of people the clubhouse served. DeMello sought a place in or near Old Town Fullerton in order to be close to a transportation center and city services. But the fashionable redevelopment zone, with its booming rental rates and commercial zoning, proved beyond reach.

When DeMello got the keys to the new property, however, she and the rest of the group’s members had an instant sense of relief, even though there was no electricity or water and unopened bottles of liquor littered the premises.

Mary Alice Banuelos, 31, summed up the emotions of everyone present: “It’s beautiful, beautiful.”

Two years ago, Banuelos was shot in the head while trying to prevent the robbery of friends in Pasadena. The shooting left her with almost no ability to speak. Her words come with difficulty, but she clearly conveyed her excitement about the new clubhouse.

“I love the courtyard, the doors, the fans, the chairs,” she said.

Although Seldeen’s interest in the deal was mainly financial, he said he was impressed by the people he met and with the organization. Having a close relative with a mental disability also inspired him to seal the deal, he said.

“I was favorably disposed toward Integrity House, having firsthand experience dealing with people suffering from mental disabilities,” he said.

The area near Harbor Boulevard and Bastanchury Road has many health care facilities, including a convalescent home, which means there are plenty of opportunities for clubhouse members to volunteer, DeMello said.

But the former restaurant has one thing to offer that all the other places didn’t: They looked like offices. But as DeMello put it, “This is a clubhouse.”