Item 18 - Appeal Application Nos. 2023-02 and 2023-03 for Cabrillo Town Center project

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HISTORIC RESOURCES ASSESSMENT TOWN CENTER PLAZA � C A A DULY 2022 SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA J architecture and landscape architecture because they retained architectural control of the development after selling the land to individual developers (Santa Ana Orange County Register 1977). Sunset Builders, owned by Robert Porter Gillman, has been identified as the builder of 1971 East 4th Street (City of Santa Ana var.). Bob Gillman (1930-1999) had worked as a farm hand on a ranch at 4612 Baranca Road in his youth; he served as an aircraft mechanic in the Air Force Reserve throughout the 1950s and 1960s, and he met his wife while stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska (Ancestry.com var.). In 1961, he was pictured with the Director of Civil Defense for Orange County, a retired Air Force Major, checking plans for the construction of civilian residential fallout shelters (Tustin News 1961). During the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962, his reserve unit was called to active duty and sent to Florida for 1 month (Petaluma Argus Courier 1987). Sunset Builders and Ken Himes were identified as the architect and builder of 525 Cabrillo Park Drive, the third office building constructed in Town Center Plaza (City of Santa Ana var.). They also are the architect and builder for El Rancho Plaza at 421 North Brookhurst Street in Anaheim (Los Angeles Times 1965b and 1965c). Adjacent to the El Rancho Plaza buildings, at 511 North Brookhurst Street, is a building that bears a striking resemblance to 525 Cabrillo Park Drive, the third of the Town Center Plaza buildings (Google Streetview). Mr. Himes was not listed in the 1970 edition of American Architects Directory. He is a licensed architect in the states of California and Washington (California Secretary of State var.). Various news articles show Mr. Himes has designed many buildings, primarily in Southern California in the 1970s and 1980s as a partner in Kenneth R. Himes and Associates, Himes-Peters, and Himes Peters Jepson (Tibbet 2022). There is no evidence indicating that Mr. Himes' work has influenced the course of architectural development. Postwar Growth and Suburbanization Except where noted, this section is adapted from Tract Housing in California, 1945-1973: A Context for National Register Evaluation, by the California Department of Transportation 2011. The population of the United States grew by more than 50 percent between 1940 and 1970, from about 132 million residents to just over 203 million. This growth was not uniform across the country, but varied greatly by region, within regions, and even within metropolitan areas. Generally, the Western states (from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast) grew at a much greater rate than the rest of the country during this period. Rural populations declined across the country, relative to metropolitan areas. In the 1950s alone, more than 10 million Americans moved from farms to urban or suburban areas. A substantial majority of the population growth in the postwar era occurred in the suburbs. The proportion of the U.S. population living in suburbs grew slowly in the period between the two World Wars, from 15 to 20 percent. However, by 1970 more than a third of all Americans lived in the suburbs and the nation's approximately 75 million suburbanites for the first time exceeded the number of Americans living in cities. The United States had become a suburban nation. Play °touncif �07/21/22) 18 - 780 10/3/2023 9