Our historic structures will soon be honored again as the subject of a rewritten walking tour brochure titled Rediscovering Historic Downtown Santa Ana. Our historic buildings, and even some buildings that have not achieved such lofty status in Santa Ana, are the permanent legend of a great city poised at the beginning of the previous…
Read MoreWhen you ask someone to study a photograph, people see and focus on different things. One person might see that this is the Otis Building at 4th and Main—many years ago. The photo was probably taken shortly before the earthquake of 1933. It was taken from the southeast corner, looking north—what my grandfather would sometimes…
Read MoreFor years the management, board persons, worker bees and other members of the DSABA (Downtown Santa Ana Business Association) have entered and left through one entry of the only headquarters they have ever had: 116 West 4th Street. But, what do people know about the interesting building? In 1610 Mr. C. E. French (that would…
Read MoreMost of 1920 Santa Ana would come to this Mediterranean building to buy the household food for the week, or to pick up hardware or clothing ordered from back east. Today some of the locals refer to the building as the Old Arcade Building for its long arcade on the lower floor. Three restaurants are…
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In 1992, a group of Citizens enlisted DSABA to help make the clock tower, a top the 1913 Spurgeon Building, operative- it had been stopped presumably by the 1933 earthquake. The energy of Tim Rush, a north end citizen, and member of the Orange County Chapter of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors
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