Historic Packing Houses and Other Industrial Structures in Southern California

Pacific Citrus Products Company
Pacific Hawaiian Products
Fullerton, CA

Copyright 2014 by James E. Lancaster

Photos by James E. Lancaster

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There is an interesting building at 336 Santa Fe Avenue in Fullerton, CA near the city's Transportation Center (Amtrak and Metrolink depot). The following excerpts are from the Fullerton News, August 13, 2011 ...

The now decrepit building once served as the manufacturing plant for two national brands – Hawaiian Punch and Wham-O Superballs. In more recent years, it’s been home to a steady flow of Fullerton’s homeless. But it may soon give way to another form of affordable housing. If the city council approves his plan on Tuesday, Fullerton resident and architect John Silber will move ahead on his proposal to build affordable housing units surrounding the 336 Santa Fe Ave. address – a project that would add to the city’s various refurbished historic buildings.

The article continues ...

In 1934, Fullerton residents A.W. Leo, Tom Yates and Ralph Harrison wanted to add a fruity ice cream topping to their existing inventory of toppings – which they sold under the trade name Pacific Citrus Products Company. In the 120 W. Amerige Ave. garage they had converted into a citrus storage plant, the trio concocted a bright red syrup they called “Leo’s Hawaiian Punch,” an elixir made up of five fruit juices – pineapple, guava, papaya, orange and passion fruit. The juices were shipped from Hawaii, giving the ice cream topping its name. The punch was then sold to local ice cream manufacturers, soda shops and restaurants in pint, quart and gallon increments, according to a 1954 Fullerton News Tribune article.

In 1946, Reuben P. Hughes purchased the company and renamed it the Pacific Hawaiian Products Company. The company’s headquarters stayed in the Amerige Avenue garage, but in 1950 a fire destroyed the plant, causing it to relocate to the Santa Fe address. According to a Los Angeles Times article written about the fire, “The water from fire hoses mixed with the syrup and drink from both containers to pour rivulets of pungent liquid ankle ankle deep down the gutters.” That same year, construction of a  new plant, made of brick and steel, cost $250,000 to build. A 1950 Tribune article said that the building’s close proximity to what is now called the Fullerton Transportation Center provided for easy and rapid shipping.

The article contains this additional bit of information about the building ...

In addition to Hawaiian Punch being manufactured in the building, Fullerton Manufacturing Company produced the Wham-O Superballs there. There are no city records of the Superballs plant, but some who lived in Fullerton in the 1980s remember millions of blue, green and red Superballs filling the city streets.


Figure 1. Front of the building on Santa Fe Avenue.

Figure 2. East side of building.


Figure 3. West side of building.

Figure 4. Loading dock on west side of building.

Jim Lancaster
May 14, 2014


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