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Historic Packing Houses and Other Industrial Structures Virtual Tour of Tustin Copyright 2002, 2006 by James E. Lancaster, Ph.D. Notice:The images - photographs, drawings, maps and track diagrams - presented in this web site are the property of the respective contributors and may not be used for any purpose without permission. For more information see Photo Credits and Restrictions. The web site contains a large number of images. Some are displayed inline with the text. However, to control the loading time, the remaining images are viewed by clicking on the related link, e.g., (Photo-JL), (Drawing-HH), etc. Please note that the images that open via these links appear in a separate web browser window.
Tustin (ATSF, SP) This virtual tour of past and present packing houses in Orange County begins in Tustin, CA where I have lived for more than twenty years. Unfortunately the packing houses in Tustin were torn down many years before we moved here so I have no photographs of my own. I have photographed parts of a large aerial photo of Tustin taken in the 1940s that hangs on the wall of the Tustin Area Historical Society. The first photo, looking from west to east, shows the Tustin Hills Citrus Association.  Tustin Area Historical Society Photo It was located on the SP Tustin Branch near the current intersection of Irvine Blvd and Newport Avenue, just east of Holt Avenue Photo-TAHS). This area is now full of commercial buildings and apartment houses, and is surrounded by urban sprawl that began in the 1950s. Here are two close-up views of the packing house complex: one of the south building (Photo-TAHS) and one of the north building (Photo-TAHS). The latter had large Sunkist signs painted on the south and west sides. About a block away as the crow flies, but miles apart by railroad distance, was the Goldenwest Citrus Association located on Newport Avenue (Photo-TAHS) at the end of a Santa Fe spur that left the mainline at Venta. This
view, looking slighty southeast, shows the Goldenwest Citrus
Association packing house complex surrounded mostly by orange groves.  Tustin Area Historical Society Photo This area is now a typical Southern California strip mall anchored by a Ralphs Market. Irvine Blvd now runs along what was the northeast side of the packing house. A close-up view provides a better look at the packing house and the two Santa Fe sidings, one with at least four refrigerator cars (reefers) waiting to be loaded (Photo-TAHS). There is also a Sunkist sign on the front of this packing house. The Tustin Area Historical Society
has a number of old photos taken in and around the Tustin packing
houses. These two samples were taken on site in the 1940s showing some
of the typical structures (Photo-TAHS) (Photo-TAHS). This sample shows a panoramic view based on the two previous photos laid side-by-side (Photo-TAHS). This last sample, from the 1930s, shows a fleet of Sunkist trucks loaded with crates of oranges.  Tustin Area Historical Society Photo Note the unusual fenders on the four trucks on the right (plus the unusual cab on the truck at the far right). Although the photo was taken over 60 years ago, these four trucks have cab-top wind deflectors similar to those on modern long-haul trucks! The SP's Tustin Branch was severed at Santiago Creek in Villa Park in 1968 when a bridge was washed out. The section from Santiago Creek to Tustin was not used again and was torn up in the late 1970s. Cliff Prather photographed the salvage work along Esplanade north of 17th Street in January 1978 (Photo-CP). Bill Rupp provided a copy of page 100 of a 1952 AAA map showing a part of Orange, El Modena and Tustin (Map). Starting from the top of the map it's possible to follow the Tustin Branch south from just below the Santiago Creek bridge, between Orange and El Modena, past El Modena Station and into Tustin. As of 2002 it was still possible to walk the former right-of-way from La Veta Avenue, just north of El Modena Station, to Warren Avenue in Tustin. The location of El Modena Station was still visible - a wide, weed-grown field along the ROW, surrounded by houses. The 1952 map also shows the Santa Fe spur that served Tustin. It left the main line at Venta and ran NE to Browing where it split to go to Tustin and Irvine. The last vestige of the spur was removed when Interstate 5 was widened through Orange County in the early 1990s. For more information on the Venta spur, see the Irvine section of the packing house web site. When
the Tustin Branch reached Newport Avenue it turned SW and ran along the
NW side of the street (see map) to Laguna Avenue (now El Camino Real).
A third packing house, the Santa Ana Tustin Mutual, was located along
this section of the branch south of Main Street. Bill Messecar located
a photo of this packing house in the archives of First American Title
Insurance Company in Santa Ana.  First American Title Insurance Company Photo The street is Newport Avenue looking NE. The Tustin Branch ran behind the packing house. Cliff Prather provided this additional information: "The Santa Ana Tustin Mutual was the association that my father and grandfather were members of. It was located on the SP along Newport Ave. , just south of Main Street. It was built around 1940, when the SP depot was moved and may have been on or near the site of the depot. It was the first orange association to close in modern times, i.e., the late 50s or early 60s. The packing house was used as a catholic church for a time after it closed." Steve Donaldson helped pinpoint the location: "I have an SP SBE drawing showing the building at roughly between San Juan and Walnut Streets" (see map). Cary Wilson provided the following photo of the Santa Ana Tustin Mutual packing house employees from July 1941. Cary's mother and uncle are in the photo.
To tour other Orange County cities, or other counties, return to the Virtual Tour of Orange County Page. Return to the Historic Packing Houses and Other Industrial Structures in Southern California Home Page. Return to the Trains Page. |
