Historic Packing Houses and Other Industrial Structures in Southern California Virtual Tour of Los Angeles County: San Fernando Copyright 2005, 2006, 2008 by James Lancaster and Paul Ayers. 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
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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. San Fernando (SP, PE) San Fernando was served by both the Southern Pacific and the Pacific Electric. The packing houses were along the PE's line that was built north from Van Nuys in 1912-13 along Sepulveda Blvd. and connected with the SP's San Joaquin Route main line near Brand Blvd. and San Fernando Road. One of the packing houses was the San Fernando Heights Orange Association (SFHOA). It was on Sepulveda Blvd. southwest of the town of San Fernando. Ray Ayers worked at the SFHOA packing house from 1938 to 1956, becoming the assistant manger before leaving. His son Paul has provided several photos and other memorabilia from that period. The material is from the Ayers Family Collection and any other republication or other reuse of any of the material, without the express written permission of Paul Ayers, is prohibited. Paul Ayers - Ayers Family Collection The aerial photo above looks north and is dated November 1935. It shows Sepulveda Blvd. in the lower left curving to the right to become Brand Blvd. The single PE track from Van Nuys is just to the right of Sepulveda Blvd. A spur curves off into the SFHOA packing house in the lower left center of the photo. At the time of the photo PE still offered passenger service from downtown Los Angeles but it was discontinued in 1938. The track to Van Nuys lasted into the early 1940s when it was removed south of the SFHOA packing house leaving the PE as an "island" railway in San Fernando. The north-south street at the right of the photo is Columbus Street. An orange juice plant (left) and the San Fernando Heights Lemon Association packing house are at the top of the photo and were also served by the PE. Just north and east of the SFHOA packing house, between the rows of trees, are transient labor quarters known as "Pico Court." The house just south of the court on Columbus St. is the packing house foreman's house. Paul Ayers lived here the first three years of his life (1951-54). A close-up view of the SFHOA packing house is shown in an enlargement of that part of the original 1935 photo (Close-Up Image). Paul Ayers - Ayers Family Collection The second aerial photo is dated August 1960 and shows considerable change. Sepulveda Blvd. and Brand Blvd. have become divided streets with the still remaining PE track in the center divider. Sepulveda Blvd. has been extended to the north and much of the previous agricultural land has beed filled with development. The SFHOA packing house appears to have changed little. A close-up view of the SFHOA packing house is shown in an enlargement of that part of the original 1960 photo (Close-Up Image). The building in the lower left of the close-up views is the building that Showcase Miniatures used as the prototype for their Sunkist Packing Shed kit. The low relief model represents the far side of the building in the close-up views. A photo from the 1940s shows Ray Ayers in front of the SFHOA packing house just after a rare Southern California snowstorm (Photo-PA). Note the track curving into the packing house behind Ray. The building in the background is the front office part of the large arch roofed building shown in the aerial photos. Compare this photo with the one published in the Spring 2001 issue of the SPH&TS Trainline and shown at the bottom of the Showcase Miniatures web page. Paul Ayers has discovered a group of photos taken by the Times showing operations at the SFHOA packing house. They were originally publicity photos for Sunkist. The first photo is a group shot of the employees taken 9/27/50 (Photo-PA). Paul writes "my father is the bald headed guy at the rear right in the Hawaiian shirt. Behind him and to his right is his friend and co-worker Ramon Bustamante, or "Bustie" as dad called him." Paul has provided a 1949 photo of Ray Ayers in the backyard of the SFHOA packing house complex taken by his uncle, Loren Ayers. In the photo Ray is sitting in a Ford Model AA dump truck painted Sunkist Orange named the "Champ." The Champ was used to haul a continuous by-product of the packing process, damaged or rotted fruit that could not be sold, to dumping areas in the west San Fernando Valley. As can be seen, the sides of the bed of the truck have been built up to carry the bulky citrus. Paul dimly remembers riding in the Champ out to Chatsworth and catching a huge king snake out at the dump.
The arrow in the aerial view of the complex shows where the photo of Champ was taken. Copyright 2006. Ayers Family Collection. Any republication or other reuse of this photo, without written permission, is prohibited. Paul Ayers also provided a copy of a SFHOA letterhead and his father's business card (New). The February 26, 1944 issue of the Los Angeles Times had a short article titled San Fernando Valley Citrus Crop Goes to War. The article included the following bits of information about the citrus industry in early 1944:
Copyright 2006. Ayers Family Collection. Any republication or other reuse of this photo, without written permission, is prohibited. Copyright 2006. Ayers Family Collection. Any republication or other reuse of this photo, without written permission, is prohibited. Copyright 2006. Ayers Family Collection. Any republication or other reuse of this photo, without written permission, is prohibited. The operation of the PE in San Fernando was interesting in and of itself. Paul provided a photo of a very sad looking box motor #1435 at the San Fernando end of the line (Photo-PA). In the background, at the left of the photo past the nose of the motor, you can see the S.P. San Fernando station, and just above the motor's light is the top of the S.P. San Fernando water tank. The back of the photo indicates it was taken by C.E. Wright on 4/18/43. It was probably taken shortly before the PE line from Van Nuys to San Fernando was severed just south of the SFHOA packing house creating an "island" branch. This is just part of the SFHOA material from the Ayers Family Collection. More will be added in the future as time permits. The San Fernando Heights Lemon Association (SPHLA) packing house is the larger of the two structures shown at the top of the 1935 aerial photo and at the upper left of the 1960 aerial photo. The photo below zooms in on the area of the packing house in the 1960 photo. The nearest buildings are a juice plant and behind is the lemon packing house complex. It is really two structures. The nearer building is the packing house itself with an eight-section, factory-style roof. Behind it, the taller structure is a concrete cooling building that was built sometime after the 1935 aerial photo was taken. Copyright
2008. Ayers Family Collection. Any republication or other reuse of this
photo, without written permission, is prohibited.
The photos below show the former lemon packing house as it looked in late October 2008. It is now part of a storage facility. This view is towards the northeast corner of the concrete cooling structure. (James Lancaster photo)
The city of San Fernando web site has a 1920s-era photo of the San Fernando Heights Orange Association packing house. Page last updated 11/12/08. To tour other Los Angeles County cities, or other counties, return to the Virtual Tour of Los Angeles County Page. Return to the Historic Packing Houses and Other Industrial Structures in Southern California Home Page. Return to the Trains Page. |