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Fullerton Heritage, Fullerton, CA (2026)

09/01/2026

Hillcrest Park Auto Camp- In 1913, American car ownership topped the one million mark for the first time. Millions of Americans took to the road, with auto camping at its peak from 1915 to 1922. Known as “tin can tourists”, car owners strapped canvas tents, folded cots. and stoves to their car frames; later they purchased trailers to hold their camp goods, including canoes. To accommodate the motor tourists, auto camps, basically campgrounds with amenities, began to pop up. Hoping to cash in on affluent tourists passing through their communities, municipal governments began to build auto camps with running water along major thoroughfares on the outskirts of towns.

In July 1920, eight months after Fullerton purchased 33.640 acres for Hillcrest Park, the Fullerton Board of Trustees (later the Fullerton City Council) tasked Park Superintendent George Johann Seupelt (1918-1925) with establishing a Fullerton Municipal Auto Camp at Hillcrest Park at the request of the Fullerton Chamber of Commerce. The city had few hotels and officials hoped that the camp would attract tourists. The southwest corner of Valley View Drive and Spradra Road (now Harbor Boulevard) was selected as the site because the land was relatively flat, and Spadra Road, then only a two-lane road, was a major thoroughfare through the still rural town. The Fullerton Municipal Auto Camp, which had water, gas, and electric lights, officially opened in October 1920.

The City Clerk notified the American Automobile Association, and the site was listed in the organization's popular Auto Camp Guide. To attract tourists, Fullerton allowed visitors to stay for free for the first three days, then pay 50 cents per day thereafter. The auto camp was an instant success, and by July 1921, over 300 people were staying monthly, including permanent residents of Fullerton. Fullerton had a severe housing shortage and often people would stay there as they looked for permanent accommodations. Some travelers stayed the entire summer. Over the years, Fullerton businesses accommodated the needs of the campers, and the Camp Grounds Service Station (1020 North Spadra Road) opened nearby. Auto tourists could buy gear at hardware stores, but the local go to place for all types of camping goods was a Western Auto Supply Company outlet. During the peak years of auto camping, newspapers, camping magazines, and sales catalogs were filled with advertisements for the latest camping equipment.

Throughout the 1920s, Fullerton officials approved improvements to the camping accommodations. In 1922, Seupelt designed and constructed two extensive shelters thatched with palm leaves. In the center was a rustic “Swiss Chalet” building that housed men and women’s toilets and showers, a room for the park’s caretaker, a room for tools, and a reading room with a grate for tourists. Several wood stoves were placed around the 1½-acre campgrounds for the use of tourists, with wood furnished for free. New trees were planted around the site. The wooden bridge over the barranca was replaced in 1928, making access easier, and in 1926, a 30- by 48-foot brick caretaker bungalow/office (razed, 1936) was built adjacent to the auto camp. To determine tourist views of the auto camp, Seupelt left a register for campers to record their thoughts and opinions. He was delighted when tourists gave the Fullerton auto camp high marks: “This is a fine camp, fine people, and real outdoor life can be enjoyed”; “Fit for a king!”; “You have a delightful spot for tired, traveling people”.

Auto Club approval was important because the Fullerton auto camp was in competition with nearby municipal auto camps in Anaheim, Buena Park, Santa Ana, and Huntington Beach. Privately-owned auto camps also sprang up in Fullerton, including the Valencia Auto Camp (714 West Commonwealth Avenue) and the All States Auto Camp, located at Spadra Road and Orangethorpe Avenue. During the Depression, orchard owners also set up makeshift auto camps, allowing travelers to camp between citrus trees. The Fullerton Municipal Auto Camp was so successful that several businessmen, including George H. Gobar, Frank E. Copp, and Charles W. Almes, formed a company to build auto camps in California, Arizona, and Texas.

By 1934/1935, Fullerton city officials had applied for Depression-era relief funds for Hillcrest Park, and the municipal auto camp would be replaced by the fountain and Great Lawn area along Spadra Road, although some of the homeless WPA workers did live for a time in the former auto camp. Auto camps would eventually be replaced by auto courts and motels.

08/26/2026

Fullerton Local Landmark No. 98: Sans Souci Court (501 W. Whiting Avenue), 1923- Around 1912, farmer Adolph D. Carpenter (1878-1976) and his wife, Julia (1881-1975), moved from Silverton, Oregon, to Fullerton, with their four children (a fifth would later be born in Fullerton). The couple purchased eight acres on the northeast corner of Nicholas (later Euclid Street) and Commonwealth Avenues where they built a home and started a citrus grove. In the 1920s, the Carpenters would develop the citrus orchard into housing (Tract 460) that now includes dwellings in the 100-200 blocks of North Roosevelt Avenue.

In April 1923, Adolph and Julia Carpenter, who had married in 1900, separated, and Julia filed for divorce in July, accusing Adolph of abuse, possessing a “morose temperament”, and begrudging her the use of his car. She and her five children moved into 141 West Brookdale Place. She quickly commissioned notable local contractor Jesse E. Ellis (1889-1962) to design and construct a “modern stucco bungalow court” for $35,000 for her and her children to be called Sans Souci Court. An expert card player, Mrs. Carpenter was a member of the Sans Souci Card Club, which is most likely where she took the name for her new housing complex (sans souci is French for “without care” or “carefree”). West Whiting Avenue was selected because it was within both walking distance of the downtown area and local schools. Adolph Carpenter later reconciled with his wife, but Julia remained the manager of the bungalow court. Sans Souci Court would be one of the few bungalow courts constructed in Fullerton in the 1920s.

Jesse Ellis had developed an early housing tract in Fullerton, the J. E. Ellis Subdivison (1914) – both Ellis Place and Ellis Lane are named for him – and constructed numerous dwellings around Fullerton, but he had never designed a bungalow court. He drove to Hollywood and Los Angeles to inspect bungalow courts in search of inspiration. He created a plan that included six apartments within a "H-shaped" two-story building at the rear of the property, with a street address of 501½ West Whiting, and four bungalows in front with a street address of 501 West Whiting. To enhance the Spanish Colonial Revival architecture, Ellis added many Spanish features, including Juliet balconies, arched entryways, and terracotta-tiled shed roofs.

The rear portion of the building closest to Chapman Avenue, which contained a five-stall garage and three units on the second floor, was demolished when Chapman Avenue was widened in 1967. The city arranged a 25-year lease agreement to allow tenants to park their cars in nearby privately-owned garages. Situated on a corner lot on a street of single-family dwellings constructed in the 1920s and 1930s, the Sans Souci Court now consists of two attached bungalows on each side of a narrow central courtyard, with a two-story three unit building on the rear (north) side. One of the bungalow court’s most distinctive features was a decorative fascia supported by round columns that connected the two single-story buildings. Ground settling caused the columns to sink resulting in the removal of the fascia for safety reasons. The current owner is currently seeking a way to restore and return the fascia/street signage above the entryway into the courtyard.

The Carpenters lived in Sans Souci Court from 1923 to 1932, changing the name to Carpenter Court in 1930. Julia and Adolph sold the complex to Rex and Ethel Connley in 1932, who renamed it Rex Court. Julia and Adolph returned to Silverton, Oregon, where they remained for the rest of their lives. The Carpenters’ son, Oral Leroy Carpenter (1903-1993), working out of Sans Souci Court, later became a Fullerton building contractor. He constructed several speculative homes along North Euclid Street and North Roosevelt Avenue (e.g., 115, 208, 215 N. Roosvelt Ave.) that had once served as the family’s citrus orchard. When Tract 460 opened to the public, several just married couples purchased their first homes in the new subdivision, which was nicknamed “The Newlywed Tract”. Roosevelt Avenue was named for President Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt.

08/18/2026

Orange County Boosterism

A decade after Orange County incorporated in 1889, the Industrial and Publicity Department of the Orange County Board of Supervisors began publishing colorful promotional literature highlighting the natural scenery, infrastructure, and economic opportunities of the new county in the hope of attracting tourists, businesses, and new residents. In the 1900s, Orange County covered a vast area of land, but most of it was taken up with cattle ranches, oil wells, citrus groves, and other types of farming, and officials wanted to supplement what little manufacturing there was while retaining major money makers. There were only 19,636 Orange County residents. Like Fullerton, County officials initially posted advertisements in popular magazines, but by 1908, were shipping out promotional brochures across the country. Emphasis was placed on the scenic coast, wonderful weather, ready availability of water, and family life (fresh air, recreation, schools, hospitals).

08/11/2026

As early as the 1890s, Fullerton boosters began promoting the fledgling townsite, posting quarter- and half-page advertisements in popular magazines. By the 1910s, the Fullerton Chamber of Commerce and the Fullerton Board of Trustees (later the Fullerton City Council) were printing and mailing out trifold brochures full of glowing descriptions all designed to advertise the lifestyle, economic potential, and rapid growth of the still rural townsite. Local newspapers also listed the names of well-off Fullerton residents who could personally be contacted to learn more about living in the growing town. In 1926, local merchants formed the Fullerton Forward Club to promote the city’s business interests.

In 1927, the Chamber and Trustees decided to hire a professional photographer, and utilizing the layout and presentation skills of Arthur G. Minot (126 W. Whiting Avenue) and David R. Day (908 N. Spadra Road) of Minot-Day Printing (413 S. Spadra Road), published a 40-page pamphlet of black and white photographs of the streets, homes, businesses, parks, attractions, and other “allurements” around the city. The brochure – titled Fullerton: Where What and Why – was a photographic listicle of the best Fullerton had to offer potential new residents and investors. John Reeder Gardiner, then chairman of the publicity and advertising committee of the Chamber of Commerce, invited all Fullerton residents to send in the names and addresses of friends in the East and Middle West who would like to receive copies of the new pictorial booklet just off the press. Copies of a little folder (“Facts Worth Knowing About Fullerton”) and a blank form for five names and addresses were also inserted inside each booklet. The brochures were mailed out in striking envelopes that described Fullerton as “The Garden Spot of Orange County”.

08/04/2026

In the mid-1930s, it became very noticeable that an extraordinarily large number of men named Harry were enrolled in local groups. At the time, men frequently joined multiple civic, business, and professional organizations as well as fraternal groups – the Fullerton Chamber of Commerce, YMCA, Fullerton Kiwanis Club, the Masons, etc. – and when an outsider popped into a meeting and asked for “Harry”, usually half the audience rose to answer. It was not unusual for twenty to thirty Harrys to be at the same Fullerton meeting or event.

In July 1938, the Harrys decided to organize a unique informal club open to anyone named Harry. On July 23, 1938, the Harrys, ranging from Arthur to Wilson, met for the first time at the Kibel Café for a 7:30 a.m. breakfast meeting, later switching their meetings to the Brown Mug Café (323 N. Spadra Road). An informal survey of the 40 that attended showed that the average age of the group was 50 years, with ages ranging from 8 to 84. Fourteen states and three foreign countries were named as birthplaces. Most Harrys were born in January. Three generations of the Harry Crooke family were members. Two were twins. Former mayor and homebuilder Harry G. Maxwell, known for his lovely Spanish dwellings, was named chairman. Mortician Harry N. Suters (McAulay & Suters Funeral Home) was master of ceremonies. Fullerton Chamber of Commerce Secretary Harry M. May was chief organizer. Harrys outside of Fullerton were invited as special guests or speakers, including State Senator Harry Westover of Balboa Island, Orange County Supervisor Harry D. Riley of Anaheim, and California Congressman Harry R. Sheppard. The club’s motto was: “Let Harry Do It”.

The Club included an eclectic collection of Fullerton Harrys:

Harry A. Arthur – machinist; Aksel Oas Machine Works
Harry F. Byerrum – Fullerton’s second Park Superintendent; Byerrum Park next to the Raymond Elementary School is named in his honor
Harry E. Craddock – dentist; president, Orange County Dental Society
Harry E. Palmer – carpenter
Harry Sham – bookkeeper, Withers Bros Ltd., fruit buyers
Harry F. Smith – president, Fullerton Chamber of Commerce
Harry W. Stein – owner, Stein Liquor Store (one of the first to open after Prohibition was lifted)
Harry K. Vaughn – architect; best known for designing the first buildings on the Fullerton College campus and the WPA library
Harry E. Welsh – manager, Southern California Edison Company
Harry L. Wilber – owner, Rialto Theatre, Fullerton’s silent movie house; charter member, secretary, pianist of the Fullerton Kiwanis Club
Harry V. Williams – vice-president, First National Trust and Savings Bank
Harry T. Wilson – owner, Wilson Pontiac Company

07/28/2026

Following World War II, Fullerton College was flooded with veterans enrolled under the G.I. Bill, with hundreds of young men moving into temporary campus housing. Former football star and long-time technical trades instructor C. Robert McCormick (1233 Central Avenue) hit upon the idea of having students enrolled in the trades program build a house from top to bottom on the athletic field that would then be sold to the highest bidder. The housing projects involved thousands of hours of hands-on work for student carpenters, roofers, electricians, plasterers, painters, cabinetmakers, etc. When the houses were completed, they were opened for public inspection on the northern part of campus; later the homes were showcased at community fairs and shopping malls. Students enrolled in interior decorating classes assisted with interior and exterior color schemes; furniture selection and arrangement; and added finishing touches before the homes went up for auction.

The first homes built by Construction Shop students were small, prefabricated boxes fitted together like a jigsaw puzzle. As the program continued, building techniques became more advanced and architectural styles changed, resulting in more modern styles. The emphasis was always on designing and building a comfortable postwar home suitable for a family with children. Initially the completed homes were offered to veterans enrolled in the building trades program, but later they were auctioned off to the highest bidder, who was then obligated to move the dwelling to its new location. Most of the homes were relocated to cities outside Fullerton, including Anaheim, Chino, Placentia, Elsinore, Orange, and Yorba Linda. Snooty Fullerton neighborhoods often protested when it was discovered that a student-built house was being moved to an open lot. Ironically, one of the homes recently went on the market for $1.2 million.

In 1980, faculty members in the Construction Technology Department decided it would be preferable to construct the homes on vacant lots. Using a federally funded program, along with Fullerton Redevelopment funding, affordable homes were built on surplus land owned by the city. Each home and garage took a year to complete with about fifty students working nine hours a week from September to June exclusively on construction of each dwelling. For the first time, students enrolled in the landscape architecture program were called in to landscape the front and backyards. The Fullerton College program was gradually phased out in 1986 as the curriculum emphasis moved from vocational programs to the transfer of students to four-year colleges and universities.

07/21/2026

The Evans Bros. Packing Company was owned and operated by four brothers from Riverside: Roy E. Evans (1896-1978), Lloyd A. Evans (1903-1987), Ernest E. Evans (1894-1982), and Llewellyn (Lew) W. Evans (1895-1969). Lloyd Evans was the overall manager of the fruit packing and shipping company. The brothers’ grandfather had homesteaded 160 acres in Riverside after coming through Death Valley in a prairie schooner in 1880. Their father, Henry Evans, owned and operated the Dufferin Avenue stone quarry. The firm was at its peak in the 1940s and 1950s, shipping large volumes of fruit across the nation. The firm was already operating packinghouses in Riverside and Woodlake when it opened its busy packing plant in Fullerton in 1941, at the corner of Walnut and Harvard (now Lemon St.) Avenues at 237 East Walnut Avenue (razed). The company packed in Fullerton until 1963. Although it is often thought the fruit packing industry was over in Fullerton by 1960, that was not the case, and a number of packing plants were still active near the Santa Fe Railroad, including the Eadington Fruit Company, the Betz Packing Company, and the J. C. Knapp Packing Company.

The Walnut Avenue packing house had been constructed around 1925 by the Peppers Fruit Company, a Los Angeles-based firm which had packing plants throughout California. When Peppers filed for bankruptcy in 1933, the independent Quality Fruit Company took over the packing house, employing forty workers. After Evans Bros. purchased the packing plant, the brothers hired local contractor Keith Van Tuyle to make extensive changes to the building, adding a new platform and expansive workrooms. The fruit company shipped primarily navel oranges but was particularly known for its sweet and juicy grapefruit. It also developed a solid following for its express shipping of boxes of oranges and grapefruit at Christmas time. The brothers borrowed a marketing trick from Fullerton orange czar Charles C. Chapman by individually wrapping each orange or grapefruit in colorful Christmas wrapping paper and boxing them in an equally decorative shipping box. The Evans Bros. also packed tomatoes, and in the 1950s, moved into raising Fuerte (hardy) avocados.

The Evans Bros. Packing Company used three brands – Cal-Crest, Cal-Early, and Cal-Sweet – and is known today for its collectible and vibrant midcentury modern crate labels created by the Western Lithograph Company in Los Angeles. The crate labels were simple still lifes of fruit with blossoms and leaves on a plain background. Later, the packinghouse used colorful landscapes with rolling hills and citrus trees. The brothers also created a distinctive Evans family crest which appeared on some of the crate labels.

07/15/2026

On April 25, 1957, Crew Oldsmobile held a grand opening for its new ultra-modern repair plant and showroom at 1325 West Commonwealth Avenue. The dealership had spent the previous 18 years at 236-242 West Commonwealth Avenue, across the street from the Fullerton City Hall (now the Police Station). The $250,000 midcentury modern building was designed by Fullerton architect Charles M. Wickett, the first grandson of orange czar Charles C. Chapman, and constructed by Voege Inc. of Los Angeles. Included in the 56,000 square feet of floor space was a spacious showroom, outside carport “wings” for more show space, multiple offices, and a parts department. Customer parking was a city-lot sized area to the west of the dealership. To the rear of the main building were automotive service shops, which included the latest model down draft spray paint booth.

When owner Cecil C. Crew (1894-1994) announced the pending construction of the new building, he noted that he was “investing my money in Fullerton”. Crew arrived in California in 1932, from his hometown of Independence, Iowa. He was employed by an automotive dealer in Whittier before working for a Fullerton Pontiac dealership, then established his own Pontiac sales agency. In 1939, he became an Oldsmobile dealer. Crew served as mayor of Fullerton from April 1954 to April 1956 and was a member of the City Council from 1952 to 1956. He was president of the Fullerton Rotary in 1943-44 and headed the group which raised money for the Boys Club of Fullerton. Initially Crew and his wife rented apartments in Anaheim, but as his fortunes improved, he moved into increasing larger Fullerton homes (118 North Yale Avenue, 1211Luanne Avenue, 1108 La Mesa Drive). As head of the Crew Development Company, he acquired extensive real estate holdings in Orange County, a citrus ranch in Yuma, and a summer home in Montana. A lifelong baseball and softball fan, Crew was director of the Fullerton franchise of the National Niteball League, the oldest softball league in the nation.

At its new location, Crew Oldsmobile sold boat-size cars and convertibles in an eye-popping palette that included Surf Green, Turquoise Mist, Festival Red, Marlin Blue, Desert Glow (pink), and Heather (purple). In 1959, Hansel B. Nowling purchased the Crew Oldsmobile Company, renaming it Hansel Oldsmobile. Established in 1897 as the Olds Motor Vehicle Company by Random E. Olds, Oldsmobile was phased out by General Motors in 2004.

07/07/2026

William H. Wickett, Sr. House (838 Vista Verde Drive) In January 1956, the Ethel and Dr. William H. Wickett, Sr. House made the cover of The Architectural Digest, the only Fullerton home ever to be so honored. Located at 838 Vista Verde Drive in a tract owned by the Charles C. Chapman family (Tract 1766), the 12-room ranch-styled home, which has decidedly Asian elements, was designed by Dr. Wickett’s oldest son, Charles M. Wickett, and constructed by notable local builder Evan J. Herbert. The home cost $40,000 to construct in 1955. The interior design was completed by Delena Constantine in a midcentury modern color scheme that featured blue, aqua, green, and persimmon.

Born in Toronto, Canada, to British emigrants, William Harold Wickett, Sr. (1884-1963) came to Los Angeles in 1903, as a student of the College of Medicine at the University of Southern California. After graduating in 1907, he opened the Johnston-Wickett Clinic in Anaheim with his brother-in-law, Dr. Herbert Alan Johnston (1873-1959). In 1910, Wickett eloped with Ethel M. Chapman (1886-1963), the only daughter of orange czar Charles C. Chapman, Fullerton’s first mayor. In 1918, he was commissioned a captain in the Medical Corp of the United States Army, serving in the Toul Section and Argonne Forest in France. After his return from the war, Wickett and Johnston purchased, in 1920, the Fullerton Hospital, which they sold in 1931, when Wickett retired from medicine. After his retirement, Wickett became a citrus grower, operating a ranch for many years. He gradually began to take on some of his father-in-law’s work, including the management of the Chapman-Wickett Department Store in the Chapman Building. He remained an active community leader throughout his life. For over 25 years, he was president of the Fullerton Library Board of Trustees. He was president of the California Christian Endeavor Union; a charter member and president of the Fullerton Kiwanis Club; district president of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA); and commander of the Fullerton Malvern Post of the American Legion. He was also a developer, best known for Wickett Square (Marwood Avenue), which he subdivided in 1922. Marwood and Balfour Avenues in Fullerton were named for his parents’ families; Johnston Knoll was named for his brother-in-law. The West Wilshire, Woods, and Wickett Square neighborhood is now a historic district.

Ethel and William H. Wickett’s oldest son, architect Charles Marwood Wickett (1912-1996), was born October 9, 1912, on the Charles C. Chapman Ranch in Fullerton. He was the first grandchild of Charles C. Chapman (1853-1944). He graduated from Chapman College when it was still in Los Angeles, then, while working from his home on North Raymond Avenue as a designer, he attended night school for seven years at the University of Southern California (USC) to obtain an architecture degree. He designed, built, and remodeled many homes, schools, churches, and commercial buildings in Orange County. He was elected president of the Orange County Chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 1964. He completed over a hundred homes in Fullerton, with “Wickett Houses” earning distinction as dwellings that were well designed and solidly constructed. As the original architect, Wickett planned the campus and remodeled the auditorium for Chapman College in Orange, where he became an honored trustee. He designed the Fullerton YMCA, Crew Oldsmobile, the Alta Vista Golf Club House, and the State College Shopping Center. His most unusual project was the design of the first Del Taco to feature a drive-through window, located in Corona, with kitchen equipment installed by Dick Naugle. Naugle went on to create the rival fast-food chain, Naugles.

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