1938: Paradise on Their Minds

A decade before the launch of the Lemon Grove Review in 1948, there was the Lemon Grove News, which appears to have been a daily or at least a biweekly.  This week, we look at the News's coverage of 'Grove activities in the summer of 1938 when the Lemon Grove Chamber of Commerce functioned as a veritable city council and planning group rolled into one. 

Are We Beautiful?:  Treganza dynasty patriarch Eduardo Treganza and his wife, Josephine, felt the town's image could be upgraded given its exquisite climate and five growing seasons.  They urged massive planting of shade trees, flower and vegetable gardens, and copious use of Spanish style architecture in domestic and public spaces.  These ideas would linger through the 20th century into the 21st.

Eduardo was a noted horticulturist and Josephine was an avid fossil collector and birder.  They had left Utah by wagon in 1889 for northern California, where his horticultural skills were in demand.  They landed in Lemon Grove in 1912 when they bought an acre of land on the east side of Kempf Street between Lincoln and Golden.  

Their son, Alberto, the famous architect of "Big Lemon" fame, designed his parents' redwood house on Kempf in California Arts and Crafts Bungalow style, completing it in 1913.  It had a living room, dining room, two bedrooms, den, bathroom, kitchen, spacious front porch and a rear service porch.  The 100-year-old house survives today in the loving care of lighting and interior designer Gary S. Elbert.

The home was flanked by fruit trees budded and grafted by Eduardo, a hedge of guava bushes, pecan trees, ornamental trees -- the extravagantly gnarled pepper tree still stands -- grass and gardens.  Bessie the Jersey cow coexisted with a dozen chickens.  The Treganzas churned their own butter in addition to growing their own fruits and vegetables.

Yes, We Are:  Alberto and Antwonet Treganza were a force in Lemon Grove in 1938.  She had written a weekly column, "Walks and Talks with Mother Nature" for the San Diego Union for a decade and, like Alberto, was a noted birder.  Alberto had completed work on the San Diego Police Headquarters and the restoration of the Spanish Village in Balboa Park (both on the National Register of Historic Places) and was designing other homes and buildings county-wide.

Locally, in addition to the original Treganza home (above), Treganza designed a Spanish style home, still standing across the street on Kempf; another Spanish home still standing on Golden Avenue; and the Ebon McGregor House standing on Main Street opposite City Hall.

In other words, the second generation of Treganzas suited action to the words where beautifying Lemon Grove was concerned.

Madam President:  Antwonet Treganza had served as secretary to the Lemon Grove Chamber of Commerce and was voted its first woman president in 1938 (see photo).  In one of her first projects, she obtained permission from the San Diego & Arizona Railway to plant shrubs and flowers along the railroad right-of-way.

She established a Chamber garden club with Kate Sessions ("Mother of Balboa Park") as honorary chair.  Antwonet launched a garden column in the Lemon Grove News and began a series of weekly "bird hikes" for children and families.  The hikers left the Lemon Grove Grammar School and walked to Eucalyptus Park to observe birds in flight and song and identify them in the field.  The cost per child was 10 cents.

Antwonet declared that the Chamber's primary mission was service to youth with sponsorship of the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Campfire Girls, a plethora of sports for all ages, and "physical culture for women" -- the latter held in the Forward Club still standing on Main Street at Burnell.  

Antwonet wrote that "in the final analysis, the entire program of the Chamber of Commerce is dedicated to our youth of today that those who fill our places in the coming tomorrows may find pleasure and rejoice to live in a community of beauty and contentment."

Thus Spake Kate Sessions:  A capacity crowd met in the Forward Club to applaud Miss Sessions' exhortation to "plant a paradise on earth."  Standing before a flower laden table, she identified wild flowers that had been domesticated and described how to plan and care for them.

Sessions said that trees should be grown from seed or young saplings as  "too many people try to gain time by setting out a large tree, fearing they may not live long enough to see things mature."  She urged the creation of a public park "where all manner of plants and shrubs do well in this favorable climate and soil."

Sessions was a favorite in Lemon Grove as she and her brother, Frank, owned a satellite nursery on Adams Street for propagating palm trees.  The land lives on in fine fettle under the care of the McCollim and Ofield families.  

Flowering Town:  Si Osborn of the County Agricultural Department also addressed the Chamber on beautification.  He urged holding an annual flower show to stimulate interest in gardening since "conditions here are ideal for a splendid show."  He suggested that the "new highways through the lemon groves" (Imperial Avenue, Washington Street and Kempf/Skyline) be bordered with flowering shrubs.

Today: Lemon Grove has five parks.  There is a 100-member organic garden club chaired by Marianne West.  One brilliantly managed citrus orchard survives and countless citizens have fruit trees from orchard days.  The 1919 Hunter's Nursery flourishes into the fourth generation of Hunters.  And in 2014 the Lemon Grove Historical Society will sponsor a Lemon Grove Garden Tour featuring at least four historic sites, as well as modern gardens.

Let the Forums Begin:  The Chamber followed up Sessions' lecture with an open forum in which everyone was invited to come to the Forward Club and tell what they thought was wrong with Lemon Grove and offer methods for improvement.

Flash Forward:  To July 25, 2013 from 6 - 8 p.m. in the Lemon Grove Community Center, 3146 School Lane, when our City sponsors an open forum on health and wellness in The Big Lemon.  What makes our city a great place to live, work and play?  What should be improved?  Are we beautiful?  Do the above efforts by our ancestors live on?

Many forums have come and gone, dear readers, but this one is a keeper for it is part of our General Plan.  Please plan to attend and participate in the discussion.  

Final Note for This Week:  Does anybody have a copy of the Lemon Grove News from the 1930s and 1940s?  The Lemon Grove Historical Society has tantalizing photocopies of individual articles, but no entire editions.  Sing out if you have anything stashed in the garage.  619-460-4353.

About this column:  Compiled by Helen Ofield, president of the Lemon Grove Historical Society, from newspapers archived at the H. Lee House Cultural Center.  Each week, we take a peek at the past with some news and advertising highlights from a randomly chosen edition of the Lemon Grove Review.  Ofield was awarded first place in 2013 and second place in 2012 in non-daily column writing from the Society of Professional Journalists.