HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolution - - 2004-161 - 5/11/2004 Recording Requested By: to
City of Fresno -
No Fee-Gov't. Code Sections IIIIIIII111111INIIII
6103 and 27383 1 11 11 1 11
FRESNO County Recorder
When Recorded, Mail To: Robert C. Werner
City Clerk DOC— 2004-0135263
City of Fresno Friday, JUN 18, 2004 14:10:58
2600 Fresno Street Ttl Pd $0,00 Nbr-0001512478
Fresno, CA. 93721-3623 ,jxg/R2l1-10
RESOLUTION NO. 2004-161
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FRESNO,
CALIFORNIA, DESIGNATING THE FRESNO TROLLEY CAR DINER
(STANDARD DINER) LOCATED AT 1731 S. CHERRY AVENUE,
TO THE LOCAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC RESOURCES
RESOLUTION NO. 2004-161
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FRESNO,
CALIFORNIA, DESIGNATING THE FRESNO TROLLEY CAR DINER
(STANDARD DINER) LOCATED AT 1731 S. CHERRY AVENUE,TO
THE LOCAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC RESOURCES
WHEREAS, the Fresno Trolley Car Diner(Standard Diner) consists of two former trolley
cars from the Fresno Traction Company;
WHEREAS, these two cars, the Dragon 51 and a Birney, are the only known surviving
vestiges from Fresno's early 20`h century streetcar system;
WHEREAS, in 1935 William Meyers acquired the Dragon 51 car and relocated it to this site
on S. Cherry Avenue for a diner which he called the Standard Diner;
WHEREAS, the trolley cars have served as a restaurant since 1935 and were documented in
Doug Hansen's Fresno Sketchbook published by the Fresno Bee;
WHEREAS,the Fresno Trolley Car Diner was recorded in the 1977 historic resources survey
of Fresno conducted by architect Bill Patnaude;
WHEREAS,the Fresno Trolley Car Diner(Standard Diner) is also an excellent example of a
property type that was popular in the 1920s and 1930s, the trolley car diner;
WHEREAS, the current owner, Barbara Ortiz, supports the designation of her property to
Fresno's Local Official Register of Historic Resources and is currently restoring the trolleys for
use as a caf6; and
WHEREAS, the City of Fresno Historic Preservation Commission, at a duly noticed public
hearing held on March 22"d, 2004, heard testimony on the subject property; and
WHEREAS, based on that testimony, and the presentation of facts relating to the criteria for
official designation, as set forth in the Fresno Municipal Code, Article 4, Section 13-401 et seq.,
made the following findings;
That the Fresno Trolley Car Diner(Standard Diner) meets the criteria set out
in Article 4, Chapter 13, Section 13-406(a) of the Fresno Municipal Code;
and is eligible for listing on Fresno's Local Register of Historic Resources;
and be recommended to the Fresno City Council for adoption as a Local Resource;
and whereas in accordance with Fresno Municipal Code, Article 4, Section 13-401
et seq. this hearing has been duly noticed for Council action upon the designation
recommended by the Commission.
-
�(pp�ornrd _...��
NOW, THEREFORE,BE IT RESOLVED,that the City Council for the City of Fresno
hereby finds and determines that the above recitals are true and correct and designates the
Fresno Trolley Car Diner(Standard Diner)to the Local Register of Historic Resources.
CLERK'S CERTIFICATION
STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
COUNTY OF FRESNO ) ss.
CITY OF FRESNO )
I, REBECCA E. KLISCH, City Clerk of the City of Fresno, certify that the
foregoing ordinance was adopted by the Council fo the City of Fresno, at a regular
meeting held on the 11th aay of May , 2004.
AYES Boyajian, Calhoun, Dages, Duncan, Perea, Sterling, Castillo
NOES None
ABSENT None
ABSTAIN None
Mayor Approval : N/A 2004
Mayor Approval/No Return: N/A ,2004
Mayor Veto: N/A 12004
Council Override Vote: N/A ,2004
APPROVED AS TO FORM: REBECCA E. KLISCH
CITY ATTORNEY'S OFFICE City Clerk
BY: BY:
Deputy y-
State of California—The Resources Agency Primary
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
PRIMARY RECORD Trinomial _
NRHP Status Code _
Other Listings
Review Cade Reviewer Date
P1. Resource Name: Fresno Trolley Cars Diner (Standard Diner)
*P2. Location: *a. County: Fresno
*b. USGS 7.5' Quad: Fresno South, 1963 Photorevised 1981. Parcel located in
Section 10, R20E T14S
c. Address: 1731 S. Cherry Avenue
d. Assessor's Parcel Number: 468-303-06
*P3a. Description: The Fresno Trolley Cars Diner (soon to open as the 51 Cafe) consists of two former
trolley cars that have been placed perpendicularly to one another and connected. The overall interior plan
is thus a slender L. The car that is parallel to S. Cherry Avenue is a "Dragon" type, thus a c 1912 design
that included a low set of double doors in the middle of the car. The Dragon car measures 40x8 feet, the
second car, a "Birney" is 32x8 feet. Both cars are riveted sheet metal over an angle iron frame. The
Dragon trolley has a double, vertical paneled wood door in the center that apparently was put in long ago
and replaced the original doors (see picture on page 76 of Hamm). A series of double hung wood sash
windows flank this double door. A conductor's door is on the west elevation at the north end of the
Dragon car. There are eight double hung sash windows on the south elevation of the Birney model. A
single panel wood door is at the far east end of the Birney. The Birney terminates in an anticlimber,
termed a "Ubangi Lip." In the 1920s the Southern Pacific required this feature on all its cars in the belief
that it helped protect the lightweight trolley in the event of a collision. The interiors of these trolleys have
been modified to accommodate seating for the cafe although the rounded ceiling and framing is exposed
and intact. Attached to the east and northeast sides of the diner are concrete block bathrooms, a kitchen
and a storage room. The diner is located south of the Center City in an industrial/manufacturing section
of town.
*P3b. Resource Attributes: HP18 (train/former trolleys); HP6 (commercial building/diner)
*P4. Resources Present: *Building
P5b Photo date: 2/2/04
*P6. Date Constructed/Age
and Sources: Dragon car
C1912; Birney c. 1925;
•r' Dragon car moved to site as
diner in 1935 (Hamm;
Assessor records and
Building permit).
*P7. Owner and Address:
1 Barbara Ortiz
- ' P.O. Box 2601
Fresno, CA 93745
_ *P8. Recorded by:
Karana Hattersley-Drayton,
Historic Preservation Project
Manager, City of Fresno
��-^ - - ' ,- ..�;�ru.•,_ �. ,,=, *P9. Date Recorded:
2/2/04
- - *P 10. Survey Type:
Intensive
*P1 1. Report Citation: Evaluation of the Fresno Trolley Cars Diner (Standard Diner) for the Local
Register of Historical Resources.
*Attachments: •Building, Structure and Object Report •Continuation Sheet
DPR 523A (1/95) *Required informatiori
State of California—The Resources Agency Primary#
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial
Page 2 of 6 Resource: Fresno Trolley Cars Diner (Standard Diner)
*Recorded by: Karana Hattersley-Drayton *Date:2/02/04 ■Continuation
A.
Birney Car, South Elevation
DPR 523L(1/95) "Required information
State of California—The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
BUILDING, STRUCTURE, AND OBJECT RECORD
*NRNP Status Code: 5S3; 3CS
*Resource Name: Fresno Trolley Cars Diner (Standard Diner)
B3. Original Use: Street cars from Fresno Traction Company
B4. Present Use: converted to cafe in 1936; presently undergoing renovation for use again as a diner.
*B5.Architectural Style: Dragon model and Birney model street cars with kitchen, storage and restroom
facilities as additions.
*B6. Construction History: The "Dragon" car apparently dates to c1912. The Birneys were initially
purchased for Fresno in the mid-1920s. One or both trolleys were moved to their present location in 1935.
A kitchen was moved onto the parcel from Amador and Broadway at the same time. In 1945 a 10x12 foot
storage area was added. The 1950 Sanborn curiously only shows the footprint of the "Dragon" model and a
kitchen/outbuilding. In 1967 a restroom was built. The caf6 was rewired in 1969. The current owner
stripped off the exterior sheathing that had been added and has replaced and repaired the steel roof of the
cars.
*B7. Moved?■Yes Date: 1935 Original Location: Rolling stock for the Fresno Traction Company
*B8. Related Features: A kitchen, storage area and bathrooms are appended to the east and northeast
elevations.
B9a. Architect: N/A B9b. Builder: Fresno Birneys were mostly produced by the St. Louis Car Co.
*B10. Significance: Theme: Transportation and City Expansion Area: Fresno
Period of Significance c1912-1925; 1936 Property Type: street cars; trolley car diner
Applicable Criteria: Appears eligible to both the California Register of Historical Resources under
Criteria 1 and 3, and the Local Register of Historic Resources under Criteria (i) and (iii)
The Fresno Trolley Cars Diner (Standard Diner) is constructed from the only known surviving street cars
from the Fresno Traction Company. The first horse car lines in Fresno were developed in 1887 with the
purpose of promoting real estate sales on the eastern side of the City (Railroader 248:3). Electric service
started in October 1902 under the Fresno City Railway Company with H.A. Voorman, president. In 1903
the Railway Company was renamed the Fresno Traction Company with A.G. Wishon, Manager.
By 1905 there were 15.5 miles of track in the system (Harrison in Clough pp248-9). Wishon was also the
developer of the Alta Vista Tract subdivision which was planned to illustrate how electricity could made
like easier. Wishon constructed a trolley line down the middle of Huntington Boulevard (Rehart 1996:187).
In 1910 the Fresno Traction Company was sold to the Southern Pacific Railroad (see continuation sheet).
*B12. References: 1950 Sanborn Map; Fresno County Assessor's Records; Building Permits on file with
the Planning and Development Department; Steve Renovich, "Fresno Traction and Fresno Interurban, The
Western Railroader 248 (n.d.); Edward Hamm Jr., When Fresno Rode the Rails, 1979; Charles W. Clough,
Fresno County in the 20th Century: From 1900 to the 1980s, 1986; Doug Hansen, Fresno Sketchbook,
1991; Catherine Morison Rehart, The Valley's Legends
and Legacies, 1996; George A. Kerber, Staff Report 8 April
1980; Chester H. Liebs, Main Street to Miracle Mile:
American Roadside Architecture, 1985; Bill Patnaude, , M1YF. f!/�`• , .►"
"Historic Resources Inventory Form for Fresno Trolley -
Cars, Fresno Inter-Urban Railway Car" 26 June 1978;
Paula Lloyd, "Ticket to the Past" Fresno Bee: Neighbors
Cityview 10 July 2003:3.
614. Evaluator: Karana Hattersley-Drayton9• -
4
*Date of Evaluation: March 17, 2004 '� :' ..�. !1
(This space reserved for official comments.)
DPR 5236(1/95) *Required information
State of California—The Resources Agency Primary#
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial
Page 4 of 6 Resource: Fresno Trolley Car Diner(Standard Diner)
*Recorded by: Karana Hattersley-Drayton *Date 2/2,/04 ■Continuation
The era of electric street cars was reasonably short in Fresno. The Fresno Traction Company consistently
lost money and in the early 1930s, with rising costs of operation and a poor economy, the Company began
to close down its lines. In 1934 the 1912 vintage center-entrance "dragon" cars were declared surplus and
placed in dead storage in the car yard at First and Platt (Hamm 1979:37). The last trolley ran out Wishon
Avenue on May 21S1, 1939 where it met with a bus at a ceremony that marked the transition from "rails to
rubber" (Clough 1986:59).
In 1935 one surplus trolley, the Dragon 51, was hauled to the triangular parcel on South Cherry for
William Meyers (Assessor's records). The Dragon was a special model with low-set center doors designed
so that women in "hobble skirts" could easily board (Hansen 1991:26). Because these models could not
easily convert to a one-man operation they were retired early (Hamm 1979:76; see attached). A building
permit issued in 1936 indicates that the trolley was remodeled for a caf6 with a kitchen brought to the site
from Amador and Broadway. What is unclear is whether or not the 2nd trolley, the Birney model, was
brought over in 1935 or placed later. The 1950 Sanborn indicates a footprint of one car with an attached
outbuilding, presumably the kitchen.
The trolley diner was initially called the Standard Diner (see page 11 of Hamm, as attached). In 1968 it
was renamed "Trolley Car Carole's" and was "a hangout for the coffee and poetry crowd" (Hansen 1991:26).
By 1978 when the diner was recorded in the City's architectural survey it had been sheathed in wood
siding and had metal awnings over the windows, thus obscuring much of the original fabric. In 1980 The
Historic Preservation Commission considered an application for listing the trolley cars on the Local
Register. Due to the exterior modifications the application was denied with the caveat that "if the
structure's exterior is returned to its original appearance, staff would recommend that the matter be
reconsidered ..." (Kerber 2 April 1980).
The current owner purchased the trolley car diner in 2003 and since then has undertaken an ambitious
program to research and restore the cars. The exterior paneling has been removed, the metal roof
repaired, and the exterior repainted. She has also set about to upgrade the wiring, bathrooms and kitchen
facilities and bring them up to current health standards. The plan is to open a caf6 by this summer.
The Fresno Trolley Car diners (the Standard Diner) appears to be eligible to both the California Register of
Historical Resources and the Local Register of Historic Resources under criteria 1(i) and 3(iii) as the last
surviving vestiges in Fresno of the early 201h century streetcar system (1) and as an example of a particular
property type popular in the 1920s and 1930s: the diner (3). Changes of course were made to the cars
when they were moved to the site in the 1930s, including a change-out of the double metal doors for heavy
wooden ones on the Dragon car. Nevertheless, the diners retain excellent integrity of location, setting
(industrial), materials, workmanship, feeling and association. Integrity of design has been somewhat
compromised through multiple upgradings and renovations necessary for a caf6 facility. The kitchen,
storehouse and bathroom additions, although critical to the success of the diner, are non-contributing
elements but tucked around back do not detract from the overall historicity of the resource.
DPR 523L(1/95) "Required information
� w
Broadside view of"Dragon"51 shows graphically why these cars could not be converted to one-man opera-
tion, and hence were retired early. MARK EFFLE COLLECTION
The Arlington Heights line opened for service in 1914, but the extension to Calwa proved abortive. And, by the end
of 1915, all plans for Calwa service had been dropped. As a result, the big "dragons" saw most of their service
(according to old-timers) on Blackstone, as school trippers in Wishon service, or as crowd carriers to the fairgrounds.
Numbers 51-54 were withdrawn from service at the close of 1934, and were scrapped soon after. These ungainly cars
had one fatal flaw: their drop-center construction rendered them impossible of conversion to one-man service.
When the new lightweight Birney-type streetcars were first conceived, slightly before America's entry into World
War I, cost-conscious transit managers everywhere began investigation of this newest revenue-building miracle. And
the SP-controlled Fresno Traction Co. was no exception. To test the radical new design, Fresno Traction ordered five
of the Birney cars from the American Car Co., St. Louis. These new single-truckers were placed in service on Fresno
Avenue and were immediately successful.
Satisfied with the trial Birneys, Fresno then obtained 12 more of them; but this time the order was placed with the
St. Louis Car Co., also of St. Louis. The American car order arrived in 1919, and the St. Louis group in 1920. From
1920 on, these trolleys were the mainstay of the Fresno Street and Blackstone Avenue lines, serving until the 1939
abandonment. Two other Birney types, second-hand equipment from Stockton, California, were transferred to
Fresno in 1936 and operated until the end in 1939.
Fresno Traction's Birneys are listed as follows:
CAR NUMBERS CLASS LENGTH TYPE TRUCKS BUILDER DATE
59, 60* Pass. 28'0" Birney, closed Single St. Louis 1920
61-65 Pass. 28'0" Birney, closed Single American 1919
66-77 Pass. 28'0" Birney, closed Single St. Louis 1920
*Obtained from Stockton
The final new equipment purchases for Fresno occurred early in 1924. In that year the company ordered 12 new
double-truck Birneys from St. Louis Car Co. These were much larger vehicles. But due to production problems, the
builder was not able to immediately supply these cars. As a result, these bigger trolleys did not enter Fresno service
until 1925. These ran mostly on the Forthcamp extensions (Roeding, Wishon) and, with the exception of Nos. 81-83
which were sold to Pacific Electric, Los Angeles, in 1933, ran until abandonment. These big cars are listed as:
CAR NUMBERS CLASS LENGTH TYPE TRUCKS BUILDER DATE
81-92 Pass. 42'5" Birney, closed Double St. Louis 1925
After 1934 only the single and double-truck Birneys remained in passenger service.
A complete roster follows.
76
144, -2
Od
�~
70
- I
i
1. I
Car 70 changes crews at the 1st&Platt
I., carbarn, February 25, 1939. Fresno cars
-- carried dash signs advertising major
sporting events, dances and the like.
CRAIG RASMUSSEN COLLECTION
Latter-day career as diner was the fate
of one of Fresno D-action's ungainly
3 stepless cars. INTERURBANS
Single-trucker Birney 59 pops out of the Fresno St. railroad subway, bound for West Fresno. View dates from
April 1937 FRESNO BEE
77
r
n�
� f
CLERK'S CERTIFICATION
STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
COUNTY OF FRESNO )
CITY OF FRESNO )
On June 4, 2004, before me, Cindy Bruer, Deputy City Clerk, personally appeared Rebecca E.
Klisch,City Clerk,known to me(or proved to me on the basis of satisfactory evidence) to be the
person(s) whose name(s) are subscribed to the within instrument and acknowledged to me that
he/she/they executed the same in his/her/their authorized capacity(ies), and that by his/her/their
signature(s) on the instrument(s) the person(s), or the entity upon behalf of the City of Fresno of
which the person(s) acted, executed the instrument.
WITNESS my hand and official City Seal.
REBECCA E. KL/SCH
CITY CLERK
By
deputy