Sunday, July 8, 2012

Old Town Irvine

Seems like a lot of S CA towns have tried to develop an "old town" section. I'm a big fan of old architecture and old stuff in general... much more interesting than new. Perhaps the most famous and successful of the old towns is Old Town San Diego. But Old Town Irvine??  Never heard of it, and seems to me Irvine hasn't been around long enough to even have an old town. I was on my way to a meeting earlier this week, and exiting Sand Canyon Ave. off the 5 Freeway I noticed a cool old building. I didn't have my DSLR with me, by my iPhone always serves as a good backup.
You can actually see this from the freeway, and I've wondered what it was. The old, original-looking corrugated iron siding and roof remind me of an old packing house of some kind. As I got a closer look, it became obvious that people went to great pains to maintain much of the original construction detail.
Even an old wood walkway between two parts of the building has been preserved, although it's way too rickety to actually be used. Pretty cool, eh? Probably would have been much cheaper just to tear it down, but someone made the decision to keep it. [After a quick Google search, I learned that this is the old Irvine Bean and Grain Storage Warehouse (1895) - see bottom of this post.]
The entire front of this old warehouse has a covered front porch, and much of the flooring, walls, and even the light fixtures look original.

On close inspection, this old ceiling fan definitely looks original. I used selective coloring (b&w except for the fan) to make it stand out from the background. Here's the part that really intrigues me... I'm no electrician, but all these old electrical panels sure look original to me. Wow!


I wonder what "Big Gravity" is?? As you can tell, I had a lot of fun with these iPhone photos. So there you have it, Old Town Irvine. Old Building Irvine might be a more appropriate name, but either way a fun place to visit and photograph. Hope your weekend was a good one!!

Linking to:



If you're ever in the neighborhood and want to check it out, here's some additional information.
Old Town Irvine stands today as a testament to the rich agricultural past of what has become one of California's most heavily urban counties. Founded in 1887 as the distribution and storage center of the 125,000-acre Irvine ranch, Old Town Irvine was to develop over the years a bean and grain storage warehouse (1895) and granary (1947) known as the Irvine Bean and Grain Grower's Building, a blacksmith's shop (1916), a hotel (1913), a general store (1911), and an employees' bungalow (1915). All of these structures have been rehabilitated for commercial uses and their exteriors have been painstakingly maintained.
Location:  Sand Canyon Ave and Burt Rd, Irvine
Reference:  http://ceres.ca.gov/geo_area/counties/Orange/landmarks.html

20 comments:

  1. You got some great shots with your iPhone! Marvelous series.

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  2. Really love that shot with all the hanging lamps...nice work

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  3. Lovely shots, especially considering how they were taken with an iPhone. I really like the post-processing painterly effects you have applied. They suit the subject matter!

    PS: Sorry I haven't been around as much lately, but I have a new job and I trying to deal with the increased workload as I learn the ropes. It's been tough putting my own blog entries and I've been burning midnight oil to do it. It means of course that I don;t visit fellow bloggers' sites as much as I would like to!

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  4. Wonderful photos of old architecture, which I think is wonderfully photogenic and fun to explore. But from an iPhone? WOW!

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  5. I really like what you did with those iphone photos. And like you I do like this old stuff as well, really nice!

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  6. all great shots....I see this from the road but never taken the time to check it out...so glad you did and shared for us to all enjoy

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  7. Such a cool old building. I love those light fixtures.

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  8. I really like what you've done with these images. The lighting and composition are good to start with, and the color and texture you added really makes them pop. There is a "wow" quality to your photography.

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  9. You sure know how to make an old building show itself off!

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  10. Great photos! Enjoyed my visit here!

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  11. Love these.
    I'm also fascinated with old/abandoned buildings.
    Love the textures and coloring.

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  12. I was going to say it looked like a grainery of some sort -- love the old light fixtures and your editing is way cool. :)

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  13. The colouring and the textures add to the old feeling of the building!

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  14. I love photos of industrial sites. Your sepia treatment of the electrical boxes is particularly fine.

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  15. Love your shots! Sorry I'm late visiting so late to thank you for sharing on Weekly Top Shot #38... I've not been feeling well.

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  16. old town Irvine, really? I need to check it out. great captures.

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  17. These are outstanding. Amazing. I love the treatments. That wooden walkway is frightening.

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  18. Love your pictures - all of them! Especially the combination of architecture and texture!

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  19. Lovely shots, especially with the "watercolour" effect.

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  20. The walkway connected the original 1895 "sack" warehouse with the newer bulk processing warehouse (now the La Quinta.) There are concrete reinforced silos in the bulk warehouse. A walkway goes over the top of the silos inside the building. The remains of this old wooden walkway was the only way to get from the top of one building to the other without going back down to the ground floor. The view from the walkway is amazing, and was an outstanding location to watch the air show at the former El Toro Marine Base. The handwriting on the switch boxes is original, and it belonged to William C. Cook, the secretary and Manager of the Irvine Bean and Grain Grower's Association from 1946 until 1967, not long before it closed. The switches controlled the conveyer belts which moved crops from trucks at the front of the building into the various silos for storage, and later shipment. The light fixtures outside over the covered walkway are correct for the period but not original to their location.

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