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Sunny Hills is born
October 20, 1939, L.A. Times. PLEASE DO NOT COPY OR REPUBLISH THIS LINK OR THE TEXT. 1960s SUNNY HILLS HIGH SCHOOL ALUMNI ONLY.

 

The first lots in Sunny Hills were on what became Valencia Mesa, sold in 1941. Among the first residents was Dr. William Scott, DO, with his office in the Chapman Building. My young mom was his receptionist-secretary-assistant at that time. Dr. Scott was Jim Bucheister's doctor for a while, and Dr. Scott delivered me. Dr, Pettis was another of the earliest Valencia Mesa homeowner.

By 1932, the going price for Bastanchury Ranch oranges had fallen to 32 cents a crate and the company were in a severe financial crisis. By 1905, the tree disease called Citrus Blight had begun to spread to more and more Southern California groves. The devastating 1938 flood had cost Orange County several billion dollars.

After several years of negotiations, the Bastanchury family was able to avoid bankruptcy in 1934. Ownership of the ranch was split between two groups of the family and the Sunny Hills Ranch Company was founded. They began to look for additional revenue sources. That's what this 1939 newspaper article is about.

Hundreds of thousands of new residents came to Southern California between 1917 and 1941, but the unprecedented boom only began when the war ended in 1945. By late 1946 or 1947, almost all American veterans were back at home in the States, and many came to Fullerton.

Sunny Hills was a new community. Between 1945 and 1955, Ranchtown, The Barn and Jimmy Smith's Swim Center came into being. By the early 1950s, Sunny Hills above Valencia Mesa was cleared of brush, shrubs, rocks and rattlesnakes, then graded for the construction of new homes: some on Laguna Road .. around the lake .. down along Terraza .. Catalina and Santa Barbara -- in some sequence, and simultaneously Richard Posey told me East Hermosa Drive ad East Las Palmas came later. 

St. Jude opened in 1958, and the directors realized they already had fewer beds than they needed, Meanwhile, most of Basque Tract was built between 1946 and 1950. West Fullerton started around 1953, and by 1959, it was mostly all there.

Nicolas Junior High opened in 1954, and Ladera Vista Junior High maybe 5 years later. Before the decade ended, Richman, Pacific Drive, Woodcrest, and the others were added, and Hermosa Drive, too. Sunny Hills High School opened her sun-soaked doors in -- was it 1959 or 1960?

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