REMNANTS OF VALLEY'S CITRUS PAST STILL GROWING.

Byline: Elizabeth Smilor Correspondent

It is easy to be overwhelmed by the sights and sounds of the bustling San Fernando Valley of today, but for many years it was the scent of the Valley's citrus groves that left a lasting impression.

``You'd drive through there and smell the orange trees,'' says Karen Lenker, of the Central Coast town of Nipomo, whose grandfather and great-uncle owned farm land now comprising California State University, Northridge.

The citrus industry flourished here from the late 1800s into the mid- 1900s. In 1915, it was called the Valley's greatest industry, according to newspaper accounts of the day. By 1921, 3,000 employees worked at four citrus packing houses that exported 1.5 million boxes of oranges, lemons and grapefruit a year.

Following World War II, residential developments began rising and the groves falling. The citrus industry moved north to Ventura County and Central California, according to the Los Angeles County Agricultural Commissioner's office. Today there are two commercial groves left in Los Angeles County, said Deputy Agricultural Commissioner Richard Sokulsky - one at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and the other at Bothwell Ranch in Woodland Hills.

Ann Bothwell, whose husband Lindley started the ranch in 1923 with his parents, still lives there. Of the original 30 acres, 14 remain with about 1,900 trees. Twelve acres of Valencia orange trees are cultivated. About a third of the trees are from the 1920s, she says. Bothwell belongs to a Sunkist packing house in Oxnard that sends a crew down to pick the oranges. They're marketed as Sunkist oranges, she says.

When asked why she's kept the ranch, Bothwell replied simply, ``My home is here. I like it here. It has been my home for more than 50 years.'' She says every time the real-estate market heats up, her phone rings, but the land is not for sale.

She remembers a time when Ventura Boulevard was a two-lane road and groves covered most of the Valley. Then builders came, and the Ventura Freeway was extended, and slowly the groves disappeared.

``To those of us who lived here, it seemed like it was happening too fast,'' Bothwell says. ``It's a shame to see part of the Valley's history go out. It would be nice if there were more green areas.''

Bothwell's land is private, but there are groves in the Valley open to the public.

Orcutt Ranch Park in West Hills, a historical site owned by the Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Department, allows visitors to pick Valencia oranges and grapefruit during select times of the year. Built in 1921 as a vacation home for Union Oil executive William Orcutt and his wife, Mary, the 24-acre ranch is now primarily used for weddings and other special events. Earlier this month, the ranch held a public fruit pick and will do so again in the fall - late October or early November - depending on the harvest and staff availability. For more information, call the ranch at [phone]. Admission is free, but a grocery bag full of citrus costs $2, and a box of fruit is $5.

A smaller grove is also open to the public near the southeast corner of the CSUN campus at Nordhoff Street and Zelzah Avenue. The six-acre grove with about 500 trees is all that's left of the land once owned by Lenker's ancestors.

The public is welcome to walk among the trees but is discouraged from eating the oranges.

``The grove is not maintained for that purpose,'' says Tom Brown, director of the university's physical plant. ``We don't know if the fruit is viable.''

Lenker's father, Homer Halverson, helped to plant the grove in 1929 on his uncle Olaf Halvorson's property along with his father, Ole Halverson. (The brothers spelled their surnames differently.) In his memoir, which he wrote for his family and CSUN prior to his death at age 99 last November, Homer Halverson recalls planting the Valencia orange trees.

``The Dodge truck was the delivery vehicle bringing the young trees from the nursery at Cascade Ranch, near the north end of Balboa Boulevard and the foothills,'' he wrote, adding that the ranch is now part of Granada Hills. ``After delivery of the trees, alignment of rows about 12 feet apart was established. Next was digging holes to specified depth and matching distances apart with that of the rows, followed by delivery of the trees to the hole, setting them in place and back filling.''

He also wrote about how they wrapped the young trees with tulle or cattail stems to protect them from frost in the winter. He then goes on to tell how they planted Milo maize, which was used for animal food, in the space between the rows of trees for about five years.

Descendants of Olaf Halvorson sold their land in the 1950s for the establishment of San Fernando Valley State College (later renamed CSUN) in 1958.

``It was with a bit of sadness that I witnessed the transformation of the orange groves into parking lots for the multitudes of students blessed with vehicles,'' Homer Halverson wrote.

It would not be long before the college needed more land and would buy the Halverson farm. Ole Halverson's wife, Laura, continued to live in the family house until her death in 1965.

``However, when she learned that her continued living there until the land was actually needed was subject to rental payments, she bitterly complained that this was the first time in her life she had to pay rent for a place to live,'' Halverson wrote.

CSUN students and staff have fought to keep the remaining six acres going.

``I just think it's important to preserve this relic of the Valley's agricultural past,'' says Robert Gohstand, professor emeritus in geography at CSUN. Gohstand has led an effort to preserve the grove since the early 1990s, when there was talk of putting a parking lot in its place.

The grove was rededicated in 1993, and money was raised for a new sprinkler system. There are about 500 orange trees, but not all of them are originals, he says. ``Orange trees have a finite life span,'' Gohstand explains. So, as trees die, they are replaced with new ones.

Lenker and her sister, Gail Carson of La Canada Flintridge, would love to see the oranges harvested.

``I'd really like to explore ways to make use of the oranges,'' Carson says. She suggested making orange marmalade like that made from a historic grove at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino.

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Photo:

Homer Halverson helped plant the orange grove on what is now CSUN.

Homer Halverson Collection, Urban Archives Center, University Library, CSUN