Sunday, March 01, 2009

Delhi

OCTHen reader "Pat Nolen" recalls growing up in an area of Orange County known as "Delhi", and submits the following...

I grew up in Orange County, lived in area called "Delhi" where there was Orange groves and Sugar Beets growing, right outside of El Toro Helicopter Marine Base. I went to school at Smedley Junior High School, then on to Santa Ana Valley High School. I have not been there in years, it's my understanding the most of the black families no longer live there, (Latino population). Does anyone know if the public library has any yearbooks from 1968-69? I plan to visit the area in March 2009.
Much appreciated,

Pat Nolen @ Bflypat@yahoo.com
I never heard of Delhi. If you have some information or memories to share on this area, please post a comment below...

22 comments:

  1. Santa Ana Public Library's local history rooms has copies of all the yearbooks, and I'm sure some info & photos about the Delhi area:
    http://www.ci.santa-ana.ca.us/library/history/sahrmission.asp

    Although it predates the time you lived there, First American Corporation has some really nice old photos of the Delhi area.

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  2. When I was a kid Delhi was a very unique area of Santa Ana. Barrio? Yes. Other side of the tracks? Yes. Family oriented community? Yes. Genuine folks? Yes. Defacto segregation? It had its own school district, what's that tell you? An ethnic melting pot? It sure was.

    My mother lived in the area when her family migrated from the Midwest in the 20's. I fondly remember visiting with different friend's of her's who lived out their lives in Delhi. No sidewalks and unpaved streets. The lucious aroma of very old pepper trees (once a great OC asset). The father of her best friend, a Mr. Koral, lived there (his son was Bomo Koral who made great strides in developing Santa Ana's parks department and Bomo Koral Park is named after him). Mr. Koral lived in a clapboard house surrounded by pepper trees. His landscape planters around his house were made of huge abalone shells - abalone being the average person's food in those days since it was abundant and free for the picking at places like Little Corona and the coves near Laguna Beach.

    Delhi was home to a Birds Eye processing plant. The ubiquitous lima beans that covered so many square miles south of Edinger were brought to the plant. The beans were removed from their pods, washed and put into lug boxes and packed with crushed ice. They were then sent to another plant for freezing as "baby limas." My dad ran the plant as a "moonlight" job in the summers. My brother and uncle also moonlighted there.

    Anyone remember the name of Warner Ave before it was renamed Warner? Delhi.

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  3. Mr. Koral was Josef Koral, he was my great grandfather. I remember the home and abalone shell, and the fountain he made, his chicken coops and bee hives. He made his own beer and drank it green. He had a motorcycle when he was younger, crashed it and spent the rest of his life riding a bicycle. He was a foreman at the Sugar Beet Factory. Delhi was also home to my grandparents (Byron F. Quivey and Helen Koral)business on Main Street, the Flyin' A Service station, which is still standing.

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  4. Delhi was a Barrio located in SE Santa Ana. If you lived near Warner (Delhi Road), between Main and Standard you were living in "Delhi". That was the general area. Delhi Road name change came because the road went all the way to Huntington Beach and that part was Warner Ave. The sugar beet plant was located near Delhi as was the Cherry Rivet Company. The was a tin can factory there but I can not recall the name. There were five Barrios in SA during those days. The other Barrios were located near Euclid and 17th "Progresso" near Tom Dalappe's dairy. Another was near Newhope and Edinger which was "Independencia". The biggest was Santa Anita which was between the river and Harbor from Hazard south to the Harbor Drive Inn. There was one more in NE Santa Ana named after a street called "Logan".

    The "F" troop was a bunch of jump rope aged punks who thought they were tough. They used to intimidate school age children because they were scared of anyone else.

    I knew Bryon Quivey mentioned in a post dated April 30, 2009

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    1. Yoy better not say smack on big bad FxTROOP los Originals

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  5. I grew up in Delhi during the 1950s. I attended Edison elementary a few blocks north of Warner. The education was superior to Delhi School. I currently retired from teaching over 30 years in middle school.

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  6. I remeber Delhi very well, my mother and her whole family were from there. They grew up on Flora right off of Main Street. She went to Delhi Elementary, then to Julia C. McFadden Intermediate. She told me all about how her dad worked at the sugar beet factory. And how the air smelled sweet, from the processing. Today at the new Delhi Community Center, they placed special plaques for families that were there prior to 1910. As they called it the founding families wall. Both my Grandparents (Jordan) and Great-Grandparents (Billa/Villa) have plaques. Since they were their prior to that year. And as to the post about the Logan Barrio, I knew that place also, that's where I grew up. And what I remember was the small park, now called Josephine Andrade Park, and those tiny little streets. Incidently both the Delhi and Logan Barrios are the oldest in Santa Ana. But does anyone remember when Delhi was referred to as "Glorietta", my mother did.

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    1. I'm interested in information regarding when Delhi neighborhood was referred to as, "Gloryetta." Where can I get information?

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  7. I remember Delhi very well. I was born in Santa Ana in 1941. The barrio was at the southeast section of Delhi (now Warner) and Main St. My mother's best friend, Rose, (I can't remember her last name) lived there. From what I recall, Rose's dad built the first, or one of the first homes in that area. He was actually from Czechoslovakia. He lived there until he passed away. We spent a lot of time in Delhi. I worked for Birdseye in their outdoor lima bean plant in Delhi when I was in high school. I think the plant was on Halladay (maybe Orange) a few blocks south of Delhi (Warner). Our family is anglo, but my mom cooked great Mexican food. She may have learned it at Delhi, I don't know.

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  8. (repying to )Circle8 said... (well there was Artesia Barrio and Silver Acres also, next time do your Homework

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  9. I remember Delhi. I grew up in Santa Ana from 1965-1977 went to Saddleback high school and the Delhi,gang Los Aces were there-cholos. I remember the f
    FxTroop also and Santa Nita,Silver Acres,never heard of logan though

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  10. La Colonia Juarez Ward Street & Warner Ave.(Wintersburg Ave)- one of the oldest varrios.

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  11. My name is Scott Albert Hutter and my Grandma Rose Koral Hutter grew-up in Delhi. Her father was Josef Koral and he moved to Santa Ana in 1908. He worked 45 years for the Holly Sugar Company. He was good at farming and good with bees. His children were Ben (Bomo) Koral, Joseph (Pepico) Koral, Jeanette Hamilton, Helen Quibey, Ann Hay, Rose Hutter and Karolynne Gabik. I inherited a hand drawn map of Delhi from my Grandmother that depicts Delhi between 1910-1930. It was drawn from memory by her older brother Joseph P. Koral in 1989. I can be reached at huthut78@aol.com

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  12. my parents and 10 kids moved from texas back in the early 50 we moved to santa ana in the hart of santanita located between harbor and fairview on fith street ,then moved to 5th and jenkins in the hart of siver acres both wear mean gangs ,i was part of the later gang and servived all the crap, im happy to say i servived i went to alote of funerals from gang shootings , i realy can say this my girl freind saved me ,i got her pregnet at16, and i got out the gang ,today i can say with great pride i have a 30 year daughter, a great son inlaw ,and a 4 year old grandson ,that i love with all my hart.there is alote of great history about sant ana,i drive thru down town now and then to try to recapture some of it ,i did so today ,it was a great day .

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  13. Gary Pemental (Feb 2010) states that Santa Ana has two additional Barrios called “Artesia” and “Silver Acres”. He suggested I do my homework. I don’t want to insult his intelligence or lack thereof so let me explain.

    The city of Santa Ana had five Barrios. They are the same ones I mentioned in my comments of January 2010. A Barrio is generally defined as “a part of a larger U.S. city, especially a crowded inner city area, inhabited chiefly by a Spanish speaking population”. The key here is Spanish speaking. In addition the Barrios are usually areas that were inhabited and centralized around a Spanish culture involving small farms, homes, herds of animals of various types and at the time of development not within a city limit. The Barrio, depending on size, has small shops, stores and other businesses that supply the inhabitants with the basic necessities. As the city closet to it expands and closes the gap by building homes, businesses etc. they generally annex the Barrio as part of that city. The inhabitants become residents of the city, in this case Santa Ana, but maintain their proud identity to their Barrio name by stating they live in” name of the Barrio”.

    The two areas mentioned by anonymous, Artesia and Silver Acres are neighborhoods and not Barrios. Their identity was established AFTER the homes were established. In the case of Artesia, which is a street that runs north and south and is of considerable length, the road is bordered by houses and apartments. As they were built the neighborhood was named after the street giving it a neighborhood identity. In fact that area contains a high density area which includes apartments also known as “Little Texas”. The name was given as the result of an influx of Texans who moved to that area following the employment boom after WWII and the Korean War. That neighborhood was a mixture of races, language and culture. In the late 1960’s the “Little Texas” neighborhood was predominately black, hardly a Spanish speaking Barrio. Silver Acres was a development located generally in the area of Bolsa and Newhope. The name Silver Acres was used to promote buying of homes in the “Silver Acre” area. It never had a separate identity except as a neighborhood and was never a Barrio. I hope this helps you understand more of the history of Santa Ana.
    Patricio Vigil

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  14. I grew up in Delhi from 1968 to 1979, went to Monroe, McFadden, and eventually Saddleback.it was all well until I joined the Los Aces Gang in my teens, we had to leave because I was shot in a drive-by shooting and the heavy concentration of heroin and gang bangers. I relocated to San Diego in 1981 until present, I currently work with San Diego County Probation Department, and also a part time job as a Prevention Specialist, discouraging young teens from the gang life style. I usually visit old High school friends at least once a year, most of my friends are either dead or in prison. I am also a youth Pastor in National City a suburb south of San Diego.

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  15. I actually moved to Delhi in 1969 from East Los Angeles when I was 9 , our parents thought that if we left East LA, we would be safe from the gang culture, since she had grown up in those gang infested neighborhoods in the 50's and 60's. My mother was told that Delhi was much safe and housing was very affordable, we lived on Warner Evergreen and finally Emmett St. She tells me that we paired 120.00 dollars a month for a three bedroom house near the train tracks close to Halladay st.. I went to the James Monroe Elementary in the 4th grade, I still remember my favorite teacher Mrs. Holiday. During the earthquake of 1971 or 1972 our school was no longer safe and we had to share with Edison Elementary for about three years when it came time for me to attend Jr. High Mcfadden the new James Monroe was opened, it was then in the 7th grade that i began to see gang activity, and first heard of F-troop who were arch enemies with Delhi Los Aces. it was not until the 9th grade that i made a choice mostly out of peer pressure to join the Delhi gang, it was at this particular time that we were having family problems mainly with an alcoholic father. It was this that drove me to stay away from home as much as possible mainly to avoid an abusive and drunk father. This began my very short lived gang banging career after numerous arrest and juvenile hall visit my mother began to see that after all it wasn't a safe comment to raise three boys and one girl. On April 1st 1979 I was walking my girlfriend home at one o'clock in the morning walking down Cypress and St. Gertrude when a El Camino driven by a female accompanied by three males one in the passenger and two lying down in the back of the car, when both my girlfriend and I were shot in a drive-by shooting, she took two bullets to her thigh, while I took two one through my right forearm, and another through my right lower stomach. What very clearly remembered was that I saw the lights on both sides of the street immediately turned off, as if no one wanted to come out to our aid. As we both laid there in two pools of blood no one even bothered to call the police or paramedics, it seemed like hours had passed by and no one came to our aid so we managed to walk two blocks to my girlfriend house, it was there that my girlfriend grandmother called the paramedics. In June of 1979 my mother decided to move us to San Diego, To Chula Vista to be exact I was still healing from the exploratory surgery to remove a 22 caliber bullet from my stomach, for the next 10 years I battled with substance abuse that sent me away to two separate prison terms, and on May 6th of 1989, I decided to turn my life over to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I immediately began to speak at juvenile hall here in San Diego as well as all the local male and female jails. I graduated from Bible College in 1995 in Tulsa Oklahoma as well as Oklahoma Community College and then moved back to San Diego City College, and received my AA in Behavioral Sciences. For the past 12 years I have worked with both adult and juvenile Probation Department as an ADPS Alcohol and Drug Program Specialist. I still visit Delhi at least once a year and every time I go I am told that so and so had just passes away mainly to drug overdoses and other are spending lengthy prison sentences, from what my old friend tell me Delhi is ver laid back most of the Delhi gang members live around the Memorial park area on Flower Street.

    I will fnish with this I had very fond memories of Delhi park riding my bike next to Cher rivet factory and jumping into hug he piles of white powder in the beet factory behind Evergreen street. S for the past 20 plus years I had devoted my life in helping at risk youth in both in custody as well as out with some of San Diego's finest Juvenile delinquents......

    your truly
    John Echeverria you can reach me at
    echeverria.j@cox.net

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    1. hey my boyfriend was a delhi gang member u know tony mendoza

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  16. hey john my name is mingo i used to hang around with u in 1979 i remeber,the nick name mocs,sounds famillar hehe idont know if ur mocs or thats your brother but,i lived down the street from u on emmett,and remember when u left,big javier was one of our homies lupe and angel galvan the maganias, durans ibarras martinezs tafoyas just some of the peaple .excuse my spelling i droped out in saddleback high seventh grade.anyways i to have a long story with delhi.left 1982 things got real bad for me also gangs drugs shootings.tell u more soon mingo.im in texas 5 children and have my own barbershop here.text me at my url,and i can tell u my story....

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  17. This is great reading! I was wondering what Bomo Koral park was named after.

    also, I always drive through Delhi on Main street when I roll to down-town... Now I know it's rich history!

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  18. I grew up in Santa Ana in the Central Rosewood neighborhood. I went to Washington Elementary, McFadden Intermediate, and finally Saddleback High; graduating 99. I remember how scary Delhi was back then, it wasn't safe for a Chino to be walking through that neighborhood. You stick out like a sore thumb and next thing you know it the Mexican kids come out and make fun of you. "Chino, Chino, Japones, comer caca no me des." Then they start throwing egg at you, I thought to myself damn we live on government assistance and you wasting food...shame. I remember their parents was just sitting in their house laughing. I know it's a bit racist, but I didn't like any Mexican at that time, I was always ready to throw down with any pelon, always ready to go all the way. One day my dad came home from work and an Alley Boy jumped out of the dumpster and into my dad truck and he asked my dad to drive him over to the gas station on Alton and Bristol. My dad came home ok, but I hate think what would happen if that cholo was decided to pop my dad. We came to America for freedom and to make a better life for ourselves, but all I see there was hopeless. We were so poor that almost all our furniture was either from dumpster in the alley or from good will on Fairview and Fifth. Now looking back I see how ridiculous I was, an Asian due looking like a cholo with shaved head, pressed Dickies and Ben Davis with black and white Cortez. I did ended up in a gang and that only made thing worse. We had beef with almost everybody, if we didn't hit them up then they hit us up; it was all about pride (which was stupid). It was stressful just to come to school, I had to get out of that neighbor hood. I hated living there, but it taught me how to survive and appreciate everything I have. I might not speak fluent Spanish, but thanks to my experience there I can understand almost everything in Spanish especially if they talking bad about me. I still go back to the neighborhood for some real Mexican food like torta de tripas from El Gallo Giro, some tacos from the Pink truck, cuerritos, buche, birria from Taqueria Tapatia. Now three of my best friends are Mexican, and one was from the Delhi. Still I worry about going through that neighborhood since my cousin just moved back into there. I thought he's crazy, but I hear the neighborhood got better. I hope that the case.

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    1. You'll be happy to know Delhi and now Madison Park Neighborhood (North of St. Andrews) are nothing like they used to be. Besides the apartments along Standard, the rest of Delhi and Madison Park neighborhoods are probably safer than they have every been.

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