Black Resorts Ephemera

Collection

Identifier: SPC-2025-001

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Black Resorts Ephemera Collection (1926; circa 1949) contains three items regarding former Black resort towns located in Southern California. This collection contains a postcard and brochure from Rest Haven Hacienda Heights, which was located 10 miles outside of Corona, California; and one pamphlet from Eureka Villa, located in northwestern Los Angeles County.

Dates

[1926]; circa 1949

Conditions Governing Access

There are no access restrictions on this collection.

Conditions Governing Use

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Archives and Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical materials and not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.

Biographical / Historical

Prior to the industrial revolution in the 19th century; leisure, or vacations were mostly limited to the wealthy. Once it became more affordable, non-white communities such as African Americans, Chinese, Japanese, Mexicans, and other racial and ethnic groups found that they were limited to where they could vacation due to discrimination. In the late 19th and early 20th century, vacation sites started catering to African Americans throughout the United States such as in Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan, and California. In the 1920s, African Americans living in Southern California developed resort communities so that they could enjoy various forms of leisure such as socializing, recreation activities; as well as potential business and networking opportunities, without discrimination.

Rest Haven Hacienda Heights was a former Black resort town located 10 miles outside of Corona, California on Hwy 71 between Corona and Lake Elsinore near the site of the first U.S. Post Office in Riverside County. It advertised "hunting, riding, tennis, swimming, horsehoes, and ping-pong" as part of the amenities; and was advertised in the California Eagle- one of the oldest Black owned and operated newspapers in the United States during the time of its existence.

Eureka Villa, is a former Black resort town located in what is now known as Val Verde, an unincorporated area of northwestern Los Angeles County. Founding members of the community included real estate agent Sidney P. Dones, California Eagle publisher Charlotta Bass, insurance entrepreneur Norman O. Houston; and community activist Hattie S. Baldwin. The resort featured tennis courts, baseball fields, a golf course, and cabins all located on 1,000 acres. In 1939 the residents changed the name of their resort community back to Val Verde.

Sources:Alison Rose Jefferson. Living the California Dream : African American Leisure Sites During the Jim Crow Era. University of Nebraska Press, 2020.

"When Val Verde was Eureka Villa" https://la.curbed.com/2017/9/27/16351910/val-verde-landfill-eureka-villa-history-california