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William Lee Gates – 3770 Elizabeth Street

R.P. Small Building3770 Elizabeth Street, Riverside(William Lee Gates) Tucked away on a side street off Magnolia Avenue near the Riverside Plaza is the R.P. Small Building, a stylish, mid-century modern building designed by local Riverside architect William Lee Gates. City permits from 1956 show Russell E. Walling as the contractor with an estimated value of…

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Postcard: Downtown civic buildings

Late 1950sTop: Carnegie Library and Riverside County CourthouseBottom: Municipal Auditorium and U.S. Post Office We thought we’d start the new year off with an old postcard showing a few of downtown Riverside’s civic buildings. Dating from the late 1950s / early 1960s, the images show the 1903 Carnegie Library, the 1903 Riverside County Courthouse, the…

Bookshelf: Riverside’s Invisible Past

The latest book documenting Riverside’s history has just hit the bookshelves. Written by fourth-generation resident of Riverside Joan H. Hall, “Riverside’s Invisible Past” is the latest in several local history books by Joan, many of which are must-haves. The 192-page book is chock full of interesting and informative histories surrounding 52 structures and sites from…

Fox theater gets retro ‘blade’ signs

October 2010Retro ‘blade’ signs being added 1930sOriginal ‘blade’ signs The first of two old-style neon signs went up this past week on the Fox Performing Arts Center in downtown Riverside. The signs are replicas of those that adorned the theater in the 1930s and 1940s. According to The Press-Enterprise, the signs are 22 feet tall…

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Riverside’s Galleria at Tyler mall turns 40

In a fanfare of Spanish fashioned pageantry, Riverside’s new Tyler Mall will be trumpeted to a formal opening tomorrow morning, the 64-acre shopping center adding $40 million stature to the city’s retail sphere. It is the first mall-under-roof in the city. That’s how the local newspaper — The Press-Enterprise — described the city’s new retail…

UCR’s Culver Center of the Arts opens

Oct. 2010UCR Culver Center of the Arts Architectural renderingUCR 2008Project info 1906Rouse’s / Chapman Building***(close-up view of awning) 1953Rouse’s Dept. StoreRCC yearbook This past week marked the opening of UC Riverside’s Barbara & Art Culver Center of the Arts, adding another major arts facility to downtown. Located adjacent to the existing UCR/CMP (California Museum of…