A Brief History of the Historic Y.M.C.A.

Written for its 100th

Anniversary 2009

The Historic Riverside Downtown Y.M.C.A. Building Sports

Original Colors and New Lights for its Hundred Years Birthday

Over the past couple of decades Arts Walkers of Downtown Riverside

and guests at hundreds of wedding receptions have been well aware
of the Historic Y.M.C.A. building on the corner of University and
Lemon streets. However many casual visitors to Downtown can be
forgiven for driving past the large historic brick structure without
noticing it.

The building has been “hidden” in part by its dark brick exterior and
deep mahogany colored windows. It is however a substantial
presence in the Downtown Historic District. “The building has three
floors and 47 thousand square feet. It comes alive with the sights,
sounds and bustle of Downtowns’ First Thursdays Arts Walk, and of
wedding receptions and quienceañeras on Saturday nights. At other
times it has tended to fade into the background” says Bent Corydon,
President of the Life Arts Center Inc. that owns the building which
housed the Y.M.C.A. until 1968.

Historic Landmark number 41, the former Y built in 1909, is one

hundred years old. In time for its 100th birthday the color and shine it
enjoyed the year it was built is being restored by major renovations
that will be completed by a night of celebrations which are planned for
November the fifth. This event will celebrate in particular the
Y.M.C.A. and its invaluable contribution to Riverside’s young men
and women and to this city’s history.

With financial help from the City of Riverside’s Corporate

Improvement Project the Life Arts Center has repaired water damage
to the cement and brickwork of the past one hundred years and
graffiti has been removed. The building’s key architectural features
i.e. its arched windows and its wooden balcony and tile supports,
have been painted with the salmon/orange color chosen by the
building’s architect Arthur Benton in 1909. This color has made a
major visual change to the building’s appearance.

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At night the former Y.M.C.A. building has been brightly lit by small
powerful high tech halogen fixtures; something architect Arthur
Benton could only have imagined. These lights and the renewed
colors showcase his genius in the low tech art of brick, wood and
glass. Hardly-noticed-before-patterns in the brickwork, drawn by
burned bricks protruding in rows and arches, now stand out in sharp
contrast to the surrounding lighter bricks. The painted woodwork
takes its color from the lighter orange color in the bricks, in return
bringing that brick color to the attention of the observer, seeming to
brighten the color of the entire structure.

“The renovations could not have happened without the interest and
help shown to the project by Councilman Mike Gardner or without the
assistance of the Development Agency’s staff and The City
Manager’s Office utilizing the Corporate Improvement Program
(C.I.P.)”. Celebrations will be held at the building on November 5th.
Mike Gardner, …. Of the Y.M.C.A. and Bent Corydon will speak and
the Riverside Ballet will perform and the Dickens Society will have
members in costumes of the 1909 period.

A hundred years ago – until 1968 when the Y moved to Jefferson

Street into the modern more spacious premises it still occupies – the
Y.M.C.A. provided low cost accommodation along with the array of
social services for which it remains famous around the world to this
day.

Over the past century the Y has adjusted to the needs of a changing
society. For example it no longer provides accommodation. A mobile
society has spawned chains of motels, hotels and youth hostels.
Meanwhile, the Y has added child care to assist women who now
mostly take to the workplace along with men.

The Y is as robust and as vital to the social needs of the community

as it ever was. Today, the Y.M.C.A. is one of the largest not-for-profit
community service organizations in the U.S. supported by well over
half a million volunteers. It has a global reach and an amazing record
of service to the community.

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“On a smaller scale, the former Y.M.C.A. building – echoing its lofty
heritage – still plays a part in the social welfare of Riverside. Its
emphasis however is more on cultural and artistic activities while
maintaining a modern gymnasium called City Gym.

There are some 25 studios on the top floor of the building many of
which open for ArtsWalk. Also during Arts Walk the lobby of the
building and the Reception Halls are made available for gallery
displays of various artists’ works such as paintings, sculpture, jewelry,
pottery, photography and musical performances. The second floor
balcony is lit and the music spills onto Lemon Street setting the mood
for the night’s Arts Walkers. The gymnastics that were a key feature
of the Y are still at the building: City Gym’s aerobics and weight
training echo the hard workouts that have always been signature
activities of the Y.

Mostly on Saturdays, the building’s three halls are rented for wedding
receptions and quienceañeras. Quienceañeras are coming-of-age
parties for Hispanic girls around their 15th (Spanish: “quience”) year.
The Life Arts Center provides full packages of decorations, catered
food and security for these events and has done so for the past 16
years” says Maria Peña who has been the building’s manager during
those years. “We are proud to have been of service to couples of all
cultures who have had their wedding ceremonies and receptions
here. The joy that the coming-of-age events (quienceañeras) have
brought to so many young girls gives us enormous satisfaction too”.

Following the example of much of the Historic district – led by the

beautifully restored Mission Inn – the former Y.M.C.A. building has
slowly groped its way back to being a valuable social asset from what
was a near wreaking ball fate during the late ‘60s and ‘70s.

In a 1996 Press Enterprise article entitled “Landmark could become

community asset” Tom Patterson (famed Riv. Co. Historic writer of
several books and many articles) wrote, “The Cultural Heritage
Landmark status of the building will help bring about its continued
existence. The careful preservation of the interesting exterior will
also help. The further development of the building as a site for civic,
community and art activities would still more”.

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Maria Peña, says, “We have kept Mr. Patterson’s prediction in mind.
Very much on our minds also is the Y.M.C.A.’s original purpose for
the building. This building has been through a lot during its past one
hundred years but it seems to keep coming back to the Y’s motto of
‘a sound body mind and spirit’”.

On March 14 at 3.00 p.m. – with the sun beating down – the corner
stone of the Riverside Y.M.C.A. was laid with “Impressive
Ceremonies” and an “Inspiring Address Delivered by H.J. M’Coy of
San Francisco” announced a Daily Press Headline. Important men in
three piece suits and bowler hats stood on scaffolding surrounding
the stone. Chiseled into the marble were the words “To the Glory of
God and the uplifting of man”. The Daily Press reported, “The music
will be furnished by the Y.M.C.A. band in new uniform, this being the
first public appearance of the members since their suits were
received. The musicians will render a selection at the corner of
Eighth and Main Streets before taking up the march to the site.”

In 1909 the third floor hotel rooms had access to two balconies and
views of black model T fords passing by mingling with the horses and
the carriages and folk just walking by on what was then 8th Street and
Lemon Street. Riverside was after all a wealthy agricultural town
thriving mainly by virtue of its verdant citrus orchards. The wealthy
class of landowners was able to contribute – along with Frank Miller
of the Mission Inn – to what many consider to be amongst the world’s
most beautiful Y.M.C.A. buildings.

“This Riverside Y.M.C.A. had a large interior pool where boys learned
to swim.” Says [former Y member] “It is an interesting cultural
observation that the boys all swam naked as shown in a photo taken
in 1923 and – as late as 1951 – there was a photo in the Daily Press
that shows rear shots of boys diving into the pool in their birthday
suits. These days, despite the 60s, such a scene would not be
acceptable.

“The pool is still there although it doesn’t comply with modern safety
standards and so cannot be used by swimmers, even those wearing
trunks. Still we are constantly being asked about the pool by men
over fifty who learned to swim here”.

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Amongst the building’s guests while it was a Y.M.C.A. have been
thousands of boys who learned the disciplines of exercise, swimming,
gymnastics and the ideals upon which this country was built. Mostly
local boys attended of course but there were international
conventions held at the building where boys from all over the world
arrived at a time when travel was expensive and took weeks aboard a
ship as opposed to hours on a plane. Such gatherings were the
adventures of a life time for many. The Y owned a camp in Idyllwild
to where boys drove from the building in model Ts to conquer the
great outdoors.

Thousands stayed in the low cost upstairs hotel rooms between 1909
and 1968. These rooms all had sinks with running hot and cold water
along with steam heaters of the period. For “air conditioning” a huge
water cooler on the roof fed into large unsightly ducts that wound
along the hallways and fed into each room. Toilets were provided:
two toilet rooms each with two bowls and no showers on the top floor.
These were shared by the guests of the thirty rooms. These rooms
were humble resting places, but they nested in a safe, comfortable
and welcoming environment. At the Y everyone was a V.I.P.

The historic Y is a survivor. In 1972 the building escaped destruction

by the fire that devoured its neighbor, The Arlington Apartments on
the corner of Lime and University in front of the fire station.

That close escape was the second fire that failed to kill the Y building.
18 years earlier, on Tuesday, February 16, 1954 fire gutted a key
section of the building’s interior. It started in the large stone fireplace
in the main lobby of the building and roared up the staircase through
the roof causing a panicked evacuation of the hotel rooms with some
guests fleeing across the roof and jumping the two and a half stories
to the street below. The burnt section was repaired when volunteers
stepped up with labor and money as is the tradition with the Y.
However it would be almost half a century later before a complete
sprinkler system was installed throughout the building.

It was not only fire that has threatened the building’s historic exterior:
“An architect’s pencil was potentially as deadly as fire to its Italian
Renaissance architecture,” says Corydon. Supporting that assertion,
The Riverside Daily Press’s issue on Friday May 20, 1951 carried an

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article entitled “Revamping Expansion of Y on Drawing Board”. The
drawings show the building wrapped in a box of plaster and glass.
The relevant passage states: “Plans call for the face lifting of the
present building’s exterior to be affected by construction of a façade
around the existing structure out of steel framing and stucco.”

While the firemen saved it twice, presumably it was the Y’s shortage
of funds that saved the 1909 building’s architecture from post war
modernization.

Intended as the first phase of this total rebuild, a new Y gymnasium in

the form of an Annex to the building was constructed in 1953 in
accordance with the 50’s plans referred to in the P.E. article. Those
plans were drawn in agreement with post second WW thinking in
architecture. Faced with pressure to quickly and cheaply rebuild
bombed European cities, architects placed an emphasis on function
over form. If the building worked well there was no need for frills.
Clean lines were in and decoration in any form was spurned.

Reflecting this thinking the 1953 built Addition to the former Y.M.C.A.
stands in stark contrast to the original Italian Renaissance section.
So, despite attempts to color coordinate them, these two sections of
the building are at odds architecturally to this day. Had the plans for
covering the original building with concrete and steel been completed
that would of course not have been the case.

The new gym did function well. It was constructed with reinforced
concrete covered by a plastered-over brick exterior. Inside the Annex
huge laminated wood beams support a roof over the basketball court.
Below the basketball court were steam rooms, showers, locker rooms
and bathrooms. These improvements satisfied the needs of the Y for
another 15 years.

The building was owned and occupied by the Y.M.C.A. for a total of
fifty-nine years after the cornerstone was laid in 1909. When the Y left
no one could find the keys for the entrance. For all those 59 years
the doors had never been locked!

The Y’s move from the decaying downtown of the late sixties was a
severe blow for Riverside’s downtown. After the buzz of youthful

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activity during the Y years, the energy inside and surrounding the
building drained and the excitement died. A key was made and its
doors were locked.

The former Y building then languished and decayed from lack of use
and maintenance. The only exception to the dead silence was the
front hall. “For six years after the Y moved the building was a ‘Gheel
House’ that is a halfway house for retarded persons.” wrote Tom
Patterson. During those six years the building was owned by three
prominent Riverside men: James F. Davidson, Jr., F. Mumper and
Howard H. Hays Jr. There was no income from the property to pay
for maintenance so the elements took their toll.

The owners – in an act of charity – had taken the building off the
hands of the Y, enabling it to move to modern premises; but now they
were looking to unload it. They soon found a group that was glad to
take it off their hands.

“Next it was acquired by a chartered branch of Scientology, the

organization headed by the late L. Ron Hubbard” wrote Tom
Patterson in his 1996 article in the Press Enterprise. “Corydon,
manager of the [Life Arts] Center was originally a participant in the
Scientology organization, but fell out with it and is one of the authors
of a book entitled “L. Ron Hubbard, Messiah or Madman?”

Three years before buying the Y building an independent and

autonomous “Mission” of Scientology had set up shop in a little house
on Mulberry Street near 14th Street. “It became so overcrowded that
it literally shook at night from the activities of the large number of
young people attending lectures, doing courses and getting
counseling” says Corydon.

“This situation was clearly a safety hazard and that fact had caught
the attention of the City. So larger premises were needed and a
search was launched. Informed that the former Y.M.C.A. building
was for sale, what my friend and I found was a building in very bad
shape; some of the most egregious features being:

“The upstairs bathroom had a ‘carpet’ of cockroaches attracted by a

bowl of dog food left there for the lone caretaker’s dog. The roof had

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several gaping holes so large that the blue sky above was the key
feature. What was left of a 1909 paintjob was a faded hospital green
throughout the building. One ceiling near the front lobby was sagging
almost 12 inches and it was close to collapsing. Two key beams
were like sponges from constant water leaking from the balcony
above. There were leaking gas pipes and water was spilling from
pipes in a dozen places. Plastered walls and ceilings had huge
cracks and large sections of plaster were missing exposing the
underlying flammable wooden lath. The original 1909 gym – the site
of numerous local and international events in times past – was
storage for hundreds of opera props stacked on what had been a
floating wooden floor. It was now splintered and dry providing tinder
for the slightest spark. The roof had long since ceased to prevent
rain from pouring into the building. It needed a complete rebuild.”

But, whatever the condition, the price tag was low, so in1974 the
building was purchased by the Riverside Mission of Scientology.

The Scientology era was the building’s most controversial. It lasted

for over 8 years. The impact on the local community was mostly the
hard sell on the streets by young men and women pushing free
lectures and personality tests and a low cost beginner’s course.
Subsequent courses and counseling were costly. The group grew at
a rapid pace with staff expanding to over 200 full time and with
membership expanding to well over a thousand.

Says Corydon, “The courses and counseling delivered at the

Riverside Mission were a lower level than those of Scientology’s
higher organizations and many told us they found them useful and
workable for the most part if expensive. Not everyone agreed with
that. However, regardless of whatever one thinks of any part of
Scientology, this period was without question good for the building’s
structural and historic integrity.”

Much of the extensive earnings from that period were plowed into the
building’s preservation and improvement. The interior brick work was
exposed from under a thick layer of plaster throughout the building
and the roof was replaced preserving the building from what would
otherwise have become further extensive water damage.

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Since it was built in 1909 the former Y never pretended to be the
Mission Inn. No presidents visited it or stayed in its low cost rooms.
The Historic Y has for the most part hosted regular folk on a budget.
But there are a few exceptions:

Perhaps the most prominent celebrity to visit the building, by today’s

Hollywood star studded standards, was John Travolta, a Scientologist
who came twice during 1977, following his accent to stardom in the
T.V. sit com Welcome Back Cotter and in the movie Saturday Night
Fever. He entertained a crowd of young Scientologists with stand up
comic routines. Musicians from the Glen Campbell T.V. show
performed in the front hall around the same time.

The Scientology era ended in 1982 when the local Riverside group
cut all association and connection with Scientology’s main
organizations. It was not an easy divorce. The head organization
sued claiming title to the property. The previous steady income –
from Scientologists, who decided in large numbers to stay with the
main organization – died. The electric and water bills went unpaid
with the usual consequences. Somehow money was raised to turn
the lights on but a month later bills came due again and, again, the
lights went off.

To solve this and other financial needs, for a couple of years the
break-away group continued some modified courses and counseling.
This attracted other disaffected ex Scientologists from outside of
Riverside, a substantial number from Denmark, Sweden, Holland,
England and New Zealand. Their donations kept the lights on. Then
other solutions utilizing the rental of spaces in the building were tried
with examples being a video arcade, a comic book shop, and a
sound-proofed practice area for the local rock group The Skeletones.
A fully equipped sound studio moved in and lasted several years until
a hard robbery in full daylight stripped it of a hundred thousand
dollars worth of equipment.

It was during this time Corydon wrote a book entitled L. Ron Hubbard,
Messiah or Madman? It was reviewed by the New York Times, and
Corydon was interviewed twice on C.N.N., on C.B.S. Morning show,
on Charlie Rose’s show and People Magazine amongst others. The
publicity surrounding the book on T.V. and radio added further

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lawsuits to the one on the building and there were counter suits from
Corydon and the Life Arts Center.

These lawsuits along with the legal dispute over title to the building
continued from ‘82 through ‘91. A settlement in 1992 saw the break-
away organization – merged in 1982 as a new corporation unrelated
to Scientology and renamed the Life Arts Center – in possession of
the building.

During the legal battle the building became a Mecca for artists looking
to rent studios they could afford. The company of a community of like
minded artists along with galleries in which they could show their
work was a bonus they couldn’t resist. So, by the time of the legal
settlements in 1992 the building had accumulated dozens of resident
artists.

This spontaneous and Bohemian art movement beginning in the early

80s was encouraged by Bent Corydon but fostered and nurtured by
Mark Schooley. Mark is now the head of Riverside Community Arts
Association which has a major gallery nearby on Lemon Street.
“Mark Schooley organized constant shows over a decade from the
early 80s to the early 90s” says Corydon. “He oversaw the building’s
activities and collected rents from the artists.

“These artists sometimes lived in the studios taking showers in the

mornings in a hastily constructed stall in one of the upstairs toilet
rooms.” It was a wild time and the mostly young artists found
likeminded creative souls to inspire their creative juices. Mark was
and is himself a well known and much admired artist. He inspires
and helps artists find their voice. However his talents as an organizer
and manager is what enabled the building to survive financially during
the legal battle. The meager income from the rents, low as they were,
enabled legal filings and attorney fees. There were also several ex
Scientologists and anonymous strangers who made loans or donated
collectively several hundred thousand dollars enabling the legal battle
to continue.

Peace from legal conflicts brought renovation of the building back on

track. The live-in artists were slowly phased out and work-only art
studios were phased in. In1994 the Redevelopment Agency leased

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the Life Arts Center’s parking lot across from the building on Lemon
Street. The lease had conditions requiring that the money be spent
on repairing the exterior of the building and its landscaping.
Extensive repairs were made and the City also repaired the sidewalks
and moved trees and palms. For its part the Life Arts Center also
contributed substantial funds and labor. The result was a major
upgrade of the property’s exterior.

“By this time the debts of the legal disputes were being called in. The
building was groping for activities that would earn more than the
studios and galleries could provide. We were just renovating the
place with no particular function in mind. The building desperately
needed some identity and income earning function.

“I was lying on the floor of the gymnasium in the Annex section of the
building taking a nap with a paint brush still in my hand. I was
awakened when Maria Peña and her young daughter came in
through the open doors. She had been referred by Carlos in the
Auditorium she told me. ‘Do you do quienceañeras here?’ she asked.
Still half asleep I managed to say ‘Yes we do!’ I was open to anything
that might provide an income. ‘That’s good’ she said, ‘We need to
rent it for August for my niece. Can you have this room ready by
then?’ It was March and there was no air conditioning to ease the
heat that August would bring. I said that it would not be a problem.
Then I asked ‘What is a quienceañera by the way’. She laughed,
enjoying my newfound honesty, and explained.”

The Hispanic quienceañeras and wedding receptions (multi cultural)

became the financial foundation of the building from that time to the
present. Under Maria’s management and with that income from
these events the maintenance and upgrading of the building
continued and debts were settled.

Since 1992 Riverside’s own Mayor Loveridge and several councilmen

and women have campaigned in the building’s halls and visited art
events, wedding receptions and dedications. In opposition to the City
on the other hand a group campaigning against the abuse of Eminent
Domain laws, led by Ken Stanberry held several meetings at the
building a few years ago to oppose what was seen by many as the
Development Agency of the City siding with developers to grab

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property from small business owners against their will at prices well
below the market.

Sam Huang – featured in a recent article in the Press Enterprise –

had a studio in the building for a quarter century. It was here that he
painted and sculpted many of his remarkable works of art and it was
in his studio off Lemon Street where this beloved professor and
amputee learned and practiced the tap dancing that has inspired
thousands including returning amputees from the Iraq war. Sam
performed several times for them in Washington D.C. in ’05.

Thousands of children – and what child is not a V.I.P. – were

entertained at Rob D’Arc’s Kid’s Stuff Puppet theatre during the mid
80s through the early 90s. The Dickens Festival has used the halls in
the former Y for many years for stage performances of Dickens’s
stories and their famous Pub Night. The building’s ambience is
closer to the Dickens period than most locations in Riverside despite
the Italian architecture as opposed to the workingman’s English
setting of most Dickens Novels.

Schoolteacher and satirist Phill Courtney was close to death following

a bizarre attack by a Ninja clad killer wielding a knife who stabbed
him in the chest in 1994. He survived and made a comeback
performance of his popular Riverside Country Almanac show to a
standing room only crowd in the large former gymnasium of the Life
Arts Building 13 months after the attack.

“In June of 2002 Crystal Gonzales’ dream came true” wrote Tanya
Sierra in a Press Enterprise article headed, “Teens wish now a
reality: Quienceañera: A girl who has leukemia celebrates her
coming-of-age party in fairy-tale style.” The article continued: “Her
sole wish since struggling with leukemia at a young age was for a
perfect coming of age party --- complete with a Prince Charming.
Her 15 year old cousin played that part.” There is a photo showing
her arriving in a horse and carriage and holding Prince Charming’s
arm entering the Life Arts Building. Crystal Gonzales’ parents were
not in a position to pay for the event, so sponsors were found by the
Sherriff’s office and Life Arts Center.

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In ‘98 a couple, Ron and Cheryl Roy (Cherona Enterprises Inc.)
leased the lower floor section of the building. They purchased a large
array of the latest equipment and – along with the Life Arts Center –
they renovated the majority of the floor. They bought Gold’s Gym
franchise rights and began operating a gym. It went into chapter 7 in
2003. It is now City Gym and is operating successfully under the
management of owner Oscar Shearer.

Cosme Cordova Division 9 Gallery is located in the Life Arts building.

Cordova has established himself as a major supporter and promoter
of the arts in Riverside. He is still very much active in assisting local
artists to show their works. He helped revive the Life Arts Center
building’s art activities during the early 2000s.

Gill and Kelly Vela have for the past four years organized and
managed the studios and galleries in the building. As the result of
their efforts the galleries are filled with fine art on display each First
Thursday Arts Walk. The majority of studios are open and showing
works of art while musicians perform on each floor. Gill and Kelly are
also professional fine arts photographers with an extraordinary
portfolio of work from Africa’s wildlife to Montana in winter.

During the week, the former Y hosts business meetings and the
Y.M.C.A. is planning activities and events in the building; a
sentimental revival of the glories of times past.

The former Y’s struggle back after the Y left in 68 to become a

“community asset” has been low budget, ungainly and at times
controversial. However, today the building once again stands as a
productive and valuable member of the Downtown Historic District.

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