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NEIGHBORHOODS

Northside

History is part of its charm

Written by Amy Bentley, Photos by Gabriel Luis Acosta

A century Ago, Riverside's Northside neighborhood was well known for its natural sulfur spring that was believed to have healing powers. Its water was bottled and sold, and early Hollywood stars filmed scenes at a swimming pool in the area.

Today, the spring is no longer an active source of water; the pool is run-down and closed. However, Northside, one of the city's oldest neighborhoods, remains a vibrant, well-established community for both longtime and new residents who enjoy leisure and sports activities at neighborhood parks.

More than half of Northside was part of the original city boundaries of Riverside. the other portions have been added in four annexations from 1960 to 1993.

And Northside still has some open space; developed areas include homes, light industry and parks. Many residences are single-family homes dating back to the 1930s, and there are still some large properties with cattle and horses.

The area is populated by many hard-working folks and homeowners.

"People tend to take pride in their homes," said Councilman Mike Gardner of Ward 1, which includes Northside.

In 1886, William Elliot purchased the sulfur spring site just east of Strong and Main streets, drilled a 370-foot well to increase the water flow, and built a pool and an elaborate bathhouse. Buster Keaton and Houdini filmed movie scenes in the pool.

The pool and bathhouse changed names and ownership several times and closed in 1950 when the sulfur spring ran dry. It was revived briefly in 1960 without the sulfur water, but closed again within a year. The property is now zoned for 10 single-family homes.

Northside has two elementary schools. Fremont Elementary on Orange Street opened in 1917, making it one of the city's oldest schools. Over the years, Fremont has been modernized. And last year, Patricia Beatty Elementary, named for a local author of children's books, opened on Latham Street.

The neighborhood is unique for its strong tradition of activism and involvement through the Northside Improvement Association. Founded in 1912, the association is the oldest such group in Riverside and has long been a leader in guiding development in Northside.

It now has about 35 members.

"We're just a group of concerned citizens who work with the city to keep our area as 'country' as we can and as 'small-city' as possible," said Lenny Mercier, the association's president and a Northside resident since 1967.

During the Inland Empire's big real estate boom in recent years, the Northside Improvement Association sought to keep development in check.

Many residents enjoy living in the neighborhood because it feels like a suburb of Riverside, not an area that has been swallowed up by the big city.

"We'd kind of like to stay the way we are," Mercier said.

"They are a strong advocate for civic improvements in Northside," Gardner said of the association, which supported renovations and expansions to Reid Park and the Ab Brown Soccer Complex, named for the former Riverside mayor.

Reid Park offers Northside residents plenty of activities. The park, which was expanded in 2007, features ball fields, tennis and basketball courts, a community center and a public pool.

The facilities are home to youth soccer, baseball leagues, a basketball league, Riverside's adult rugby team, a Polynesian dance team, a cheer squad, a karate class, senior citizen programs and a ballet folklorico group, among other events and programs.

"You can go by there any night of the week and it's pretty jammed," says Ruben Ayala, president of the all-volunteer Reid Park Advisory Committee.

The committee hosts an annual breakfast with Santa in December, plus an Easter egg hunt and a Halloween carnival, said Ayala, who grew up in Northside and still lives nearby. His family's business, Tippy's Towing, is located around the corner from Reid Park, where Ayala fondly recalled spending a lot of time playing baseball as a child.

A unique recreational outlet in Northside is Hunter Park and its miniature train rides. In the 1950s, Riverside industrialist Joe Hunter realized that steam locomotives were disappearing from the area's railroads and he wanted to duplicate a steam-only train in miniature. Hunter donated about 40 acres of land around his industrial complex and had a 4,300-foot railroad built at the corner of Iowa and Columbia avenues. The property was donated to the city of Riverside and named Hunter Park, which is now about 34 acres.

In 1965, the City Council turned the train over to the nonprofit Riverside Live Steamers (www.steamonly.org) to maintain and operate. These railroad enthusiasts have expanded the railroad to more than 10,000 feet of track, constructed three buildings and the station, and added train cars.

Today, the Steamers offer free train rides every second and fourth Sunday of the month; up to 20,000 passengers ride the trains annually.

"It's actually very relaxing to ride the train," said Gardner, whose children and grandkids have enjoyed the rides.

"Sitting toward the back is neat because you can hear the engine and see the train in front of you. There's always a little bit of a breeze. It's lots and lots of fun."

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