As Lompoc grew out of its temperate beginnings in 1874, the two- and three-story buildings around Ocean Avenue and South H Street became the city’s central business and entertainment district, and the hub of a growing community. It stayed that way until a couple of decades ago.

At the corner of H Street and Ocean Avenue, the building on the southwest corner once was home to Miller’s Pharmacy. George Miller later sold it to Carl Braun, and it became Braun’s Drug Store.

And on I Street and Ocean stood Moore’s Department store, which occupied almost half a city block.

You can almost feel the aura of the family-run drug store. The sweet odors of lotions and perfumes wafting through the air, the clatter of the soda fountain, and smells of the “full service” grill, notions of every kind, and the friendly clerks waiting eagerly to help you choose a card or small gift for your mom or sweetheart.

Both Braun’s and Moore’s now house second-hand stores and part of Moore’s is a brewery.

The large art deco Rudolph Building (Nos. 105-107 South H), was built in 1890 for Arthur Rudolph and his wife Lucy, and was remodeled in the 1930s.

This building once housed a fine clothier, and its squeaky wooden floors recall a time when buying a new suit included tailoring and a hat was a must. For the ladies, corsets, slips, lace, and button-up high-heeled shoes went with the elegant full hoop dresses and broad-brimmed hats of the day.

This building, now painted yellow, houses a friendly coffee shop and musical instrument store. Here a person can sit and sip their favorite flavor of coffee while reading the paper or a book. Political gossip and friendly discussions are heard at every table.

This is a good spot to just sit and watch the street life on South H.
 
These smells, sights and sounds now coexist with Jaspers (a long-standing local watering hole), cannabis retailers, and smoking lounges. The notion of a “temperance community” disappeared several decades ago, although some of the murals around town celebrate the era.

But the center of town seems to have progressively been moved north, and Wal-Mart, several strip malls, the 99-cent store (now closed), Ross and the now gone Mervyn’s (soon to open as Tractor Supply) are becoming the new downtown a couple of miles north at Central Avenue and H Street.

The former Lompoc Redevelopment Agency was the primary tool the city of Lompoc had for ensuring the long-term economic vitality of the community. 

The Old Town Redevelopment Project Area, originally only 80 acres, was created in 1984 to deal with the historic heart of the city, but it has been amended three times to add area and now covers more than 1,000 acres bordered roughly by Cypress on the south, Barton to the north, V Street to the west, and Third Street to the east.

California’s redevelopment agencies were dissolved by the state of California as of Feb. 1, 2012. So now it appears no one is charged with trying to preserve the Old Town area.

There isn’t an infinite amount of developer money available to fund renovation projects.

For example, the Lompoc Theater renovation has been in progress for several years. Property owners seemed content to sell many of their holdings at inflated prices to the cannabis retailers. Some are still operating; others have closed. leaving the buildings abandoned. 
 
The city needs a viable and achievable plan to resurrect our Old Town area and return to the original 80 acres of the area for which it is named.

The current thinking is a “walkable” downtown, and there are no requirements to provide parking for new projects.

This thinking doesn’t consider that people must park somewhere to walk or live in the area. It’s just not logical that people will walk long distances to access a portion of town that has few shopping, entertainment, or dining choices.

Will the Old Town area ever be the same again? We can’t go backward in time, but sometimes making too much “progress” just causes more problems than it solves, creates congestion, and dissolves the charm of a community.