@bayareabobofficial: Built in 1897 for successful Watsonville sugar beet farmer James Redman, the Redman-Hirahara House was designed by William H. Weeks, the same architect who would design the Tuttle Mansion. After Redman passed, the property was eventually purchased in 1937 by J. Katsumi Tao, a relative of the Hirahara family. California laws restricted foreign-born residents from owning property, so in 1940 the farm was transferred for just $10 to 16-year-old Fumio Hirahara, who was born in the United States. In 1942, despite being accused of no crime, the Hirahara family was removed from their home because of their Japanese ancestry, ending up in camps. While they were gone, Watsonville attorney John McCarthy helped protect the property, allowing the family to return to something many others had lost. Their home. The Hiraharas returned to Watsonville in 1945, but many other Japanese American families came back with nowhere to live. The Hiraharas opened their property to some of them, providing temporary housing and work while they rebuilt their lives. The family continued farming here for decades. Eventually the property was sold, the house became vacant and the once grand Victorian began its long decline. Over the years groups attempted to save the home but zoning regulations and financial issues kept it from becoming something it once was. The Redman-Hirahara House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004, but after decades of deterioration, Santa Cruz County removed it from its historic inventory in 2025, clearing the way for its possible demolition. Today it still stands beside Highway 1, holding more than 125 years of Watsonville history and the story of a family that was forced from its home, managed to save it, returned, and then used it to help others come home too. *Edit* #santacruz #abandoned #watsonville #redmanhirahara #santacruzhistory

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Wednesday 19 August 2026 01:04:07 GMT