San Bernardino: re-establishment as one of Southern California's three urban cores

[Pragmatic Idealist]

The sbX project benefits by recognizing that it has to provide a passenger experience and a speed that is competitive with that of private cars in order to attract the right mix of passengers. And, while the E Street Corridor (Corridor 1), to be completed in late 2011, connects San Bernardino State University and the new-housing-stock neighborhoods in the Verdemont/Glen Helen area to the Pettis Hospital and the East Campus of Loma Linda University, that corridor will eventually be extended along El Camino Real farther into Redlands by way of Barton Road and Brookside Avenue (Corridor 1a).

SanBAG and Omnitrans have plans for six other B.R.T. corridors, as well, including a Foothill Boulevard/Route 66 alignment that will run from the L.A. County line to the city center of San Bernardino, San Bernardino International Airport, and the City of Highland. And, one other North-South corridor will connect Chino Hills to Upland by way of Euclid Avenue. All of these B.R.T. projects are expected to come on-line within the next 20 years.

[Pragmatic Idealist]

Existing visual, natural, and cultural resources along the Corridor 1a extension of sbX from San Bernardino and Loma Linda include:

San Bernardino Asistencia of Mission San Gabriel


Redlands Main Post Office and Postal Museum


A.K. Smiley Public Library


The Redlands Bowl and Prosellis



Abraham Lincoln Memorial Shrine


The Historic Barton House at Heritage Park


State Street in Downtown Redlands


Redlands Historical Museum

[Pragmatic Idealist]

In this preliminary concept plan of the proposed Democracy Park and this satellite image of the seas of parking surrounding the county courthouse, one can see the way the city center is oriented to automobiles in the worst way.



The new county and federal courts complex is designed to overlook a beautifully-remodeled and grandiose park with new monuments and interpretive features. Democracy Park is also intended to host forums and debates, as well as public demonstrations and memorials. And, the park, with its day-lighted streams and swales, will serve as the organizing feature for a complete neighborhood of rowhouses, live-work units, single-family detached houses, luxury apartments, retail, and professional offices, in addition to the new arterial greenway (with an ingenious deflection between Second and Third Streets) that will connect the 215 freeway with San Bernardino International Airport.

Some new live-work units and high-rise apartments already overlook the park, and some newly-constructed traditional neighborhoods are already located immediately adjacent to this open space. And, the Redlands Subdivision is located two to three blocks to the South.

[Pragmatic Idealist]

The first of the new live-work units overlooking the proposed Democracy Park are now selling.

The new federal and county courts complex will also overlook the park and anchor the neighborhood. The work-live units, themselves, have professional office space on the first floor while the second and third floors are intended for residential use.

[Pragmatic Idealist]

The jewel of the City of San Bernardino is Arrowhead Springs, 1,916 acres of contiguous and privately-owned property beneath the immense and mystical Arrowhead geological monument, which presides over the San Bernardino Valley.

[Pragmatic Idealist]

As an aside, SanBAG has decided to construct a bi-county tunnel between the Moreno Valley and the San Bernardino Valley.

[Pragmatic Idealist]

This is the relationship the Arrowhead Springs Resort property (denoted by the pink shading) has to the rest of the 65 square miles of the City of San Bernardino.

[Pragmatic Idealist]

This is the proposed Arrowhead Springs Resort District, a consolidation of the existing resort property with its surrounding tourism assets, including the $300 million Casino San Manuel, the closest Las Vegas-style establishment to Los Angeles.





The small San Manuel Indian Community lies at the northern end of Victoria Avenue. The casino, itself, does not contain a hotel, but the operators strongly desire more high-rollers.

[Pragmatic Idealist]

The red line denotes the borders of the privately-owned Arrowhead Springs Resort property while the yellow line signifies the existing concentration of resort development.



The property is surrounded on three sides by national forest while the southernmost border abuts the huge, City-owned Wildwood Park, including its extensive system of flood-control basins.

This boundary also abuts the sizable East Twin Creek (Dry), which is a candidate for another control reservoir.

[Pragmatic Idealist]

[Pragmatic Idealist]

[Pragmatic Idealist]

A more substantial San Bernardino skyline would exist immediately to the left of the concentration of yellow lights in the center of this picture.

[Pragmatic Idealist]

Designed by noted Los Angeles architect Paul R. Williams in a style described as "Georgian Modern," the centerpiece of the resort is the Arrowhead Springs Hotel and Spa, constructed in 1939 at the site of the hottest hot springs in the world.



The resort was recently featured in an issue of Architectural Digest.

http://www.architecturaldigest.com/h...rowhead_112008

[Pragmatic Idealist]

The interiors, which still exist intact, were designed by the preeminent decorator of the time, Dorothy Draper.

".... Carleton Varney, who started working for (Dorothy Draper) in 1962 and who is now the President of Dorothy Draper & Company in New York. 'Everything she did was special and carefully thought-out, whether it was a door or a doorknob.'

When Draper received the Arrowhead Springs contract, 'her imagination caught fire,' writes Varney in The Draper Touch, his biography of his late boss.

Now the hotel is empty. 'It’s like walking through the Titanic, and all the Dorothy Draper remnants are still in place,' says Varney, who, at the owners’ request, has gone through the venerable Springs with an eye to possible restoration. 'If we redid it, we’d redo it exactly as she left it. It would still have the Dorothy Draper look.'"

[Pragmatic Idealist]

Approaching the resort from the city center via the 215/259 freeway, visitors are presented with this view:



The indigenous tribespeople originally called San Bernardino "The Valley of the Cupped Hand of God." And, the Arrowhead, covering seven and a half acres, held spiritual significance as the geological feature pointed to the life-giving waters below.





“Ages ago, the Great Father, displeased with the arrogance of his children, sent a hot, fierce spirit named Isel from the Sun-land to blight their vegetation and drink their streams dry. They strove to appease the wrath of the Great Father with offerings, but the scorching breath of Isel continued. Finally came a voice demanding He-sah-na (Maiden of the New Moon), daughter of the chief of the tribe, as a sacrifice. The chief led her forth, and, when the rite was completed, the heavens opened, and a white arrow of light came and struck down Isel. Another hit the mountainside and left its mark there as it is seen today, as a symbol of sacrifice.”

[Pragmatic Idealist]

Would East Twin Creek be used as the basis for the third and largest control reservoir, the potential exists to design the body of water to accommodate amphibious seaplane operations, especially to ferry guests to and from the general-aviation airport at Big Bear Lake where the Bear Mountain and Snow Valley ski resorts are located.

The Arrowhead Springs Specific Plan actually describes a whole host of interesting uses, including a high-end, mixed-use lifestyle center situated on a series of terraces that overlook the canyons and the valley.

[Pragmatic Idealist]

Several other flood-control basins exist in the immediate area, including this one at the foot of Shandin Hills, which are shown in this picture from the perspective of the proposed Windy Point Winery:



An sbX station is to be positioned adjacent to the basin and to the right of the frame.

[Pragmatic Idealist]

Windy Point Winery, with its restaurant and other features, is expected to be situated on a specially-selected promontory with 360-degree views.



The wine-making on the premises is to use grapes grown in the 1,195,906 square-feet of vineyards that also serve as fire protection for the major structures on the site.

[Pragmatic Idealist]

The Arrowhead Springs Hotel and Spa features "steam caves" beneath the main building, as well as a cinema in one wing and several restaurants, lounges, and gift shops.

The Esther Williams Pool and Cabanas are named after the performer and frequent guest who filmed two of her movies on location at the site.



Arrowhead Springs is further anticipated to be the focus of future event programming, such as film festivals and triathlons.

[Pragmatic Idealist]

The upper portion of the existing Lake Vonette is to allow for the situation of a planned lakefront hotel and office complex as depicted in this site plan.

[Pragmatic Idealist]

Three new bridges are proposed as part of the Vehicular Circulation Plan.

[Pragmatic Idealist]

The Arrowhead Springs Resort is situated on the Rim of the World Scenic Byway, which connects, by way of San Bernardino, Lake Arrowhead, Big Bear Lake, and the rest of the San Bernardino Mountains with the heavily-populated regions in southern California.





Other existing and proposed uses for the property include:

• A 16-acre botanical garden
• A chautauqua
• An equestrian center
• Equestrian estates
• A new golf course that is designed to function as flood control
• Golf estates
• A retirement community
• Townhomes and condominiums
• Dedicated spa suites
• A wedding pavilion
• An auditorium
• An amphitheatre
• A tennis club
• A differentiated convention center, including facilities for corporate retreats
• The private bungalows that originally belonged to people like Lucille Ball, Humphrey Bogart, Elizabeth Taylor, and Eleanor Roosevelt
• A museum and library interpreting the site
• A helipad available for adventure skiing
• And, a 1,400-acre private nature reserve with multi-use bridle trails

The resort was originally accessed by way of the Pacific Electric Red Cars via this right-of-way, which has since been converted to a public trail.

[Pragmatic Idealist]

[Pragmatic Idealist]

[Pragmatic Idealist]