When this photo was taken, the Tustin Branch end at Villa Park and the Villa Park Orchards (VPOA) packing house was one of the few remaining packing houses still operating in Orange County. By this time, most of the fruit packed by VPOA was trucked in from other counties, especially San Diego. VPOA business was so good that they purchased the old Santiago Orange Growers packing house in Orange and packed out of it to where both the SP and Santa Fe provided service, eventually the SP abandon service to this house. In a few years, the Villa Park packing was closed and the SP Tustin Branch ?was cut back more. VPOA¡¯s packing house in Orange became the last operating packing house in Orange County. VPOA eventually closed the Orange Packing house but still operates packing houses on Ventura County and in the Central Valley. The Orange packing house was purchased by Chapman University and incorporated into a resident housing development.
Bob Chaparro