Pillar Restoration - Phase 2
2005/2006 - Photo-history

April 18, 2006 - Pavers are almost completely installed.


April 18, 2006 - Base rock is installed to secure the pavers and allow water to flow through.


April 18, 2006 - Crews excavate the area planned for pavers to separate the lawn from the drought-tolerant landscaping. This was the solution recommended by the city to avoid saturating the ground around the pillar with water from a lawn-watering schedule. Contractors warned that this pillar may fall out of plumb again if something is not done about the saturation. When complete, the area will include a walk-able groundcover, some flowers and shrubs.

November 20 - Turf is installed, sprinklers are watering and urns are planted!.

November 19 - Residents join to finish installing new turf at Coe & Clintonia Avenues.

November 19 - Residents join to finish installing new turf at Coe & Clintonia Avenues.

October 28 - Eight urns are picked up and stored until the pillars are ready for their installation.

October 11 - (Palm Haven Avenue location) The domes made from a custom mold are now installed. These domes mimic the tops of the old California Mission chapels. It was recently discovered that the original domes on the Palm Haven pillars were stained a terra-cotta color. This would also mimic the color of the terra-cotta tiles found on the roofs of some of the Missions. The new domes are of a natural white color in the material. Now knowing the original color, residents may have another dimension to consider in a subsequent restoration.

October 11 - (Palm Haven Avenue location) Wood brackets are unloaded for installation. Three of the original wood brackets were able to be saved and restored. They are being installed at the Palm Haven & Bird Avenue location. The newly fabricated brackets were cut from a single piece of solid, 18-foot by 10" by 10" redwood. Though this wood is extremely difficult to locate these days and is very expensive, it was decided that restoring this part of the pillars as close to their original design would both lend credence to the restoration as well as be the most durable approach for a long lived installation.

October 11 - (Palm Haven Avenue location) In reality, each piece had to be individually measured and cut to size. Though the overall pillar design is the same for all seven pillars, each was hand made and numerous variances were discovered during assessment.

October 11 - (Clintonia Avenue location) Installation of the wood components is a slow process exercising care to avoid damaging any original material while ensuring a correct and snug fit.

September 29 - (Palm Haven Avenue location) Stucco repairs have dried and now the pillars are primed and painted with their base coats of paint. The rough textured stucco contains a very large amount of surface area and therefore requires a much larger amount of paint than traditional stucco finishes or other surfaces.

September 29 - (Clintonia & Coe Avenue location) Painters use a combination of spray equipment and an extremely rough roller to fill in all the nooks & crannies of the rough textured stucco.

July 18 - Crews set up to do underground boring for electrical connections.

July 18 - Underground utilities are marked but testing is done to verify.


July 18 - Digging begins at all locations where connections are needed.


July 18 - It's all about the tools: This complicated machine will bore holes underground for hundreds of feet by automatically adding lengths of pipe to the drill. When the drill emerges, conduit is attached and pulled back through the bore.

July 18 - Using one of the largest vacuum cleaners you will see, this crew sucks out all the excess mud and water before the next step. This, and other efficient equipment was used on Phase 2 of the Pillar Restoration Project because PHRC was able to hire the contractor directly. In Phase 1, the city performed the work in lieu of a grant and they do not possess the same equipment. It took them weeks to finish what this company will do in two days.

July 18 - When the drill bit emerges, conduit is attached to pull back through.

July 18 - Here you can see the conduit running under Clintonia Avenue to reach both sides. The potholes along the street are dug to make absolutely sure the boring does not interfere with existing utilities.

July 18 - Conduit is pulled and ready for connections.

July 19 - Crews finish the job by installing pull-boxes and electrical connections.

June 9 - After pillars are sandblasted, everything is washed down.

June 9 - Just days after the permits were issued, the pillars are sandblasted to remove paint and loose stucco.

January 23 - Residents prepare for pillar restoration on Clintonia & Heritage pole on Coe.
A super crew came out at 8:30AM and went to work. Dave Yarnold works pieces free from the sidewalk while others begin rescuing the palm tree from a concrete base!

January 23 - Julia Tranchina, Jean Herriges, Chuck Frascone, Garret Redeling and Greg Biggs form teams to conquer the 'crete!

January 23 - Helen Schrum, Betty Grosskreuz and Fancy look on as the guys waste no time. Greg Biggs, Garret Redeling, Chuck Frascone and Don Klapp pictured.