La Cumbre Plaza: from fields to suburban mall
The corner of State Street and Hope Avenue did not begin its life dreaming of handbags and chain restaurants.
For years, it was a working patch of ground: a 16-acre lemon grove owned by William Lasarzig on the corner, and, just to the south, Tony Prevedello’s 30-acre dairy, with cows grazing where sun-baked parking lots would eventually spread out.
In 1965, Ernest W. Hahn Inc. showed up with a very different plan. The company signed a 65-year lease for the Lasarzig grove and a 63-year lease for the Prevedello dairy…