Irvine Historical Bus Tour

Since 1864, when James Irvine and his partners bought 50,000 acres from Jose Andres Sepulveda (owner of Ranch San Joaquin), the area now occupied by the City of Irvine has undergone a dramatic transformation. When James Irvine Jr. inherited the ranch from his father in 1886, cattle continued to roam the open land. Although James Jr. began a shift toward field crops, olives and citrus, when the University of California asked the Irvine Company for 1000 acres for a new campus in 1959, there was still little hint of the rapid urbanization that would soon re-shape the area.

To get a glimpse of what life was like on the old Irvine Ranch, our tour will begin with a visit to the Irvine Historical Museum, located in the first wooden house to be erected between Anaheim and San Diego. Then, we will trace the history of the area with visits to Old Town Irvine, the site of the 1953 National Boy Scout Jamboree, etc.

Finally we will focus on the effects of the master plan of the City of Irvine, which is considered one of the most successful planned cities in the United States. This plan was drawn up by architect William Pereira, who created the UCI campus plan.