Just south of the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains with a clear view of Mt. San Antonio, the Meadow Park site in Claremont was agricultural land for nearly a century before redevelopment. Lee C. Pitzer, one of the first settlers in North Claremont, bought this sagebrush-covered land in 1903 and turned it into a small lemon grove. Its success led him to buy 200 additional acres of adjacent property, making him the first citrus grower in North Claremont. In 1912, he built a family house on the southwest corner of Towne Avenue and Base Line Road near his groves. The 3,200 square foot stone bungalow, designed by architect Robert Orr, was called by architectural historian Robert Winter the finest stone house in Southern California, and the former home has been preserved and incorporated into an assisted living facility. For many years, the Meadow Park site at the southeast corner of Towne and Base Line held citrus trees and a water reservoir owned by the Pitzer family. In the 1970s, it was converted to strawberry fields maintained first by Cal Fruits and later by Jim Tagami of Tagami Farms. The four acres proved fertile for strawberries. In 1993, Tagami left the business and transferred ownership to Adrian Vargas, a former employee and partner, who continued operating the Claremont property as a strawberry field until its redevelopment in 2014.