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The dream of a thriving resort community in Borrego Springs
had been around since the first homesteaders entered the
Valley. To make it happen would require vision, money, persistence,
a lot of hard work and a little luck. There are four men
who, all in their own way, were required to produce the
resort community of Borrego Springs; A.A. Burnand, Robert
DiGiorgio, James Copley and George (Bud) Kuhrts.
Alphonse A. Burnand, Jr. is considered the "Father
of Borrego Springs". He was born in 1896 in Colorado,
the son of a miner. The family moved to Santa Monica where
Burnand grew up and attended the University of California
at Davis, majoring in agriculture. Following graduation he
went to Delano in California's Central Valley, the largest
table grape producing area in the state. After working in
the fields, he soon acquired his own vineyard, and met the
DiGiorgio family, at the time the largest grape growers in
the world.1 Around1933, Burnand made his first trip to the
Borrego Valley looking for areas where crops would ripen early.
The first crops to market would command a higher price and
potentially greater profit. In the Borrego Valley grapes would
be ready to pick several weeks ahead of other growing areas.
The grapes would usually be sent to markets in New York. In
1936 Burnand purchased an interest in the Coyote Canyon Ranch,
to be followed by the de Anza Ranch. The heat, high winds
and winter cold made growing grapes in Borrego difficult -
but despite some failures Burnand had spent enough time in
the Valley to see its potential as a resort. He began buying
up railroad in-holdings in the Park area, and trading them
with the
State for valley land as well as picking up property from
tax sales and homesteaders wanting out. His holdings grew
to about 17,000 acres.
In 1945, Burnand announced plans for a resort community.
The San Diego Union reported that he "was ambitious
to create a San Diego County rival of Palm Springs".
Development would not start until the end of the war.2 Burnand
gathered several Los Angeles investors and incorporated
the Borrego Valley Land and Development Company (to own
the land and handle development) and the Borrego Springs
Company (to handle sales and marketing). Burnand also formed
the Borrego Valley Water Company to supply the development
with this most precious resource in the desert.
The community of Borrego Springs was destined to be a special
place. Burnand sought to protect the beauty of the desert
through restrictions on development - somewhat of an unusual
concept in planning in the 1940's. Lot sizes were designed
to protect privacy. Developers were not allowed to whole-sale
clear land of its fragile, native plants. Restrictions of
what could and could not be built, and an architectural
review board were put in place.
In 1953 the original Borrego Springs Land and Development
Company was dissolved with Burnand and two other Los Angeles
investors each retaining a share of the unsold land. At
the end of 1954, the Los Angeles investors are bought out
by Texas Oilman and La Jolla Farms owner William Black;
San Diego Union Tribune publisher James Copley and the DiGiorgio
Fruit Corporation, represented by vice president Robert
DiGiorgio.
The January, 1955 Borrego Sun, in a front page article
reported:
"In a statement yesterday, the new association
announced a four point program for the development of Borrego:
1. To insure through proper zoning and planning the orderly
development of Borrego Valley as one of San Diego County's
outstanding tourist and vacation areas.
2. To insure the continued development of agriculture in
Borrego Valley through proper planning and the conservation
and further development of water resources.
3. To establish a long range program to attract home owners
and additional resort facilities to Borrego
4. To insure the long range future of Borrego through development
of the area on sound business principles and to insure that
such development will enhance the natural beauty of San
Diego's desert playground." 3
Burnand lived to see the seed he planted bloom. He died
in 1981 at the age of 85.
Robert DiGiorgio had first been to Borrego in 1939.
He, like Burnand, was scouting areas for early grape production.
In 1944, right after the war, DiGiorgio founder Joseph DiGiorgio,
Robert DiGiorgio and Burnand all traveled from Delano to Borrego.
The DiGiorgio's ended up buying 1200 acres of land from Burnand
and that became the first holdings for the company in the
Valley. Table grapes were the crop DiGiorgio grew in the Valley
(others grew tomatoes, alfalfa, cotton and variety of other
fruits and vegetables). The grapes were shipped around the
country - primarily to the New York market. Farming in the
Valley was hard and after a dozen years of trying to make
it work, the DiGiorgio Company decided it was time to stop
virtually overnight. The success of Cesar Chavez in unionizing
farm workers would also play a key role to the end of DiGiorgio's
farming. When a strike was called against DiGiorgio's Borrego
vineyards, the pumps, necessary to irrigate the vines, were
shut off.
"One of the first results of the strike was the
decision to abandon farming in Borrego. We had farmed Borrego
for a number of years, and of all of those years--thirteen
or fourteen years, and the first three or four years were
development years to bring the crops up to production--and
during all of those years, my recollection is that only
one year did the operation show an operating profit . All
the other years it showed operating losses. Basically due
to the unfriendliness of the weather to the development
of the grape crop. Too much heat, too much rain, too much
wind with dust. Just a number of things. Low production
yields. We just never could cut the buck. When we got the
unionization in Borrego on top of all the other problems,
the decision was made that it's inadvisable to keep on farming
there, particularly since we no longer have any obligation
to give those people a job (the farm workers). They're on
their own. Mr. Chavez can take care of them. So the decision
was a very easy one to reach." 4
In 1962, Robert DiGiorgio became President of the DiGiorgio
Fruit Corporation and began taking the company out of farm
production, and into development. Under his leadership the
company was renamed the DiGiorgio Corporation the "Fruit"
being dropped as the company diversified. The first development
project was de Anza Country Club in 1955, with DiGiorgio providing
the major financial backing. Its success would set the stage
for additional Valley projects including: Borrego Springs
Shopping Center (1965); Roadrunner Club Golf Course and Mobile
Home Park (1966); Rams Hill Country Club (1981) and Indian
Head Ranch (1980's). Robert DiGiorgio stepped down as president
of the company in 1982. The last of the Borrego holdings were
sold by DiGiorgio Development Company in 1988.
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James Copley would provide the media muscle needed
to promote Borrego Springs as a resort community during its
key growth period. Copley was Chairman of the Copley Press.
At the time the business consisted of the San Diego Union
and Tribune, along with a dozen papers in other parts of California
and Illinois. The Copley Press also owned the Copley News
Service, which provided features to papers all across the
country. In 1954, Copley purchased the Borrego Sun newspaper
from Borrego Valley Associates, modernized the paper and moved
it to publication every two weeks. In addition, the San Diego
Union ran a weekly column on news from the Borrego Valley,
as well as full
features in the Sunday Home section. In 1960, Copley (through
his MACOP Corporation) purchased the Desert Lodge from the
Kuhrts family and began a major renovation that resulted in
La Casa del Zorro, for many years the Valley's only 4 star
resort. Copley also moved his annual meeting of the editors
of his paper to his resort in Borrego Springs. The annual
"Copley Conference" would expose these editors to
the beauty of Borrego. The Copley Press, on behalf of the
Chamber of Commerce, also produced two promotional films on
Borrego Springs that were made available for showing and also
appeared on television. James and Helen Copley were also members
of de Anza Desert Country Club, James Copley serving as the
Club's President. They also built a substantial home at de
Anza. James Copley died in 1973 at the age of 57. In December
of 2007, Copley Press sold the La Casa del Zorro Resort and
its furnishings for $4.5 million dollars to GH Capital, owners
of the neighboring Montesoro (formerly Ram's Hill). The new
owners closed the resort this summer and are undertaking an
extensive renovation - the opening is set for November 2008.
There are reports that the renovation will include a new name.
George (Bud) Kuhrts, III was the man who made development
of Borrego Springs bloom. He was the day to day organizer
of virtually every major development project in the Valley.
Born in Los Angeles in 1923, Kuhrts was raised in Hollywood
and Catalina Island, where he developed a life long love of
the ocean. He attended military school and enlisted in the
Navy, surviving the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was later promoted
to Chief Petty Officer and served in that capacity for four
admirals in the South Pacific. 5
Those same organizational skills would serve him
well after the war. In 1947 Kuhrts came to Borrego to work
with his stepfather, A.A. Burnand. His first project was relocating
several surplus Quonset huts to Borrego, and opening "Bud's
Café".6
He then purchased the Desert Lodge from the Dana Burk family
and ran it until 1960 when it was purchased by James Copley.
Kuhrts married his wife Beverly in 1949 who continues to live
in the community. The listing of his accomplishments is impressive:
He led the development of de Anza Country Club as President
of the Borrego Valley Golf and
Improvement Company with the backing of Burnand and DiGiorgio
and in later years would continue with the additions of de
Anza Villas and Vista Villas. He was President of the company's
formed for the development for the Borrego Springs Shopping
Center (1965), Roadrunner Club (1967) and Ram's Hill Country
Club (1981). In addition Kuhrts was instrumental in creating
Borrego Spring's Airlines and became president when the airline
changed names to Sun Aire in the 1970's (the airline was a
DiGiorgio subsidiary). He was also a director of the Bank
of San Diego and Borrego Springs Bank in the 1980's. He served
as a director of the Community Association and the A.A. Burnand
Medical and Education Foundation; was the first Fire Commissioner
for the Borrego Springs Fire Protection District and was Borrego's
Honorary Mayor in 1986. In countless articles in the Borrego
Sun for more than 3 decades it was Kuhrts who was the face
of progress in the Valley; who would turn the vision and money
of Burnand and DiGiorgio into reality. Bud Kuhrts died in
1995, at the age of 72.
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