Between Los Angeles and San Diego lies a vast tract of land that has changed little since it was bought as a ranch by James Irvine in 1864. Its 93,000 acres stretch from the Pacific across the coastal hills and into the Santa Ana Mountains, form an area six times bigger than Manhattan and one-third as big as Los Angeles. As the rest of Southern California has been built up, the land value of the Irvine ranch, bought originally for 36ยข an acre, has soared to an estimated $108 million.
Last week Irvine Company President Charles S. Thomas, former...
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