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The Redman-Hirahara House faces delisting as Historic Place in August

WATSONVILLE, Calif. (KION) - The Redman-Hirahara House's status as a Historic Place could be made history in August.

The house has been in a state of disrepair, with the Santa Cruz Board of Supervisors ready to vote on the delisting on August 5.

A staple of Watsonville, the house entered the National Registry of Historic Places in 2004. The house is named after two prior owners before its current state.

According to the National Registry of Historic Places, James Redman, who had initially requested William Weeks to design the house for his 81-acre orchard. Fumio Hirahara owned the home shortly after in the 1940s, having held ownership when the Hirahara family was sent to internment camps during World War II.

The Hirahara family held that ownership until the mid-1980s.

"It's unfortunate that it has been decaying for decades," said the Santa Cruz County senior planner Matthew Sundt.

If the Board votes to delist the house, the process will begin to take it off the registry.

The current property owner must post a listing in a local publication calling for a buyer to either salvage or relocate the building.

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Sergio Berrueta

Sergio Berrueta has been in the news for quite awhile going from studying print media to entering the realm of broadcast.

Originally from Bell Gardens, California, in Southeast Los Angeles. Berrueta started his professional news career in Eureka as a newscast producer for North Coast News (now The Northstate’s News) at KAEF ABC 23 in 2022. He pivoted a year later in 2022 going from behind-the-scenes to in front of the camera as a multimedia journalist for Redwood News Channel 3 (KIEM/KVIQ) also in Eureka.

Berrueta studied journalism at Humboldt State University (now Cal Poly Humboldt) earning his Bachelor’s Degree. Berrueta was a staff writer, page editor, social media manager and editor-in-chief of the university’s El Lenador, the only bilingual publication in all of Humboldt County.

Before moving to the North Coast, Berrueta had earned his Associate’s Degree at East Los Angeles College in 2019 after beginning his educational journey in 2012. He also was on staff for the ELAC’s publication, ELAC Campus News, having been a staff writer, page editor, and online editor.

Outside of news experience, Berrueta has also been in education as an AmeriCorps tutor in East Hollywood from 2017 to 2019 and served in a government role as a National Hometown Fellow for Lead for America with the City of Arcata in 2021.

When not focusing on news, Berrueta is an avid amateur cinephile having written about films in free time. He also writes poetry, attempting to get through a backlog of video games, enjoys visiting new places along the California Coast, and trying to keep up with the latest music and podcasts.

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