Many neighborhoods stand alone, fenced or paved into an island of homes all built by the same construction company with similar architectural motifs. But around Auburn's Robie Point, the individual tracts of unique residences meld into an eclectic residential stew.
Perched above the American River on Auburn's east side, Robie Point is a fist of land that punches out over the canyon and shakes hands with the boundaries of the 35,000-acre Auburn State Recreation Area. Laced with unpaved park paths and a portion of the Western States Trail, the territory carries the name of a man who helped bring year-round travel to the western slope of the Sierra Nevada.
The late Wendell T. Robie was a successful Auburn businessman who also was an expert equestrian, agile outdoorsman and avid skier. Robie spent his leisure time riding through the rugged canyons of the Sierra Nevada on one of his prized Arabian horses. He also enjoyed downhill skiing and helped co-found the Auburn Ski Club (ASC) in the late 1920s.
When winter storms barred access to the club's ski jump facility at Canyon Creek near Baxter, members used shovels and snow-removal machines to clear the road themselves. In the 1930s, Robie and other advocates lobbied for a state ski club, ultimately sparking the formation of the Far West Ski Association, which still exists today.
Members of the Auburn and California ski clubs rallied for legislation to create a year-round road into the Sierra. In the early 1930s, ASC members put the sport in the spotlight in a variety of creative ways.
After relocating their ski facility to a higher elevation at Cisco, the ASC hosted a competition that drew thousands of people. State officials in attendance were impressed by the amount of support for the sport and eventually launched a gas tax to help fund all-season access to the winter recreation zone.
The Auburn Ski Club succeeded in getting the year-round path to the ski slopes, which opened the door to ski resort development in both Placer and Nevada counties' high country. Today, winter sports is one of Northern California's economic mainstays.
But even before he helped launch cold-weather tourism, Robie was instrumental in helping establish the Western States Trail, which serves as the route of the annual 100-mile Squaw Valley-to-Auburn Tevis Cup and Western States cross-country endurances races. The former tests the skills of horse and rider pairs; the latter is a trial of fortitude for long-distance runners.
To honor Mr. Robie's diligence in helping identify and preserve the historic trail, the promontory that marks entry to Auburn became known as Robie Point. Wedged between downtown Auburn and the river canyon, the narrow streets and thin lanes snake across the natural contours of the wooded mountain top and slither down to hillside homes, offering views of the river far below.
With no formal boundaries, Robie Point and its neighboring tracts blend together, bound by Borland Avenue, Virginia Street and the Boardman Canal. Filled in through the last century, the modern subdivisions swarm around the district's vintage structures - such as the century-old Tuttle House, the beautifully preserved El Toyon mansion, and the Lubeck Home, which was converted later to Highland Hospital and now is a multiple-unit dwelling.
Clusters of one-of-a-kind houses built in the late 1950s and early 1960s reflect the high-tech architectural fad of that era. Twenty-eight homes in the vicinity of Channing Way, Terrace Street and Brook Road share common ownership of a private swimming pool and recreation area, which is operated by a homeowners association.
Its namesake may be long gone, but the Robie Point neighborhood - and the adjoining eclectic tracts of humble and handsome homes - is a living legacy.
