The Los Banos Community Center (645 Seventh St.) is the hub today for many community activities and events. People old and young use it often, ever since it opened in 2010. But most people who use the center don’t know the history of how it came to be.
So, as a public service, I decided to write a column to record this history. I thought the best person to consult on this would be Joe Sousa, who served the city for many years as a leader in the public services and parks and recreation departments and later on as a city councilmember.
In talking with Joe, I learned that the development of the community center required a lot of dreams, plans, fortitude and resilience over the course of 20 years.
The idea of a community center emerged around 1990, when Joe Sousa and Rick Dahlgren (who served then as the city’s public services director) started dreaming of a facility that the entire community could use and be proud of.
At that time, the place serving as a community center was the Miller and Lux Building (830 Sixth St.). But this facility had limited space (seating a maximum of 100) and had only on-street parking nearby.
What was needed was a much larger building that could accommodate the needs and desires of people of all ages — from children to senior citizens and everyone in between, as well as ample parking space. It was a terrific dream in 1990, but unfortunately there was no land on which to build a community center and no money to build it.
It took a variety of events, some good fortune and a lot of determination over the next 20 years to make the dream a reality.
First, in the mid-1990s, the city received a large donation of land from the railroad company that used to serve Los Banos. The land includes what is now the Rails to Trails path that crosses diagonally through town plus a large parcel of land on which the community center is now located.
This provided enough hope for Dahlgren and Sousa to create their own sketches for what a center might look like, including a large banquet room and a commercial-sized kitchen, a gym which could be used especially by young people, various rooms for activities and meetings, an entryway where parks and recreation staff could greet the public, a large inner courtyard where outdoor events and activities could be held and a barbecue area.
But there was still no money to build it. Then came some more good fortune through something called RDA.
In the second half of the 20th century and into the first decade of the 21st century, the State of California created Regional Development Agencies (or RDAs), which enabled cities to use some of the collected state property taxes for local use in areas that needed redevelopment. The area where the community center is now located qualified for RDA funds.
In 2008 Los Banos had the opportunity to use those funds, and the city council voted to use the money to build a community center. For people who had long wanted and dreamed of a Los Banos community center, this was the opportunity. However, there were others that opposed it, saying such a center would be a future burden to the city.
At the same time, because these were regional funds, the collected state tax money could be claimed by the county if the city didn’t act quickly.
At a city council meeting in 2008, a resolution authorizing the use of RDA funds for a community center passed the council—barely, by a 3-2 vote, with Mayor Tommy Jones, Councilmember Elizabeth Stone and Councilmember Joe Sousa voting yes.
There was one catch. Any project using RDA funds had to be built quickly on time and on budget. Fortunately, the informal sketches that Dahlgren and Sousa created could be quickly turned into architectural drawings. City staff moved expeditiously with an architect and a construction firm.
A groundbreaking was held in 2009 and by 2010 the center was completed. By moving so quickly, the city was able to save a considerable dollars on construction costs. The timing was fortuitous, because in 2011 RDAs were disbanded and the money in RDA funds went elsewhere.
The detailed plans for the community center had everything the city needed: a “Grand Room” with an adjoining kitchen, a multi-purpose gym, an arts and crafts room, a lounge (that also serves a meeting room), a fitness room, a barbecue area, a large entry lobby and a spacious outdoor courtyard. And there was plenty of room for parking.
In the process of developing architectural drawings, another controversy developed. Some senior citizen residents, who were happy with the grand room and the kitchen, were unhappy that a gym would be part of the complex. But others, especially Joe Sousa, won the day, saying that young people needed to be a part of the community center as much as seniors and other adults. As a result, the gym became an essential part of the center.
By the time the community center opened, the Henry Miller Plaza was also complete, featuring a sculpture of Henry Miller on a horse along with cattle. This was also part of Joe Sousa’s dream, made possible by another grant the city received. It was Joe who created the initial sketches of the sculpture.
In the end the City of Los Banos had a community center and a plaza to be proud of, without having to pass a bond or increase taxes. And now in 2025 the center is used by hundreds of people, young and old, every week, practically every day.
As a longtime resident of Los Banos, I’m proud of the Los Banos Community Center and the Henry Miller Plaza, and I’m grateful that Joe Sousa dedicated so much time and effort to make this all happen.
And, having watched my grandchildren in sporting events in the multi-purpose gym, I appreciate Joe’s determination to make the gym an essential part of the complex.
On another note: Anyone who supports local authors, including those featured in The Westside Express, should consider going to the Local Author Fair in Merced on Saturday, Sept. 27, in the Merced County Library from 10 a.m. to noon. Among the Westside authors at the fair will be Los Banos resident Joan Zahm, who has written three books as part of her Cytar Trilogy. John Spevak’s email is john.spevak@gmail.com.
