Proposition 47 funding will bolster city services and community partnerships aimed at rehousing residents and connecting them to employment opportunities.
Local Maker Revives Citrus Heritage for Holiday Shoppers
Old California Botanicals blends Redlands citrus history with modern sustainable gifts — and shoppers can find them at the YMCA Holiday Boutique Dec. 6-7
As Redlands residents look for sustainable, locally made gifts this holiday season, Old California Botanicals offers a line of products rooted deeply in the city’s citrus heritage. Founder J.P. Beall, who will host a booth at the Redlands YMCA’s Holiday Boutique the first weekend of December, has revived family recipes, fragrances and designs to create modern goods inspired by a century-old legacy.
A descendant of one of Redlands’ early orange-growing families, Beall has developed and reimagined products tied to his great-grandfather W.L. Gill, who arrived in Redlands from Ohio in the 1910s.
Beall said that when his great-grandfather W.L. Gill arrived in Redlands from Ohio in the 1910s, he fell in love with Redlands’ landscape immediately — a sentiment captured in old family photographs. (courtesy photos)
Gill was known locally as an inventor and battery manufacturer; his San Bernardino factory, Gill Batteries, later became what is now the Teledyne company near Shakey’s. But family lore highlights something else: his devotion to citrus.
Back when Gill grew up in Ohio, citrus was something you received in your Christmas stocking, Beall said. Today, branching out beyond oranges, an entire line of citrus-inspired products is available in time for the holidays. Many of the products are made using fruit that would otherwise be discarded, from undersized oranges pressed for essential oils to peel used as a natural exfoliator.
Modern twist on citrus heritage
Beall’s first product was an orange soap made using a mold his great-grandfather designed in the 1920s. The soap, stamped with Gill Orange Soap, blends orange essential oil with orange peel, creating both a natural cleaner and gentle exfoliator. Gill learned to make soap from his grandmother in Ohio, and though he perfected a citrus soap recipe, he never sold it. It was made only for family use until Beall revived it from the archives.
“When I think of the experience of living in Redlands and what this place means to me, I think of things like this,” Beall said. “I want to share that with people.”
A 2010 Redlands High School graduate, Beall studied business and history on the East Coast before working in finance in Chicago. He returned home during the pandemic and became fascinated with his family’s citrus legacy. He even attended perfume school in Los Angeles in 2020.
“I came back home to re-engage with my roots,” he said.
He said Redlands' unique microclimate, long known for producing especially flavorful citrus, continues to shape his approach.
Owner of Old California Botanicals, J.P. Beall, is inspired by his great-grandfather's passion for Redlands citrus and innovation. (courtesy photo)
Old California Botanicals brings historic products to life
Since the soap, Beall has expanded into 18 lip balm flavors, an orange blossom candle, and small-batch citrus marmalades made with another fourth-generation Southern California family. Flavors include Sweet Orange, Minneola Tangelo and Eureka Lemon. His Minneola Tangelo marmalade is made from trees planted by his great-grandfather, including a “crown jewel” tree just outside the old kitchen window.
Customers have shared creative ways they’re using the marmalades: Eureka Lemon warmed into a glaze for cinnamon rolls or spooned over cheesecake, and Sweet Orange used in orange chicken. “People have been really creative,” he said.
Orange soap made from local oranges using a mold designed by Beall's great-grandfather in the 1920s. (courtesy photo)
He has also developed two fragrances, orange and orange blossom, based on a vintage sample preserved at the family home.
“Orange blossom perfume was actually a souvenir tourists from the East Coast could buy here during the Gilded Age,” he said. “You could take it back East and say, ‘This is what California smells like.’”
The company also reproduces the family’s historic Christmas cards. “We have a trunk of my great-grandfather’s things,” he said. One card, originally sent to relatives back East, is now reprinted with the help of a local printer, Citrograph.
Although Beall works full time in renewable energy, Old California Botanicals is where his passion lies. Making and selling citrus related products is what’s near and dear to his heart, just like his great grandfather.
“It’s not a side hustle to me,” he said. “I’m constantly developing new things. It’s been a fun creative outlet.”
A men’s fragrance is in development, and Beall continues to build retail relationships. Clark’s is the latest store to carry his citrus marmalades.
“I am desperately looking for the 25th hour of the day,” he joked. “If you find it, let me know.”
More information
Old California Botanicals products can be found at:
Siw is the ultimate cheerleader of what happens in Redlands. She is a dual citizen (Danish and American) who likes to write about what is new as much as about the things we take for granted.
