San Bernardino struggled for decades before bankruptcy decision
Then came the 1980s, when a series of unfortunate events battered the local economy.
The slide began in 1983, when the Kaiser Steel Mill shut down, idling more than 8,000 workers, said local historian Nick Cataldo.
The opening of the 15 Freeway drew traffic and commerce away from the city, and subsequent closures - the Santa Fe Depot in 1992 and Norton Air Force Base in 1994 - cost tens of thousands more jobs.
As those jobs disappeared, the city's demographics changed as workers left to seek employment elsewhere and real estate investors swept in to pick up properties on the cheap.
"All of these older people who were working for these companies started taking early retirement, selling their houses and leaving," said Husing.
"All through those neighborhoods you could feel the shift in the city," Husing said. "All these neighborhoods that were always middle class working families all of a sudden went rental. Violence started increasing and it became unlivable.
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