HUNTINGTON PARK — The Oldtimers Housing Development Corporation hosted an open house Dec. 9 for its 10-unit Malabar Apartments, an 80-year-old historic building at 6822 Malabar St., which has been remodeled.

Based here, the Oldtimers group was formed in 1993 with the intent of providing quality, affordable housing, particularly for low- and very low-income families and senior citizens, a representative said.

The Oldtimers Housing Development Corporation was created by the Oldtimers Foundation, a nonprofit group and one of the leading senior citizen service organizations in Southern California, providing hot meals and transportation services in the area.

The corporation has contracted with Huntington Park to promote and provide affordable housing.

Huntington Park Mayor Mario Gomez and Henry Gray, director of economic development, were the main speakers at the event along with George Cole, a former Bell city councilman who is executive director of the foundation.

Occupants of the previous apartments were relocated. Some of them will return to the renovated units, which range in size from 550 to 650 square feet.

The apartments are not furnished but do have built-in washers and dryers, the representative said.

“It looks beautiful. It looks like it should be in Beverly Hills,” said Maria Barragan, 42, a single mother of five children who rented one of the units for five years before she was relocated in August 2008 so that restoration of the structure could begin.

“I would drive by every day to see when the work was going to be done. It was worth the wait,” she added.

Building improvements were extensive and required that the building be gutted to replace the decaying structural supports. The renovation was also constructed under guidelines of the city’s new Historic Preservation Commission which restored the 1937 Spanish Colonial Revival building to its original state, down to its windows made of wood and tiled staircases the representative said.

Four of the families who lived in the units before the renovation are returning to live there again. The other six units are available for rent to those who qualify, the representative said.

Information: (323) 582-6090.