The People's Lumber Company was incorporated in Ventura on September 30, 1890. The original board and principal shareholders were C.D. Bonestel (Ventura), F.A. Foster (Ventura), J.M. Sharp (Saticoy), J.B. Robins (Springville), G.W. Faulkner (Santa Paula), J.A. Willouby (Ventura), and F.A. Cook (Ventura). The company started business as a lumber cooperative. Prior to its establishment boats would have to anchor as close to shore as possible to unload lumber onto a raft. Following the construction of a wharf at Hueneme in 1871 and a wharf at Ventura in 1873, The Daly Bros. purchased a lumber boat to convey materials from mills in Northern California.

C.D. Bonestel was the main force and served as the company's first president and manager. He later turned the business over to his son, W.A. Bonestel, who oversaw the company until 1904. Adolfo Camarillo served as president between 1940 and 1956. The firm's yards gradually increased to eight by the 1950s, including locations in Ventura, Oxnard, Santa Paula, Fillmore, Ojai, Moorpark, Camarillo, and Santa Susana. The company had a strict policy of only doing business within the county and they aimed to be one-stop service stations that provided materials for construction from the foundation to finish hardware.

Following increased competition in the 1950s due to transportation improvements, the company decided it was best to expand its interests. In 1961 Sun Lumber purchased the People's Lumber Company's lumber and building inventories, authority to lease their yards, and the firm's name. The remaining assets, lands, and buildings were retained and the company changed its name to the Anacapa Corporation. It then began to focus on real estate management and investment. In October 1968 the company dissolved Anacapa Corporation and formed the Anacapa Trust in its place. A year later the company adopted the name the Real Estate Investment Trust of California (REIT-CAL). BRE Properties eventually purchased REIT-CAL in 1995. See the MVC Quarterlies Volume 3, No.1 and Volume 30, No. 2 for a more complete history.