Tuesday, May 12, 2009

NARA move, MCAS Tustin, Huntington Beach, etc

Today's photo comes from the Orange County Archives and shows the blimp hangars at MCAS Tustin in 1965. The neighborhood may look a little different today.
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The word is out: The Pacific Region branch of the National Archives (NARA) will soon move from Laguna Niguel (which is relatively convenient to major population centers) to Perris, California (which is convenient to bloody nothing). Dates have not been announced, but rumor has it that the move will be made by summer 2010. Yes, it seems NARA has nixed its plan to build a snazzy new facility at the “Great Park.
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Chris Epting and Marvin Carlberg have a new Arcadia book out, featuring old postcards of Huntington Beach. They'll be signing books June 6, at 2pm, at the Barnes & Noble at Huntington Center (that's Bella Terra to the newbies).

7 comments:

Barry said...

Wow, that is the time and the place I was stationed in the US Army. MCAS Tustin had a couple buildings that was for the Army Reserve. These were close and to the left of the main entrance. This was closed in early 1966. I was there from October of 1964 through July of 1965. Then I was transferred to Fort Ord.

James Alcala said...

"which is convenient to bloody nothing"

Perris is home to the OERM.

It will soon have Metrolink service at the restored AT&SF depot.

Chris Jepsen said...

I also think it's a shame that OERM has to be way out there. I wish someone would gift OERM a big chunk of land near San Diego or L.A. or O.C. to give them better visibility and a chance for even more visitors.

As for Metrolink -- I have yet to find a Metrolink line that goes where I want to go at a time I want to go there.

Anonymous said...

BARRY: I sent you an email, I had many friends that were at that base at the same time. I know there were tons of guys there, but sent you a list of some of them in hopes that you might have known even one of them. We lived in Santa Ana at the time and I have been doing alot of research about that area. It has changed so very much since I left in 1966.

Guy Ball said...

Barry (and others): I'm working on a photo book on Tustin for Arcadia Publishing and will be including some photos and content on the base. I'd love to hear some of your thoughts and remembrances. And I'm open to other photos of the base and the people. You can also visit http://www.tustinhistory.com/photos-lta.htm to see some of the images we have already. (I'm the webguy for them as well.) You can email me direct at guy@guyball.com

Linda said...

I grew up out there and all that time I never realized what amazing structures those blimp hangers were. Of course, I was only 19 when I left California with my new husband. Now that I am older and have been doing alot of research about Orange County, I appreciate it even more. Just sorry that we can't go back in time to what it was like back then.

Anonymous said...

The proposed NARA move is sad news for Orange County and for the Great Park, and it undermines the ideals of access and transparency where government documents are concerned because of the lack of accessibility to the new proposed venue. I suggest folks write their local representatives -- maybe if enough of us do so we can help to keep this wonderful resource in Orange County!