Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Another voice in the fight for Wintersburg

There's a new blog in town, called Historic Wintersburg. It's dedicated to the history of the small village of Wintersburg, along Warner (formerly Wintersburg) Ave., between Beach Blvd. and Gothard St. in what is now part of Huntington Beach. The blog's author, "Surf City Writer," introduces us to the subject by saying, "In the late 1800s, the small agricultural community of Wintersburg was born. While the daily life of Huntington Beach swirls around it, what is left of Wintersburg tells the story of old California, Orange County agriculture, faith, and of California's Japanese Americans."

Clearly, the author is focused primarily on the town's Japanese American population, which is completely appropriate. As I've written here before, the complex of buildings made up of the Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Church and the Furuta family's property is probably the most important extant Asian American historical site in Orange County, and it is under immediate threat of being completely demolished. (See some of my earlier posts on the subject: 9-1-2007, 9-12-2007, 10-4-2007, 7-10-2008, 5-10-2011, 5-14-2011, and 11-6-2011.)

The posts on Historic Wintersburg are generally quite long -- more magazine-length than normal blog-length. But readers with longer attention spans will be rewarded with in-depth content from experts and historians like Art Hansen, Professor Emeritus of History and Asian American Studies at Cal State Fullerton, and Donna Graves, Project Director of Preserving California's Japantowns. The site also draws heavily on quotes from early Wintersburg residents and contemporary newspapers.

So surf on over, check it out, subscribe, add a link from your own blog (if appropriate), and please do what you can to help draw attention to this endangered historic site.

3 comments:

Connie Moreno said...

Cool. I've posted it on a friend's Facebook page.

Surf City Writer said...

Thank you, Chris! As you were the first to raise the alarm bells about the Wintersburg site, I greatly appreciate you telling others about this historical gem.

My understanding is the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) that may decide the property's fate is anticipated for public review in second quarter 2012. Community support will help save a piece of Wintersburg!

SurfCityWriter ; )

Rikki said...

My grandpa was born and raised here. I would love to see more pictures.