Airport, Wintersburg, Rosemarie Williams, colonias

I miss the old Orange County Airport terminal. Opened in 1967 and torn down in the 1990s, it gave travelers and visitors an immersive experience. Standing on the observation deck, you could hear the jet engines roar, feel the hot wind from the turbines, and smell the jet fuel. Travelers walking to and from their planes across the tarmac had a similar experience. It was great! By contrast, today's terminal is an isolation chamber, sanitized for your protection. Today's photo shows a school fieldtrip group at airport around 1973.

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Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Church update: Ricky Ramos from Huntington Beach City Planning writes, "The EIR and associated entitlements are currently in process. The EIR consultant estimates that the FEIR can be certified in about eight months. However, ...things are going much slower than anticipated..."

So it looks like there may still be time for preservationists to do something productive. Rafu Shimpo, Southern California's oldest Japanese-American newspaper, will run a story on this situation in the next few days. I also finally found the Register article about this which was published last month.

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Rosemarie Williams of the Orange Public Library's History Room has announced that she'll be retiring at the end of the year. After all the work she put in on the snazzy new Library and History Center, it seems a shame that she won't be sticking around longer to enjoy it.

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Many people don't know about Orange County's colonias -- communities created specifically for the Mexican-American agricultural workers and their families in the 1920s. When you know where to look, it's easy to spot these small neighborhoods of modest older homes, now surrounded by newer development rather than fields and orange groves. Colonia Independencia will hold their second annual reunion on Sept. 22, 11am-5pm, at the Colonia Independencia Community Center, at 10871 Garza St., in Anaheim.

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There's also a story in today's Register about one man who will be attending that reunion: Mr. Jess Saenz. The article focuses on his experiences in the infantry in WWII.

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The USPS unveiled a new stamp today at a ceremony in Santa Ana, commemorating Orange County's landmark Mendez v. Westminster case. This 1947 legal decision desegregated California schools in 1947 -- seven years before Brown v Board of Education.

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Yes, there's yet another article about CSUF's 50th anniversary -- This time it's in the O.C. Business Journal. This is what happens when half the residents of O.C. have communications/journalism degrees from Fullerton (myself included).

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Over at Yesterland, Werner Weiss has posted a short, illustrated article about the way people dressed to go to Disneyland in the 1950s. He contrasts it with today's flip-flop and tank-top clad tourists. I'll be the first to admit that I wear sneakers and shorts to theme parks, but even by my relaxed standards, the masses have really let themselves go.