Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Santa Ana, barrio history, and Tustin tours

I'm posting two photos I took today in downtown Santa Ana. The first (top) shows the historic Howe-Waffle House (at the corner of Civic Center and Sycamore), which is undergoing some exterior restoration work. The second photo shows the current state of the Basler-Twist House on the "One Broadway Plaza" property. Notice that it's (still) chopped up in multiple pieces, wrapped in plastic, and left to decompose. (Why does this remind me of the first episode of Twin Peaks?)
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The O.C. Mexican American Historical Society will host the 2nd Annual Barrio History Symposium, May 17th, 8:30am-3:00pm, at the Golden West College Student Center in Huntington Beach. The event will include speakers, displays, lunch and entertainment.
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On the same day (May 17), the Tustin Area Historical Society will present their annual Promenade Home & Garden Tour. For details about the tour visit tustinhistory.com.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What an outrage it is to see two houses of such historical value be displaced to make way for some high-rise tower that Santa Ana obviously does not need. It might as well be referred to as the Tower of Babel.

Santa Ana was my last home in Orange County before leaving the area 20 years ago. Judging by the look of things, the Orange County that I knew and loved growing up continues to degenerate into something that I can no longer recognize. As far as I'm concerned, there are three words that best describe Orange County in the year 2008: overbuilt, overpriced, and overhyped.

Chris Jepsen said...

To clarify, the Howe-Waffle House is just getting some new paint, roofing, etc. It's actually getting star treatment, thanks to the Santa Ana Historical Preservation Society.

The Basler-Twist house, on the other hand, was supposed to be moved to a new site to make way for new development. But you can see how that's been stalled.