Today's photo is a current view of the Great Stone Church at Mission San Juan Capistrano, taken from the parking lot of the Mission Inn Motel. The motel is scheduled to be torn down next week. Dating from 1960, and having a fairly ordinary design, the motel isn't very exciting. But archaeologist Doug McIntosh will be watching for (and watching over) any interesting stuff that may be discovered under the motel. What a fascinating job!.
Chris Epting had a column in the last H.B. Independent about Robert Carvounas' new book on the Golden Bear. Robert's sending me a copy of the book (and a second copy for the County Archives), and I'm really looking forward to reading it. It should soon be available at the Huntington Beach Art Center.
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Chris will be signing his own books at Author's Festival Day, 2:30-4:30pm, Jan. 27 at the Huntington Beach Central Library.
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The Water Resource Institute at CSU San Bernardino recently posted many historical aerial photos of Southern California on their website. Some go back as far as the 1920s.
Well, as a documentor of such things, the death of this motel is something both sad and to be celebrated...
ReplyDeleteI'm glad it had such a long record of serving those who travelled by, but being right next door to early California history, I'm sure that it's demise will yield many more additional facts about the history of the land usage on this particular spot than its continued existence could ever do.
ww: Don't get me wrong. I'm the first to champion interesting/significant roadside architecture in all its forms - motels included. However, I try to pick my battles.
ReplyDeleteSadly, mid-20th Century commercial architecture was seldom built to last, and we're lucky when we can save the best examples of each type.
Meanwhile, folks like you provide a great service by documenting many sites that WON'T be saved. Thanks again!