A walk on the beach with flowers and violins

Click to enlarge each half of this large panorama of the Huntington Beach coastline circa 1946. An uncut, higher-resolution version of the panorama is posted to my Flickr account.

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The City of Huntington Beach will mark its centennial on Feb. 17, at 2 pm. I thought this image was be a good way to get us thinking about it. Some of the landmarks you'll see (from left to right) include the oil fields, the Huntington Inn, the saltwater Plunge, the Talbert house, the Huntington Beach Co. headquarters building (now El Don Liquor), the original pavilion, the pier, the O'Barr Building (later Jack's Surf Shop), Main Street, the "new" (1930s) Pavilion/Pav-a-lon (later Maxwell's), and Dwight's snack stand.

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Author Peggy Ridgway will give a presentation on the area's early floral industry, Feb. 15, 2pm, at the Costa Mesa Historical Society, 1870 Anaheim Ave. Her presentation is called, "Back in Time to 1859: To the Flower Farms & Markets of Southern California."

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Jim Comer writes, "I am researching a man named Thomas A. Simons a violin luther, violinist and violin historian of sorts from Garden Grove... Any background information you may have on ...Simons would be greatly appreciated." If you can help, please drop Jim a line via email.

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The next meeting of the Orange County Historical Society (OCHS) will be held Feb. 12, 7:30pm, at Trinity Episcopal Church, 2400 N. Canal St., in Orange. Alexis Tate of the O.C. Water District will talk the new Groundwater Replenishment System (turning treated sewage water into drinking water). Don't ask me what this has to do with local history.