Newport Harbor High School, Brea & San Clemente

The Loftus [oil] Lease in Brea Canyon, 1898.

The beautiful and historic Allison & Allison clock tower at Newport Harbor High School was demolished yesterday morning. Despite claims that it couldn't be made earthquake safe, the tower required quite a lengthy beating from the wrecking ball before it finally came down -- all in one piece. NHHS student Michael Bingham watched the demolition and said, "They were saying it's not earthquake safe and it's just gonna fall over, and then it took them so long to knock it down." Some morons in the crowd of onlookers actually cheered and clapped when it fell. I wonder if these same people are in the habit of dancing jigs on graves during funerals. A $36 million replica of the tower is planned -- But a replica can't replace the original any more than an Elvis impersonator can replace The King. The Register website has an article and video covering the demolition.

On Tuesday evening, the San Clemente City Council will hold a public hearing to discuss the recommendations of the city's Landmarks Preservation Task Force. The Task Force was appointed to recommend which sites in the city should be considered "historical landmarks," and to recommend ways to better protect these sites. City staff are already trying to water down the language in the Task Force's recommendations, so the San Clemente Historical Society is encouraging fellow preservationists to attend the hearing. (A show of force never hurts.) The meeting will be held Sept 4, at 7pm, in the Council Chambers at 100 Avenida Presidio.

The Fullerton Historic Theatre Foundation has been selected to receive a nearly $2 million grant from the California Cultural and Historical Endowment (CCHE). This CCHE grant, when added to federal historic restoration tax credits, and a seismic stabilization loan from the City of Fullerton brings the Foundation's coffers to $7 million -- about one fourth of the entire restoration project. Both the CCHE grant and the seismic loan are matching grants, so every donor's dollar will now go twice as far.

Ed Roth, Huntington Beach, Civil War & El Modena

The remains of the Orbitron -- a noted custom car created by Ed "Big Daddy" Roth -- was just discovered in Mexico. It was being used as a dumpster behind an "adult" book store! Roth was the king of crazy custom cars and also created Rat Fink and other cartoon characters. He used to work at the Cars of the Stars Museum in Buena Park, where he also gave a young John Moorlach his first job (organizing decals and working around the office). Roth later worked in the sign painting department at Knott's Berry Farm -- long a repository of great but little-known artists. In the photo above, Roth checks out a junkyard for spare parts. The inset image depicts the Orbitron as it originally appeared. Today, even a replica of a Roth car body is worth a fortune, so it's a cinch that the Orbitron is well on its way to restoration.

By the way, Rat Fink fans would probably also enjoy the Basil Wolverton show at the Grand Central Art Center. The opening reception will be held Sept. 1, 7-10 pm, and the show will continue through Nov. 11. The Grand Central Art Center is located at 125 N. Broadway, Santa Ana.

A Civil War reenactment will be held in Central Park in Huntington Beach this Saturday and Sunday. The event will be held off Gothard St., between Talbert and Slater. Amid all the canon-fire and bugle calls, keep an eye out for Charles Beal's display of local G.A.R. artifacts and photos.

The El Modena biannual reunion will be held Sept. 27, 5pm to midnight, at Moreno's Mexican Restarant on Chapman. El Modena residents past and present are invited. Cost is $20 a head. For more information, call (714) 543-6991. (I've only been to Moreno's once, but I really enjoyed it.)

Basler-Twist Home, Phyllis Mueller & Garden Grove

The Santa Ana Historical Preservation Society has updated their website with some suggested steps you can take to help save the historic Twist-Basler Home. Developer Mike Harrah, (who plans to build a 37-story tower on the site,) and the City were supposed to move the historic structure to a new site provided by the City. The house was cut in half seven months ago, in prepraration for the move, but it hasn’t actually gone anywhere. Instead, the plastic covers have been removed from the various pieces of the building, exposing the interior to weather, vermin, and Lord knows what else. This will make restoration of the original materials difficult and expensive, if not impossible. Click on over to SAHPS and see how a few well-placed emails might help.

Phyllis Mueller will retire from the City of Anaheim's Historic Preservation Office on Sept. 1st. As Neighborhood Development Coordinator, Phyllis has been a vitally important part of Anaheim's preservation success story. Everyone who cares about Anaheim’s heritage owes her a major "thank you" and a hug. Residents of Anaheim's historic homes are planning a big party they're calling "Muellerpalooza," in her honor. [The photo of Phyllis (right) is a detail from a shot by Chris Barros from last year's Anaheim Colony 4th of July shin-dig. Those people know how to throw a block party!]

The Garden Grove Historical Society’s annual picnic will be held Sept. 8, 11am-3pm, presumably at their HQ: 12174 Euclid Ave. This year’s theme is the 1950s, so feel free to break out those skinny ties and poodle skirts. Cost is $10 per person. For information or to RSVP, call Brenda or Eva at (714) 530-8871. Please make your reservations by Friday.

Tustana redux and the traffic report

Yesterday I posted an image of the Tustana Apartments. Today, it's a 1930s "Tustana" citrus label from the Santa Ana-Tustin Mutual Citrus Association. Yet another example of good design.

Last night, KOCE, ran the first in Chris Epting's series of interstitial "Forgotten O.C." documentary-ettes. The first one was about Movieland Wax Museum in Buena Park. Unfortunately, I missed it, so I can't comment. However, I already sent Chris a smart-ass email asking how anyone could have "forgotten" something that only closed a few months ago. I think he's counting on us to have short attention spans.

I finally broke down last week and put a counter on this blog. I wanted to see if there were enough readers to make it worth my time. I have fun doing this, but I'd feel pretty silly addressing an empty room. Anyway, the counter tells me that I have plenty of traffic, which is very encouraging. Thanks to all of you who read this blog. And even more thanks to those who submit your own news and comments from time to time. You can always post a comment here or send me an email if you prefer.

Tustin, Anaheim, Laguna Woods, wookiees, etc.

Carol Jordan's new book, Tustin, An Illustrated History, should be available sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The photo above comes from the O.C. Archives and shows the Tustana Apartments in Tustin, circa 1966. This is a great space age example of the "decorated box" school of design. Still, the flagstone, starburst sconce, and orange accent wall look great, don't they?

The Anaheim Historical Society will hold it's annual Ice Cream Social on Sunday, Sept. 30, 2-5pm. The event will be held at the Claybaugh House, a Queen Anne cottage at 115 S. Olive (at Center St.) The house was originally built for Anaheim's Railroad Station Master.

The Laguna Woods Village Historical Soceity and the City of Laguna Woods have crafted some kind of plan in which they'll work together to make improve residents' access to the community's historical records. Part of this plan includes a website. I'll link to it when it appears.

Repair and restoration efforts are beginning at Anaheim's "Red Cross House." I'm told this house is now properly called the Woelke-Stoffle House, "in honor of the two most significant owners." I'm going to have trouble with that. See, when I was a kid, I had a Star Wars drawing tablet called a "Wookiee Doodle Pad." For some reason, every time I read "Woelke-Stoffel," I think "Wookiee-Doodle." Sad, I know.

Sunday odds and ends

One last image from Don Ballard's collection: The shops at the Disneyland Hotel, sometime around late 1956 (my best guess). The shops shown include Magic Land (toys and souvenirs), The Pirates' Den, Latin Imports and a women's accessories store. Note the "web lighteners" punched in the decorative I-beams -- a hallmark of space age architecture.

Did you know you can get tax breaks for the historical restoration and preservation of your home? I've added a link to the State's website on the Mills Act, where you can find out more about it.

I'm also adding a link to my own site, Space Age City, which is dedicated mainly to Googie architecture, with a special emphasis on Orange County and Southern California. The site is way overdue for an overhaul. I've learned a lot more about both Googie and web design since it was created, but some folks still enjoy it.

O.C. tourism in the 1940s

Here's another image from Don Ballard's collection. This came from a 1940s brochure promoting tourism in Anaheim. This is what I was able to capture with my camera, but I'm hoping to scan it in high-res when Don comes out to SoCal again this Fall. As always, click on the image to enlarge. There are lots of cool details in this one. Note references to little-remembered places like the Anaheim Airport and San Juan Hot Springs.

The Fullerton-Host Lion's Club is holding a Casino Night & Texas Hold'Em Tournament on Sept. 7th. Half the proceeds will go to support the Fullerton Historic Theatre Foundation (a.k.a. the restoration of the Fox Theatre.) More information is available online.

A great image of Tomorrowland the late 1960s was posted to Daveland yesterday. Notice how the Rocketjets don't block traffic flow, and how and both the Peoplemover and Skyway still work.

The Disneyland Hotel and the Old Courthouse

Author Don Ballard was in town today, and brought with him a portion of his vast collection of old Disneyland Hotel materials. Don wrote Disneyland Hotel: The Early Years, 1954-1988, which I read, enjoyed, and briefly reviewed last year. Today, Don set up a display near the Hotel’s employee cafeteria, where “cast members” could stop to learn something about the history of the place. He was also kind enough to let me rifle through his collection and make copies of some documents for the Archives. The photo above shows Don and I (right and left, respectively) holding aloft the shovel from the Hotel’s ground-breaking, which hadn’t been on the property in 52 years. (I included an inset image to make the text legible.)

I stopped past the third floor of the Old Courthouse today and it dawned on me that I hadn’t blogged about Old Courthouse Museum’s new Historical Education & Special Events Coordinator, Carey Baughman. Some months ago, she replaced Bradley Flint, who moved out to the Key Ranch historic park. Carey has interned and volunteered for more respectable historical institutions than you can shake a stick at. Her educational background is in history, anthropology and sociology, and she’s currently working on her PhD in Native American History at UC Riverside. Glad to have her for a neighbor.