Roy Bryant makes unexpected appearance

About a year ago, Claim Jumper restaurants redecorated. Among their new artwork, I noticed old images from Knott's Berry Farm mixed in with those of real miners. Examples at their Fountain Valley branch included this enlarged 1950s postcard of Roy B. Bryant at the "Pan for Gold" entrance. (Now the entrance to the Ghostrider rollercoaster.) Bryant played the role of an old grizzled prospector at Knott's in the 1950s and '60s.

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In response to yesterday's post about Knott's, the always-helpful Jennifer Blazey writes, "We are not tearing down anything on Main Street. We are just re-habing the peek-ins to restore them to their original form (or as close as we can get it.)" That's good news indeed! Thanks for the correction!

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OCThen has a new post this week about Escape Country, a privately owned sports park in what's now Rancho Santa Margarita.

Knott's Ghost Town, Sam's Seafood & Don the Beachcomber

Sometime in the last week or so, much of the south side of Main Street in Knott's Berry Farm's Ghost Town was torn down. For details, see Let's Talk Knott's. The images above show interiors from some of those buildings as they appeared earlier this month. The buildings were some of the first in Ghost Town and were built in 1940 and 1941. The plan is to replace them with very similar buildings and put all the "peek in" interiors back in place. I hope they remember to make it look old and weathered (as they did 68 years ago) to make it appear like an actual ghost town.

[Update: The always-helpful Jennifer Blazey of Knott's Berry Farm writes: "We are not tearing down anything on Main Street. We are just re-habing the peek-ins to restore them to their original form (or as close as we can get it.)" So perhaps the buildings were just disassembled and moved "backstage" for restoration and rehab. I know they were in very rough shape structurally and needed more than a little shoring up.]
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I recieved the following news about Sam's Seafood/Kona (the last authentic 1960s tiki restaurant in O.C.) in an email from operating partners Susan and Chuck Purrington:

"...We have just signed the agreement to partner with the Original Don the Beachcomber! As some of you may know Don the Beachcomber was THE undisputed creator of the Tiki & Polynesian theme restaurants. ...There had once been well over 16 Don the Beachcombers throughout the country and the Islands. We are very happy to ...bring back the first restaurant of this iconic entrepreneur in almost 30 years to the mainland... We will continue to operate as KONA for the next few weeks [and will evolve] ...into Don the Beachcomber over the next few months."

The last I'd heard, Kona was probably closing, and looking for buyers. This partnership with Don the Beachcomber chain sounds promising and could be good for everyone - including Polynesian Pop purists. Let's hope the new management appreciates and maintains the wonderful decor and legacy left in place by Sam's and Kona.

Old Courthouse Museum / O.C. Archives event

Have you wanted to visit the Orange County Archives or the Old Courthouse Museum, but ony have weekends free? Come visit them on Saturday, March 7, 10am-4pm, for a special weekend open-house. Both are located inside the Old Orange County Courthouse at 211 W. Santa Ana Blvd., in downtown Santa Ana.
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The Archives will be open for your research needs and will offer tours as time and staffing allow. Stop by and say hello, or stay for hours and get your fill of historical or genealogical information.
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Meanwhile, the Old Courthouse Museum upstairs will present “Sing Me Your Story, Dance Me Home: Art and Poetry from Native California,” an exhibition of poetry, painting, basketry, jewelry, printmaking, photography and sculpture inspired by California Indian stories, songs, and dance. They will offer tours of the exhibit and craft activities. Mime and storyteller Abel Silvas will perform as his character, Running Grunion, (shown in the photo above,) introducing young visitors to native culture in an entertaining way.
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Admission is free. Reservations are required for Silvas' 1pm performance. Call (714) 973-6610.

O.C. Black history, and Dana Point events

A small exhibit entitled "African American Pacesetters, 1900 to Present" is on display this week at the Old Orange County Courthouse. This display of photo reproductions and text, highlights "men who opened doors for black opportunities in Orange County." It's similar in concept and tone to last year's exhibit on notable African American women of Orange County. The exhibit is a collaboration by the Old Courthouse Museum and the Santa Ana Black Historical Society. The photo above (from the exhibit) shows Leroy Burks, who founded the Santa Ana/Orange County chapter of the NAACP in 1945.
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The Dana Point Historical Society's (DPHS) next meeting will be Feb. 25, 6:30pm, at the Dana Point Tennis Center. Noted San Juan Capistrano historian Ilse Byrnes will discuss the preservation of historic homes. Also, Carlos N. Olvera and Barbara Johannes will highlight the history of the "Doheny House" (35101 Camino Capistrano) and the steps currently being taken to save it.
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Speaking of which,... The Planning Commission's public hearing about the Doheny House's demolition permit application and EIR certification will be held March 2, at 7pm at Dana Point City Hall. The DPHS is encourages you to "attend this meeting, if you can, or send a letter or e-mail to the City expressing your position on saving this 1920's historic treasure."

More from Orange

Today we have more of Katie Schroeder's coverage of Orange's social event of the season. Half the town awaked in the wee-small hours to watch Immanuel Lutheran's historic parsonage move through the streets of Downtown Orange. Katie writes, "Here are some photos I took during the 1901 Queen Anne Victorian's move through town from 5am until 3pm... The shot [above] is one I was hoping to get -- Between Swift & Swift and the bank. I'm so glad I got up early to see all this.

"At the intersection of North Glassell and Maple Ave..." [Note the old theater on the right.]

"You can see all the phone, cable, and electrical lines that were shut down and moved to allow the house clearance down the street."

And here, finally, is the house at its destination, on Cleveland St. During the move, the roof and one of the windows sustained damage. The house still needs to be placed atop its new basement. That will be followed, of course, by many, many months (or years) of hard work. Bet it'll be amazing when it's finished.

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Speaking of historic Orange, Phil Brigandi will discuss and sign his new book, Images of America: Orange, at the Orange Public Library, 407 E. Chapman Ave., March 2, at 7pm. Books will be available for purchase.

Historic parsonage moving update, Orange

As I mentioned recently, the 1901 Victorian parsonage at Immanuel Lutheran Church will be moved through the streets of Orange tomorrow morning, beginning at 5am. From it's current site on Pine St. (just south of Chapman), it will travel to 372 Cleveland St., where it will again serve as a private residence.

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Our chief Orange correspondent, Katie Schroeder, went over this morning to see the prep work and take the photos I posted above. She writes, "...They were moving the house to the end of the block so they can get it moving right away tomorrow. All the school kids were lined up on the side of the street, chattering, squealing and giggling. Members of the church lined up with cameras and video cameras, and a few members were up in the bell tower [getting] an arial view..."

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If you join the crowd watching the move tomorrow, the route will take you "west on Chapman, through the Plaza, up North Glassell, and hang a right on East Walnut to Cleveland. This route has the fewest problems with [utility] wires, and the streets are wider and don't have as many trees."

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Personally, I'd have to set my alarm clock for 4am or earlier to see this, so it ain't gonna happen. I'm reminded of the words of Mike Neun: "4:00 a.m. is a terrible time. Hunters and fishermen get up at 4:00 a.m. That's why they want to kill things."

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But I'm sure many of the die-hard Orange folk will be out there early, with cameras.

Orange County International Raceway, Irvine

The million-dollar Orange County International Raceway opened in Irvine in 1967 as the first quarter-mile "supertrack" in drag racing. It closed in Oct. 1983.
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There are at least a couple good histories of the OCIR available online, including on on the NHRA website, and another at a website called Competition Plus.

Chris Epting visited the site of the old OCIR and took the photos below. He writes, "I was doing a Forgotten O.C. segment today [for KOCE-TV] at the site of the O.C. International Raceway. It was hard to find a trace of ANYTHING - but the Sand Canyon Ave. gate is still there. ...It's on Sand Canyon right by the entrance to the 133, between Laguna Canyon Road and Burt Road"

"In this shot, [below,] I lay out about where the track sat," writes Chris. "The red dotted line shows the location of Technology Drive."

Celery field near Westminster, circa 1900

Today's image shows celery harvesting near Westminster in about 1900. It's a fairly common postcard image, so it's quite possible you've seen it before. Unfortunately, the image is usually screen-printed and colorized, which is why I was happy to find a nice clear photographic print of the same image in First American's collection. I've posted some details from that photo below, beginning with the background. (As always, click any image to enlarge.) Can anyone identify exactly where this field is based on the buildings? The next image shows how they harvested the celery. Notice the racks for stacking the cut celery. The racks have legs that fit neatly between the rows without damaging the plants. It looks like two strong men could probably pick up and carry even a full rack. Also note that some of the men have bunches of celery tucked under their arms.
This last detail is interesting because it shows how knives were used to cut the bunches of celery from the ground.

In those days, celery was expensive, making it a valuable crop. The damp lands around Westminster and Huntington Beach turned out some of the best and largest celery crops anywhere. In the year 1900 alone, Orange County farmers exported 1800 train cars full of the stuff.
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When I was very young, my grandfather told me that bellybuttons were designed as a place to put your salt when you're eating celery in bed. Of course, he also told me that big thing in the oven on Thanksgiving was a giant frog.