From Cordelia Knott's kitchen

The history bug makes people do very strange things. Case in point: I just bought a scroungy old pie tin on eBay. Why? Because it's stamped "Knott's Berry Place."

No, that's not a typo. Knott's Berry Place became Knott's Berry Farm in 1947. That makes this "distressed antique" a rare artifact from one of my favorite chapters of local history.

The guy I bought the tin from said it was nailed to the side of a barn on Starr Ranch until the 1960s, when someone pried it off and tucked it away for safekeeping.

Happy New Year

I said I’d be flaky about posting during the holidays, and I was true to my word. Here’s another quick round-up…

• On January 4th, 1889, Assemblyman E. E. Edwards introduced a bill to create Orange County.
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• The historic Albert & Susan Chaffee House (1913) at 12771 Nelson Ave., Garden Grove, is up for sale. The 2,040-square-foot, two-story bungalow will only set you back $500! The catch? You have to pay to have the house moved and provide the dirt to put under it. Still, it could be a pretty sweet deal for the preservation-minded buyer. If you’re interested, call the owner, Garden Grove Planning Commissioner Ron Pierce at (714) 757-5400.
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• The vacant old commercial building at 431 S. Lemon St. in the Colony historic district of Anahiem was badly damaged by a fire late Monday. There weren’t many old commercial structures downtown, and now there’s one less.
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• Volunteers are raising money for a Veterans Memorial in Veterans Park in Yorba Linda, where the city has its annual 4th of July Celebration. If you’d like to help, visit ylvma.org.
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• The First Advent Christian Church of Tustin celebrated it’s 125th anniversary on Monday, Dec. 30th.
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• The “Majestic California” exhibit at the Irvine Museum ends Jan. 13th. The exhibit features paintings of California from the early 1900s.
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• The O.C. Historical Society’s next meeting will be at the new Segerstrom Center for the Arts, in Costa Mesa, on Thurs, Jan 11, at 6:30pm. Tim Dunn will lead members on a private tour of this impressive new building. I have no idea why this is historical, but it does sound interesting. (Their February program will about the “Orange County on Display” exhibit at the John Wayne Airport.)

Corona del Mar, Disneyland, Villa Park, etc.

Today's photo shows the Hotel Del Mar (ca 1905) in Corona Del Mar, Newport Beach. . The OC Genealogical Society is holding a bunch of seminars on Jan 7th at the Huntington Beach Public Library. See their website for details. 

 "...Register reporter Sarah Tully is soliciting public memories of Disneyland’s old Submarine Voyage ride, to possibly include in a future story," says Colleen Robledo at the OCHCC blog. Read more. . 

Speaking of Disneyland memories, the newly released DVD set, "Your Host, Walt Disney" has some great previously unreleased material in it. The "Disneyland '59" special (half from kinescopes half from film) is particularly interesting, with aerial footage of south Anaheim, the introduction of the Submarine Voyage and Matterhorn, and the dedication of the monorail by Vice President Nixon and his family. The set also includes the previously-issued Disneyland "10th Anniversary Special", in which Walt introduces us to his top creative employees and shows us how they're developing such "upcoming" attractions as Pirates of the Carribean and the Haunted Mansion. See Amazon for details. . 

O.C.'s last operational packing house -- Villa Park Orchards Assoc (now owned by Chapman University) -- has a new tennant. According to the Register, the Prime Produce International is using the historic building to pack avacados. . 

If you haven't already visited the Abandoned SoCal Airfields website, you might want to check it out. I've found their Orange County information useful more than once.

Santa at the Archives and other news

We know Christmas is almost here when Santa makes his annual visit to the Orange County Archives. (He has to check all our maps before his big run, dontchaknow?)
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Yes, I’ve been flaky about posting recently, and that will probably continue through the holidays. So if you don’t hear from me before then, I’d like to wish you all a merry Christmas and happy New Year. Meanwhile, here are a few items of interest…

• Watch for the float celebrating Anaheim’s 150th birthday during the Rose Parade.
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• The City of Laguna Hills is commissioning an artistic display for City Hall depicting the area’s history. Sort of an “Indians to Condos” theme, I guess. Applications for artists will be available late next month.
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• The Register reports that developers are busily tearing apart what’s left of historic MCAS El Toro. Good thing we won’t need all those military bases anymore, now that the Cold War is over, all the bad guys are gone, and the whole world loves America.
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• The Santa Ana Historical Preservation Society’s next downtown walking tour will be on Sat., Jan. 6th, starting at the Howe-Waffle House at 2:30pm and ending about 4:30. For reservations call (714) 547-9645.
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• Dann Gibb is still looking for old Fountain Valley photos for his forthcoming book. He’s especially interested in finding photos of F.V. from the 1920s through 1940s, and photos of planes taking off from what is now Mile Square Park. Email him if you can help.
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• The La Habra Children’s Museum will celebrate their 30th Anniversary on Jan. 29th, with an open house from 5 to 9pm. No, it’s not primarily a local history museum, but it’s in a historically significant building and it does have a display or two on early La Habra.

Tustin LTA hangars

Here's a link to the Register's article about the Tustin air hangar re-use. The article is headed as follows: "Military museum plan loses out. Supervisors OK making the Tustin north blimp hangar into a gigantic sports complex for $100 million."

As much as I'd like to see the hangars remain hangars, (with miles of empty space around them,) the odds of that happening in Orange "Pave Everything" County are basically nil. And the military museum idea never developed the broad base of support it needed. As such, I'm in favor of an adaptive re-use that saves at least one of these historically and architecturally significant structures.

One historic home each week

The City of Anaheim's Neighborhood Preservation office will be posting "before and after" photos of 43 historic Anaheim houses on the city's website. One additional home will be posted each week, starting with 214 W. Broadway, "a multi-unit property beautifully restored by Gail and Eric Kramer." An album of all the homes in this series can also be seen at the [semi-temporary] Anaheim History Room, 5th floor, City Hall West.

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The image above shows the Mother Colony House on West St.
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Link: Anaheim Neighborhood Preservation: Before & After
Link: Anaheim 150
Link: Anaheim Colony

Nixon, Trains, Disney & Christmas

The current exhibit at the Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda features more than 100 toy trains from throughout the last century, including Walt Disney’s rarely-exhibited backyard steam locomotive, the Lilly Belle. Other items in the exhibit include…

• A chunk of the original Mark I Alweg-Disneyland Monorail, dedicated by Vice President Richard Nixon and his family in 1956. (See photo above.)
• A section from the 1960 Presidential campaign whistlestop platform used by Nixon.
• A beautiful scale model of the P.E. "Red Car" that Frank Nixon used to work on.
• More than 100 scenic miniatures from Dept. 56.
• Antique toys and collectibles, including a Marx Super Circus play set.

A Holiday Festival of Trains will be on display through Sun, Jan 7, 2007, included with museum admission. For more information, visit www.nixonlibrary.org, or call (714) 993-3393.

Original Rossmoor homeowners

In 2007, the community of Rossmoor will celebrate its 50th anniversary. The kick-off event will be a free luncheon for original Rossmoor homeowners, on Feb. 8th at the Old Ranch Country Club. If you were among the first families in town, call Bill Gekler at (562) 431-0256 to make reservations.

If you're an original homeowner but can't attend the luncheon, they would still like to hear from you, as they are compiling a list of Rossmoor's "pioneers."

More information about upcoming Rossmoor anniversary events, including a parade and picnic, is available online.

Also, if you would like volunteer for the Anniversary Committee, call (562) 799-1401.