Villa Park, Dana Point, Capistrano, El Toro & Santa

In response to my last post, alert reader itsnotaplace wrote, "Great photo of Santa on the Log Ride! But, I want to see what he looked like coming down the flume..." Well, here you go. (Photo, again, courtesy the Orange County Archives.)

  

The Hidden Jewel, a new pictorial history of Villa Park, is now available for pre-sale ($50) at Villa Park City Hall. All proceeds go to the Community Services Foundation's historical, cultural and educational programs. There also seems to be a matching t-shirt available on Amazon.com.

The Dana Point Historical Society will celebrate its 20th birthday with a special program on Dec. 5th at the Dana Hills Tennis Center, 24911 Calle De Tennis, 6:30-8:30pm. (For the record, "Calle De Tennis" is the funniest example of Real Estate Spanish I've heard since "Rancho Relaxo.")

.

The San Juan Capistrano Historical Society recently added three buildings to its original museum on Los Rios St. One of the houses has been rehabilitated and now features a special exhibit of old dolls. The other two buildings await rehabilitation until more funds become available.

The Saddleback Area Historical Society has a number of holiday events on tap early next month at Heritage Hill Historical Park. First they'll host a Victorian Christmas , Dec. 1, 11am-3pm, which will include live entertainment, children’s crafts, living history demonstrations, historical exhibits, Santa Claus, and tours through decorated historic buildings. This will be followed by Candlelight Tours, on Dec 8 & 9, 5:30-8:30pm. These evening events will include luminaria lit paths, historic buildings aglow with holiday lights and decorated with period décor. Also expect Victorian carolers, storytellers, and visits with Santa.

Christmas events, etc.

In today's image, Santa Claus rides the Knott's Berry Farm Log Ride, circa 1969. Why a Santa photo so early? Although we haven't even started defrosting the turkey for Thanksgiving, it's already time to start penciling in those special Christmas events on the calendar...

.

The historic French Park neighborhood in Santa Ana will host a Holiday Home Tour on Dec. 8th and 9th, 10am-4pm. Tour seven homes (and one church) built between 1885 and 1930 -- all decorated for the holidays. A National Register historic neighborhood, French Park’s architecture showcases Eastlake Victorian, Craftsman bungalow, and Colonial, NeoClassical and Spanish Revival styles. Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door. For more information, visit the French Park website or email Paul@FrenchPark.org.

.

That same weekend, on Saturday, Dec. 8, the Santa Ana Historical Preservation Society will host a Holiday Open House at the Dr. Howe-Waffle House at Civic Center Dr. and Sycamore. Admission will be free the whole day.

The Old Courthouse Museum will hold its own Holiday Open House on the following Tuesday -- Dec. 11, 11:30am-3:30pm. There will be refreshements, live entertainment, and even a craft project that I'm told will borrow elements from my own Googie website. (I'm curious to see what that's all about.) This event is co-sponsored by the O.C. Historical Commission.

.

Nostalgia-tainment professional Charles Phoenix will bring his "Retro Holiday Slide Show" to Orange County this weekend. Specifically, he'll present his show Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Curtis Theatre in Brea. See hand-picked holiday selections from Charles' amazing slide collection (1940s-1970s) and enjoy his colorful and amusing narration. Tickets are $28, with discounts for kids and seniors.

Earlier this week, the Dana Point Planning Commission discussed the possible addition of the house at 33905 El Encanto to the City's Historic Resource Register. Please drop me a line if you've heard how this came out.

Bruce Gordon, Tustin, Old Maizeland School, etc.

Walt Disney poses with hippos destined for Disneyland's Jungle Cruise, circa 1955.

Historian, author, and longtime Disney Imagineer Bruce Gordon has died. In addition to helping create rides like Splash Mountain, Gordon wrote and lectured about the history of Disneyland. His book with David Mumford, Disneyland: The Nickel Tour, is the first book I recommend to anyone interested in the park's development. Gordon also played a big role in writing, ghost-writing, and providing information for other histories of the park. And perhaps just as importantly, he championed worthy publications like E-Ticket magazine. Since leaving Imagineering, he'd been helping create and design the new Walt Disney Family Museum. Gordon was only 56 at the time of his death. (Link to obituary.)

The Tustin Area Historical Society's next meeting will be held at 7:30pm, Nov. 19, at the Tustin Senior Center Lounge, 200 S. C St. Margaret Pottenger of "The Jabberwocky" and Erma Zwirner of "Erma's Gift Box" will present a program entitled, "Two Women Merchants of Old Town Tustin.

The Old Maizeland/Rivera Schoolhouse (California Historical Landmark 729) at Knott's Berry Farm will no longer be used as a "Ranger Station." The many critters now housed in the one-room schoolhouse will soon have new homes, and the building will instead be filled with exhibits depicting the history of the Pony Express. This will match the theme of a new ride now being built at Knott's.

O.C. Judo Club, Golden Horseshoe & Costa Mesa

Today's image shows the Orange County Judo Club, in 1932, posed in front of chili dryers in Garden Grove. This photo is mentioned in this Register article from last February. (Photo courtesy CSUF's Center for Oral & Public History.)

Were you a fan of [Slue Foot Sue's] Golden Horseshoe Revue, which was performed at Disneyland from 1955 to 1986? Then save the date for a Golden Horseshoe reunion, dinner show and shin-dig at the Anaheim Sheraton Hotel on March 29, 2008. Tickets will undoubtedly go fast, so purchase them now through a website set up especially for this event. The program will include some of the show's biggest stars, including Wally Boag and Betty Taylor.

Useless fact: The Guinness Book of World Records lists the Revue as the longest running musical in history. (Starlight Express just seemed like the longest if you had to sit through it.)

The City of Costa Mesa's Historic Preservation Committee's next meeting will be held Thursday (tomorrow), 5:30pm at City Hall, 77 Fair Dr. Topics will include the restoration of the Estancia Adobe, and a historical mural project.

Nikkei Heritage, Wintersburg & Thurl Ravenscroft

“Sowing Dreams, Cultivating Lives,” the current exhibition at the O.C. Agricultural & Nikkei Heritage Museum at the Fullerton Arboretum (at CSUF) is closing on Sunday, Dec. 2nd. This was planned as a temporary exhibit so after it closes, there won’t be another opportunity to see it. It’s free, too. Hours: Saturdays & Sundays, Noon-4pm. The photo above shows an interior view of the museum. The photo below comes from the exhibit, and depicts the congregation of the Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Church in 1920. Rev. Junzo Nakamura is on the upper right. (Both photos courtesy Stephanie George of CSUF.)

Speaking of the church at Wintersburg,... I haven't heard any news about the historic buildings there lately. But if any preservation (or demolition) info comes my way, I'll post it here.

My Phoenix correspondant, Greg Ottinger, discovered a big collection of songs by the late grrrrrreat Thurl Ravenscroft of Fullerton -- All available for download. Although Ravenscroft had a long and wide-ranging career in music, you're more likely to remember his voice booming out of Tony the Tiger, from many of Disneyland's audio-animatronic characters, and from the announcer's booth at Laguna's famous Pagent of the Masters.

Newport redux, Anaheim History Room, etc.

Here's a 1950s photo of the same block of Newport Beach shown in yesterday's photo. You'll notice that the parking wasn't nearly as condensed then as it is today. (I usually end up parking here when I eat at the Crab Cooker.)

Please drop me a line if you have any news about events or projects related to local history. I'll be happy to promote books, lectures, home tours, museum exhibits, whatever... so long as there's a good local history hook. And if you can condense the information down to a couple sentences, that's even better. . 

Researchers, rejoice! The Anaheim History Room is open again! Now called the "Anaheim History Reading Room at the Muzeo," it is located in the big building behind the old Carnegie Library at 241 S. Anaheim Blvd. I have to carve out some time to visit Jane and see her new digs!

You can now have new articles from OCThen.com emailed automatically to you via Feedburner. I may have to look into setting up something like this for O.C. History Roundup too.

Newport Beach, Saddleback Valley & Yesterland

Today's image comes from a postcard mailed in 1942, although I'm sure the photo is earlier. It was taken from the Newport Pier and shows the spot where the Dory Fishing Fleet still sell their fish today.

The Saddleback Area Historical Society's next meeting will be held Nov. 18, 2pm, at Heritage Hill Historical Park in El Toro.

Werner Weiss' latest addition to Yesterland.com is a look back at the relationship between Richfield Oil and Disneyland when the park opened in 1955. Much of the article is based on a newspaper ad that came from the Orange County Archives. So visit Yesterland and learn more about Richfield-sponsored attractions like Autopia and The World Beneath Us. 

Werner will also be in O.C. next week doing research -- both "in the field" and at various research libraries. It sounds like our paths will cross at least three times. I've enjoyed his website since 1995, (when computers were still coal-fired), and he still continues to add great new content.

Halloween, Haunted Mansion, French Park, etc.

Happy Halloween!

Today's photo was taken just before the 1950 Anaheim Halloween Parade. I'm particularly fond of the two-headed cat. I'm not sure what the creature on the far left is supposed to be -- Perhaps a shark with a moustache, or something out of a Peter Max drawing?

For those (*ahem*) who didn't like my "ghost story" yesterday, there's a whole mess of O.C. ghost stories posted on socalspooks.com.

The ultimate haunted house is Disneyland's Haunted Mansion. And nobody covers the history and mystery of that imposing manse like Doombuggies.com. Webmaster "Chef Mayhem" has been carrying visitors "into the boundless realm of the supernatural" for over a decade now.

Daveland is also featuring a great construction photo of the Haunted Mansion today.

The French Park Home Tour in Santa Ana will be held Dec. 8th & 9th. Visit FrenchPark.org for details. (I suspect I'll be writing more about this tour in a few weeks.) 

Bowers' blog recently posted some photos and information about the early history of the Santa Ana Fire Department.

Dana Point Historical Society president Carlos N. Olvera has contributed an article to the November County Courier about the old Capistrano Hill Climb (1916-1927), a famously difficult annual motorcycle race.

You can pick up a copy of the Courier at the O.C. Archives or at the next Orange County Historical Society meeting, which will be held Nov. 8, 7:30pm, at the new Muzeo, 241 S. Anaheim Blvd., Anaheim.

Thursday will be the 231st anniversary of Mission San Juan Capistrano. A small celebration will be held there at 10am.