A Very Talbert Christmas

Here's County Supervisor Tom Talbert making balloon animals in a Santa suit at the joint Christmas party for the O.C. Associated Chambers of Commerce and the O.C. Coast Association. The event was held in Huntington Beach -- probably in the late 1940s. It seems the girl (above left) lacks faith in Tom's balloon-animal-making skills. I'm also including the shot below (with no balloons) so you can actually see Talbert. Most politicians want to be seen as Santa Claus, but Tom Talbert, as usual, took things to the next level.

Holly Sugar Plant, Huntington Beach

In the 1890s, it became clear that the marshier, wetter areas of Orange County (e.g. South Santa Ana and Huntington Beach) were perfect for growing sugar beets. In 1897, the first of five local sugar processing plant was built in Los Alamitos. The Holly Sugar Plant shown above, was built in Huntington Beach in 1911, when more than 30,000 acres of O.C. was planted in sugar beets. The plant cost $1,250,000 to construct, and would remain H.B.'s primary industry until oil was discovered in 1920. 

Many people who grew up in Orange County also remember Holly's plant in South Santa Ana, near the 55 Freeway.

  

Below is a mid-1950s Holly Sugar billboard ad by Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel. You can see more at the UC San Diego website.

Christmas in jail, Disneyland's tobacco shop, etc.

Today's photos were taken at the Orange County Jail, around Christmas, sometime in the 1940s. I particularly like the cobbled-together Santa costume. After a couple cups of festive holiday "pruno nog," perhaps the other prisoners didn't notice that "Santa" just had a newspaper hat and a mop on his head. Reminder: This weekend is the holiday French Park home tour. . I posted some photos from tonight's Newland House Museum event over on Joe Shaw's blog. The event continues tomorrow. . Yesterland has added a look back at the days when Disneyland had its own tobacco shop.

More theme park stuff and Huntington Beach

I recently posted about a blog dedicated to old Disneyland tickets. Well, now there's another blog, called Vintage Disneyland Goodies, offering a look at all kinds of old Disneyland ephemera. In honor of this new site, I'm posting the front and back of a Carnation menu distributed at Disneyland in the 1960s.

Meanwhile, you Knott's Berry Farm fans may enjoy the short film Jay Jennings posted to YouTube. It's interesting to see clips from old Knott's promotional films and hear Dave Bourne, (who played with the Wagonmasters for many years) share his memories. The film is in three parts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. .

The Huntington Beach Historical Society will hold a "Holiday Tour and Craft Fair" at the Newland House Museum tomorrow evening, 4pm-9pm, and Saturday, 9am-4pm. I will probably stop past Friday night, since it's always nice to see this 1898 farm house decked out for the holidays. There will be a handbells performance on Friday at 6pm and a chorus on Saturday at noon.

Knott's Berry Farm history

In this scene from the mid-1960s, "school marm" Alda Reed decorates the old one-room schoolhouse at Knott's Berry Farm. This 1870 building was brought to Knott's in the 1950s from Beliot, Kansas.

Yes, this is another "getting ready for Christmas" photo, but it also helps me introduce Phil Brigandi's new article about the history of Knott's Berry Farm. Click on over to his SoCal Historyland site if you'd like to learn about Knott's in the days before Ghost Town (i.e. pre-1941). In addition to this extremely well-researched article, Phil has also posted a handful of related images.

Who says "big oil" can't be cool?

What's not to love about this building? This is the Union Oil Research building near Imperial Highway and Valencia Ave. in Brea, circa 1964. Dig those clean, modern lines, and the wonderful signage. I bet it was hard to take a bad photo of this place, since the "good composition" was built right in.

Naturally, the eye is immediately drawn to the huge "76" circle, but ultimately, the word "RESEARCH" -- in a font mimicking architects' printing -- is even cooler.

There are a lot of contrasting textures used in this building too, which was typical of the era. Today, industrial buildings, (like everything else,) tend to just look like stucco crates.

Someday I'll have to do one of those Images of America books on Mid-Century Modern industrial buildings in O.C. There were some real gems.

Salute to Santa, Sheriff's badges, and BOOKS!

It's time to decorate for Christmas, if you haven't already. In today's image, the Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce decks out Main Street for the annual "Salute to Santa" event and parade. The photo was taken in early December 1950. The Hudson dealership seen in the background is now home to "The Electric Chair." To get an idea of what the "Salute to Santa" was like, read this H.B. Independent article by Jerry Person, describing the event in 1953. . 

The Orange County Historical Society will host the first of two planned "Authors' Nights" on Dec. 13, 7:30pm at Trinity Episcopal Church, 2400 S. Canal St, in Orange. Authors of recently published local histories will be on hand to sell and sign their books. Scheduled authors for the December event include Phil Brigandi (Orange County Place Names, A to Z), Jeff Delaney (Newport Beach's Balboa & Balboa Island), Steve Faessel (Anaheim: 1940-2007 and Historic Photos of Anaheim), Jeanette Gardner and Lawrence de Graaf (Early Placentia), George Jezek and John Westcott (Orange County Past & Present), and Doris Walker (Dana Point). What a great opportunity to do some Christmas shopping and rub elbows with historians! This will also serve as the OCHS's holiday meeting, with decorations, raffles, and refreshments. . 

As if that weren't enough, a the O.C. Historical Society will host a second author's night on April 10, 2008, which will include the authors of recently published histories of Santa Ana, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, San Juan Capistrano, Seal Beach, Yorba Linda, and the Missions of Southern California. . Speaking of books, the O. C. Sheriff's Department has just released a history book. The Golden Star is "an illustrated history of the badges, patches, and insignia of the Orange County Sheriff's Department," and was written by Deputy John M. Hollenbeck. Although the subject matter sounds like it might be kind of dry, it's really a great way to tell the story of law enforcement here in O.C. It's also an impressively illustrated book and even shows how badges are made. For more details, see the printer's website.

Balboa, Balboa Island, etc.

Jeff Delaney's new book, Newport Beach's Balboa & Balboa Island, will be available Dec. 3rd. It's one of the "Images of America" books from Arcadia Publishing. To find out more about the book and to see a bunch of vintage Balboa views, visit Jeff's website. 

Today's image (above) shows Marine Ave. on Balboa Island in the 1950s. What's the single most shocking change between Balboa Island in the 1950s and today? They had parking back then! Heck, you could park a whole bus in front of the post office! Today you'd have to wait for low tide, park out on the wet sand, and then rush to buy stamps before the tide came back in. 

The other day, an anonymous reader left a nostalgic comment on one of my early posts about Villa Sweden Restaurant in Huntington Beach. I thought I'd post a link to the comment here, since it's otherwise hard to find. 

Unrelated note: After a couple years of blogging, I finally got around to completing the About Me/Profile page here on the O.C. History Roundup. I doubt you really care what my favorite movies are, but at least you'll always have reliable links to my email address and my (non-blog) website.