Up to our boot-tops in Fountain Valley

Just when you thought there were no exciting early photos of Fountain Valley,... I bring you.... mud.

This image shows the aftermath of the 1916 flood on the area surrounding Talbert. It's just miles and miles of mud. This particluar patch of red river silt, in the foreground, was near the corner of Magnolia Ave. and Heil St, and was a foot deep. Note the highwater mark on the barn.

My thanks to Dann Gibb for his continual help with all things Fountain Valley. I can't wait to see your O.C. Fair submission this year, Dann. It'll be hard to beat your earlier entries. The rabbit foot collection (mounted to a model of a Mongol horseman) and your dad's jar of "prison soap carvings" were particular favorites.

Los Alamitos-Rossmoor History Project

Blogger Larry Strawther has started what he calls the Los Alamitos-Rossmoor History Project, featuring a wide variety of articles about the area's past. He emailed me about this new site awhile ago, but I lost the message (along with all my other email) when my hard drive crashed. Anyway, mosey on over and check it out.

Today's image comes from an old City of Los Alamitos promotional brochure. They take a bit of liberty in declaring their city "founded" with the first "Spanish Grant" in 1784. The town sprang up in the late 1890s, supporting the nearby sugar factory. The city wasn't incorporated until 1960.

Also, as we historical folk like to point out, there were no actual Spanish land grants. Grazing rights might be granted for a particular area, but the King of Spain owned all Spanish territory. (In 1784, retired soldier Manuel Nieto was given such rights on land that included the Los Alamitos area.) It wasn't until the Mexican government was in charge that California land was actually granted to citizens.

That said, I do like the jaunty, hand-painted, "Welcome to," part of the sign. And it's interesting that they chose a more motherly, less cheese-cakey woman to stand next to their sign. Whether that was planned or not, it certainly fit the family-friendly middle-class vibe Orange County exuded in the middle part of the 20th Century.

Disneyland and fishing in San Clemente

Today is Disneyland's 56th birthday. The image above was shot for an issue of the Orange County Industrial News -- a spine-tingling read to be sure -- and shows the airport coach (a 1957 or 1958 Chrysler Saratoga) at the Disneyland Hotel. I'm guessing the year was 1958 or so. I'm sure Mr. Ballard will be along shortly to fill us in on details.

For your early Disneyland fix, check out Mark Eades' interview with Diane Disney Miller (Uncle Walt's daughter,) in the Orange County Register. (Mark also posted a short article about Alice Davis, who contributed so much creative work to Disney over the years.)

One more Disneyland historical note: Sam Perricone, the long time owner of Main Street's Citrus House, has passed away. Link out for details.

Casa Romantica is hosting an exhibit on the history of fishing in San Clemente through Aug. 14th. A Register article about some of that history will give you a head start before you go.

My grandfather loved fishing in San Clemente on vacations in the 1940s and '50s. These were my family's first encounters with Orange County. Personally, I prefer not to meet critters I plan to eat until they're on display in plastic wrap at the supermarket.

Admiral Joe Fowler & King Hussein at Disneyland

Sunday will be the 56th Anniversary of the opening of Disneyland. Instead of another photo of Walt, the image above shows Admiral Joe Fowler, showing a signboard full of coming Disneyland attractions to King Hussein of Jordan in April 1959. Additions that opened that summer included the Monorail, the Submarines, and the Matterhorn. A color image of the same signboard can be seen below. (I think I snagged the color one from an eBay auction at some point.) A clearer version can be found on Flickr.

Rear Admiral Joseph W. Fowler (1894-1993) had a distinguished career in the U.S. Navy and was in charge of the naval shipyard in San Francisco during WWII. During the planning phases for Disneyland, it was felt that a naval expert was needed to help build the Mark Twain steamboat. Disneyland Vice President and General Manager C.V. Wood, Jr. contacted the retired admiral. Not only did Fowler get the job, but he also got the job of supervising the construction of the entire theme park. Some years later, he was given the same task at Walt Disney World in Florida. He also, beginning at age 87, worked on Epcot Center. The dry dock for the Mark Twain and sailing ship Columbia is still known as "Fowler's Harbor."

It seems King Hussein's first visit to Anaheim in 1959 went pretty smoothly. A return trip to Disneyland in 1981, with Queen Noor and their two young sons, was a bit rockier as a park guest innocently blew past the large security detail and shook hands with the King.

Meanwhile, back at the Pavalon...

I'm having too much fun with the old photos of the Huntington Beach Pavalon that I stumbled across on eBay. This one is from about 1947, and the band playing is George Laughlin and the Melody Crew.

Details on this local band are hard to come by. In 1958, Laughlin played with both of his bands -- the Melody Crew AND the Millionaires -- at an event at the Disneyland Hotel. By 1964 he was both the owner and the maitre d' of a restaurant and nightclub called Million-Aires, on West Chapman Ave. in Orange. Not surprisingly, the Millionaires were the house band at Million-Aires, and the versatile Mr. Laughlin sat in on drums.

In a strange twist, there is now another band called the Millionaires based in Orange County. The new Millionaires is a group of young girls from Huntington Beach who play something the Interweb describes as "explicit electropop."

I'm guessing I'd like the old Millionaires better than the new ones.

Summer fun in Southern California

This fanciful map comes from a 1960 issue of Vacationland magazine. I have to admit, I don't remember where I got this image (mea culpa!) but I really wanted to share it here.

What rhymes with "orange?"

The Santiago Orange Growers Association (SOGA) started out in 1893 and closed up shop in 1965. Their brands included Epicure (their "choice" label, shown above), SS (an unfortunate moniker), Everite, Planet, Scepter, Cardinal, and Progressive. SOGA's packing house was in Orange, and was eventually purchased by Villa Park Orchards Association. For a bit more about SOGA, see my post from 3-27-2010.

Speaking of oranges, Stan Oftelie's new Orange County history book for children, Nothing Rhymes With Orange, is now available through Amazon. Stan's unique approach seems a lot less dry than most earlier attempts at this kind of book. He makes the subject relevant and readable for children without talking down to them. Hopefully, this book will serve as a "gateway drug" to many future Orange County history addicts. Gotta get 'em hooked while they're young!

Now I'm off to Marie Callender's for dinner and a slice of pie. Hope they're still there!

Before there was line dancing...

It's always a good time to visit the Pavalon in Huntington Beach. Well, actually, now would be a bad time, since it's gone. (Duke's is now located in a new building at that location, at the foot of the pier.) But here's a nice late-1940s photo of the Pavalon anyway. I found the image on eBay.

Note that Ole Rasmussen and his Nebraska Cornhuskers were playing. Ole wasn't a musician himself, but I understand he ran a great Western Swing band. Naturally, the Nebraska Cornhuskers were a California band. I found the photo of the band shown below in a post at The Steele Guitar Forum. This photo is also from the late 1940s, although it was not taken at the Pavalon. (I've been listening to a lot of 78s lately, and I'm developing a bit of a soft spot in my heart for Western Swing. You could do worse than Spade Cooley's "Oklahoma Stomp.")

Sorry these posts are a little thin, folks. I've been writing a long article for the forthcoming Orange Countiana (Vol. 7), and it's eating some of my spare time. I'm enjoying the chance to tell a story in more depth and do more original research. But I'm also a little more anxious than usual about doing this right, because I'll be sharing the pages of Vol. 7 with historians I greatly respect. Anyway, I think you'll find the subject interesting, even if it's obvious that I'm the new kid among practiced pros.