Hey, buddy,... Wanna buy an orange grove?

Want to buy a 1914 Orange County home with a (now) rare adjoining 5-acre orange grove? This is probably your last chance. I just received a "Notice of Availability" for the Sexlinger Orange Orchard and Farmhouse from the folks at Santa Ana City Hall. The whole notice and additional information are available on the City's website, but here's an excerpt:

...[The] property [is] located at 1584 E. Santa Clara Ave. in the City of Santa Ana. The orchard and farmhouse were recently placed on the Santa Ana Register of Historic Properties by the City Council. The owners of the property, Lutheran High School of Orange County and Concordia University, ...disagreed with the historical listing ... and have submitted a Notice of Intent to demolish the orchard and farmhouse in order to clear the property for future development. Pursuant to Section 30-7 of the Santa Ana Municipal Code, the City of Santa Ana must explore ways to preserve the property including publicizing the availability of the property... for sale or, in the case of the house, for sale and relocation. ... Should the [property] be sold, the City would work with subsequent owners to ensure that the historic preservation of the property is upheld. The deadline to submit offers to the property owner is Jan. 15, 2013.

For more information about the property, see the website linked above or contact the owner's representative, Robert H. Odle at 714-401-9231, or the City's representative, Vince Fregoso at 714-667-2713.

Historian Phil Brigandi will present, "Around Our Town: Glimpses of Old Orange," in the Community Room at the Orange Public Library & History Center in Downtown Orange this Friday, Sept. 21, 4:00-5:30pm. He will discuss the local architectural landscape of Orange and present historic and modern photographs of the downtown area. He will also be available to autograph his books, for sale at the end of the program. This free program is presented in connection with the Big Orange Book Festival at Chapman University.

(By the way, I just stumbled across this interview with Phil that you might enjoy.)

Watercolors, Newport, Dana Point, & THATCamp

Gordon McClelland gave a GREAT talk on the history of "California Watercolor in Orange County" at the Orange County Historical Society on Thursday! I figured he'd do a fine job for us, but even I was very pleasantly surprised at the amazing (original!) art he was able to round up for us, and the way he offered something both to the newbies and to the long-time aficionados. It was a great night to be at Sherman Gardens.

Today I'm sharing a few photos taken that evening. The image above is a Rex Brandt illustration/map of great places to paint along Orange County's coast. The map includes a few surprises, like the Hurley Bell Inn in Corona Del Mar and Shellmaker Island in Upper Newport Bay. It also depicts the Brandt-Dike School of watercolor painting at Brandt's home. I'm told that great Mid-Century house and the large lot it sat on have been completely carved off the hillside and replaced with a large condo complex.

This second image shows Gordon talking about a Barse Miller painting depicting a spot on the Irvine Ranch. The photo below shows some of the crowd gathered for the program. I was happy to see a bunch of new faces in the audience, as well as old friends.

The Dana Point Historical Society will celebrate their 25th anniversary with a special reception and short program at the Bluff Top Trail at Violet Lantern and El Camino Capistrano, Sept. 26, at 6pm. The Society was founded in 1987 as "part of the effort to preserve public access to the Bluff Top Trail as well as  the stone remnants of the 1925 Scenic Walk and the 1930 Dana Point Inn Arches."

I just spent two days at the "THATCamp" conference on technology in the humanities, held at Cal State Fullerton. The local organizer was Colleen Greene, social media guru at the Pollack Library. Among her innumerable projects, she's working on Orange County Fallen Heroes, which honors local men and women "who made the supreme sacrifice by laying down their lives in our nation's wars and conflicts." Although she only has 43 entries on her website thus far, she's working on researching and inputting information for nearly a thousand more. I'm sure this will be a lengthy process, but certainly a valuable one.

As for the conference,... One thing I learned this weekend was that a LOT of different software/technology is being developed to share historical photos and other documents online in ways that allow geo-referencing. It's sort of the next big leap from sites like Flickr to things that are more focused, or more versatile, or more professional. But it still seems too early to tell which "apps" will win out.

Happily, the conference wasn't too steeped in the amusing jargon one might expect from academics. But I did get a kick out of this (overheard) pip: "Best practices for conceptualizing funding streams."

A visit to the Santa Ana Mountains

If you're truly interested in Orange County's history, you're going to read the works of Terry Stephenson and Jim Sleeper. And when you do that, you're going to learn something about the history of the Santa Ana Mountains. And when that happens, you'll want to SEE the Santa Ana Mountains,... Not as a scenic backdrop to your housing tract, but up close and personal. Consider this video, "The Santa Ana Mountains: True Stories of a Great Range," by Patrick Mitchell, Kirk Pickler, Joel Robinson, Sama Wareh, et al, a little sample of what's out there.

Now,... Do you want to hear what happens when you give a mouse a cookie?

Garden Grove, my tiki blog, Wally George, etc.

Garden Grove resident Josh McIntosh recently posted a petition asking his city to adopt the Mills Act. The Mills Act program encourages the restoration and preservation of historic buildings by offering small but significant tax breaks. In return, the community gets improved neighborhoods, (improved by residents, that is), increased property values, and therefore often a net overall gain in tax revenue.

The Mills Act is a state program, but must be adopted by each individual city. It's generally a win-win for everyone, but a surprising number of communities still haven't caught on. Usually, it's left to concerned, history-minded members of the community to bring it to the attention of local government. If you'd like to help Josh and his friends, check out his petition at http://signon.org/sign/its-time-for-garden-grove.

The photo above comes from the City of Garden Grove and shows the historic Stanley-Ware Ranch House, which also serves as the home of the Garden Grove Historical Society.

 Last weekend I started a second blog, called Tiki Lagoon. I will continue to write the O.C. History Roundup, and it will continue to be my primary blogging priority. (Has anyone ever used the phrase "primary blogging priority" before?) But I think there's room for a blog about all the stuff that fascinates me about the tiki or "Polynesian Pop" craze that had its heyday during the Mid-20th Century.

There will sometimes be some overlap between my two blogs. My second post on Tiki Lagoon, for instance, was about longtime Garden Grove resident and loopy KOCE-TV personality Wally George who, surprisingly, had a connection to America's (often wildly inaccurate) celebration of the South Seas.

Anyway, if you're interested in all-things tiki, you may want to bookmark the new blog or add it to your reader. And if you have related stories or images (from O.C. or not) to share with the world, let me know.

The Daveland blog is always worth checking out, but today Dave gave us an especially good installment from an O.C.-history perspective. Click on over and check out his virtual tour of Walt Disney's personal apartment, which is still largely intact above the Fire Station on Main Street inside Disneyland. An image from that post appears below.

Also in local theme-park history news, Knott's Berry Farm held a special event today to mark the opening of a historical exhibit in Ghost Town celebrating the 40th anniversary of their Halloween Haunt event. The folks at Knott's were kind enough to invite me, but I just couldn't escape from work this afternoon. (We were quite busy, which is a nice problem to have.) I do, however, look forward to seeing the exhibit soon, as it will be up for the public to enjoy (presumably) through Halloween.

Watercolor, OCHS, and classes in art and history

Today's image is "Bird Rock, Laguna Beach," painted around 1960 by Phil Dike. It comes from my favorite websites for "virtual window shopping:" CaliforniaWatercolor.com. (Someday when I actually have wall space, I will spend some serious money there.)     

Orange County's role in California Style watercolor painting will be the subject of the Orange County Historical Society's season kick-off program on Thurs., Sept. 13th, at Sherman Gardens, 2647 E. Coast Hwy, in Corona del Mar. If you'd like to participate in the Society's appetizer and dessert potluck beforehand, arrive at 6:30 p.m. with a plateful of goodies. Otherwise, arrive in time for the 7:30 lecture by author, historian, exhibition curator and art dealer Gordon T. McClelland.

From the 1930s through the 1970s, an innovative approach to watercolor painting called the California Style, flourished in Southern California.

Artists like Rex Brandt, Phil Dike, Dong Kingman, and Emil Kosa, Jr. were considered part of the American Scene or Regionalist movement and often painted scenes of everyday city and suburban life. Their work featured bold design, creative use of the white paper as a "color," and highlighted the transparency of their unique medium. One of the key schools that taught this approach to creating art was the Brandt-Dike Summer School of Painting in Corona del Mar.

The presentation will feature outstanding examples of California watercolors inspired by scenes in Orange County, with an emphasis on works painted in and around Newport Beach. McClelland will also address the historical and artistic importance of these works both locally and nationally.

Gordon is one of those guys who literally "wrote the book" on his subject. In fact, he has written many. I'm really looking forward to his talk.

Speaking of art and California history, Diane Ryan is offering classes this fall on "California Regionalism" and "Historic  Southern California Landmarks & Early Pioneers ," through the Huntington Beach Adult School. She is also offering classes on "California Impressionism" and "The History of Orange County" through the Oasis Senior Center in Corona del Mar. (See the Recreation Classes section on the City of Newport Beach website for more information on these last two.) For additional information, email Diane at dianeryan2010@yahoo.com.

For more about both California watercolors and about Diane Ryan, see my post from Feb. 19, 2011.

Thinking big in the Santa Ana Mountains

Some folks in the canyon communities of the Santa Ana Mountains (e.g. Silverado, Trabuco, etc.) are pushing for two things:

1) To have a large portion of the Cleveland National Forest named a national monument, to provide the area and its natural resources with a greater degree of protection. (Their working name is "Grizzly Bear National Monument" - although the bears have been pretty thin out there for more than a century.)

2) To have the occupied and privately held portions of the canyon communities declared a historic district. (Yes, this would include the Holtz Ranch area at the front of Silverado, which is currently the site of a development battle.)

According to Joel Robinson of "Naturalist For You," and his friend Shay, a group of investors/developers from Las Vegas bought up a bunch of Silverado recently and wanted to make significant changes. However, local pushback and the economy have both worked on the side of preserving things as they are. That, of course, could change. And then, of course, there's the general and constant pressure (from all angles) to develop every last square foot of Orange County. (That's one way to prevent wildfires, I suppose.)

Santiago Creek, running through Black Star Canyon.

 I know zero about creating national monuments, so I'll skip that for the moment. But the idea of creating a historical district that encompasses ALL the canyons is daunting. We're talking about a vast amount of land -- larger than any other historical district I'm aware of. And while that area is inarguably saturated with history, I'm not sure how one would approach such a complicated and expansive task. Even creating an official historic district in the middle of a city -- with  all the old houses lined up in neat rows -- isn't easy.  Trying to create a district out of the crazy-quilt that is canyon country would be,... well,... extra not easy.

If SHPO or the NPS would accept reports compiled by volunteer historians, perhaps that would help. But I still wonder how a typical "windshield survey" would work in a place where some folks are twitchy about visitors. (Remember when visitors used to get shot at in Black Star Canyon?)

Sign on the Ortega Highway.

These folks have a lot of challenges ahead of them, but the idea of keeping the backcountry as backcountry is important. Lord knows we have enough housing, strip malls and hotels in Orange County. And we've pushed nature too far to the fringes already. If you'd like to help or have questions, email Joel at jrobinson@naturalist-for-you.org.

Historical news from Dana Point

A display about the life of local historian Doris Walker is now on exhibit at the Dana Point Branch Library at 33841 Niguel Rd. The exhibit was created by the Dana Point Historical Society (DPHS) with the assistance of Doris' two sons, Blair and Brent. The display will be up throughout this month. It will be replaced in September with an exhibit marking the 25th anniversary of the DPHS, which Doris helped found.

In other DPHS news, Carlos Olvera has stepped down from his position as president in order to avoid any kind of potential conflict of interest as he runs for City Council. Barbara Johannes has stepped up from the position of vice president to president.

It appears the City of Dana Point is also looking at officially granting local historical status to two sites. The first site encompasses the old gazebo on the top of the bluffs and the remains of the "Scenic Inn" at the bottom of the bluffs. The second site would include the ruins of the 1920s resort hotel left uncompleted by developer Sidney Woodruff, and the adjacent "hide trail" that was marked some years ago with a statue of a hide drogher.

Side trip to Oceanside

Want a break from Orange County while barely leaving home? Just a short drive down the I-5 through Camp Pendleton will give you the chance to explore the history of strange and exotic,... (wait for it)... Oceanside!

I'm sure there's a lot more history to see in Oceanside than I'm covering today, but I'm hitting a few of the high points. First, start by following the signs along the freeway to the California Welcome Center at 928 N. Coast Highway. They have both reasonably clean bathrooms and the brochures you'll need to guide you to your other destinations. Pick up whatever pamphlets interest you, but be sure to get information on Mission San Luis Rey, the Heritage Park Village & Museum, and the "Self Guided History Tour of Downtown Oceanside."

Our first stop is Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, at 4050 Mission Ave, founded in 1798 as the 18th mission in California. Its impressive and pristine church was built in 1811, the year before the Great Stone Church at San Juan Capistrano was destroyed in an earthquake. Perhaps finally learning the lesson of its sister to the north, San Luis Rey is currently being seismically retrofitted, which means visitors don't have access to much of the church at the moment. Still, you can get close enough to admire much of the interior details. 

 The view above shows the mission's courtyard. Note the large tree on the right -- It is the oldest pepper tree in California, planted in 1830. Other interesting features include a small museum of mission life, stone faces carved by the local Indians ("Luiseños") by the lavenderia, a 1913 El Camino Real bell, amazing rose gardens, and a well-kept cemetery with tombstones that reflect the whole history of California.

Right around the corner from the Mission, at 220 Peyri Drive, is Oceanside's Heritage Park Village & Museum. Created in the 1970s in response to the bicentennial push to preserve local history, the park features a number of locally important buildings that were moved to the site to keep them out of the bulldozer's path.

They include the Blade-Citizen newspaper building (shown below), the tiny Libby School (1893), the Johansen House (1888) (shown above), and the City Jail. Even some of the towns old lightposts and street signs have been saved and line the path leading into the park. Additional museum space was created out of mock-Olde-Timey falsefronts that were originally city maintenance buildings.

 Just beyond the park's boundaries are the 1860s cemetery where the town's Protestant pioneers are buried, and an early adobe home.

 Next, we drive back toward the I-5 and Downtown Oceanside. Here's where that self-guided walking tour map comes in handy. There's plenty to interesting architecture to admire here, from the 1880s through today.

Some of the cool things you'll see aren't even on the map, but are worth a few photographs -- For instance, the Star Theater on South Coast Highway, with it's amazing neon sign and space-age ticket booth. Now THAT makes me want to see a movie. Unfortunately, it is now a church, so you can forget about that buttered popcorn.

 Oceanside is also known for a great collection of civic buildings by renown architect Irving Gill. These include their Old City Hall (1934), now an art museum; Police Station (1929), now the Oceanside Historical Society Museum; and Fire Station (1929, shown below), which is still a working fire station.

Just across Pier View Way from the Fire Station is a far less-celebrated (but just as striking) string of small 1950s storefronts. You can see part of one of the buildings on the left side of the photo below, along with the sign for another Mid-Century office. In the middle ground is an earlier office block, with the dome of St. Mary Star of the Sea Church (1927) peeking over the rooflines in the background.

 Just north of Coast Highway on Seagaze Ave. is Oceanside's first permanent post office, a 1936 WPA project with a classic Federalist eagle over the door. And yes, there's an original mural inside. The buildings design was at least partially created by Louis A. Simon, who also designed the 1935 post office in Downtown Huntington Beach.

That's it for today. Like I said, this is clearly just the tip of the iceberg. Consider this the "teaser" that will convince you that it may be worth stopping in Oceanside and snooping around rather than just zipping on down south to Balboa Park or Sea World.