Santa Ana, William Spurgeon, Floral Park, etc.

Tomorrow, June 1st, will be the 122nd anniversary of the incorporation of the City of Santa Ana. The town's founder, William H. "Uncle Billy" Spurgeon was the first mayor. Some 17 years earlier, in 1869, Spurgeon purchased 74.2 acres upon which much of downtown Santa Ana now sits. The land was then covered in tall mustard plants, and he had to climb a sycamore tree to inspect the land. A younger sycamore tree (shown above) now stands on the location of that historic event, at what is now the corner of 5th St. and Sycamore St. (Notice also, the Spurgeon Building in the background.)
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In case you missed the home tour of Santa Ana's Floral Park, about a month ago, a video was recently posted to YouTube. It's mostly still images, but it still gives you an idea of the tour.
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Also posted to YouTube, are a series of highlights from the Santa Ana Historic Preservation Society's annual Fairhaven Cemetery Tour. Click on over to watch high school kids pretend to be locally famous dead people: Part 1, Part 2, & Part 3.

Mystery photo, Martin Aviation, John Elliott, etc

Today's Orange County "mystery photo" seems like it should be easy to identify. But all I know is that it hails from November 1964 and that it originally came from the County Planning Dept. Perhaps you'll recognize the spot or at least have some educated guesses.
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The folks at John Wayne Airport tell me that Martin Aviation will open an aviation museum on the west side of the airfield in August. Does anyone out there know more about this?
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The Santa Ana History Room at the Santa Ana Public Library has a new guy at the helm: John Elliott. Actually, he's been in charge of the collection for several months (and has worked at SAPL for much longer), but I only got the chance to meet him today. He seems extremely well-suited to the job, and I think he'll be a great asset to the local historical community. Welcome to the wonderful world of O.C. history, John!
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After 105 years, the Fullerton Women's Club was down to five members, and the youngest was 79 years old. Plans were being made to close up shop. But interest picked up after Dave Lopez of Channel 9 News covered the story, and now they claim they are "going strong again." You can see Lopez' report on YouTube. (Yes, I know I'm reporting this story a little late.)

Orange groves, "Laughing Bill" Nickols, Nixon, etc

Today's image is an early postcard showing a glimpse of the citrus groves of Orange County. On a related note, there was a story in Thursday's Register about an Irvine developer who plans to wipe out the last grove of any notable size in Santa Ana (along with an adjacent 1914 bungalow).
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The Bowers Blog is featuring a look at William S. "Laughing Bill" Nickols (1862-1940) of Santa Ana. Their photo of Nickols was taken by noted local photographer Edward E. Cochems (1874-1935).
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Werner Weiss of Yesterland has put together a retrospective on the Hollywood-Maxwell "Wizard of Bras" exhibit/shop that was an early feature at Disneyland. It's a good recap of one of Disneyland's least likely attractions.
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The Nixon Library Foundation has posted a brief essay on their website entitled, "Richard Nixon's Birthplace: I lived there, too!" by Linda Waldron Bugbee. It's interesting to see this O.C. landmark (and old Yorba Linda) through another set of eyes.

Linbrook Bowl, Googie, petroglyphs & Bolsa Chica

The 50th anniversary of the Linbrook Bowl will serve as the backdrop for the Anaheim Historical Society's annual dinner, June 13, 6:30pm. Jane Newell will give a presentation on "Life in Anaheim in 1958," and everyone is encouraged (but not required) to attend wearing period attire. The dinner will be held in the Linbrook Bowl Banquet Room, 201 S. Brookhurst. Afterward, bowling will be offered at a special discount price. To register for the dinner, send $15 per person to the Anaheim Historical Society, P.O. Box 927, Anaheim, CA 92815.

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When I started photographing Orange County's Googie architecture in the 1990s, the Linbrook was one of the first places I visited. Today, it's one of the few local examples of Googie still standing.

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The Pacific Coast Achaeological Society will hold a field trip on June 14 to see prehistoric rock art (petroglyphs) along the Ortega Highway.The group will meet at 9am in the parking lot of JSerra High School on Junipero Serra Rd, in San Juan Capistrano. Bring a packed lunch, hiking shoes, sunscreen, hat, and $5 for a Forest Service pass. After the petroglyph tour, Steve O’Neil will lead an optional afternoon tour of Mission San Juan Capistrano to see early Native American paintings. (Regular Mission admission costs apply.) To sign up, contact Steve via email or at (949) 548-7934 or . For contact on the day of the field trip, call (714) 290-1845.

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Speaking of pre-historic artifacts,... The fun continues at Bolsa Chica, in Huntington Beach. Some Juaneño and Tognva Indians are protesting "the developer's disrespect toward their ancestors and lack of transparency about archeological findings." Read all about it in the Register.

Memorial Day, MCAS El Toro, Bill Kirkwood, etc

There will be many Memorial Day events throughout Orange County today. The Register has at least a partial list. Today's photo (above) shows two Marines at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in 1942, when the base was still under construction.
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On this day, in 1846, the Rancho Lomas de Santiago was granted Teodocio Yorba. This later became the northern end of the Irvine Ranch, including some of the land on which MCAS El Toro was built.
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Bill Kirkwood, WWII Navy veteran and longtime County of Orange employee, passed away May 14th. Among his many accomplishments, he played a leading role in computerizing the Orange County Public Library. He also wrote a history of the County Library. Kirkwood's obituary - with much more information about his life - is available online.

A slice of Disneyland Railroad history

Disneyland's roots go back to the days when top Disney animators, like Ollie Johnston and Ward Kimball, got Walt hooked on the hobby of large-scale model railroads. Soon, Walt had his own backyard railroad, which he dubbed "The Carolwood Pacific." To a large degree, Disneyland was born out of Walt's desire to own a bigger and better train set. At least in the early planning stages, the rest of the park was more or less secondary in importance to the train that ran around it all.

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Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the ribbon-cutting for Ollie Johnston's recently-restored stationhouse at the Carolwood Pacific Historical Society in Griffith Park. This group has preserved the barn and some of the equipment Walt used to work on his backyard railroad. They also work to preserve other parts of the Disney railroad legacy. What's more, they offer rides on similar miniature trains. (You sit on the roofs of the cars!) The route takes you through tunnels, past miniature towns, and across a 200-foot bridge. It's great fun!

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The top photo shows the ribbon-cutting for Ollie Johnston's station. The second photo shows one of Disney's first Imagineers, animator and sculptor Blaine Gibson, telling us about his experiences. To the right is Michael Broggie, who MCed the event and who literally wrote the book on Walt's trains. On the front of the podium is a photo of Johnston.

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After the event, Greg Ottinger (this blog's Phoenix correspondent) and I had the chance to join Gibson, the Myers Family (CPHS members), and early Imagineer Harriet Burns for lunch at Bob's Big Boy in Toluca Lake. (See the third photo in today's post.)

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It was a fascinating group to hang out with. Harriet was working on set designs for the Mickey Mouse Club TV show in 1955, when Walt asked her to spend her free time on Disneyland projects. She was one of three “model shop” employees during Disneyland’s development, and became the first woman Imagineer. She was also - and as far as I can tell, still is - the best-dressed of the Imagineers.

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Harriet helped create such attractions as Storybook Land, Carousel of Progress, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, New Orleans Square and the Haunted Mansion. She even designed the Enchanted Tiki Room birds. She tells me she’s also one of the only people still alive who worked on the original walk-through” inside Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. [Ed - Chris Merritt points out that Bob Gurr also worked on the walk-through.]

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I asked her what the employees thought when Walt said he was building the park in Anaheim. She said that nobody thought it would work, and that it was way out in the middle of nowhere.

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Coming to Disney Studios in 1939, Blaine Gibson was an animator, working on such films as "Fantasia," "Bambi," "Song of the South," "Peter Pan," and "Sleeping Beauty." Walt discovered that Blaine was also a gifted sculptor, and in 1954 he put him to work on Disneyland. You'll find his work in hundreds of sculpted figures (both static and audio-animatronic) throughout Disney’s theme parks. Blaine's work graces such attractions as Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, and the Tiki Room. He also sculpted Lincoln for Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln at Disneyland and ALL the U.S. Presidents in the Hall of Presidents at Walt Disney World. He is also responsible for the “Partners” statue, of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse, located at “the hub” in Disneyland.

Newport Harbor, preservation, etc

Today's photos show Newport Harbor as it looked in 1924 and in 1956. Newport Harbor (in it's modern form) was dedicated 72 years ago today, on May 23, 1936. To mark the event, a yacht parade was launched on a telegraph signal from President Franklin Roosevelt.

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Guy Ball writes, "I saw something on the [National Trust For Historic Preservation] site regarding a 'This Place Matters' project. You register online, print out a sign, and then post a photo on their site with comments. I think it would be a cool idea to embrace and will see what I can do this weekend on a couple locations. Might be something the rest of you want to have fun with as well. ...Wouldn't it be cool if we flooded them with good So Calif. images?"

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This could be a fun way to draw some national attention to local places that should be preserved. I may do a few of these myself.

Orange County Archives update

Well, I'm told I won't be getting the Archivist gig after all.

Although I’m disappointed that I didn’t get the job myself, this transition period has been a real eye-opener. I’ve learned just how MANY great friends I have in the historical community, in local government, in archival circles, among our patrons, and among the community in general. With the exception of a few people who I asked to be my references, I didn’t solicit anyone’s support – But BOY did I get it anyway! I’m deeply touched by all of you who have told me that you were pulling for me, praying for me, writing letters of support, etc. You have no idea how much that groundswell of support meant (and means) to me. Thank you!