Preserve Orange County

"Race &" is a podcast sponsored by the Society of Architectural Historians that explores the influence of race and race thinking on the built environment. Follo...w our co-hosts Charles Davis (SUNY Buffalo) and Maura Lucking (UCLA) as they conduct interviews, roundtable discussions, and conversations with the foremost academics of the arts and sciences to recover the untold stories of the people and forces that shape the world we live in. https://www.sahraah.com/race-podcast See more

Happy to announce that the California Senate passed a resolution this week to make the month of April "Arab American Heritage Month," proposed by Senator Josh Newman of District 29 which represents northeastern cities of Orange County such as Fullerton, Brea, La Habra and Yorba Linda.

The Angel Motel in Orange is one of only a few neon signs left from the mid-twentieth century on the "El Camino Real" and the old highway 101 from La Habra to San Clemente.

Many of us have heard of the El Camino Real, the "royal road" that was intended to mimic the path of the earliest Mexicans and Europeans through coastal California, from San Diego to San Francisco. But do you know the path it took through Orange County and what is left from the twentieth century when it evolved into Highway 101?

Paul R. Williams designed many beautiful buildings in Los Angeles in the twentieth century, and we know of at least one in Orange County, the Goldschmidt House in San Clemente. (It's rumored that a small two story office building on Camino Capistrano in San Juan Capistrano, just down the block from the Mission, was also designed by a very young Williams...) Attend this talk about his work from the perspective of a fine art photographer, on December 5 at 3 pm PST.

Support the California Preservation Foundation by bidding on one or more of the intriguing items that could be yours during its annual auction. Bid now on Gladding McBean oil jars, a four-person pack of tickets to Skypark (formerly Santa's Village), a private tour for six at St. Joseph's Art Society in San Francisco, and a signed copy of "Googie Redux" along with a Zoom chat with the book's author, Alan Hess. More info: https://californiapreservation.org/auction/

The Sherman Library in Corona Del Mar is now offering online access to its catalog of images from Orange County's past and present. https://www.ocregister.com//sherman-library-posts-thousan/

These Girl Scouts and their leaders were inspired by the fanciful form of the "ziggurat" (officially the Chet Holifield Federal Building) in Laguna Niguel. The real McCoy William Pereira-designed 1971 mega-building is to be put up for sale in early 2021. We want to inspire designers and developers to imagine ways it can be re-used. (This photo was shared with us by Teosson Wells.)

Happy Thanksgiving from Preserve Orange County! To our Facebook readers, volunteers, members, donors and readers of Tracts, we are grateful for your support as we enter our fifth year of existence in December. Enjoy this post from 2012 from Chris Jepsen's OC History Roundup. Thanks for delivering our history to us, Chris, with smart prose and wonderful ephemera. Here's the Broad Breasted Turkeys of Santa Ana, by Chris Jepsen: https://ochistorical.blogspot.com//the-broad-breasted-turk Photo of turkey ranch in Orange County. Courtesy Orange County Archives.