Saturday, March 07, 2009

Dana and Ginger Lamb of Orange County

If adventure has a name, it must be,.... Lamb? . Corona del Mar residents and Santa Ana High School graduates Dana and Ginger Lamb were best-selling authors, lecturers, documentary filmmakers, entrepreneurs, amateur archaeologists, and spies for the U.S. government.

The couple married in 1933 and soon built a canoe (named Vagabunda,) which they paddled from Southern California to the Panama Canal. Their adventures during the journey became the basis of their bestselling book, Enchanted Vagabonds. On the success of their book and their self-promotional skills, they were able to fund numerous other treks to some of the world's most remote locations. During WWII, FDR (a fan of theirs) hired the Lambs as spies in Mexico. After the war, they undertook their Quest for the Lost City, which they later documented with another book and a film.

Julie Huffman-Klinkowitz and Jerome Klinkowitz have written a book about the Lambs, entitled The Enchanted Quest of Dana and Ginger Lamb. They will discuss (and probably sign) their new book March 14, 3pm, at the Laguna Beach Library, 363 Glenneyre St. . Today's photos come from Enchanted Vagabonds. The one at the top of the post shows the Lambs as they began their ascent up the Coatzacoalcos River in Mexico. The second, inset image shows them with a turtle (soon to be dinner) in Costa Rica.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

hello,
I am interested in information of any archive/home/museum ect of Dana and Ginger Lamb - once I read they had a house in Santa Ana that was available to the public on certain days.
Send any imformation that you may know - jaz_1946@yahoo.com

I thank you,
Jo Ann

Chris Jepsen said...

I've not heard of such a house, but perhaps someone else will read your query and have an answer. Sorry.

Anonymous said...

Are the Lambs still alive?
Love to meet them if they do another book signing.

Chris Jepsen said...

Virginia "Ginger" Lamb died in 1967. Dana Lamb died in 1979.