Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Garden Grove, floods, OCHS, old postcards, etc.

I'm posting two more interesting flood photos that recently came to the Orange County Archives. The one above shows the Emerson Hardware Store of Garden Grove in the wake of the 1916 flood. Note the high-water mark on the windows.
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The photo below shows the intersection of Harbor Blvd and Wilken Way in Garden Grove, on April 8, 1965. This image should please the people who've been talking online lately about the old White Front Store. It pleases me because it provides a clear view of the Pitcairn Motel -- a tiki-style place with one of most outstanding backlit signs ever to grace Orange County. It should have gone to a museum instead of a landfill.
Reminder: The Orange County Historical Society's meeting on Thurs., Feb. 11, will be held at 6pm at the Old Orange County Courthouse. (That is not our usual place or time.) Because of space limitations, it will also require an RSVP call from you: 714-973-6610. William Peck will perform as Lincoln and discuss the lesser known aspects of the president’s life. Although the topic isn't O.C. history-related, it will bring together the Orange County Historical Society, the Old Courthouse Museum Society, OC Parks and the Orange County Archives.
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The Vintage Paper & Postcard Fair is coming back to Glendale again this weekend. It's a schlep, but it's usually worth it. I usually find some great Orange County stuff there.
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I know it's not O.C.-related, but someone has posted some great footage of San Francisco just shortly before the big 1906 earthquake.
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And speaking of California history, there is now a Talk Like A Grizzled Prospector Day group on Facebook. Become a fan!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was looking for the price of gas. That would have been fun to find!

Elaine said...

Oh my goodness. The good old Pitcairn Motel. That's where we lived when my Dad first smuggled my sister and I out to California. That's a whole different story in itself (custodial battle). But the motel was very . . . spartan. BUT we were just down the street from Disneyland. LOL

Chris Jepsen said...

So many of those once pleasant Disneyland-area motels eventually devolved into the kinds of places where people went to hide. Most notably, perhaps, the SLA and Patty Hearst hid out in a motel right across the street from the park.

Later, the motels slipped even farther and wound up being just one step up from living in a car.

Today, many of those places have been bulldozed.

Doug said...

Well stated Chris. Such is the progression...boom & bust and rebirth.
I can say that even with odd stay at the famed Pitcairn, my friend Elaine turned out o.k.

Unknown said...

Garden Grove would always flood along harbor and Garden Grove blvd I think it took to the late 70's for the city to fix it all