Welcome to Fountain Valley, "A Nice Place To Live." Today's photos both come from the Fountain Valley Historical Society. The image above shows the old Fountain Valley School, which opened in 1903 and was replaced with a new school in 1920..
The photo below shows the last bean threshing on the Callens Ranch in Fountain Valley in 1985. Note how the little chunk of acreage is surrounded by tract housing. The Callens Ranch headquarters can still be found on Talbert Ave., not far from Costco.
The Orange County Archives will be open this Saturday afternoon, from noon to 5pm. The historic Howe-Waffle House across the street and the Old Courthouse Museum, upstairs, will also be open. I understand that historical tours of Downtown Santa Ana by trolly will also be offered..
There was an obituary in the Register this week for Lealand "Lee" Launer, son of Lulu and Albert Launer, for whom the Fullerton Public Library's history room is named. Lee was born in Fullerton in 1918 and served on the Orange County Aviation Commission during the planning of the Orange County Airport.
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Another recent passing is Don Williamson, who began working on the Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach in the 1930s and who served as the program's director from 1964 to 1978. Many of the Pageant's traditions can be traced back to Williamson's ideas.
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There's also a very belated obit for Max Lee Barlow, who was the Marshall (manager) of Knott's Ghost Town for many years and who helped me with some of my historical research there.
