Please join us at the Ocean Beach Historical Society Wisteria Garden Party/Fundraiser on Sunday, March 19, 2023 at 1 pm – 4 pm, at 4761 Niagara Ave. O.B., 92107. Cost $20 (per person at the door).

Congress of History San Diego & Imperial Counties invite you to the
Come One, Come All! Community Events that bind us together, Conference 2023
Fri., Feb. 24, 9 am – 4 am & Sat. Feb. 25, 2023, 9 am – 1 am
at S.E.S. Portuguese Hall of San Diego at 2818, Avenida de Portugal, San Diego, CA 92106
“Celebration. Commemoration. Remembering coming together after the past several years of staying apart.”
As people, we are social beings, who gather for many reasons: to share joy, to honor others, to remember good times, or to make our voices heard.
Learn about gatherings that were pivotal in keeping traditions alive. At Come One, Come All! This conference showcases events has inspired us to gather, be they happy or serious. Don’t miss Eric Duval’s talk- The “Tail” of the Ocean Beach Kite Festival at 2:30-3:15, Fri., Feb. 24.
Come to the 2023 conference. Enjoy speakers, meet and mingle with history-loving organizations.
Conference two-day costs: $35 per adult, $25 per Senior (65+), and $15 Student are free
You may mail in your check or pay by check or cash at the door. We look forward to seeing you on February 24 and 25, 2023. More info. at: https://congressofhistory.org/

Ocean Beach Historical Society Presented: Coastal Scrub to Garden Fair, by Nancy Carol Carter, Thurs. Feb. 16, at Water’s Edge Faith Community – 1984 Sunset Cliffs Blvd.  After many years of debate and controversy, a formal plan for the landscaping and planting of San Diego’s City Park was adopted in 1902. Much of the original plan was shelved when preparations for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition began in earnest.

When the Olmstead Brothers Landscape firm bowed out of the Exposition team, opportunity fell to two “accidental landscapers.”  Balboa Park historian Nancy Carol Carter describeed how this precarious predicament resulted in the richly planted and beautifully maintained grounds of the Exposition, which won praise as a “Garden Fair.”   This lively program introduced a wide cast of interesting characters and is illustrated by numerous vintage photographs showing how the Exposition forever changed Balboa Park and influenced horticulture in all of southern California. Thank you to those that attended the exciting program Ocean Beach Historical Society on February 16th, 2023!

The Ocean Beach Historical Society presented: Thursday, January 19, 2023, Mystery At The Blue Sea Cottage, at Water’s Edge Faith Community, 1984 Sunset Cliffs Blvd, at 7:00 pm.
OBHS began our 2023 Lecture Series with a one-hundred-year-old cold case murder mystery! A few years ago, Richard Carrico brought us the story of Fritzi Mann, the young San Diego “Butterfly Dancer,” whose body was found on a Del Mar Beach in 1923. The crime was never solved. A century later, author James Stewart believes that he has put all the pieces of the puzzle together.
James Stewart gave an outline of his book Mystery at the Blue Sea Cottage, A true story of murder in San Diego’s Jazz Age, OBHS lectures are always FREE.

The Ocean Beach Historical Society wishes you Happy Holidays.

The Dec. Sea Scroll End of 2022 is available online on the OBHS ARCHIVE page. The printed Sea Scrolls version (mailed to OBHS members) will be late due to the holidays.

There will be NO OBHS December Program, but we suggest you visit the OB Christmas Tree at the foot of Newport Ave. We hope to see you at the Jan. 2023 OBHS Program.

Santa was our jolly special guest at our November OBHS Program. The OBHS Board joined in the fun as Elves and Santa’s Helpers.

Nov. 17, 2022, The Ocean Beach Historical Society had a fun holiday inspired program “100 Years of Christmas in Balboa Park” at Water’s Edge Faith Community. Our presenter was none other than San Diego’s favorite Santa Claus, Bill Swank, who also will be in OB Holiday Parade on Dec. 3rd. Santa’s stories about kids were both funny and heartfelt. He also told us some great baseball facts and history.

OBHS Lecture Series programs are always FREE.  

Link to The Beach News Archives: https://archive.org/details/oceanbeachhistorical

October 20, 2022, The Ocean Beach Historical Society previewed the The Beach News Archives! at Water’s Edge Faith Community, and celebrated the 100^th birthday of The Beach News, OB’s great little community newspaper. The Beach News started out as a four-page weekly and is THE primary source chronicling the development of the Ocean Beach Community. The Beach News also carried Mission Beach and Pacific Beach news in the early days.  It was later known as The Ocean Beach News and eventually morphed into The Peninsula News in the 1950s.  Ocean Beach Historical Society is lucky enough to have 13 mostly complete volumes of The Beach News (Link above) from the early ‘20s through the end of World War II. This program by Eric DuVall was a fun and nostalgic look at some of the great features, funny old ads and shameless boosterism that characterized the early content of The Beach News. Go back into time and see what O.B was like in the 20s, 30s, and 40s.

On Sept. 15, 2022, at Water’s Edge Church, Richard Carrico, gave a spectacular O.B. Historical Society Presentation: Peeling Back 10,000 Years of San Diego History: Recent Discoveries at the C. W. Harris Archaeological Site. Richard fielded over an hour of questions, and the crowd didn’t leave until 10 pm!
Forward, into the past!  More than 10,000 years ago a group of indigenous people lived along the banks of the San Dieguito River a little east of present-day Rancho Santa Fe and west of the Lake Hodge dam. Situated on a near permanent water source with a myriad of wild game and plant resources this place, known as the C. W. Harris site was occupied continuously for more than ten millennia—right up until the Spanish period. The Harris site is one of the few archaeological sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Originally excavated by Malcolm Rogers in the late 1930s, again in the 1960s and more recently by Richard Carrico and his team of archaeologists, there is no other archaeological site in San Diego County that contains such a treasure trove of data about our First People. Richard peeled back the layers of soil and brought the ancient past to life. We went to more than nine feet deep and see artifacts and environmental evidence of cultural and natural change. What did these people eat, how did they make their stone tools, and how did they adapt to substantial environmental change? Always entertaining and informative, Richard answered those questions and many more as we took a trip into the past, a really, really long ago past.
Thank you Richard Carrico for an amazing trip into the past.

Aug, 18, 2022– The Ocean Beach Historical Society invited members and friends to a PICNIC Event at Collier Park West (At Greene St. & Soto St.) to learn about “Door of Hope” and Collier Park(s), OB Community Garden, and Point Loma Native Garden.

Some older P.L. and O.B. residents may remember the odd buildings which once sat in the middle of Collier Park west. The buildings, which were part of the Salvation Army’s Door of Hope, included a dormitory style home for pregnant unwed mothers, a nursing facility, and the Collier Park Hospital. Collier Park west is still there, but it has been divided into a small park for picnics, a community garden, and a native plant oasis. Apartments have replaced the Door of Hope buildings.

The OBHS program was especially relevant to people wanting to learn about the three adjoining parks, and to anybody who may have been born in Collier Park Hospital and later adopted from the Door of Hope, during its 55-year run. Also, activists who helped save Collier Park West from further development were also encouraged to come and share their stories.
The large interest expressed about Ocean Beach Door of Hope and the connecting parks inspired OBHS to have the “Collier Park Picnic Event”. Talks were given by featured speakers Kathy Blavatt, Eric DuVall, John Noble, and Kim McGinly, who gave histories and updates on the Collier Park(s) and nearby areas. Historical photos, articles, maps and more were displayed. Attendees enjoyed a lovely summer evening under the trees.

The Ocean Beach Historical Society presented: “The All-American Crew,” by Russell Low, Thurs. July 21, 2022 at Water’s Edge Faith Community. A true story of a World War 11 bomber and the men who flew it. From old American families and recent immigrants — the ten men of this WWII bomber crew, dub themselves “The All-American Crew’ in celebration of their diversity and how their dedication to the country and their crew elevates them above their individual differences. Thank you Dr. Russell Low for this inspiring story

Dr. Low has created a nursing scholarship fund at Cal State San Marcos, and proceeds from the sales of his books go to that fund.  If you are interested in buying a book, or participating, please visit.  https://www.russlow.com