MARCH 22, 2014, we celebrated Spring and the Ocean Beach Historical Society’s Annual Wisteria Garden Party & Fundraiser. The garden of a historical cottage under the largest wisteria canopy in O.B. was a great backdrop as locals enjoyed tasty treats while listening to rag time music by Billie Lee and his band. The event included a live auction and drawing for great prizes donated by local businesses and friends of the OBHS. Colorfully clad party goers joked with OB clown Dreamin Mimi, hearing former 1948 PAC Shores owner Evelyn Church tell stories, and looking at historical O.B. photos. All together a great party.

On Feb. 20, 2014, we learned “the Green Community Spirit”  is alive and well in O.B. as a packed house showed up to celebrated and honor Colleen Dietzel, co-founder of The Green Store. She presented 25 years of The Green Store’s history and activism in O.B. and San Diego.
On Earth Day April 22, 1989, Colleen and Kip opened The Green Store on Voltaire St. Starting with a ribbon-cutting ceremony with famed environmentalist David Brower. They embarked on a journey to try and “save the world and O.B.,” working with groups such as the Ocean Beach Greens, Rainforest Action Network, Greenpeace, the Save O.B. Coalition and Ocean Beach Grassroots Organization among others. Historically, The Green Store/Ocean Beach Green Center has lead the way as an “Eco-Center of Ocean Beach working for the Environment, Peace and Social Justice.” Thanks to Colleen, Kip & The Green Store friends for their commitment to: • Bringing environmental issues to the forefront • Promote Mom & Pop Businesses • Advancing Social Justice • Educating people about health, farming, water and other issues • Getting residents to take part and have a voice in community issues • Working towards peace • Forming bonds with people that want a better world
• Bringing people together that love O.B.!!!

Jan. 16, 2014 the OBHS Presented: Miss Rankin and the Library She Built— Featuring OB Librarian Matt Beatty. Margaret Rankin was librarian at the Ocean Beach Library from 1921 to 1959. A lifelong force in OB, Margaret was largely responsible for getting the current library built and later remodeled. She was also deeply involved in her community seen in news clippings, her own library reports, and photos of the places she lived.
Matt Beatty put on a great program. He has been a librarian at the Ocean Beach Library for eight and a half years.

2015 Winner SD Book Awards- Best Published Local Interest “Ocean Beach” by the Ocean Beach Historical Society (Jonnie Wilson & Kathy Blavatt, eds.)
“Ocean Beach” book by the Ocean Beach Historical Society & Images of America is $21.99 ea. plus tax. This fantastic book is filled O.B.’s wonderful history and images. Available at: OBHS  programs, events, Te Mana Café, Green Store, SDHC, James Gang Company,  OBMA,  Olive Tree Market, Shells, and Bookstar.

HISTORICAL 1887 OB MAP poster shows lovely calligraphy, old street names, railroad lines, beaches, rock formations, sand dunes and springs. The map’s natural aging gives it a wonderful pirate-map quality— $20 ea.  Available at: OBHS Events/Programs, The Green Store, John Baker Picture Frames, OBMA and the Newport Ave. Antique Center. Proceeds go to the OBHS, a 501(c)(3) non-profit org

OBHS Presented: Landscapes Rediscovered by John DeBeck—Nov. 21st.  John DeBeck, former long-time School Board Member presented a program on the recovered San Diego Unified School District art collection, an extraordinary project he accomplished that benefits historians, school children and all San Diegans. When serving on the School Board, John found out that the district owned a significant amount of W.P.A. and donated art that had gone missing or was set aside. These works, approximately 100 canvasses of landscapes, seascapes and people (many of children), were unseen by the public for decades. These include depression-era paintings from acclaimed San Diego artists Charles Reiffel and Maurice Braun, including landscapes of Point Loma.  This rediscovered art was brought back to the public… but sadly we learned much is still missing or deteriorating because of lack of funding and interest in restoring the art.

The OBHS Presented: San Diego Yesterday
Richard Crawford, Oct. 17, 2013, San Diego today is a vibrant and bustling coastal city, but it wasn’t always so. The city’s transformation from a rough-hewn border town and frontier port to a vital military center was marked by growing pains and political clashes. Civic highs and criminal lows have defined San Diego’s rise through the 19th and 20th centuries into a preeminent Sun Belt city. Historian Crawford recalled significant events and one-of-a-kind characters that laid the foundation for the San Diego that we know today.
Richard Crawford is the Supervisor of Special Collections at the San Diego Public Library. He is the former archives director at the SDHS/edited the Journal of San Diego History.

Our Sept. 19, 2013 program “The Incredible and Mysterious Hidden Past of San Diego County” was very informative and interesting.
Noted anthropologist and historian Richard L. Carrico lectured on the hidden past and mysteries of ancient San Diego County. Richard took the audience back thousands of years to explore a people and a land that few know about.  Richard delve into possible meanings of prehistoric rock paintings (pictographs) and carvings (petroglyphs) that dot our landscape, he discussed Kumeyaay knowledge of our vast universe, explore Kumeyaay pharmacology as shown through native plant use, detail the ancient roots of Indian gaming in the region, and explain how at least one local Kumeyaay holy man got the best of the Christian devil. He spoke on how Indians cured and treated some common ailments, or how some of our mountains were formed, how the pine trees moved from the coast to the Cuyamacas, or the Kumeyaay name of Ocean Beach, Mission Valley, and San Diego, and how Kumeyaay made pigments. If you missed this facinating program or want more infonation: http://www.rockhilllearning.com

The Ocean Beach Historical Society Presented San Diego’s Waterfront Through the Eyes of a Child Featuring Jim Bregante August 15th

We learned so much as we stepped back in time with Jim Bregante’s historical presentation of San Diego’s Waterfront and Little Italy. We took a historical journey along the waterfront and Little Italy, from the 1930’s to present, narrated by Jim Bregante, a native San Diegan. An experienced speaker, Jim is a Docent for the San Diego Maritime Museum, a member of the San Diego History Center and the Italian Historical Society of San Diego. Jim shared his experience of growing up in Little Italy, near all the vibrant waterfront life, via a PowerPoint presentation with pictures from historical and family archives…. Depicting his family’s start in the fishing industry, his experiences on the waterfront as a youth and life in Little Italy; Jim’s memories were shared and treasured to our group.