Last spring, Ocean Beach Historical Society member Stephanie Greenwald and OB Elementary Speech Therapist/Girl Scout Leader Linda Jaros teamed up to educate local Girl Scout troop #3208 about Ocean Beach. Twelve fourth grade girls at OB Elementary met every other week and learned about the history of OB from the beginning of our community up to the present time from former local students such as Carol Bowers, Ned Titlow, Jane Meiners and Kathy Blavatt.
The girls learned about preserving “old” pictures, listened to former students tell about what life was like at school and what the “kids” back then did for fun, went on a “historic walk” down Newport Ave and discussed important buildings and whether or not they should be preserved or “modernized”. The girls also learned about the history of some of our well-known traditions in OB such as the OB Christmas parade, the OB Christmas tree and our fireworks display on the fourth of July.
The girls earned the “Local Lore” badge and learned important information about the community in which we live. Every town has a story and people and events that helped make it what it is today. Troop #3208 enjoyed their time studying OB and will enjoy telling about their experiences at the November 15th OBHS Meeting.

OBHS Oct. 18, 2007 meeting with presenter DeDi Ridenour, who spoke about the history of Sunset Cliffs, was an overwhelming success as the large audience flowed into the courtyard.
Many of the old-timers in the audience participated in their memories of the cliffs as they were growing up.
George Cunningham made money as a kid giving tours of “Pirates Cave”.
DeDi told a funny story about the “Navy Outhouse” located just north of the Spanish Mansion on the Cliffs that she grew up in.
Thanks to Dedi and all those that donated pictures from their private collections to make this a very memorable meeting.

DeDi Ridenour was our featured guest at the Oct. 18, 2007 OBHS General Meeting.
DeDi will present a brief history of Sunset Cliffs that will outline the geological background that makes this area of our coast so special. She will also talk about the influences of the Theosophical Society, the 1915 & 1935 Expositions, real estate interests, the 1929 depression, WW II years and the post war building boom.
Her talk included information on the cliff protection, conservation and preservation plans.
Included in DeDi’s presentation will be the history of the expanded park, park development and a look at future park plans.
Cordelia (DeDi) Ridenour, was born in San Diego (Sunset Cliffs) 72 years ago. DeDi lives on Sunset Cliffs Blvd. in the historic old Spanish Mansion style home she grew up in.
DeDi is retired from Chemistry Research, College Chemistry Teaching and Environmental Chemistry Administration. She now volunteers with the Sunset Cliffs Natural Park Council.
DeDi enjoys her Sunset Cliffs home with her husband Dick, and her three children and seven grandkids that live within two blocks of the family home

Event’s date changed due to fires— Now Sunday, Nov. 15th, 2007
at the Lakeside Community Center in Lindo Lake Park , 25 miles east of
San Diego (location of the only remaining racing speedway in San Diego County).
Significant Milestone 100 years ago
In 1907 an event took place that would forever change the look of auto racing. This was the opening of the Lakeside Auto Speedway in Lakeside, a little resort town in the foothills of San Diego County, where Barney Oldfield that year set a new speed record for the mile. The Lakeside Auto Speedway was claimed to be the first purpose-built auto racing facility in the country.
Lakeside Historical Society is organizing a 2007 Centennial celebration at the site of the original Speedway . This event will be highlighted by a gathering of the finest antique racecars and other vehicles from the era of 1907 though 1919. These historic vehicles will be on display to the public and will be invited to a parade around the roads closely following the path of the original speedway. This running display will enable spectators to visualize what the speedway atmosphere must have been like a century ago.
The public is invited to participate with a historic vehicle or as a spectator. Lakeside Speedway Centennial Celebration info. at: http://www.lakesidehistory.org/

Sept. 20, 2007 Meeting was about the “History of the Wine Industry in San Diego County and the role of Local Indians in the Industry” by featured guest Richard Carrico. Richard signed autographs at that evening’s meeting of any of his previous books or his piece on the wine industry history in San Diego.

Learn how you can share OB’s history on our new site

Ray Blavatt, OBHS Web Administrator, was the featured guest at our August 16th, meeting on “How to Blog on the New Ocean Beach Historical Society Blog Site.”
In the last several months Ray, and his wife Kathy, another board member who is a designer/illustrator, have designed and put up our organization’s new website & blog at: http://www.obhistory.wordpress.com
The new site is receiving a wonderful response. Ideas, comments and archival material are coming in.
OBHS wants Obecians, and others, to be an interactive part of the site and help us show our unique community and its history. That way others can see how special our beach berg is.
At our meeting Ray talked about where the group wants to take the site and how you can be part of that.
Ray will talked about the technical “nut & bolts”, answered questions, and saw what people want on the site.
Ray has an extensive background in web development and Flash animation. He and his wife run their business in their Ocean Beach home.

JULY 14, 2007— What an interesting history we have!
Looking forward to next years.

Start of OB Historical Walking Tour 2007

Start of OB Historical Walking Tour 2007,
originally uploaded by obhistory.

Pursuing History on Newport Avenue, By Carol Bowers

We are fortunate that here in Ocean Beach many of our buildings date back to the early 1900s although they may have changed hands during the years. OB history buffs (most noticeably Ruth Held) have written about the early years and we have also accumulated old periodicals and writings thanks to the establishment of our Ocean Beach Historical Society archives directed by Mary Allely.
Every summer we present our Newport Avenue Historic Walk where, for a small fee of $3, residents and visitors can experience the Ocean Beach of yesteryear narrated by two gentlemen who have lived here most of their lives: George Cunningham & Ned Titlow.

Ocean Beach resident Tom Griswold sent this link of Ocean Beach Spaceman & saxophonist Bob Oaks who lived near the pier. 

Dan’s entertaining presentation focused on 4 areas: “garage” versus “estate” sale; some legal pitfalls in holding or running an estate sale; pricing to sell, and “Fun with Estate Sales 101.”
Dan gave OBHS a fun and informative evening.

Biographical info.
Dan Haslam presently serves as Director of Development for the Gaslamp Quarter Historical Foundation, which operates the William Heath Davis House Museum downtown and serves as the curator for the Gaslamp Quarter Historic District. Prior to his present position, Dan practiced law for twenty years, most recently as co-chair of his law firm’s Probate Division in Tucson, AZ. As an attorney in a probate practice, he was responsible for the closing of many estates, including the administration of estate sales as a means of liquidating an estate. He is now retired from the practice of law, and instead loves to serve as a lively auctioneer for various charities and help out at yard and rummage sales, as well as to prowl around at garage sales.

Charles Best on the La Playa Trail

The La Playa Trail 1769-2005, The La Playa Trail 1769-2005— On July 16, 1769 Father Junipero Serra and Don Gaspar Portolá arrived in San Diego from Mexico and joining with the crews of the Spanish coasting vessles San Antonio and San Carlos established the first European colony in Alta California. Camp was set up near a spring at the base of what is now Presidio Hill and linked to the anchorage by a Indian trail running to the beach at La Playa. The trail was traveled daily by the soldiers who established the first lighthouse in Calif., a lantern placed on a pole on the tip of Ballast Point.
From prehistoric times until our present day, El Camino de La Playa, the La Playa Trail, has witnessed a lion’s share of the history of the northwest Pacific coast. Indians, fur trappers, Boston-China traders, Portuguese whalers and fishermen, Indian vaqueros, American cowboys, railway men, the U. S. Cavalry, Mexican rancheros, English explorers, Chinese fishermen and a myriad of adventurers have traveled and left a record of the trail.
In 1932, soon after the founding of the San Diego Historical Society and building of the Serra Museum on Presidio Hill, historians John and Winifred Davidson began a drive to define and mark the trail. They identified it as running from the Mission San Diego to the landing spot of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo and the Spanish Fort Guijarros on Ballast Point at the entrance to the harbor. Six concrete markers decorated with a bas-relief of an Indian vaquero and a Mexican carreta, or ox-cart, were placed at significant points along the trail. The first monument, shaded by an olive tree, was placed in the Portuguese settlement of Roseville. It was followed in succession by identical markers at Lytton and Rosecrans across from the Naval Training Station, a monument to Jedediah Smith at the base of Presidio Hill, amonument to Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo adjacent to the Naval Fuel depot at Fort Rosecrans, the Mission San Diego, and the last at the intersection of Midway & Rosecrans. Each was dedicated with appropriate pomp and ceremony.
Studies have identified 67 registered national, state, and city historic landmarks along the route of the La Playa Trail, and over 400 sites of historic interest. The sites include: Dutch Flats, the site of Ryan Field, where Charles Lindbergh began his 1927 flight to Paris, the site of San Diego’s first hospital in Mission Valley, of the America’s Cup victory by the San Diego Yacht Club, the site of the Portuguese fishing colony at Roseville, and Fort Rosecrans dating from the 1870s. Fort Stockton, the first U. S. Naval Station on the Pacific coast, the Naval Electronics Laboratory and Naval Underseas Systems Center, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the bathyscaph Trieste, Old Town State Park, and Cabrillo National Monument, which are respectively, the most visited monuments of their kind in the United States.