Tel: (818) 347-9665 PST

TheMuseumSFV@gmail.com

www.TheMuseumSFV.org




Sunday, November 30, 2008

FIRST WALK IT OFF - HOLIDAY SUCCESS

Los Angeles Fire Department 2008 - North Hollywood, California - Photo by Gerald Fecht for the Archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley (click on image to enlarge)

Thanks to all who joined The Museum on its first annual Walk It Off - guided tour of historic North Hollywood. What a splendid way to start the Holiday Season!
Other tours will soon be offered throughout the San Fernando Valley.



The San Fernando Valley, in the heart of the Creative Capital of the World, deserves a great Museum of history and culture.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

FIRST WALKING TOUR OF NO HO THIS SATURDAY

Opening of the Hollywood Freeway to Magnolia Boulevard July 16, 1962 - photo in the collection of Guy Weddington McCreary 2008 - digital Archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley

The Universal City North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce sponsors the first Walk It Off walking tour of historic North Hollywood this Saturday - time: 10:30 am until 12:30 pm - Donation $10 - Meet at the Amelia Earhart statue in North Hollywood Park, Tujunga and Magnolia.

BEVERLY GARLAND - STAR OF THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY


Beverly Garland - Archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley

One of the most successful hotel complexes in the San Fernando Valley is the Beverly Garland Holiday Inn and Conference Center in North Hollywood. The hotel was built for his wife Beverly Garland by Los Angeles businessman Filmore Crank, who died in 1999. The Garlands had been married for 39 years.
After Filmore's demise, Beverly shared her important acting career with the advencement of the Mission-style hotel. The complex stands on lands once owned by the great cowboy actor and businessman Gene Autry.

Beverly Garland is one of America's most successful professional firm and television actresses. She was born in 1926 in Northern California but spent her most productive years as a performer in Los Angeles. Beverly is perhaps best known as Fred MacMurray's television second wife in the situation comedy My Three Wives.
Usually playing strong and assertive women, Beverly Garland is a role model for women who seek to bridge theatrical roles of girls to young women to older matrons. Well deserving of her star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, Beverly Garland worked to make the Valley a better place in which to live and work.

The Beverly Garland Hotel is located on Vineland Avenue between Ventura Blvd and Moorpark Street in North Hollywood.


The San Fernando Valley, in the Heart of the Creative Center of the World, deserves a great Museum of history and culture

Sunday, November 23, 2008

WHO REMEMBERS THE TICK TOCK RESTAURANT?

Tick Tock Restaurant - North Hollywood - Toluca Lake - Archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley 2008 - gift to the Museum's post card collection by Gary Fredburg.

At 10123 Riverside Drive, the Valley's version of the Tick Tock Restaurant was "the" place to take your kids or grandkids when they were little. The food was good and plentiful, and the atmosphere was a child's dream. Around and around the high walls zoomed miniature engines and cabooses. It was so much for for little guys that parents could slip peas and carrots over on them in a breeze.

Your Museum collects artifacts and information on San Fernando Valley restaurants. Menus, matchbook covers, signs, and photographs, all help to rebuilt the experiences of the past.


The San Fernando Valley, in the heart of the Creative Center of the World, deserves a great Museum of history and culture.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

BATTLE OF LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN IN ARCHIVES OF THE MUSEUM OF THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY

Lookout Mountain - Archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley - 2008 (click on image to enlarge) Photograph was acquired on a visit to the site of the Battle of Lookout Mountain by James E. Moss. The notations in ink are in his handwriting.

75 years ago, an aged Iowa farmer wrote his memories of being wounded in the Battle of Missionary Ridge, Tennessee. 145 years have passed this month since the horrible event that left James E. Moss crippled for the duration of his life.
The battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge were part of the 3rd Battle of Chattanooga that took place from November 23 to 25 in 1863. Chattanooga, a major railroad hub was seen as the doorway to the conquest of the Confederacy.
This posting on the blog of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley is dedicated to the men and women of New Direction, an organization that seeks to transform the lives of American veterans whose lives have been shattered as a result of their service to our country. Learn more about New Directions on line at www.ndvets.org

November 25, 1923
“This is the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Missionary Ridge, and as I arose from my bed, thought I ought to write of my personal recollections, as it was the beginning of a new experience, one that was to follow me through life, that of being a cripple the rest of my days. Not being of a down cast or brooding nature, I thought I’d make the best of what was left of me, and today I can find no fault. While I regret I am not as other men in appearance, yet think I have been of some good to my country, and have cause to be thankful for what little ability I have shown through these sixty years I have lived.”

“I was wounded about five o’clock and layed near the top of the ridge and was carried down by four comrades on a stretcher and placed in a log house near the bottom of the ridge, which was full of wounded men - just room for one more. Was very cold, had a fire place and fire. It was hard ride down the hill and steep. Imagine if you can, being carried down a steep hill, holding to stretcher bars to keep from working forward, with about three inches of both bones (of left leg) crushed!
Was left in this house until toward evening of next day, then with a wounded Rebel, was taken to Chattanooga and placed in a Presbyterian Church and laid on the floor until afternoon of the next day - when the leg was taken off just below the knee - 47 hours after being wounded.
There many died during the night. One boy lay close by my side and became crazed with pain and calling to his friends and looking into my face. He fell over on to me and died. I worked him off and we laid there all night. He was carried out - a boy - 16 years old that had been in the service only 2 days. (He) was taken into Chattanooga before I was. I often think about him.”
“There were 2 brothers, one was sick at Stevenson, Tennessee, (the other) was homesick. I tried to cheer him up the first day at the house. He wound was in the knee, and did not seem as bad as mine. When I saw him in the church he was crying. I tried to cheer him up but he did not live through the night.

“I could almost write a book about my experiences of a few days. They come to me so often now.
My bunk mate at the time (when James was shot) was Edwin Zellar and we stood side by side. (note of his daughter Jennie: “probably when in formation or line”) He was wounded 4 times and his right arm was amputated above the elbow. A fine man - older than I, and he made the little stand Sadie has, of many pieces, and with one hand. It is a relic of the Civil War days. Keep it, some of your children may enjoy it.
The morning after the operation, I was laid on the operating table. The would and the leg was so swollen, the stitches had pulled out and had to be closed together with strips of adhesive tape, and hair shaved off. That nearly done me up, it was awful.”

“Then I was put in a ward on the rail road storehouse with two hundred and twenty five (men) and for two days it was just all I could stand; I had been bleeding nearly three days. Captain Lushe Hemenway sent an extra nurse to care for Ed Zellar and I, from our company, S.M. Jay, and I truly believe he saved my life. He used to tell me of it every time I would meet him. He was 45 years of age and a neighbor at home.
We then moved to Nashville, Tennessee as soon as able, to convalescent camp and later, home. And, on this trip, I learned that the best thing was not to depend on others to help you when they had cares of their own. It was “Poor Soldiers” until something happened they were interested in.
I’ll never forget, we changed cars at Indianapolis, Indiana; the station was full of people. Zellar could stand, but I had to sit on my knapsack on the floor and hold my wounded knee or leg in my hands. An incoming train rolled into the depot and they (daughter’s note: the people) ran over to us in all kinds of shape. I finally got mad and they found there was a fellow on the ground floor that was not so dead after all.
Sympathy is easily shown by words, but when it costs some effort to express it, that interferes with ones own interest, it seems not so easy. So, it is best to look out for ones’self.”

Later on I was carried to our train by some comrades and arrived home the next night, a bitter cold night. Found our folks not looking for me, and all abed and house cold. It was some surprise sure. Think of it, sixty years ago and I am here to write it to my children."

Note:
This and many other precious accounts of the American Civil War and other stories of military service outside of California are, and will continue to be, in the archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley. Civil War veterans, like thousands of their modern counterparts, made their way to California for the climate and social acceptance.
It is our Museum's responsibility, not only to preserve documents like the account of James E. Moss, but to share our discoveries with other organizations working to broaden the understanding of our people and ancestors.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

HENRY E. HUNTINGTON BROUGHT TROLLEY TRANSPORTATION TO THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY

Henry E. Huntington - Gift of Gary Fredburg 2008 - Archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley (click on image to enlarge)

Henry E. Huntington began the Pacific Electric Railway in 1902. Huntington's fabulous art collection, gardens and financial endowment gave the Huntington Library and art galleries to Southern California.

Cahuenga Pass in 1911 - Gift of Gary Fredburg 2008 - Archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley (click on image to enlarge)

In 1911, the Pacific Electric Railway (the famous "Red Cars of Los Angeles") was sold to the Southern Pacific Railroad. In the above image, the Red Car system is seen expanding into the San Fernando Valley from Hollywood.

Your Museum collects and preserves artifacts and information about California transportation. The San Fernando Valley, in the heart of the Creative Capital of the World, deserves a great Museum of history and culture.

FIRST ANNUAL WALK-IT-OFF - AFTER THANKSGIVING ADVENTURE

FIRST ANNUAL WALK-IT-OFF - AFTER THANKSGIVING ADVENTURE

The Museum of the San Fernando Valley is pleased to announce its first WALK-IT-OFF - great post Thanksgiving guide stroll through historic North Hollywood. Sponsored by the Universal City North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, the Walk-It-Off is a leisurely exploration of one of the San Fernando Valley's most important cultural and historic areas.
The great Walk-It-Off takes place on Saturday, November 29th, 2008 , from 10:30 am until 1 pm. The guided walk will begin at the Amelia Earhart statue on the north-west corner of Tujunga Avenue and Magnolia Street. it will culminate at the same location.
The guides for the event will be, Dr. Jerry Fecht (president of The Museum and emeritus professor of history/humanities at Moorpark College, and the eminent preservationist and actor, Richard Hilton.
The event is the first of several upcoming Valley tours designed to introduce area residents and visitors to the amazing history and culture of the San Fernando Valley. A donation of $10 per person is requested, with proceeds used to produce the future Valley awareness activities of The Museum. Public parking lots and on-the-street spaces are readily available in the NoHo.
Participants are encouraged to contact The Museum to insure a place among the adventure group. Since it is chiefly an outdoor event, good walking shoes, sun-block, a hat and a camera are advised. There are good places to eat and enjoy a leisurely coffee in the NoHo.
About The Museum of the San Fernando Valley:
The Museum of the San Fernando Valley is in its developmental stage; obtaining input and gathering support from Valley residents, gaining support from the business, public, private, and non-profit sectors. The Museum’s organizational goals and objectives will always be a work-in-progress in order to meet the changing needs of a dynamic society. At the present, the San Fernando Valley has no significant museum of history and culture, serving the 1,800,000 residents of the area.
The Museum of the San Fernando Valley is an educational and cultural institution. Its purpose is to acquire, display, and preserve artifacts, documents and records related to the San Fernando Valley and its residents. It strives to accomplish this through mobile exhibits, an interactive website, tours for schools and organizations, performances, lectures and an artifact loan program for San Fernando Valley schools.

____________

A few of the topics on the tour
Harry Chandler - Amelia Earhart - Lankershim Station
John C. Freemont - Alan Ladd - Marilyn Monroe - Andres Pico
The Tongva - De Anza - De Portola - Father Lausein
Isaac Lankershim - Bonner Fruit - Weddington Brothers
Andres Pico - Laurel & Hardy - Nudie - Susan Sontog - Bob Hope - Bing Crosby - Lucille Ball - Lenny Bruce - NoHo Arts District -
and much, much more

Contact:

Gerald R. Fecht, Ph.D.
President
The Museum of the San Fernando Valley
21031 Ventura Blvd., Suite 419
Woodland Hills, CA 91364
Museum tel: 1-(818)347-9665
email: gfecht@sbcglobal.net
Museum blog:
Woodland Hills, California November 19, 2008

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

MUSEUM RECEIVES ITS 501 c 3 TAX EXEMPT STTUS

Elizabeth Morin looking at her city - 2008 - Archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley (click on image to enlarge)
Elizabeth Morin at the presentation of The Thirsty Valley production by Theatre of Will at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
November 11, 2008
Congratulations to the Museum Community of the San Fernando Valley. The Museum of the San Fernando Valley has received notice that our application for exemption of Federal Income Tax under section 501 (c) (3), has been granted retroactive to February 25, 2005.
Your Museum may now receive tax-deductible bequests, devises, transfers or gifts under sections 2055, 2106 or 2522 for the code. The Museum of the San Fernando Valley has been designated by the United States Department of the Treasury as a non-profit charity.

California Non-Profit Corporation # 2795694
Federal 501 (c) (3) number: 17053-240-343028
Federal Employee Identification Number EIN 26-1292402
Incorporated 07/25/05

Thank you, for all of the efforts made to accomplish our tax exempt status.

Gerald Fecht
President The Museum of The San Fernando Valley



The San Fernando Valley, in the heart of the Creative Capitol of the World, deserves a great Museum of history and culture.

Monday, November 10, 2008

3 GLENDALE POSTCARD TREASURES

Hotel Glendale - Postcard collection of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley 2008 - Gift of Gary Fredburg (click on image to enlarge)

Old Glendale Library - Postcard collection of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley 2008 - Gift of Gary Fredburg (click on image to enlarge)

Glendale Hyperion - Postcard collection of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley 2008 - Gift of Gary Fredburg (click on image to enlarge)

GLENDALE SANATORIUM - ADVENTIST HOSPITAL

Glendale Sanatorium - Postcard in the collection of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley 2008 - Gift of Gary Fredburg (click on image to enlarge)
One of the most important medical centers in the San Fernando Valley is the historic Glendale Sanatorium organized by members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in 1904. A church elder, John Burden led the organizational effort to create the medical center, at the encouragement of Ellen G. White, a prophetic leader of the Adventist religious movement. Ms. White (November 1827 to July 1915) spoke of having an "urgency from God" to build a medical sanatorium in the Los Angeles area.
On August 24, 1905 Glendale Sanatorium began its service to Southern California residents. This pre-dated the incorporation of the City of Glendale. By 1922, the Sanatorium had evolved into a full-service hospital center.
Glendale Adventist Hospital - 1509 Wilson Terrace - Glendale, CA 91206 - 1-(818) 409-8562

Victory Memorial Viaduct - Entrance to Glendale, California - Postcard in the collection of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley 2008 - Gift of Gary Fredburg (click on image to enlarge)

GET INVOLVED IN HISTORIC SURVEY OF THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY

Ask anyone who grew up in the San Fernando Valley about special places in their neighborhoods and nearly everyone can tell you about a place like Shadow Rance or the old Orcutt estate. Here's a special opportunity to make sure that your part of the Valley is represented in the Getty Sponsored survey of our Valley. Make sure to double click to enlarge this flyer or to print it out. See you at the meeting!
(click on image to enlarge)

(click on image to enlarge)

Friday, November 7, 2008

IMAGES OF AQUEDUCT WORKERS c. 1930

Thousands of skilled and unskilled workers made their livings on the Colorado River Aqueduct. The infusion of workers' money into the California economy had a major impact throughout the State.

Jackhammer worker - Water for 13 Cities - Gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley by Gary Fredburg 2008 (click on image to enlarge)
Jackhammer workers made "good money" in this Depression Era aqueduct project, but experienced lifelong health problems.

Mucking Machine Operator - Water for 13 Cities - Gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley by Gary Fredburg 2008 (click on image to enlarge)


Steelworker c 1930 - Water for 13 Cities - Gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley by Gary Fredburg 2008 (click on image to enlarge)
As far back as the early 1930s, construction managers understood the importance of steel reinforcement in cement structures.

COLORADO RIVER AQUEDUCT 1932

Water For 13 Cities booklet - 1935 - gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley by Gary Fredburg 2008 (click on image to enlarge)
The Eastern entrance of the Coxcomb Tunnels - one of 29 tunnels in the Colorado Aqueduct.

Water For 13 Cities booklet - 1935 - gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley by Gary Fredburg 2008 (click on image to enlarge) Surveyors working the desert at the base of Mount San Jacino.

The eastern cities of the San Fernando Valley receive water from the great Colorado River Aqueduct begun in 1932. Water from the Metropolitan Water District, whose founding President was the San Fernando Valley's W.P. Whitsett, supplies Glendale, Burbank and Eagle Rock.
These images are from a splendid little booklet produced by the Metropolitan Water District for the California Pacific International Exposition in San Diego in 1935. At the time it was published the Colorado River Project was not yet complete. Entitled "Water for Thirteen Cities in the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California." In 1935 the Colorado River Aqueduct was the largest construction project in the United States.

Water For 13 Cities booklet - 1935 - gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley by Gary Fredburg 2008 (click on image to enlarge)

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

ROBERT F. KENNEDY'S PROPHECY FROM MAY 1961 COMES THROUGH WITH OBAMA'S ELECTION

There are many downright mysterious aspects to this story - a prediction by Robert F. Kennedy about the election of a Negro President of the United States, the foresight of an Iowa farm woman to send the information to her Grandson in California, and wisdom of a Grandson to keep his Grandmother's legacy alive.
1961 Newspaper Prediction by RFK on an African-American President - Collection of Burnet Brown 2008 - Archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley (click on image to enlarge)
Article likely to have appeared in the Des Moines Register.

Comments by San Fernando Valley sustainability policy analyst Burnet Brown of Woodland Hills 2008 (click on image to enlarge)

Myrtle Bennett Coates - Grandmother of Burnet Brown - Collection of Burnet Brown 2009 (click on image to enlarge)


The San Fernando Valley, in the heart of the Creative Capital of the World, deserves a great Museum of history and culture.

Monday, November 3, 2008

THE GREAT ANDY DIVINE

Home of actor Andy Divine in Van Nuys,- historic postcard gift from Gary Fredburg 1008 - Archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley (click on image to enlarge)

To the hundreds of kids who found relief from the summer heat of the San Fernando Valley in an era with few swimming pools, the Crystal Plunge in Van Nuys was a favorite hangout. It was build by the film and television actor Andy Divine who lived across the street on Kester Avenue.
Andy, who starred in the hit television production of the Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok as Guy Madison's sidekick "Jingles', built the Crystal Plunge so that classmates of his sons on the Van Nuys High School Swim Team would have a place to practice. For elementary school students, Halloween meant the chance to take as many pennies as they could pick up in one hand. If the child was very little, Andy would take one of his enormous hands and help the little one out.
Once a professional football player, Andy Divine got his first big career boost in the 1931 football film The Spirit of Notre Dame. In the next four decades, his raspy voice was one of the most recognizable in America. Andy was a strong supporter of the San Fernando Valley, and was made the honorary mayor of Van Nuys in the early 1970s. He died in 1977.


Andy Divine world famous film and television actor

The San Fernando Valley, in the heart of the Creative Capitol of the world, deserves a great Museum of history and culture.

EXPLORING OUR CITY ON DIA DE LOS MUERTOS

Native American religious customs and rituals often survived the arrival of Europeans by disguising ancient beliefs with those of theie conquerors. The Mexican peasant celebration of Dia de los Muertos is an important example of this

Day of the Dead 2008 - Photo by Gerald Fecht for the Archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley (click on image to enlarge)

Day of the Dead 2008 - Photo by Gerald Fecht for the Archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley (click on image to enlarge)

Day of the Dead 2008 - Photo by Gerald Fecht for the Archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley (click on image to enlarge)

Our Lady Queen of Angeles - Day of the Dead 2008 - Photo by Gerald Fecht for the Archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley (click on image to enlarge)

Sunday, November 2, 2008

CELEBRATING ITALIAN-AMERICANS IN LOS ANGELES

Little Joe's - Photo by Gerald Fecht 2008 - Sunshine and Struggle Exhibit (click on image to enlarge.)

Celebration outside of Italian Hall - Photo by Gerald Fecht 2008 - Sunshine and Struggle Exhibit (click on image to enlarge.)

San Rocco - Patron Saint of Italian-Americans in Los Angeles - Photo by Gerald Fecht 2008 - Sunshine and Struggle Exhibit (click on image to enlarge.)
A tribute to Rowland Francis LoBianco II on his 70th Birthday - November 4, 2008

From now until November 15th, 2008 there is an excellent, albeit modest exhibit of the "Italian Experience in Los Angeles from 1827 to 1927. It is being held in the historic Pico House at the Olvera Street Plaza. The exhibit is being held as a preliminary to the opening of the long awaited Italian Hall Museum that will be housed in the Old Plaza's Italian Hall building.
Learn more about this free show by calling
1 (213) 485-8432 or visiting:
www.italianhall.org
Most of the first Italians who came to Los Angeles followed the example of Gioanni Leandri, settling in what was long called "Little Italy." That area ran along Broadway (starting where Little Joes Restaurant once served some of the best food in the city) and traveled to the brick buildings around the Old Plaza and Olvera Street. Saint Peter's Catholic Church on Broadway still functions as the "mother church" for Italian-Americans in Los Angeles.
At the conclusion of the Second World War, Italian-Americans joined the massive migration into the San Fernando Valley. Many, who were soldiers returning from war and families from New York and other eastern cities, established lives and businesses in the Valley. "Old timers" who ran manufacturing shops in the central city, made new homes in the Valley.

The Museum of the San Fernando Valley collects artifacts and information about Italian-Americans in Southern California. As our electronic and physical collections grow, we will share them for research and support of other cultural institutions such as The Italian Hall Museum.

The San Fernando Valley, in the heart of the Creative Capital of the World, deserves a great Museum of history and culture.