Courtesy of Seal Beach Historic Resources Foundation
The 2024 Seal Beach Historical Calendar is now available from the Seal Beach Historic Resources Foundation. It is included with each $50 donation to the society, which also includes a one-year membership in the group, and some other perks.
Donations to the Foundation can be made at https://sbhrf.net/make-a-donation/.
The Foundation is coming off a number of “firsts” in 2023 which included the transfer of the historic Red Car from the Seal Beach Lions to the Foundation, their first Historical Calendar, historical Seal Beach trivia at the summer concert series, and the unveiling its first exhibit of historical posters at City Hall
Newly elected 2024 President Larry Strawther has announced an equally aggressive agenda for 2024, starting with a partnership with Interior Design Department at California State University Long Beach to use the Red Car as a spring semester design project.
“Students will study the site’s purpose and history, and then propose ways of improving its display capabilities. We want it to be more than old photos on flat walls,” said Strawther.
“We also want to make the parts interchangeable, so as new exhibits are rotated in, others are then put on display in different parts of the city – at City Hall, perhaps even McGaugh Schools,” said Strawther.
The students will also consider exterior kiosks and displays to make the Red Car exterior “a museum even when its not open.”
“Of course,” said Strawther, “these must be as vandal-proof as possible. It’s a challenge.”
Another challenge is the physical condition of the old tower car, and for this they are working with a Red Car committee of the Lions Club, led by Scott Weir and Jim Quinlan.
“Scott showed us how the protective bonnet, with its multiple tears and small holes, was in some way doing more damage – keeping in moisture so it never dried out,” said Strawther. A 2024 goal is a comprehensive plan to replace it so that repairs last decades, not a couple of years. Strawther also lauded Quinlan’s ideas of a virtual museum.
The Foundation has located some documents and artifacts that were removed from the Red Car when it was vacated in 2021. “I am hopeful we can regain at least some of the items, since in some cases they were loaned to the former Red Car Museum, not donated,” said Strawther.
In addition, the SBHRF has already sent out some local newspapers from 1955 to be digitized and indexed. “Late last summer we located and purchased nine years of old Seal Beach Post and Waves, which was the primary town newspaper from 1916-to 1956,” said Strawther. “NewspaperArchive.com will scan and index those issues as a pilot to verify our potential costs. The plan is for individuals or a business to be able to ‘sponsor’ the digitization of a single year.” Strawther added that as a membership perk all Foundation members will have access to the digitized newspapers.
“We have also been working with the publishers of The Sun to digitize their archives. The Sun goes back to its 1969 roots as The Journal, but its owner, Community Media, also owns the News-Enterprise which published Seal Beach editions from 1961 until around 1995. We are also working on digitizing other local papers like the Coastal Pilot, the Marina News, the Mariner and the Seal Beach Surf & Sun,” said Strawther.
Other projects on the wish list include partnerships with other local groups.
“Local surf groups have told us they would like to put a statue of Rich Harbour near the pier. I immediately thought why not expand it to include a Seal Beach Surfing Hall of Fame? Seal is second to none in its surfing roots — from the first competition involving a surfboard (1914), the first national surfing champs (Jack and Mike Haley) iconic shapers like Harbour and Ole Olson, the inventor of board shorts (Kanvas by Katin), , and other iconic surf people like John Severson (Surfing Magazine), Bruce Brown (filmmaker, Endless Summer), Sean Collins, Robert August and so many great surfers,” said Strawther.
“Besides, doing it like this brings in the energy and support of a lot of people beyond Seal Beach,” said Strawther.
Other possible partnerships might be with the Seal Beach Womens’ Club to come up with an annual list of Five or Ten local women who made a difference.
“We don’t always have to be the group that does something. We can also be effective as a group that help gets it done,” said Strawther.
