Many guests come to the Homestead Museum seeking connections to the past. The historic houses and the artifacts provide guests with these connections. Guests have related to the 1920's GE refrigerator or the California cooler shelves next to the cold storage units. Some remember the old fuse boxes on display during the Behind The Scenes tours. Others have memories of making adobe bricks for their homes in Mexico.
As a volunteer for the last twelve years I have made my own connections and observations.
1. Sheet Music
About four years ago I posted a blog entry on the Homestead Museum's website about the importance of "paying attention" to everything around us, a concept drilled into us by parents, teachers, et al. The idea for the article came to me when I noticed sheet music in the Music Practice Room in LCN during a tour.
2. Don Julian Road
Many times I drove by the Museum wondering if Don Julian Road in the City of Industry was named for the 1950's doo wop singer of that name. Maybe Don Julian and the Meadowlarks were local talent. I was wrong.
3. Davidson Bricks
While leading a Behind The Scenes tour, I noticed a pile of red bricks in the basement of the Workman House. Those bricks were rescued from a property owned by Walter Temple and stored for later use. The bricks were made by Davidson Brickyard located in what is now Monterey Park. I had driven by the brickyard many times since I was a youngster.
4. Pyrennes Castle
The "Castle" in the city of Alhambra was built by Walter Temple's business associate, Silvestre Dupuy. Before it attained notoriety as the sight of a murder by Phil Spector, the Castle was briefly owned by my wife's godmother, the "anonymous woman" mentioned in the KCET article.
5. Orange Orchards
In the west room of the Workman House, there are several photos of Los Angeles and environs in the 1870's. One photo is of an orange grove, depicting the growing agricultural presence of Los Angeles and Southen California. One guest on my tour remarked to his daughter that her grandpa picked oranges. I told her that my grandfather had also picked citrus fruit and was listed as such in the 1930 Census in Corona, CA.
We all have many connections to people, places, and events here in Southern California, in other states, and in other countries.
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