In Moving Ahead, Don’t Neglect History : Howe-Waffle House Needs a Site and Casa Romantica’s Murals Merit Preservation

In a county where so many of the homes, malls and residents seem to have arrived only the day before yesterday, local history could be one of the shorter courses in school. There are no Revolutionary War or Civil War graveyards or battlefields, as there are back East, no Plymouth Rock.

But there are links with the past, some of them easy to see, others now faded. Hanging on to them is worthwhile, as residents in two Orange County communities are demonstrating.

The Howe-Waffle house in Santa Ana was built in 1889, when Queen Victoria ruled England and Orange had just split off from Los Angeles to become its own county.

The two-story, turreted building is headquarters of the Santa Ana Historical Preservation Society, which is fitting. But the county owns the land under the house and is looking to sell the land to make money. The society plans to raise funds with the worthy goal of buying the land or, if it can’t come up with the money, finding a way to move the house somewhere else.

Farther south, in San Clemente, history buffs are facing a similar fund-raising chore, this one to restore two murals in an outdoor courtyard of Casa Romantica, the house originally owned by Ole Hanson, the founder of the city.

The murals, commissioned as the Roaring ‘20s were drawing to a close, have faded greatly in recent years. One mural depicts people in an open-air marketplace; the other shows Spanish galleons at anchor in a bay. Both are the work of Norman Kennedy, a noted muralist. Local historical society members said it could cost $7,000 or more to save the works of art. A related problem will be restoring Casa Romantica itself, a job estimated at hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Orange County’s recent progress in creating jobs, culture and recreational opportunities need not come at the expense of neglecting its history.