Author: Tracy Smith Falk

Vietnamese Heritage Museum Founder and President, Chau Thuy will discuss “The Vietnamese Diaspora and Little Saigon”, at the next meeting of the Orange County Historical Society, on Thursday, November 13, 2025, at 7:30p.m., at Trinity Episcopal Church, 2400 N. Canal St., in Orange. The public is welcomed.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War and of the beginnings of the Vietnamese American community in the part of Orange County we now know as Little Saigon.

photo courtesy of U.S. Marine Corps in Japan

After the fall of Saigon, USMC Camp Pendleton served as America’s first Vietnamese refugee camp. Soon, church groups in the heart of nearby Orange County began sponsoring many of those refugees. Many families settled permanently in Westminster, Garden Grove and surrounding cities, building a new community which attracted still more displaced people. Today, Orange County’s Little Saigon is a thriving commercial and cultural center and home to the largest Vietnamese community outside Vietnam.

A survivor of a harrowing boat escape from Vietnam to Thailand, Chau Thuy’s personal journey fuels his deep passion for cultural preservation and education. He is an artist, author, and engineer dedicated to preserving the history and legacy of the Vietnamese diaspora. He’s committed himself to safeguarding and sharing the stories of resilience, sacrifice, and survival that define the Vietnamese refugee experience. His books about the Vietnamese “boat people” include Vực Xoáy and Bloodstained Sea. He is also an expert in Vietnamese calligraphy and his artwork has been exhibited at numerous universities and museums and at the State Capitol in Sacramento.

His vision is to establish a permanent institution that preserves and amplifies the history of Vietnamese refugees worldwide, ensuring their struggles and triumphs remain a vital part of the global narrative. To learn more about the Vietnamese Heritage Museum, please visit their website at:  https://vietnamesemuseum.org.

Please join the Orange County Historical Society in welcoming Vietnamese Heritage Museum Founder and President, Chau Thuy as he helps us all learn and understand more about  “The Vietnamese Diaspora and Little Saigon”, at the next Society meeting, on Thursday, November 13, 2025, 7:30p.m., at Trinity Episcopal Church, 2400 N. Canal St., in Orange. We look forward to seeing you!

Local historian Chris Jepsen will discuss “Rudy Boysen and the Boysenberry” at the October 9, 2025 meeting of the Orange County Historical Society, held 7:30 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church, 2400 N. Canal St., in Orange. The event is open to the public.

The Boysenberry’s story is so improbable, it’s surprising it survived to go into commercial production. The tale winds across California like a vine – from Merced County, to Napa, to Fullerton, to Buena Park, to Tustin, and to Anaheim where Rudy Boysen (1895-1950) became the city’s beloved Parks Director. Come learn about the Boysenberry, the creative and hardworking Mr. Boysen, the critical contributions of Walter Knott, and how the berry – after nearly disappearing from the world at least twice – is making another comeback.

Chris Jepsen is the longtime president of the Orange County Historical Society and an independent historian. He’s a frequent lecturer; has created museum exhibits and historical tours; and has written for historical journals, magazines, and his own blog: The O.C. History Roundup. He wrote the first significant article about Rudy Boysen and the Boysenberry for OCHS’ journal, Orange Countiana, (Vol. XII, 2016,) and continues to research the subject today.

Author and journalist Nate Jackson will discuss the era of Orange County’s punk and third-wave ska scene (1978-2000) at the September 11, 2025 meeting of the Orange County Historical Society, 7:30p.m., at Trinity Episcopal Church, 2400 N. Canal St., in Orange. Jackson will focus on the historical and musical roots that led to this creative explosion of rock-and-roll amid the relative calm of surburbia. This event is open to the public.

The Orange County punk scene stands out as an undeniable trendsetter that helped define the sound and style of the rapidly evolving genre. From hard luck storytellers Social Distortion and multi-platinum sellers like The Offspring to cult heroes like The Adolescents and T.S.O.L., there’s much insight to gain from the story of this popular though often misunderstood music scene.

Nate Jackson is co-author of Tearing Down the Orange Curtain: How Punk Rock Brought Orange County to the World, with fellow journalist Daniel Kohn. The book explores the trajectory of punk and ska from their humble beginnings to their peak popularity years when their cultural impact was felt around the world. Delving deep into the personal and professional lives of local bands like Social Distortion, The Adolescents, The Offspring, and their ska counterparts No Doubt, Sublime, Reel Big Fish, Save Ferris, and more, this book gives readers a deeper look into the very human stories of these musicians, many of whom struggled with acceptance, addiction, and sometimes brutal teenage years.

Jackson was born in Orange County and came up in the local punk scene, playing in bands and rumbling through the mosh pit in warehouses, DIY venues, and clubs across SoCal. He is currently the Deputy Editor of entertainment at the L.A. Times. He was previously the Music Editor for OC Weekly and staff writer for the Times.

Please join us on September 11, 2025 at the meeting of the Orange County Historical Society, 7:30p.m., at Trinity Episcopal Church, 2400 N. Canal St., in Orange.

Historian Chris Jepsen will present “The Killing of Frank Wilson by Alfred Wolff at San Juan-by-the-Sea” at the next meeting of the Orange County Historical Society, May 8, 2025, 7:30 p.m., at Trinity Episcopal Church, 2400 N. Canal St., in Orange.  The public is welcome!

This is a colorful 1880s Wild West story that took place in what’s now Dana Point. This tale of ornery varmints and frontier justice includes a look at the Railroad Boom and one of the “lost” towns it briefly spawned.

On May 23, 1888, a strange “family” drove a wagon into the Santa Fe Railroad’s tiny beach resort town of San Juan-by-the-Sea, armed and looking to settle “unfinished business” with local fisherman and boozehound Frank Wilson. Leading the group was hot-tempered former graverobber Alfred R. H. Wolff. With Wolff was his wife, his wife’s lover (a wild-looking Swede), and a baby. After searching the saloons, they found Wilson in front of the Pioneer Hotel, where Wolff gunned him down in cold blood.

Jepsen will discuss not only the details of the crime, but also what led up to event (including earlier crimes), the unusual characters on both sides of the law, the now-forgotten “ghost town” in which it all occurred, the context of the fading “Wild West,” and the fates of the involved parties afterward.

Orange County historian Chris Jepsen is the longtime president of the O.C. Historical Society and has been involved in local history work for about 35 years. He’s a frequent lecturer; has created museum exhibits and historical tours; and writes for historical journals, magazines, and his own blog: The O.C. History Roundup.

Join us on May 8th, 7:30 p.m., at Trinity Episcopal Church, 2400 N. Canal St. 

Historian and Huntington Beach City Archivist Kathie Schey will tell stories of the many Huntington Beach residents of who served in World War I at the next meeting of the Orange County Historical Society, Thursday, April 10, 2025, 7:30 p.m., at Trinity Episcopal Church, 2400 N. Canal St., in Orange. The public is welcome!

American Legion Post 133 in Huntington Beach is among the oldest continually active posts in the nation and is only a few months younger than the Legion itself. It was built on a remarkable legacy of service: Those who left a sleepy coastal farm town to fight an international war they could never have imagined amidst the threat of an international pandemic.

The small group of veterans who founded Post 133 represented a cross-section of the community. One was an attorney, another a land developer and most of the rest had small businesses or farms. Some had seen the horrors of battle, while others hadn’t even made it off their troop transports. Each of their stories shine a light on the lived experience of that time.

More than one hundred local men joined the Service after the U.S. entered WWI in April 1917 – a staggering number for a tiny city less than a decade old. They served on land, on sea (and under it), and in the air. Most went to France while others were sent to China or were members of the occupying force in Germany.

Scouring newspapers, letters, diaries and more, their stories have unfolded. Among them, heroism in the sky, mastering new technologies, lying “doggo” in a muddy trench while artillery roared overhead, witnessing the burial at sea of a Spanish Influenza victim. Introductions to just a few examples follow:

• Three boyhood friends met serendipitously in a French battlefield, then separated, their fates unknown to each other and to their frantic families at home.
• Another soldier wrote to his father to watch for him in a newsreel.
• One infantryman disembarked at the very port his father immigrated from decades earlier.
• The first African American graduate of Huntington Beach High School was proudly assigned to one of only two Black units allowed to bear arms.

Some returned home to jubilant welcomes. Others returned in coffins. All their stories are worth knowing and sharing.

Kathie Schey is currently the Archivist of the City of Huntington Beach. She holds a master’s degree in history, receiving the Nicholas Perkins Hardeman Prize for her work. Subsequent awards include two nationally competed Visiting Research Fellowships. Kathie has served on numerous history-related boards – including OCHS – and holds certification in archives, historic preservation and urban planning.

Please join us to hear this important presentation on service given by Huntington Beach residents during the turbulent years of Word War I on  Thursday,  April 10, 2025, 7:30 p.m., at Trinity Episcopal Church, 2400 N. Canal St., in Orange. The public is welcome!

Hunter Fuentes will discuss “Paradise Found: Early Laguna Beach Architects and Their Work,” at the Orange County Historical Society on March 13, 2025, 7:30 p.m., at Trinity Episcopal Church, 2400 N. Canal St., in Orange. The public welcome!

Laguna Beach gained early fame as an art colony, but art is a very broad category. While most associate art with painting and sculpture, one could take inspiration from Frank Lloyd Wright’s assertion that “The mother art is architecture.” In the April 1944 edition of Architect and Engineer magazine Sewell Smith, A.I.A., wrote, “Laguna Beach in normal times has more smart architects per square inch than any place I’ve ever visited ….” This presentation celebrates the work of a few of those “smart architects” whose work helped transition a summertime campground of ramshackle cabins and tents into a year-round city with world class public and private architecture. These include Aubrey St. Clair, Charles A. Hunter, Manfred DeAhna, and Jean Louis Egasse.

Hunter Fuentes works in the real estate industry for Zillow and is a resident of Laguna Beach. He developed a passion for the coastal town and its historic housing many years ago and has created a website called “Historic Laguna” (www.historiclaguna.com). The website celebrates the architects and architecture that help give the city its distinctive charm and personality.

Please join us to learn more from Hunter Fuentes about “Paradise Found: Early Laguna Beach Architects and Their Work,” at the Orange County Historical Society on March 13, 2025, 7:30 p.m., at Trinity Episcopal Church, 2400 N. Canal St., in Orange. The public welcome!

Historian Paul R. Spitzzeri will present “What Do Brazil, Maui and Orange County Have in Common?  Some History of the Olinda Ranch and Oil Field,” at the February 13, 2025 meeting of the Orange County Historical Society, 7:30 pm, at Trinity Episcopal Church, 2400 N. Canal St., Orange.

In the 1880s, William H. Bailey bought land in what was still part of Los Angeles County (and is now part of Brea) and bestowed the name Olinda on his ranch. From there came a boomtown called Carlton and then Orange County’s first oil field with the moniker best known today with Brea-Olinda High School. Come learn some of the history of this northeastern corner of the county, including a display of artifacts related to the area.

Born in Chicago, raised in Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach and Placentia, and with a B.A. and M.A. in History from CSU Fullerton, Paul R. Spitzzeri is Museum Director at the Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum, where he’s worked since 1988. In addition to writing extensively about greater Los Angeles history, Paul, a resident of Carbon Canyon has delved deeply into the history of the Canyon and environs over the last twenty years and maintains the Carbon Canyon Chronicle blog.

We look forward to you joining us on Thursday, February 13, 2025 at the meeting of the Orange County Historical Society, 7:30 pm, at Trinity Episcopal Church, 2400 N. Canal St., Orange. The public is welcome!

Historians Christopher Merritt and J. Eric Lynxwiler will discuss their new book, “Knott’s Bear-y Tales: The Complete History of the Whimsical Attraction”, at the January 2025 meeting of the Orange County Historical Society on Thursday, January 9, 2025, 7:30p.m., at Trinity Episcopal Church, 2400 N. Canal St., in Orange. The story of this creative and well-remembered dark ride shines a light on a period of major change for Knott’s Berry Farm and for Orange County. The public is welcome!!!!

Designer and artist Rolly Crump came to Knott’s Berry Farm at the invitation of Marion Knott — one of the first top woman executives in a major Orange County business and was the first female head of a great American theme park. Marion Knott’s parents, Walter and Cordelia, had founded Knott’s Berry Farm decades before. Crump – long known as a prominent Disney Imagineer — was escaping the shadow of his previous employer and looking for an opportunity to spread his wings as a designer. Together these unlikely friends developed and organized a crew of talented artists to build a wild dark ride unlike anything seen (or smelled) before: Knott’s Bear-y Tales!

Christopher Merritt has more than thirty years of ride and show design experience, creating theme park attractions and environments around the world. He served as an Art Director and Production Designer at theme parks in California, Florida, Tokyo, Singapore, and Shanghai. His books include Pacific Ocean Park: The Rise and Fall of Los Angeles’ Space Age Nautical Pleasure Pier (2014), with co-author Domenic Priore, and Marc Davis in His Own Words: Imagineering the Disney Theme Parks (2019) with Pete Docter.

J. Eric Lynxwiler is an urban anthropologist and Knott’s Berry Farm historian. While attending UCLA, he spent one school year behind the counter of Knott’s electric shooting gallery and works today as a graphic designer on Farm signage, merchandise, and Knott’s Berry Market preserves. Lynxwiler has been a volunteer and Neon Cruise guide for the Museum of Neon Art in Glendale for 25 years. He has also co-authored books on the history of neon signs in Los Angeles and the history of Wilshire Boulevard.

Together, Merritt and Lynxwiler also wrote the critically acclaimed, “Knott’s Preserved: From Boysenberry to Theme Park, The History of Knott’s Berry Farm” (2010), which remains the leading book on the subject.

Knott’s Fans and everyone: Please join us on Thursday, January 9, 2025, 7:30p.m., at Trinity Episcopal Church, 2400 N. Canal St., in Orange!!