Don’t miss this great lecture—February 23rd!


John Spreckels’ San Diego & Arizona Railway: The Impossible Railroad


While many Coronado residents associate turn-of-the-last- century businessman John D. Spreckels with ownership of the Hotel del Coronado, Tent City and North Island, and know of his many contributions to Coronado and San Diego, fewer are aware of the Coronado resident’s other businesses. One of Spreckels’ biggest achievements was the construction and operation of a railroad between San Diego and El Centro in East County’s Imperial Valley. To scale the mountains, almost one-third of the line was routed through Mexico.


On February 23, in an illustrated lecture at the Museum, Reena Deutsch, PhD, will recount the story of Spreckels’ railroad and display dramatic images of the twelve-year construction and nearly 100 years of operation of this 148- mile long calamity-plagued San Diego & Arizona (Eastern) Railway, also known as the “Impossible Railroad.” Built by Spreckels in 1907–1919, it is still in service.


A plethora of natural and other disasters – war, fires, landslides, the devastating 1916 Hatfield flood and 1976’s Hurricane Kathleen – repeatedly halted construction or operations and damaged or collapsed carefully engineered tunnels and numerous trestles. This special program will highlight these adversities and demonstrate why the SD&A(E) proved to be Spreckels’ biggest challenge.


Dr. Deutsch does medical research at the University of California, San Diego. She is interested in the colorful history of the San Diego and Arizona (Eastern) Railway and has presented slide shows on its history since 2000. She is a volunteer leader, guide, coordinator and presenter of many outings/tours/programs for non-profit organizations and currently serves as a Board member for the Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association and the San Diego Model Railroad Museum. Her book, San Diego and Arizona Railway: The Impossible Railroad, was published this year.


This free event will take place in the Lecture Hall at the Museum. To make reservations, call (619) 435-7242.


La Jolla Historical Society Unveils WWII Exhibit


On December 7, 2011, the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the La Jolla Historical Society opened Homefront La Jolla: An American Community during World War II, a new exhibit about that turbulent time from the town’s perspective.


The exhibit features original and reproduction images and artifacts, giving visitors a sense of what La Jolla looked like during the war years. Individual stories drawn from an oral history project convey how residents dealt with the cultural, economic and emotional effects of being a small community in a world at war.


The stories are rich with descriptions of wartime experiences, such as the McAllister brothers finding each other while serving in different units during the war in the Pacific, or Aurelia Brown, who worked for Civil Defense and scanned the La Jolla night skies for enemy aircraft.


Camp Callan was a U.S. Army anti-aircraft artillery replacement training center that was operational during World War II. It was located in La Jolla, but was closed after the war ended. Few traces of the former base can be seen today.


On March 9, 2012, the Coronado Historical Association will open a similar exhibit reflecting our own perspective: Coronado on the Frontline: 1942-1945. (See story on page 3.) LJHS and CHA, along with the Japanese American Historical Association of San Diego are participating in a joint promotional campaign designed to reach a broad San Diego audience interested in how local communities responded to our nation’s entrance into WWII after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Homefront La Jolla can be explored in the LJHS’s Wisteria Cottage, 7846 Eads Avenue, La Jolla,


from 12 noon to 4 p.m., Thursdays-Sundays until May 27, 2012. Admission is free. 4 www.coronadohistory.org


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12