PROFILE
barrels of aging homemade wine. Formerly ensconced in their predominant
El Camino Real property, the Historical Society now eyes the previously occupied Chamber of Commerce building on El Camino Real for po- tential housing. For now, the greater part of the recorded century lies in public storage, on built in stacks reaching over head-high. We sat down with Mr. Culbertson to dis-
cuss the history of San Clemente and its no- tably eccentric founder, and why Spanish Colonial architecture is still very much a part of our future.
At Home with story & photos by Tyler Kindred O
n the southern side of town, nestled between two winding roads, sits a white, two-story adobe dwelling. Ap-
pearing to be a historical landmark, the prop-
When did you’re involvement with the San Clemente His- torical Society begin? About 2004. I saw that the Historical So-
Larry Culberston Historical Society President
Larry at home, a beautiful Spanish Revival design that his wife describes as ‘Ole Hanson on steroids.’
erty was actually built in 2007, inspired by many of southern California’s Spanish archi- tectural influences. The man behind the estate is Larry Culbertson, current president of the San Clemente Historical Society. Outside the abode, a patched scarecrow
watches over raised gardens accompanied by a Saint Mary statue in the front yard. Curved archways and wrought iron architecture gener- ate a familiar feel. ‘Ole Hanson on steroids…’ as Mrs. Culbertson puts it. Part Casa Romantica, part Smithsonian, a
walk inside seems like a jump from southern San Clemente to some Spanish-themed Wes Anderson film. Taxidermy boar and deer heads fill the rooms, amongst century-old family tree diagrams and historical relics of the sea-fairing kind.
An elevator ride one floor down leads to
the garage-housed San Clemente Historical So- ciety - a small part of it at least. Cabinets filled with folders of documents rest methodically and chronologically organized alongside several
ciety was having a meeting, and they got to- gether with a bunch of the old-timers, down at the old Robison house, and they shared stories. I found it interesting. They were looking for people to help out in various areas; they needed someone to help with the archives. I’ve always loved looking at the old pictures and reading the old documents. I’d go there once a week and help sort things out and catalogue things, and then they decided they needed someone to scan the photos. So I got involved in that, scanning hundreds of old photos that we had in the collection. The idea was to put it to- gether into a book, the Arcadia book, which we finally got put together.
Have you always been interested in History? Yes. I was raised in Long Beach, and my
mother was kind of a history buff. She would take us to the missions, and the old adobes and the ranchos. From the time I was a little boy I always had an interest in the ‘old’.
When did the San Clemente Historical Society begin?
Well, the society was founded in 1973. At that point in time the historic buildings were
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18 SAN CLEMENTE JOURNAL
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