When Chris Lobo, a member of the Acjachemen tribe, came into the Laguna Woods History Center to speak to CEO Dean Dixon recently, it was a lucky day for the Village.
Born in 1968 in San Juan Capistrano, Lobo appeared just as the center was putting together the third of its 60th anniversary celebratory exhibits, titled “Celebrating the Celebrations.”
“He came in out of the blue because he had just moved in here with an older relative and wanted some information,” said Gail Dixon, chief financial officer and organizer of the center’s exhibits. “It was a dream come true to have him arrive when he did.”
Lobo offered a number of photographs of tribe members, including a long rectangular one of the 1930 class at Sherman Institute in Riverside, where an older relative had boarded with hundreds of other Native American children.
The History Center was eager to present information about the people who inhabited the land long before Villagers did, Gail Dixon said.
Displays explain that the area’s geological history can be traced back 65 million years to a time when it was at the bottom of an ocean.
The Acjachemen lived where the Village sits about 16,000 years ago among hundreds of settlements on the west side of the Santa Ana mountains. The Tongva was another hunter/gatherer tribe that inhabited this area, according to History Center research.
The Village’s 60th anniversary has been celebrated throughout 2024 at the History Center, where the third and final exhibit has just been mounted. It will run until December. The first two four-month exhibits covered the history of the land the Village was built on and the construction of the community.
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The new exhibit highlights all the milestone years in Village history that have been celebrated in the past, according to the Dixons. Artifacts and mementos fill the display cabinets at the front of the center.
“Ten families moved into their manors on Sept. 10, 1964, when Phase 1 opened,” said Dean Dixon.
The community – founded by Ross Cortese and known at the time as Rossmoor Leisure World – was the first planned community in Orange County. Celebrations of its opening have taken place every 10 years as well as on the 25th and 45th anniversaries. The new exhibit includes artifacts and mementoes that relate to those festive occasions.
The walls around Phase 1 were incomplete when the community opened in 1964, but Gate 1 was ready with its first security officer, Nate Willner.
Another 18 years were needed to complete about 2,500 residential buildings, with close to 13,000 manors, along with all the clubhouses, swimming pools and other amenities that give life in the Village its pizzazz. The last manor units were built in the 1980s.
The 10th anniversary celebrations included fireworks and a gala party featuring Myron Floren and other personalities from the Lawrence Welk TV show. Grand Marshall Dale Evans led a parade with 63 entries along a 1.8-mile parade route that ran past the reviewing stand situated where the History Center now exists, next to the Village Library.
Ten years later, celebrations included three talent shows, a Grand Promenade of International Costumes and tournaments for lawn bowling, tennis, table tennis and golf. A black-tie Founders Day event honored people who held important positions when the Village opened. Grand Marshall Dr. George Fischbeck, a local TV personality, led a 90-entry parade. Fireworks culminated the week.
For the 25th anniversary in 1989, TV star Art Linkletter headed up a testimonial dinner dance. Parades and fireworks were again part of the festivities.
For the 30th anniversary, a golf tournament and awards dinner led the way, followed by a performance by Patti Page in Clubhouse 3. There was no parade or fireworks display that year.
The 40th anniversary was celebrated in similar style, while the 45th recognized the change of name from Leisure World to Laguna Woods Village after legal battles with the Cortese family.
For the Village’s golden anniversary, celebrations were held throughout 2014. On the actual anniversary, Sept. 10, a black-tie gala dinner was held. The Historical Society of Laguna Woods (as the History Center was then named) raised funds to offset the costs of publishing “Laguna Woods Village at 50 Years 1964-2014” to keep the sales price at $50 per book, rather than the actual cost of $135, and sold out its entire run.
One of the hard-to-acquire books holds pride of place in the cabinets.
The 60th anniversary celebration took place Sept. 9 with a host of festivities in Clubhouse 2. Perhaps mementoes of this celebration will make their way into a future display at the Village History Center.
