Save our heritage

While bringing performances of classical culture to Seal Beach is my mission, arts culture and historic culture go hand in hand so I have a few comments regarding the Little Blue House and its relocation.

Historic community buildings, neighborhoods and landscapes embody the intentions, assumptions, and the lives of those who built or lived or worked in them.

They have stories to tell about what the community was and how it became what it is and that helps us to understand who we are.

Preserving these buildings and stories are an important part of the building of a healthy community,

Historic value resides in the historical element itself.  It may be an example of a style of architecture or simply of age, as is the case of The Little Blue House, at 115 years old.

The house was unremarkable when it was built, but it has gained historical value because it’s lasted and is probably the last beach house standing.

In simple terms, preservation of this little treasure, means safeguarding the existence and appearance of one of the most significant and endearing elements of the Seal Beach community. Every city has its unique identity. Seal Beach is defined by its beautiful beach and quaint “Mayberry by the Sea” ambiance.  The Little Blue House represents the beginning of Seal Beach’s identity:  a tiny seacoast village evolving over a more than 100-year time span to today’s  much larger village  that represents small town America at its best.

Placing it on the green belt, next to the Red Car Museum, another Seal Beach treasure, will enhance both entities, linking them together with a common historical heritage and very importantly, will truly bring a greater meaning to the city’s Heritage Park.  In Old Town, they can become “made in heaven” tourist attractions this centennial year and in the years to come.

If the good folk in Seal Beach wish to have a future with greater meaning, they must concern themselves with its heritage and all that is worth preserving from its past as a living part of the present. The Little Blue House relocated, restored and prominently displayed on the green belt with easy access by residents as well as visitors, is an important and judicious beginning.