Happening on a Historical Discovery in Santa Ana

A taco joint and ho-hum industrial parks are hardly what you’d expect to see when time traveling. Unless, of course, your journey takes you to Santa Ana’s Discovery Museum.

At the 11-acre facility, you step back nearly 100 years to Orange County’s infancy--a time when orange groves, not mini-malls, dominated the landscape, and fun-seeking families gathered around the Victrola instead of the VCR.

The Kellogg mansion, built in 1898 by Hiram Clay Kellogg, Santa Ana’s first city engineer, is the centerpiece of the museum. (Also on the property are a late-1800s water tower and farmhouse, both awaiting restoration, and a refurbished carriage barn that houses museum offices and meeting rooms.)

Fully restored by local volunteers, the two-story Victorian is filled with antique furnishings and hands-on exhibits that paint a vivid picture of Orange County life at the turn of the century. Docent-guided tours are available for groups each weekday, and twice daily to the public on weekends. Tours are also available for the physically and mentally impaired.

Begin your visit to the Kellogg house in the parlor, where guests can thump out a tune on a Civil War-era pump organ, crank up an old Victrola or tap-tap a telegraph message in Morse code. Then it’s on to the kitchen, where kids can puzzle over a display of odd-looking cooking gadgets or take part in a butter-making demonstration. On the porch, break out a tub and washboard for a hands-on lesson in early laundering techniques.

A pass through the unique oval-shaped dining room brings you to the home’s winding hand-carved staircase. Wrapped around a towering ship’s mast, it is one of the many nautical touches installed by the sea-loving Kellogg. In an upstairs bedroom, youngsters can compare the lifestyle of country folk to city dwellers in the late 1800s and early 1900s in a display of vintage photographs, branding irons and other memorabilia, and modern tract-house dwellers can learn the difference between a cupola and a finial in an architectural guessing game.

In the master bedroom, children can dive into a closet filled with reproductions of period costumes and hats, and view a collection of antique jewelry, accessories and grooming aids. Antique and reproduction toys await inquiring hands in the children’s room. Outside, in the shade of 126 tangerine, lemon, lime and orange trees, visitors can sample freshly picked fruit while learning more about the county’s agrarian roots.

According to program director Nancy Robins, the museum supplements its tours with monthly themed events. Sunday, Aug. 19, it’s “Art in the Garden,” which Robins describes as “a day for families to stroll the grounds, sip lemonade, sketch, paint or play a leisurely game of croquet . . . much the same way they would have at the turn of the century.”

Using the stately Kellogg House as their model, Diann Marsh and Stephanie Newsome, two local artists who specialize in rendering historic buildings, will demonstrate their skills and offer tips to visitors. A display of pen and ink sketches of historic houses will be on view, along with a collection of tintypes and cameras from the late 1800s.

Easels and art supplies will be available for the children. Visitors are encouraged to dress in period costume and bring a picnic lunch.

What: Discovery Museum of Orange County.

When: Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Docent tours offered at approximately 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.) Group tours are available by appointment on weekdays.

Where: 3101 W. Harvard St., Santa Ana.

Whereabouts: San Diego Freeway to Fairview. Head north to Harvard, turn left.

Wherewithal: $1 for adults, 50 cents for children.

Where to Call: (714) 540-0404.

MORE FUN STUFF:

Costa Mesa Sister Cities and the city will team Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 18 and 19, to present “Summer Festival ‘90,” a carnival featuring food, fun and crafts at Lion’s Park, 570 W. 18th St., Costa Mesa. Highlights include an arts and crafts area for kids. Open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days. Admission: free. (714) 241-8829.

The Bobby Matos Heritage Ensemble fires up the El Paseo Spurgeon stage in Santa Ana’s Fiesta Marketplace (Fourth and Spurgeon streets) Sunday, Aug. 19, with a free concert of Afro-Cuban jazz. The nine-man ensemble will perform sets from 3 to 6 p.m. as part of the retail center’s Summer Fiesta. (714) 550-0910.

Free admission and a family art workshop are offered Sunday, Aug. 19, at the Newport Harbor Art Museum (850 San Clemente Drive) as part of Mervyn’s Fund Day Sunday series. Children ages 4 and up and their parents can work side by side on an environmentally themed mural, begining at 2 p.m. (Pre-registration is suggested.) Admission passes are available at Mervyn’s stores. Museum hours: Tuesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (714) 759-1122.