CLIPBOARD

The story of central Fullerton begins in the late 1800s with a wild idea, smuggled contraband, a couple of miscalculations and a little know-how--mixed in with pure dumb luck. Oh yes, and a couple dozen ostriches. Squawking, squealing, cantankerous ostriches.

What started off as a moneymaking scheme stumbled into an odd marriage of entrepreneurship and the razzle-dazzle of a P.T. Barnum production.

The big birds were prized for their plumage--those fluffy tail decorations looked splendid on women’s hats and fetched $5 for a single 16-inch feather. At the time, though, the only place from which to obtain the exotic finery was South Africa.

In 1881, figuring a feather operation closer to home could be very profitable, an enterprising doctor named Prothers managed to smuggle 50 ostriches out of South Africa.

The ostriches landed in Galveston, Tex. By the time the birds were moved to San Francisco the following year, half the flock had died. An Orange County syndicate bought the survivors a few months later for $21,000 and moved them to Buena Park.

The birds did not flourish as expected until 1886, when former Capetown resident Edward Atherton arrived. He quickly declared the Buena Park ranch unsuitable for proper nesting and moved the thrice-displaced birds to a 38-acre ranch in central Fullerton, near what is now Acacia Avenue and Dorothy Lane.

The birds were considerably happier in their new environment, as evidenced by their mating calls heard 6 miles away. Atherton built an elaborate incubator to hatch the three-pound eggs, but a miscalculation in how warm to keep the unit resulted in 40 ostrich omelets; the heat was turned down a bit, and the following year Atherton had successfully hatched 50 chicks. By 1889, the Fullerton ranch was home to 127 of the flightless birds, earning the dubious distinction of becoming “the ostrich capital of the continent.”

As the ostrich population grew, so did outside curiosity. Paying tourists and locals never tired of gawking at the fowl antics of the 7-foot-tall ostriches sprinting across the compound at more than 40 m.p.h. Children stared wide-eyed as the oversize poultry swallowed oranges, rocks and debris, all of it easily trackable as the items traveled down their elongated necks.

The ranch did a booming business for several years until the fickle haberdashery market decided the plumes were passe. In 1912, Atherton sold his flock, keeping a few for pets, and officially got out of the bird business with a very nice nest egg.

Shortly after the oddball ostrich episode, the community shifted from carnival to conservative. And right on cue, one of Fullerton High School’s most famous students arrived on the scene in 1926, scrubbed and ready to take his place in history.

“When Dick first showed up on the campus, the thing I remember so well about him was his heavy shock of black curly hair and his gray cords,” said James Grieves of high school classmate Richard Milhous Nixon, in an interview for the Oral History Program at Cal State Fullerton.

But it is Grieves’ observation of an adolescent Nixon trying out for the football team that is perhaps most indicative and almost prophetic of the 37th President.

“I don’t know of a guy that took a more terrific beating than Dick did,” Grieves said. “He was persistent, and he tried with every ounce of strength he had, but he just didn’t seem to have the feel for it. But it still didn’t discourage him. He kept coming out. He doesn’t know the meaning of give up or defeat. (He has) a natural tendency toward tenaciousness, and like the old saying, ‘Stick to it like a pup to a root.’ ”

Nixon has long since left Fullerton High, long since left the presidency, but the quiet little neighborhood where two-thirds of the households earn more than $50,000 yearly has remained staunchly Republican for years now.

Today the area is predominantly residential, except for a few professional businesses along Chapman Avenue, two elementary schools, a high school and Fullerton College.

And from birds to brains, through scandal and triumph, central Fullerton has rolled with the punches from a quirky past to evolve into the staunchly conservative burg it is today.

Population Total: (1990 est.) 4,195 1980-90 change: +4.9% Median Age: 37.7

Racial/ethnic mix: White (non-Latino): 84% Latino: 6% Black: less than 1% Other: 10%

By sex and age: MALES Median age: 36.3 years FEMALES Median age: 39.1 years

Income Per capita: $23,189 Median household: $62,393 Average household: $70,460

Income Distribution: Less than $25,000: 12% $25,000-49,999: 22% $50,000-74,999: 33% $75,000-$99,999: 16% $100,000 and more: 17%