Park Site Picked to Preserve History of Coastal Bunkers

As workers in Huntington Beach recently began dismantling a World War II bunker in Bolsa Chica, officials at Crystal Cove State Park began planning to preserve some of the history being lost to the battering ram.

A smaller bunker built into the hillside overlooking Abalone Point to spot and locate enemy ships will be made into an attraction for people interested in the history surrounding the defense of the coastline during the war, they said.

The bunker, a fire control station 10 miles down the coast from the larger building being demolished, is the last remaining Orange County structure in an elaborate defense system that stretched from just north of Laguna Beach to the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

“This was an important aspect of American military and political policy,” said MarkA. Berhow, a member of the Coast Defense Study Group who visited the site as part of a research project three years ago. “A fire control station can give graphic evidence of how things functioned.”

To help preserve the history of the bunker, the California Department of Parks and Recreation intends to maintain the fire control station--near an existing trail in Crystal Cove State Park--as a historic monument marked by a sign and documented in a field guide distributed to visitors.

“Human experience wants to be linked to the past,” said Alexa Luberski, a historian with the parks department. “It’s something that the majority of us need and want.”

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Completed in about 1943, the station--commanding a view of the coastline from Dana Point to Long Beach--was designed to house a crew of four to observe and take readings on enemy ships in conjunction with six other stations.

Based on readings taken at the various stations--many of them disguised as oil derricks--the gunners at the bigger bunker near the Bolsa Chica wetlands were then supposed to be able to aim their 16-inch guns with sufficient accuracy to blow the trespassing vessels out of the water.

The war ended before the station could be staffed.

For many years, the 19-by-16-foot structure languished unnoticed in a part of the park now closed because of storm damage. Buried eight feet underground with only its rusted steel hatch and observation window showing, the hidden station still contains two pedestals for instruments and indentations in its walls for telephones.

Park officials say they’ve been aware of it at least since 1981.

In 1988, a fire in the park burned away covering vegetation, making the structure more visible and creating renewed interest. And recently, Luberski said, park historians decided to begin documenting the old fire control station’s place in history, as well as marking its place on the trail.

“It’s because of all the World War II anniversaries,” she said, referring to the numerous 50th anniversary commemorations that have taken place. “I just have the feeling that folks are a little more interested in this war now.”

Park officials say they hope to publish a field guide featuring the observation station and have a marker in place within a few months.

“What we’d like to do is find someone who was in the area or involved in its construction,” said Rich Gilliland, a park researcher. “This is just a small part of the bigger picture.”

Local history buffs, smarting from the ongoing demolition at Bolsa Chica, said they are delighted that the county’s last remaining piece of coastal World War II history will soon be preserved.

“It will be something visual that people can go and appreciate and touch and experience,” said Bob Williams, a spokesman for the Sierra Club, which, along with other groups, sought unsuccessfully to stave off the destruction of the Bolsa Chica bunker. “That’s a lot different from seeing a picture.”

And, according to Berhow, those willing to make the half-mile uphill trek to the dugout will receive an additional benefit. “They never made one without a good view,” he said.