Old Silo Brought Out of Storage

When I think of the back roads of my native Indiana, my mental image shows fence posts, a few grazing dairy cows, an old red barn and a huge grain silo. Always a silo.

An old wooden silo, covered with red-shingle siding like the one in my memories, is an exciting new addition to the attractions at the Orange County Fairgrounds. It was once a part of the old Buffalo Ranch near Ford Road and MacArthur Boulevard in Irvine.

The conical structure had been in storage since the Irvine Co. donated it to the fairgrounds and moved it there on a midnight run (to avoid traffic) in 1994. But recently it was moved to a prominent place at the fairgrounds’ Centennial Farm, a small working farm, which serves as an agricultural education site. Opened to the public in 1989, it brought in this past year a record 46,000-plus visitors, mostly schoolchildren on field trips.

The silo will be on display for the first time at the 1997 Orange County Fair, which starts July 11 and runs through July 27. After that, the plan is to refurbish the silo and make it a working part of the new educational center at the farm, which the Irvine Co. and the Orange County Farm Bureau have helped fund.

Built just after World War II, the silo was used mostly to store barley and other grains to feed livestock on the ranch. Construction of the San Joaquin Hills toll road forced the Irvine Co. to either tear it down or move it. The fairgrounds’ Centennial Farm seemed the proper place for it.

“We expect many people to enjoy seeing it, not just the children,” said James Bailey, Centennial Farm manager. “Many remember silos from times in their past.”

The first thing you notice about the silo is the set of circular windows around its top. Ranch officials had used that cupola for offices. Inside, you can see the original winding staircase that led to it. You also note that this silo is only two stories tall, whereas most are three stories or more. Bailey explained that the Buffalo Ranch silo had been cut down in size over the years.

But it remains a magnificent reminder of times past. If the youngsters don’t quite appreciate a silo’s role in our country’s farm history, their parents probably will.

Beware Call No. 2: A colleague of mine, Michael Granberry, recently wrote a penetrating story about an Orange County family, badly ripped off: A young daughter had called a toll-free psychic hotline. Unaware of the consequences, she dutifully dialed a second number, per instructions from the recorded voice on the toll-free call.

The second call was the non-toll-free killer, of course, and now the family is facing hundreds of dollars in charges from this mysterious psychic group.

Just one problem with Granberry’s story: My son, who is 14, didn’t read it. This week he made the exact same call.

A 14-year-old simply assumes the second number (which is an international number) is also toll free. Wrong. Now he is a member of some exotic-sounding psychic network, and his dues will be coming in by the batches on our next several telephone bills.

The night we found out about it, my wife and I immediately called the toll-free number to see just what our son had been advised about that second call. Guess what: The toll-free number had already been disconnected, in just the few hours since he had used it.

Suggestion: Warn your teenagers over dinner tonight that there is nothing free about most toll-free calls. There is always a catch.

Here is at least some good news we found out:

1) Pacific Bell officials told us: Don’t pay these rip-off people a dime. Not even the first bill, thinking that will be the end of it. Pac Bell estimates it could take us up to six months to shake these evil folk from our phone bill, but we shouldn’t give in.

2) Report these people immediately to the district attorney’s office. Deputy Dist. Atty. Bob Gannon, in charge of the fraud division, wants to know about them.

Well, Uh, Yeah, Well Sure: There is a scene in “It’s a Wonderful Life” in which George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart, is upset with mean old Mr. Potter. George’s father had just died and Mr. Potter said something disparaging about him and his management of Bailey Building & Loan.

George Bailey says look, his father was no businessman, everybody knew that. He didn’t make enough money to send even George’s brother to college, let alone George. But you can’t say anything against his character, Mr. Potter. The Building & Loan was his father’s life.

You don’t see that scene mentioned much in the annals of film history. But to me, it was Jimmy Stewart at his best. His talent as an actor was so enormous that he captured the heart of that great movie in that short, simple speech to old Mr. Potter.

Jimmy Stewart died on Wednesday. Hollywood will never see another one like him. A lot has been made of Stewart’s stammering, aw shucks style. But I’ll always remember something else about him.

No matter how huge a personality he was, or how much he played the same part in every movie, Jimmy Stewart’s brilliance was that he always sold you on the character he was portraying. It was George Bailey you loved. It was Mr. Smith in Washington you empathized with.

Jimmy Stewart didn’t make a bad movie because that would be the classic oxymoron. How could it not be good if Jimmy Stewart was in it?

Wrap-Up: There is something else very special about that old silo now at the fairgrounds. Something that makes it an incredibly rich part of this county’s history.

In the 1960s and early 1970s--long after the Buffalo Ranch had closed and the silo was in disrepair--famed architect William Pereira turned it into his office. It was from that circular perch, where he had a 360-degree view of Orange County and its coast, that Pereira laid out on his drafting table plans creating both the city of Irvine and the campus of UC Irvine.

If you’re at the fair this month, stop by the silo. You can see for yourself why Pereira loved the view it afforded him.

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling the Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823 or by fax to (714) 966-7711, or e-mail to jerry.hicks@latimes.com