Science Center Gets $2-Million Gift--and Opening Date

The Discovery Science Center will open in Santa Ana on Dec. 19, two months behind schedule but $2 million richer, center officials said Saturday.

The announcement of the opening date came during a black-tie fund-raiser at the nearly completed hands-on science museum, which inhabits an overhauled two-story furniture store just north of the Santa Ana Freeway on North Main Street.

The opening was delayed by El Nino rains and reconstruction snags, said spokeswoman Pam Shambra, adding that prominent Orange County philanthropists John and Donna Crean on Saturday announced a $2-million gift to the facility, marking its largest single donation from private citizens.

About 350,000 people a year are expected to visit the 59,000-square-foot center, where they will be able to experience simulated earthquakes and tornadoes, build their own space rovers or lie on a bed of 3,500 nails. Officials estimate that one-third of all visitors will be schoolchildren from throughout Southern California on field trips.

Center administrators, who kicked off reconstruction on the long-vacant former Barker Bros. furniture store last November, have raised $23.8 million, Shambra said, including $6.75 million from the state and the new Crean donation. The nonprofit facility will have a $3.5-million annual operating budget.

Saturday’s $200-a-plate gala, scheduled as a grand-opening party months before delays set in, drew more than 600 people, among them Gov. Pete Wilson, who did the ribbon cutting, and his wife, Gayle; Marian Bergeson, the governor’s top schools advisor; and Santa Ana Mayor Miguel A. Pulido Jr.

The center will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, except major holidays.