Costa Mesa’s history keepers celebrate diamond jubilee in weekend slate of events

The Costa Mesa Historical Society celebrated its 60th anniversary in whirlwind fashion last weekend, hosting a series of events that honored the city’s civic and cultural past through music, food, museum exhibits and local speakers.

Festivities began Saturday morning on the grounds of the 203-year-old Diego Sepulveda Adobe at Estancia Park, perched above the Santa Ana River on land once occupied by the Tongva and Acjachemen peoples.

Members of the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians Acjachemen Nation on Saturday offered a blessing and land acknowledgment, inviting participants to join a sage circle and learn more about the native plant and its ceremonial significance.

Members of the Grupo Bella mariachi group perform outside Costa Mesa’s Diego Sepulveda Adobe Saturday.

(Courtesy of Costa Mesa Historical Society)

Local museums and nonprofit organizations set up booths around the adobe, while attendees enjoyed food, mariachi music and free tours of the lovingly restored clay-brick structure that long served as a waystation for Spanish missionaries and cattle ranchers.

The building housed the family of a land foreman employed by the Segerstrom family, which purchased the property in 1940, and remained a residence until it was donated to the city in 1963. One of the members of the family, Francis Alcala, found several relics on the grounds.

“A lot of what we have on display at the adobe today is what they found,” said Costa Mesa Historical Society President Mikelle Fish, adding that the adobe was the perfect site for the anniversary, since the society was formed in 1966 to preserve and support it.

Vicki Acala Kelly, left, and Lynn Acala pose Saturday with a plaque honoring their mother, Francine Alcala, who lived in the Diego Sepulveda Adobe until 1963. The plaque will be hung inside the historic house.

(Courtesy of the Costa Mesa Historical Society.)

“It’s such a beautiful location. It recently celebrated 200 years, and we’ve been taking care of it for 60 of those years.”

The weekend’s festivities on Sunday shifted to the group’s Anaheim Avenue headquarters, where locals enjoyed new museum exhibits highlighting 75 years of early elementary school history and remembrances of the 1968 Newport Pop Festival and women of the Santa Ana Army Airbase.

The crowd reconvened at an evening gala at the Norma Hertzog Community Center, where a panel discussion featured former Costa Mesa Mayor Mary Hornbuckle, Newport-Mesa Unified School District administrator Megan Elsten Brown and former pro surfer-turned-artist Ben Brough.

For those who attended, the slate of events was a fitting homage to the people, places, and stories that have shaped the local community, according to Fish.

“The energy was great,” she said. “Seeing everything that we have here, it’s crazy.”

The Costa Mesa Historical Society celebrated 60 years of preservation Saturday at the city’s centuries old Diego Sepulveda Adobe.

(Courtesy of Costa Mesa Historical Society)