Water Tower House in Seal Beach pumps imaginations
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Good morning. It’s Friday, Aug. 26. I’m Carol Cormaci, bringing you today’s TimesOC newsletter with the latest roundup of news and events.
So, a few of us were talking around the Zoom water cooler yesterday about the recent sale of the iconic Water Tower House in Seal Beach.
I think it’s fair to say all three of us engaged in the conversation (a sidebar to an otherwise tedious work meeting) were slightly envious of Dr. Gregg DeNicola. The Orange County man has a bent for historic preservation so he and his wife, Mary, purchased the iconic property for a cool $4.5 million.
We co-workers could see ourselves — if only we could have coughed up the purchase price — lounging up there in the sky at the top of the 87-foot-tall structure built in 1892. Cocktails in hand, we would take in the vista, which naturally includes Catalina Island in the backdrop.
The only real concern expressed was what we would do if a good-sized earthquake rumbled along. Had the structure been braced properly for such an eventuality? We concluded it must have been and continued our musings of how it could make a great place for a vacation stay. I like the fact there’s an elevator servicing all the floors. Why walk up all those levels if one doesn’t have to?
The history of the property, transformed decades ago from a utilitarian building to a home by another man, George Armstrong, is detailed this week in this story by my colleague Sarah Mosqueda.
Gregg DeNicola explained to Mosqueda the tower was originally built by Southern Pacific Railroad to supply water to the steam engines traveling from Santa Barbara to San Diego. Every 10 miles or so, the trains needed to be refueled with water to create steam. “There were actually dozens of these built along the coast,” DeNicola said.
In her report we learn Armstrong, a math professor at Long Beach City College who as a teenager had worked across the street from the tower, sprang into action to save it when the city was considering dismantling it in the 1970s.
Armstrong persevered through some challenges, including a round with the Coastal Commission, before transforming the derelict water tower into a house. It became his residence in the mid-1980s and changed hands in 1992 and then again in 2016. The partners who most recently sold it to the DeNicolas, real estate investors Scott Ostlund and Barret Woods, readied it for vacationers looking for a unique place in the sun.
DeNicola told Mosqueda he plans to continue to make the house available as a vacation rental, when his family is not putting it to use. The property has had four renters since DeNicola acquired it.
“The summer rate is $1,400 a night with a two-night minimum,” DeNicola said.
Well, there you have it. Maybe my colleagues and I will one day be able to check it out. Strictly for a vacation, of course. No Zoom meetings allowed. (My rule, not DeNicola’s.)
MORE NEWS
— Health officials confirmed Wednesday the first Orange County case of monkeypox infection in a child. At least five other juvenile monkeypox cases have been reported in California. The youth illnesses make up about .2% of the state’s total cases of monkeypox, which have now surpassed 3,000, state data show. In Orange County, officials had confirmed 126 cases as of Wednesday.
— The two-year legal fight against Los Angeles County is over for plaintiffs Vanessa Bryant and Chris Chester, who sued the county after they learned sheriff’s deputies had shared graphic photos of the February 2020 helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and eight others. Bryant and Chester, both of Orange County, were awarded a total of $31 million Wednesday by a jury. An in-depth look at the case and how Bryant and Chester prevailed in court amid shifting stories from sheriff’s personnel who had been at the scene of the crash can be found here. Vanessa Bryant on Thursday announced through her lawyer that her share of the verdict proceeds, $16 million, will go to Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation.
— Houston-based Amplify Energy Corp., the company that operates the oil pipeline that sent at least 25,000 gallons of crude gushing into the waters off Orange County beaches in a spill last October has tentatively agreed to settle more than a dozen lawsuits brought by Orange County business owners and residents. The settlement agreements still require court approval.
— Sandra Quinones, then 28, was pregnant and in Orange County jail in March 2016 for a probation violation when her water broke. Deputies took two hours to respond to the homeless woman’s call for help, then stopped at Starbucks on the way to the hospital; Quinones lost the pregnancy. On Tuesday, the Orange County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to pay Quinones $480,000 to settle a federal lawsuit over delayed medical treatment during the emergency.
— A six-hour standoff Tuesday with law enforcement ended with a Laguna Beach resident being taken into custody on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and attempted murder. Shaun Brant, 31, who authorities said is on formal probation, is accused of committing assault on his aunt.
LIFE & LEISURE
— The new library lecture hall in Newport Beach will be named Witte Hall in honor of supporter Martin Witte after having received the blessings of the City Council this week. The Newport Beach Public Library Foundation director of programs, Kunga Wangmo-Upshaw, confirmed the foundation received a commitment of $4 million from Bill Witte and Keiko Sakamoto to finance the construction of the $12.8-million building. The project is expected to break ground in 2023.
— Laguna Beach’s Sawdust Art Festival held its 42nd annual art auction to benefit the Artists’ Benevolence Fund earlier this month, and festival officials have reported it was the most successful to date. Any Laguna Beach-based artist who finds themselves in need can apply for a grant of up to $5,000. “For me, it’s a way of opening our hearts to artists who are in desperate straits,” Jay Grant, a former president of the Sawdust Festival, said.
—Dr. Diana Ramos, a Laguna Beach resident and adjunct professor at the USC Keck School of Medicine, was appointed by the governor yesterday as the state’s next surgeon general. Ramos, 55, currently serves as a public health administrator at the California Department of Public Health’s Center for Healthy Communities.
SPORTS
— As the word spread of Arte Moreno’s announcement Tuesday he would consider selling the Angels, my colleague Hannah Fry ventured out to get the reaction of longtime Angels fans. The bottom line is that they think a parting of the ways from Moreno’s ownership might not be a bad idea, but they hope whoever buys the team keeps it in Anaheim. “If they move, it would bum out a lot of people,” one 30-year-old fan, AJ Parmar, told Fry. “The Angels have been here for a long time, and there’s a lot of pride around here for the team. It’s part of the identity here.”
CALENDAR THIS
— Wiener Dog Races are on this Sunday from noon to 2:30 p.m. at Old World Village, 7561 Center Ave., Huntington Beach. Biergarten, dog races, food, arts and crafts. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit the event’s website.
KEEP IN TOUCH
If you have a memory or story about Orange County, I would love to read and share it in this space. Please try to keep your submission to 100 words or less and include your name and current city of residence.
I’d appreciate your help in making this the best newsletter it can be. Please send news tips, your memory of life in O.C., or comments to carol.cormaci@latimes.com.
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