FOR A GOOD CAUSE -- Dave Gardner

Amy R. Spurgeon

Volunteering as president of the Costa Mesa Historical Society comes

naturally for 71-year-old Dave Gardner. After all, he has lived in the

city since before it was called Costa Mesa.

Gardner grew up in the late 1930s on wide open land where his family

raised chickens. In 1953, when the city incorporated, he served as one of

its first reserve police officers. At the time, the town had one police

chief, four full-time officers and five reserves.

“There wasn’t a lot of crime back then,” Gardner recalled.Gardner and

some other longtime residents have collected items from throughout the

city’s history and stored them in a wood-paneled, one-story building on

Anaheim Avenue and 19th Street -- a precious gem linking Costa Mesa to

its past.

Gardner and a few other volunteers spend one day a week cleaning the

building and organizing the materials. Since 1966, the group has rented

the building from the city for $1 a year.

The building is home to Indian artifacts, information on the Diego

Sepulveda Adobe Estancia, a library, a vault of historic photos and

countless displays detailing the Santa Ana Army Air Base.

Gardner and other volunteers give tours of the building on a weekly

basis.

“I have seen this area grow tremendously,” said Gardner. “Being here

allows me to reminisce with the old-timers and the articles that are in

the building.”

But the future of the historical society is what pains Gardner today. Due

to city renovations of the area, the historical society will be moved.

The question, Gardner said, is where.

Another concern is future membership.

“The old members are dying off and we’re not getting a whole lot of new

blood,” he said. “We are looking for younger members to carry on the

preservation of Costa Mesa.”

Gardner prefers to look back to the days when things were less

complicated. He remembers frozen Pepsis from Alvin Pinkley’s drug store,

Bing Crosby record albums, apple orchards and the swing era.

“We’ve got good shopping centers, good weather and too much traffic.

You’ve got to take the good with the bad,” he said. “But sometimes I sure

do long for the old days.”