Archival digging

June Casagrande

There are two kinds of people in the world: history buffs and

everybody else.

The former say things like, “Just give me a stack of old documents

to go through and let me at ‘em” while members of the latter group

scratch their heads in amazement.

Laura Dietz is a bona fide member of the history buffs group, a

former history major who’s thrilled to rifle through relics,

uncovering facts that fascinate throughout the ages. That’s why she

says she’s in her element as chairwoman of the History Committee for

the Corona del Mar Centennial celebration.

“Hey, if you’re a history major and love to sleuth, this job’s no

problem at all,” said Dietz, who once worked in the archives at the

Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

In her work for the upcoming centennial celebration, the Cameo

Shores resident works with a committee of about a half-dozen active

volunteers to make sure Corona del Mar’s 100th birthday celebration

includes a thorough look at a century of growth.

The committee is helping Corona del Mar High School students

conduct interviews with longtime locals, putting together suggestions

for items to be included in a time capsule and has assembled a

timeline of about 50 or 60 important moments in Corona del Mar’s

past.

To uncover facts for the timeline, Dietz spent a lot of time

rifling through records and photos of the Sherman Library and

Gardens, the First American Title Co. and the archives of Orange

County.

“She’s come across some pretty interesting things,” said Wade

Roberts, executive director of the Sherman Library and Gardens, which

records much of the village’s history.

For example, in 1931, workers began construction of an underwater

tunnel from the peninsula to Corona del Mar designed to draw

tourists. The 1932 Long Beach earthquake, however, inspired a change

of heart and the tunnel project was abandoned.

“There’s a lot of really neat stuff in the local history,” Dietz

said. “It’s been fun to uncover.”