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Bill Evans: The Black-Hole Son

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Welcome to Ku Klux Kounty!

Fanning Elementary, Plummer Auditorium and other OC streets, parks and monuments named after local pioneers who were Klan members

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Edmund J. Finley and Tom J. Simmons, Santa Ana World War I Vets

Remember that controversy a couple of years ago, when the Southern Poverty Law Center released a report talking about the increase in white-power movements in the military, a report that conservatives immediately demonized to the point where the SPLC eventually had to backtrack on its findings even ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Burton Y. Neal, Yorba Linda Pastor

The First United Methodist Church in Yorba Linda has served the city's Methodists for 92 years now, and a good overview of it is in Yorba Linda: Its History, a book written in 1970. In it, author March Butz gives a thorough telling of the city's pioneer churches; with the Methodists, they first orga ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Eugene Edmund French and Harry E. Byerrum, Huntington Beach Mayor and Fullerton Parks Superindentent with Parks Named After Them

Do you ever really think about the names given to parks, specifically those named after people? Most of them are named after former city officials, whether mayors, councilmembers, pioneers, and the like. But Orange County being Orange County, you're going to have some parks named after Klan members, ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Harvy A. Stryker, Famous Dentist

In the world of dentistry during the 1920s, Harvey A. Stryker of SanTana was a bit of a superstar. His articles on the science of orthodontics appeared in the International Journal of Orthodontia, Oral Surgery and Radiography, The Journal of the National Dental Association, and the American Journal ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Walter Verne Whitson, Santa Ana Lumber Magnate

Dig around the histories of early SanTana and Tustin, and the name of Walter Verne Whitson will eventually pop up. He was second-in-charge of a Masonic lodge and owned Whitson Lumber Co., which helped to build homes in SanTana for decades. His wife was a beauty queen. He ran unsuccessfully for offic ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Joe H. Royer, Fullerton Oil Baron, Namesake of Street

In the 1920, what wasn't orange groves in North County was oil derricks, speculators, or plain ol' wildcatters. One of the big players in those days was the Royer family, for whom Royer Avenue in Fullerton is named after (technically, it's named after his brother Max, but hold on...). Joe was the ma ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Harry Ipsen and E.A. Long, Placentia Treasurer and Councilmember

Amazingly, for a city that was founded on apartheid, for a city that has the most severe Mason-Dixon line in Orange County, Placentia didn't have many Ku Klux Klan members during the 1920s.It wasn't as if the city's Mexicans and gabachos got along. In the 1930s, the city would explode with racial vi ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Emil Carlson, Brea Mayor/Fire Chief, Namesake of Street

Good news, pathetic fanboys: I just unearthed a treasure trove of papers that'll allow me to continue this series for couple more years! Yay!The problem with sussing out the OC pioneers from your average Klukker is that the master list only lists the names, addresses, and occupations of Klan members ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: A. Verd Napier and James E. Rymer, OC Newspapermen

And this series is BACK after my short hiatus...somewhere. Miss it, pathetic fanboys? Of course you did!Since I didn't do anything for two weeks, you get a two-fer: two pioneering Orange County newspapermen who were Klan members, although A. Verd Napier and James E. Rymer were hella difficult to une ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Dr. Walter W. Davis, Health Officer for Brea

First off, this column has finally been acknowledged for its nerdy brilliance with an award! The Orange County Press Club awarded me the "Real OC" award--essentially, the story that best tells the essence of Orange County. The panel of judges weren't OC reporters but rather outsiders, so they were r ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Lawrence A. Stevenson, Orange Councilmember

The surviving membership roster of the Orange County Ku Klux Klan during the 1920s isn't perfect. There are pages missing, not all the Klukkers have home addresses assigned to them, and some of the names are misspelled--which makes the mystery of finding out which local pioneer was Klan and which me ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Roscoe Gulick Hewitt, Former Chairman of the OC Republican Party Central Committee

"Child of father is man," goes that well-worn aphorism, and that was definitely the case for Roscoe Gulick Hewitt. He lived a good-enough life, finding a career as an agent for New York Life Insurance Company and being heavily involved with the Masons in SanTana, his hometown. His self-written biogr ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Oswald Richard Meissner, Brea Councilmember

All good things must eventually pass, and so it came to be that by the end of the 1920s, the power of the Ku Klux Klan in Brea was on the wane. They had a good run, having set up in 1922 as part of the original KKK in Orange County and weathering the jihad that District Attorney Alexander P. Nelson ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Maurice Enderle, County Assessor

I have a couple of tricks to do this series. Since I'm chained down to this desk, it's a bit difficult for me to dive into microfilm, but thankfully I'm enough of a nerd so that I have nearly every book about the history of Orange County--on a city, county, familial, regional, and national level--wr ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Stanley Edward Goode, Santa Ana Councilmember

You can call Stanley Edward Goode a member of SanTana's sleeper Klan cell. He was a member of the first OC iteration of the Invisible Empire, the one that issued death threats and was about to lynch a man if not for heroic district attorney Alexander P. Nelson. That first KKK supposedly disbanded in ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Albert Ore, La Habra Pastor

The dirtiest secret about the Ku Klux Klan in Orange County during the 1920s--more than all the councilmembers and trustees and city fathers put together--is that one of the most-represented professions among their ranks were ministers.You had virtually every Protestant denomination represented--Con ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Robert S. Elliott and Dorsey L. Ellis, Santa Ana and Fullerton Police Sergeants

Because we're way too nice with police 'round these parts, let's go back to those boys in blue who donned the white hood come sunset.Robert S. Elliott belonged to the SanTana Police Department at a time when nearly the entire department was Klan. The city ordered their police to drop membership in t ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Oliver N. Thornton and James Henry "Harry" Whitaker, Brea and Anaheim Postmasters

On one hand, it's rather bizarre to see the membership rolls of the Orange County Ku Klux Klan during the 1920s and see so many postal workers listed. You can find two below in the archives, and the subjects this week, Oliver N. Thornton of Brea and James Henry Whitaker of Anaheim, were postmasters ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Earl L. Matthews, Santa Ana Automotive Electrician Pioneer

One of the most exasperating things about doing this column is writing about these Klukkers but never finding any pictures of the pendejos. I can only think of one other instance in which I've featured a photo capturing the banality of evil that was the OC KKK--until today.I'm glad to report that we ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Harold S. Twombly, Fullerton Rancher/Black Sheep of Prominent Family

The Twombly name is of some renown in Fullerton. Phillip Twombly served on the city council during the 1950s but is probably better known to JFK conspiracists for supposedly ordering that false documents be made for Lee Harvey Oswald, while George was a prominent beekeeper (earning a story in Collie ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Elvin A. Ames and Osborne Garber, Fullerton and Santa Ana High School Teachers

Oh, how we love to hate our public school teachers in Orange County, those indoctrinators of our young with radical ideas of feeling good about yourself, about learning about Cesar Chavez and Harvey Milk. Why can't it be like the good old days, goes conservative Orange County thought, those days whe ... More >>

Relics of Fullerton: The Buildings of Leo Fender

Though it goes without saying, we'll say it anyway: Fullerton's considerable contributions to history will probably forever be marred by a few rogue cops, their cowardly police chief and flip-flopping spokesperson. Happily the city has a few saving graces, not the least of whom is Leo Fender. While ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: George Bird and E.P. Rudy, Brea Constable and Marshal

Man, who WASN'T a Klan member in the early days of Brea, ESPECIALLY in its power structre? (Actually, there were a couple of souls--maybe eight?). You can see below the many Kluckers who helped lead Brea in its early days, who made sure it was such a gabacho town that it makes the Balboa Bay Club ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Harry Winchell, Brea's First City Marshal

​Man, who WASN'T a Klan member in the early days of Brea, ESPECIALLY in its power structre? (Actually, there were a couple of souls--maybe eight?). You can see below the many Kluckers who helped lead Brea in its early days, who made sure it was such a gabacho town that it makes the Balboa Bay Club ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Charles E. Smith, Brea Justice of the Peace

​Brea in the early 1920s was a no-man's land, a place virtually bereft of women and filled with wild-catters who were seeking fortune in the oil-laden hills. It was a place where socialists were killed (a story I'll save for another time) for their politics, at a time socialists were considered sp ... More >>

OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Earl B. Tozier, Founder of Fullerton High School's Band

​Next year, the Fullerton High School band will celebrate its 90th anniversary. Today, it's a fine, multiculti group of kids, including more than a few Mexis who want to become rich and famous blowing the tuba. Given I'm not an Indian (I'm an Anaheim Colonist, and the cosmos take sick pleasure in ... More >>

LA Times: Food Trucks and Cash-Strapped Schools Form Symbiotic Partnership

Photo by Laila Derakhshanian​In a direct application of the dictionary definition of a "win-win", the Los Angeles Times reports that luxe loncheras and underfunded public schools have formed a mutually beneficial partnership. The trucks get to do business in a parking-lot sanctuary without being h ... More >>

WINNER'S CIRCLE: Janet Evans

[BEST OF 2011: GAME ON!] Olympic Gold Medal Swimmer

[UPDATED] Like Crazy, Latest Film From OC-Bred Drake Doremus and Ben York Jones, Is First Sundance Sale

​UPDATE, JAN. 23, 2:51 P.M.: The reaction to Like Crazy getting picked up from Ben York Jones:"I'm completely overwhelmed. I don't think anyone here with the film has gotten more than an hour or two of sleep in the past 36 hours. Those negotiating were up all night doing so, and the rest of us w ... More >>

Drake Doremus' 'Douchebag' at Sundance

OC stage prodigy-turned-filmmaker Drake Doremus brings his 'very personal' movie to Park City, Utah

Spooner is Hidden Gem at Newport Beach Film Fest

Herman (Matthew Lillard) and Rose (Nora Zehetner) get a jump on their relationship in "Spooner."This post is based on one of life's happy accidents. Folks at the Newport Beach Film Festival, which runs through Thursday, asked weeks ago if I wanted to write about a film called Spooner, which was dire ... More >>

Former TV Exec Lashes Out at Fullerton College

Ken Bane describes himself as a "serial entrepreneur and a long-time Fullerton resident." His online bio for Bane Media, Inc.--which specializes in "creating and executing online media plans that drive traffic, sales and customers to our clients"--notes that he was formerly the director of sales for ... More >>

A Different, Insider Perspective on the Recent Fullerton Gang Attack on a Church

There has been much recent media coverage about a recent attack by Fullerton's longstanding Tokers Town gang against the Rev. Willie Holmes and his storefront Majesty Christian Fellowship church in their hood. Marches, arrests, and much other hullaballoo. Having a much different perspective on the a ... More >>

Bistro 400 As Rich as Ever

Bistro 400 in downtown SanTana has a unique advantage over Memphis and Jason's Downtown in trying to nab dinner eaters: it's actually open. Whereas Memphis is open for dinner Wednesday through Sunday while Jason's entertains Thursdays through Saturdays, Bistro 400 operates every day except the Lord' ... More >>

Grove of Dreams

The life and times of orange picker-turned-big leaguer Jesse Flores

Grove of Dreams

The life and times of orange picker-turned-big leaguer Jesse Flores

Where the Boys Are

The yummy sandwiches and free coffee of Monkey Business Cafe

Local Boy Makes GoodFor Child Molesters

Former Tucson bishop comes clean about allowing pederast priests to visit Orange County

Diary of a mad county

Down These Mean Equestrian Trails

Middle-aged rage kills more kids than student gunners