P.P. Historical Society Meets Dec. 14 at Rustic Canyon Rec Center

The Pacific Palisades Historical Society will meet from 3-5 p.m. on Dec. 14 at the Rustic Canyon Recreation Center (601 Latimer Road).

The meeting will focus on a new initiative to maximize access to the society’s archives of historic documents, photographs, ephemera and other items chronicling the saga of the town

According to the society, curator Randy Young will present a multi-media presentation featuring treasures that have been locked in storage and difficult to access for years, including oral history videos of Palisades pioneers recorded in the 1990’s and paperwork from the founding era. He will also bring varied items to view, such as the original postal delivery authorization for the Palisades, signed by then-President Calvin Coolidge.

In the Jan. 7 wildfire, half of the PPHS board members lost their homes, but virtually all of the society’s archives were stored outside of the burn zone and so were undamaged, according to the society’s website. In previous years, the society had digitized the Clearwater Collection of around 3,000 pre-1960 photographs, which are accessible online through a collaboration with the Santa Monica Public Library.

In order to further increase accessibility, the society is organizing and digitizing thousands of other items for online access and “adopting current best practices for storage of originals to ward off deterioration,” according to the website. Eventually, they intend to have rotating displays of historic items in a dedicated space in the rebuilt Palisades.

Young will discuss what he's learned from his research into archive management and sketch out ways to proceed with the new accessibility effort. The Young Family and the Historical Society have dedicated seed funding to begin this effort, according to the society.

The free public event will include cookies from Porto’s Bakery. and, although not required, attendees can help the society’s planning efforts if they email info@pacificpalisadeshistory.org to share their plans to attend.

The original prospectus pamphlet distributed by the Pacific Palisades Association in 1921, when it was seeking investors for the newly planned community/chautauqua site to be built in Temescal Canyon and on the bluffs up-coast from Santa Monica Canyon. From PPHS Archives.