Have You Ever Eaten Pie Plant Pie?

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Have You Ever Eaten Pie Plant Pie?

With the “stay-at-home” orders in place, many families find themselves cooking more than usual. To help you in your cooking, Sherman Library is sharing recipes from the 1890 Riverside Cook Book. The All Saints’ Guild of Riverside compiled this cookbook, under the supervision of Mrs. Fessenden. The “Ladies of Riverside” contributed their “Tried and Approved Recipes.” The recipes were all “family favorites [that] borne the test of time and experience.”

Here are a few recipes that you might like to try — or not? Note that none of the recipes mention oven temperature. During that era most early stoves were

You Could Have Lived on Pansy Street: A History of Corona del Mar’s Flower Streets

If George Hart, the original developer of Corona del Mar, had his way Sherman Library would be on 32nd Street instead of the much more pleasing Dahlia Avenue. So, how were the flower streets of Corona del Mar named? Why does an alphabetical scheme include three sets of duplicates: Avocado and Acacia, Marguerite and Marigold, and Poinsettia and Poppy? How did Hazel get included, after Poppy? And for good measure, do Avocado, Acacia, Fernleaf and Hazel qualify as flowers?

Corona del Mar’s Motels

Affordable Motels in Corona del Mar? Can you believe Corona del Mar used to have motels along Coast Highway? The first motel in Corona del Mar, the Bay-Ocean Motel, is listed in a 1941 local city directory. By 1955, six more motels sprung up along coast highway: Crown of the Sea Motel, Del Mar Hotel, Farmhouse Motel, Motel Corona del Mar, Motel Kirkwood, and Sea Crest Hotel. The last addition was the Jamaica Inn Motor Hotel, that boasted two heated pools and opened around 1960.

Just Passing Through…FDR in Orange County

In May of 1935 Harry Welsh, Secretary of the Newport Harbor Chamber of Commerce, was working with community leaders to plan a celebration to mark the opening of Newport Harbor. So, when a local newspaper ran a small item announcing President Franklin D. Roosevelt was planning a trip to California in July 1935, he took action immediately. He wrote in a letter to another ardent Newport Beach promoter, Dr. Albert Soiland, “Perhaps we could arrange to have [the President] stop off and pull a switch or some other ceremony in connection with the work at the Harbor…Looks like a real opportunity to get some exceedingly valuable publicity.”

Los Angeles County and the Small Farm Movement

The farm to table movement in Southern California has a long history. Today many people seek out organic produce grown on small local farms or grow their own in their backyard. Not so long ago, people in southern California were encouraged to create their own “small farm homes.” A booklet we recently discovered in Sherman Library,Your Los Angeles County Small Farm Home, gives some interesting insights into the history of the movement.

In the early 20th century, some Los Angeles land developers subdivided neighborhoods into one to three acre parcels so landowners could create self-sufficient “small farm homes.” Parts of