MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM YOUR MUSEUM

CHERISHING OUR VALLEY                2013

The nice thing about living in the San Fernando Valley is that if our historic crooner from Toluca Lake, Bing Crosby, gets to us with his "dreaming of a white Christmas" we can take a few hours to drive up to Mt. Baldy or Big Bear. 

I think it's sweet to bring snow for the kids at the Tarzana Community Center or a park in Burbank. It's even sweeter when its on its way to the Los Angeles River the next day.

Enjoy your families, get some rest and eat some turkey - we have a Museum to build next year.

Merry Christmas 

Jerry Fecht

Snow on Mt. Baldy - c. 1948- vintage postcard - Gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Gary Fredburg 2013.  Click on image to enlarge it.

Road Around Hog's Back - c. 1948- Alexander's Studio - vintage postcard - Gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Gary Fredburg 2013. 

MOUNT SAN ANTONIO - OLD MOUNT BALDY

CHERISHING OUR VALLEY    2012

In a day or two, when the rain clouds disappear (and if the weather was cold enough) residents of the eastern parts of the San Fernando Valley should be able to see the snow capped grandeur of Mount Baldy. 

Vintage postcard of Mount San Antonio - Gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Gary Fredburg 2012  (click on image to enlarge it)

Officially named Mount San Antonio by Spanish missionaries of the Order of Friars Minor (OFM) or Franciscans, the mountain was christened after Saint Anthony of Padua. The patron saint of lost objects, San Antonio was a member of the Franciscan Order.
The saint, as did members of his religious community, tonsured or shaved the top of his head as a sign of his obedience to the rules of Saint Francis Assisi. To avoid being burned in the hot sun of Southern California, Franciscan friars (brothers) wore hooded robes or small beanies called in Italian "zucchetto".
Brother Eugenio Casano, the band teacher at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks had a cherished zucchetto given to him by Eugenio Pacelli, Pope Pius XII. 

Calling it Mount Baldy may have been a very early Spanish rancheros' joke about Mount San Antonio. Some say it got its name by the lack of trees above the snow line. 
The Tongva people of the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys called the mount "Joat" simply meaning snow