Moorlach 'Cynical' about Efforts to Make Trestles a Landmark

Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach's "cynical side" sees the attempt to make Trestles an official historic landmark as a "cute move" to foil the 241 Toll Road extension.

The noted Toll Roads opponent Surfrider Foundation has involved itself in an effort to make the iconic Upper and Lower Trestles and adjacent surf breaks and beaches an official landmark on the National Register of Historic Places. But they have been thus far foiled by county government and the Navy, which owns San Onofre State Beach where Trestles is situated.

(For more information, read this thorough piece by Fred Swegles of the Orange County Register covering the issue. On Feb. 8, the State Historical Resources Commission will consider forwarding the nomination of Trestles and other surf breaks to the feds.)

Here's a Friday post from Moorlach's blog regarding the issue:

One topic that I have been a student of for the last 35 years is California Historical Landmarks.

I have been to all of the state’s 58 counties and have photographed nearly all of the some 1,100 plaques or related subjects, a few of them I’ve visited multiple times. If you sincerely wish to see my seven or eight albums, I will be more than happy to show them to you.

I have worked with the State Historical Resources Commission over the years and enjoyed a great relationship with former assistant executive secretary Sandra J. Elder. 

In fact, one of my photos was published in the 1990 edition (page iii) of the California Historical Landmarks (a very rare hardback edition) (ISBN: 0-941925-08-8).  The state’s landmark program can be found at http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=21387.

Over the years, I’ve also visited numerous National landmarks and have books on this topic in my library (trying to visit all of them may provide a great travel opportunity for my retirement years, as crisscrossing the State of California has been a wonderful experience). 

Even one of your fellow subscribers lives in a home that is on the National Register of Historic Places (it was built in 1776).

The Federal landmark program can be found at http://www.nps.gov/nr/.

With that said, as a longtime preservationist myself, I’m having a tough time swallowing the request to make Trestles a member of this effort to preserve national treasures.  

Legal beach access was not even available until 1971. I’m a fan of the Surfrider Foundation, but my cynical side tells me the application is a cute move to avert a connection with the I-5 Freeway and the toll road system (a travel redundancy that I believe is critically necessary for South County residents in the event of an emergency).