Bird Rock Community Council Vice President Joe Parker wants to increase community engagement in the group’s meetings, and to do that, he’s looking to the past.
Starting next month, Parker plans to display photos from Bird Rock’s history on a projector screen, along with historical anecdotes. Technical difficulties prevented the project’s debut at the February meeting.
Parker’s starting point is a collection of photos obtained from longtime Bird Rock resident Philomene Offen. The photos first caught Parker’s eye when they were displayed at Bird Rock Coffee Roasters from 2009 to 2011. He recently ed her about photos he could show at BRCC meetings.
“I’m delighted that they are getting a second life and a new audience,” Offen said. “Bird Rock has an amazing history that even I had no idea about when I first began researching it. I am beyond grateful to Joe Parker for his efforts in this.”
Offen, who has lived in her Bird Rock home since 1973, said her interest in collecting community history was piqued in 2008 when she saw an old photo of Bird Rock in a neighborhood restaurant.
“Over the next year, I regularly showed up at Bird Rock community meetings asking for old photos and was rewarded with some unique historical photos,” she said. “I also put an ad in the La Jolla High School alumni newsletter asking for alumni who had lived in Bird Rock during the war years to me.”
At least a dozen men responded with their stories that Offen distilled onto boards along with her collected photos. She arranged for a one-time display of the nine 3-by-4-foot boards at a summer outdoor event in Bird Rock and then displayed them at Bird Rock Coffee Roasters under the name Bird Rock History Museum.
After starting with Offen, Parker intends to field photographs from more residents and to visit the local archives at the La Jolla/Riford Library and La Jolla Historical Society.
By featuring about five minutes of Bird Rock history at meetings, Parker hopes to liven up the gatherings, he said.
“I’d like to inject some of that fun into our meetings to just give us some variety,” he said. “You’ve got to make things fun for everyone as much as you can … and try to keep everyone interested when it’s business as usual.”
In documenting Bird Rock’s “very rich history,” Parker said he hopes to showcase the community’s charm and staying power.
He encouraged residents to get involved in his initiative by sending their old photos of Bird Rock to [email protected].
A call to the La Jolla/Riford Library, which houses a collection of pictures, documents and newspaper clippings in its History Room, presented Parker with another opportunity to collect photos and stories.
The History Room exists largely thanks to local historian Patricia Schaelchlin, who donated her collection of historical books, maps, photos and more to the library in addition to the funds needed to create the History Room. The library’s collection encomes all of La Jolla and is divided into sections by geography and subject matter.
The addition of a digital memory lab several years ago enables guests to come in and scan copies from the archive. The database, funded by Friends of the La Jolla Library, is -protected but free for patrons to use. Materials cannot be checked out or removed.
Guests can visit during the library’s normal operating hours and receive additional through an appointment at lajolladigitalmemorylabandhistoryroom.setmore.com.
Parker’s call with the library affirmed that the digitization of Bird Rock’s history makes it more accessible than ing around a framed picture.
“The majority of our meetings are at the Bird Rock [Elementary School] auditorium that has a very large projector screen,” he said. “It seemed for the convenience, enjoyment and ease of reference that digitizing [offers] … it would be the easiest way to have these presentations happen.”
The La Jolla Historical Society has a box dedicated to newspaper clippings, photos and documents from Bird Rock’s history. The collection is one of about 500 boxes the group has preserved over the years.
The Historical Society’s collections manager, Colette Militello, primarily fields appointments through email at [email protected] or by phone at 858-459-5335. She said she can search the database to pull relevant documents. ♦
