The Historical Society received two original Dana Point Lanterns on March 6 from a donor who wishes to remain anonymous. Vice President Gary Macrides was the museum docent who accepted the c.1927-1929 lanterns. When I called the donor for this article, he was able to give me the history he knew. Sometime after Orange County removed the deteriorated lantern streetlights in the 1950s, some individuals were able to acquire salvaged lanterns for their private use. Some lanterns were restored, rewired and appeared on private property where they can still be seen today. Others were donated by Marjorie Kinkaid in 1989 for local merchants to replace and restore the lantern streetlights in downtown’s La Plaza. These most recent lanterns were found in a local antique shop in Capistrano Beach where they were purchased by Mary Limebrook. Mary hung them in her living room on Beach Road about 1955. Evidently, the antique dealer or Mary inserted some clear plastic on the inside of the lanterns to evoke the streets of the Golden Lantern and Ruby Lantern. When stored, someone put the white paper around them to protect the clear plastic or to simulate the look of white glass or plastic. Unfortunately, an added iron chain, not original to the lanterns, has caused rust to run onto the original verdigris copper. The lanterns were later stored outside in an open garage where the ocean’s saltwater breeze rusted the attached iron chain and caused rust to run over the original verdigris copper. When compared with other salvaged lanterns, these have acquired a heavier “verde patina” with an added rust stain.
The donor wanted to know if the electric lanterns originally had colored translucent plastic beneath the white frosted glass. According to Sheet No. 14 of 15 Sheets in the County Improvement No. 17, Orange County California, August 1928, “the only colored glass was a globe at the top of the Standard (light pole) when on the corner of a Lantern Street and Roosevelt Military Memorial Highway [Pacific Coast Highway].” On the corner of a colored lantern street even the streetlight pole was painted the same color as the lantern street name, while all the other lantern posts were to be black. The diagram’s description states: “On lantern named streets, the intersection standard, excepting (the) lantern, is to be Duco [Duco was a trade name assigned to a product line of automotive lacquer developed by the DuPont Company in the 1920s], or its equal, finished in the color indicating the street name; all other standards to be finished in black Duco, or its equal. Street names to be lettered in white (on the sign attached to the standard [light pole].” Of course, people might have tried other temporary means to color the lantern light but it wouldn’t have been during the time Sidney H. Woodruff was in charge.
The Historical Society wishes to thank the donor for adding two original lanterns to our archives.
Note: For more information on the history of Dana Point’s unique lanterns, please go to our web site and look for “Dana Point’s Legendary Lanterns” in the Spring 2021 News Drogher. Place “A Legacy of Lanterns,” Dana Point Times, July 25, 2008, in your browser for another article.
Barbara Force Johannes