By Howard Hills
When I saw our 1931 LBFD Seagrave classic at the Fourth of July celebration on Brooks Street, a mid-1950s memory came back, and I vividly recalled that very truck’s siren down on PCH. Then, the siren grew louder as it came our way. My brother and I ran out the old screen door to the front yard of my grandma Julia’s cottage on Hawthorne Road and stood in awe, watching that giant red fire engine climb the hill, roaring by us with siren blaring and red lights flashing. The driver saw us. With a stern gaze in our direction, he reached down and rang the bell so hard it made us cover our ears. He was telling us to stay on the curb as if we needed more warning signals. Then his facial expression gave way to a wave and a smirk at how totally entranced we were.
The fabled 1931 Seagrave was the first vehicle purchased by the city for the fire department and was in service until its retirement in 1962. From then until 2013, it served to bring Santa to Hospitality Night and many civic events.
When I heard restoration project supporters were taking the Seagrave Main Beach after the Brooks Street celebration was over, we followed it downtown to the cobblestone plaza. Then another memory came back as I stood by the Seagrave, very near where I stood with my grandpa over 65 years ago on PCH, watching that shiny red fire truck go by like the Santa Fe train in San Juan Capistrano. There were still homes and commercial buildings where Main Beach Park is now. My grandpa took us for breakfast at Benton’s on the old boardwalk, and seeing what passed then as a monster truck fly by on a quiet early summer morning was a thrill I never forgot.
My support for the Seagrave restoration project is also driven by an apt example of why historic legacy projects are important to sustain community values. With two of four daughters and four of twelve grandkids in Charlotte, N.C., we bought a home in a forest near Lake Norman and the fabled college town of Davidson, N.C. The college was founded in 1837, and our home was in the historic village, so I could walk into town with my grandkids for breakfast when they stayed with us.
Walking down scenic historic Main Street in that perfectly preserved small town, not unlike Laguna’s Forest Avenue, where no one passes by without a wave and a hello, I used to think any sequel to “It’s A Wonderful Life” would have to be made in Davidson. It’s that authentic.
On Saturday at the Farmer’s Market the main attractions for kids of all ages, locals and visitors, is the historic Davidson Fire Department’s restored fire engine. It still runs. The Davidson Fire Station is next door to the Farmer’s Market, where the fire truck is a treasured community legacy.
Appreciating the Davidson historic fire truck and the Laguna Beach Seagrave firsthand, I kicked in a little more from my charitable causes fund than I might have, but I was happy to do it.
If you feel like I do, that the 1931 Seagrave is worth restoring, the Laguna Beach Firefighters Association is accepting gratefully any support you can provide: lagunabeachcity.net/government/departments/fire/seagrave-restoration.
Howard Hills is a third-generation Laguna native and constitutional law author.
