Orange County History

In 1987, South Coast Repertory offered a flawed professional production of "Orange Trees," a musical based on Orange County history. Now, at the Performing Arts Center, the repertory's amateur Young Conservatory Players make the show a winner. Artistic director Diane Doyle, who adapted Doris Baizley's breezy musical, has kept the quick momentum and upbeat songs that Baizley co-wrote with Diane King as a tribute to Orange County's centennial.

A wrong was finally righted Saturday afternoon, and Eddie Grijalva couldn't stop smiling. He'd rescued his distant relative from nearly two centuries in the depths of obscurity, and here was the brass plaque to prove it. "Juan Pablo Grijalva," the plaque read, "a Spanish soldier, came to California with the Anza Expedition in 1776. On this hill he built one of the first adobes in what is now Orange County."

Donald C. Meadows, scientist, journalist, teacher and Orange County historian, has died at age 97. Meadows, who lived in Orange County 82 years, authored or co-authored seven books, including "Historic Place Names of Orange County," which lists more than 650 place names and their origins. "He had so many different interests," said his son, Donald Frances Meadows, a retired professor of English and German at Yuba Community College in Yuba City, where Meadows moved in 1985 to be close to his son.

Three history professors who want people to ponder how the past shapes the present and future are launching a publication to explore Orange County's institutions and issues. The Journal of Orange County Studies will chronicle the region's history and current "problems and promise," said Spencer Olin of UC Irvine, one of the three professors editing the new, semiannual publication.

Orange County is a fascinating place, and its current popularity owes much to its history, though that history is often dismissed. It can still be seen as you drive around the county, if you look carefully, and it can tell us quite a bit about the challenges and opportunities we face. Driving north on Coast Highway past Hoag Memorial Hospital, off to the right you can still see open bluffs topped by sage scrub, and a few working oil wells.

President Bush took his anti-drug campaign to Los Angeles and Santa Ana today, urging television producers to fight drug abuse through their programs and praising Orange County for its "Drug Use Is Life Abuse" campaign. While addressing members of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in Century City, Bush was heckled briefly by two people, one of them shouting: "Why don't you ever talk about AIDS? Why don't you lead the country on AIDS?"

10 YEARS AGO Years before he helped UCLA beat BYU in the 1986 Freedom Bowl and led the Arena Football League in passing while playing for the Los Angeles Cobras in 1988, Matt Stevens was leading fourth-quarter rallies for Fountain Valley High School. A 5-foot-11, 175-pound junior, Stevens completed four of six passes for 52 yards during a 67-yard drive that gave Fountain Valley a 22-21 victory over Marina in the Sunset League opener for both teams.