Destination . . .
Chorale Bel Canto
By Linda de
Vries, Singer and Chair of the Board
Love classical choral music? Think Chorale Bel Canto.
Seldom or never listen to classical choral music? Think
again.
On October 26, think the City of Whittier,
where Chorale Bel Canto is singing Love Songs Through the Ages.
Think Whittier is too far to drive for just a concert? Think
again.
“Destination . . . Chorale Bel Canto” posts several Fridays
in advance of each of our concerts, offering you ideas for a different day
trip to the city in which we’re singing, with a Chorale Bel Canto concert
at the center of your experience. These trips appeal to a wide variety of
interests, and share fascinating, sometimes intricate, connections
between the city and the music.
Today,
think Presidential History
10:00 a.m.
Begin your day at the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library
and Museum in nearby Yorba Linda, where Nixon was born. It is located at 18001
Yorba Linda Boulevard, Yorba Linda, (714) 993-3393). It opens at 10:00 a.m.,
and admission ranges from $4.75--$11.95, children under six free.
Whatever your politics, experiencing the history surrounding
our 37th president will stun you. A trip to the Nixon Library is
particularly significant now--2013 is the 100th anniversary of his
birth.
The current exhibit—“Patriot, President, Peacemaker”—Richard
Nixon Centennial—runs through December 31, 2013. It commemorates Nixon’s 100th
birthday and traces his early political career, along with his presidency,
resignation, rehabilitation, and time as an elder statesman, including
never-before displayed family photographs.
12:00 noon
The Library has a small snack bar. For a more complete meal,
Mimi’s Cafe and Polly’s Pies are nearby. Or, you can drive to Whittier and
lunch at one of the restaurants owned and operated by more recent Whittier
College alums:
Phlight
Restaurant and Wine Bar at 6724 Bright Avenue, operated by Jay and Nikomi
Arroyo, serving Spanish tapas and boutique wine and beer; open for lunch from
11:30-2:30 and dinner 5:00-11:00 on Saturdays (562-789-0578). Reservations
recommended for Fridays, Saturdays, and for large parties.
Setá
Restaurant and Bar at 13033 Philadelphia Street, with chef Hugo Molina’s fine
dining, is open for lunch and dinner, (562-698-3355).
Or, picnic in one of Whittier’s lovely parks, possibly Penn Park at 13950
Penn Street, Palm Park at 5703 Palm Avenue, or Central Park at 6532 Friends
Avenue.
1:00 p.m.
If you haven’t already done so, drive the scenic route from
Yorba Linda to Whittier, where Nixon lived, attended high school and college,
and joined his first law firm. As you drive along Whittier, you will pass the
locations where brother Don Nixon’s restaurants once stood, notably the Nixon
Drive-In, Whittier’s teen hangout in the 1950s.
2:00 p.m.
Appropriately, a great deal of Nixon history can be found on
Washington Avenue, named after Whittier’s first bank president,
Washington Hadley. You may wish to stop and walk about any of the following
sites, or call in advance to inquire about tours.
Turn right from Whittier Boulevard. At the corner of Penn
and Washington is the building housing the law firm of Bewley, Lassleben and
Miller, the descendent of Nixon’s first law firm, Wingert and Bewley. The
original firm was located on the 6th floor of the Bank of America
building on the nearby corner of Greenleaf and Philadelphia.
Further along Washington at 7630 you will pass the Whittier
Center Theatre, home of the Whittier Community Theatre. Though not in this
building, Richard and Thelma Catherine Ryan (Pat) Nixon first met in 1938 when
both auditioned for the Whittier Community Players production of The Dark
Tower.
At the corner of Washington and
Philadelphia you will pass First Friends Church and School. Nixon’s mother,
Hannah, was a devout Quaker who instilled the faith in her husband and
children. Whittier is named after the Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier. On a
future Sunday you might wish to attend services and hear the grand Harris
Organ.
As you continue, you will pass
Central Park on your right, with a Gazebo bandstand used summer concerts. On
the southeast corner, sits a larger-than-life-size statue of the poet.
If you turn left on Philadelphia
you will pass on your right Whittier High School, which Nixon attended for his
Junior and Senior years. If, instead, you continue across Hadley and turn right
on Camilla, you will encounter more of Whittier’s Quaker history—the Jonathan
Bailey House at 13421 E. Camilla Street, (562-945-3871). It is open for tours
Sundays 1-4 p.m.
This was originally the Thomas
Ranch House, built in 1860. In 1887 Aquilla Pickering, a Chicago Quaker and
financier, held the first meeting of the Pickering Land and Water Company in a
barn behind this house and Jonathan Bailey was elected president. He and his
wife moved into the house on May 15, 1887.
Continue up Camilla and the street
ends in the Lou Henry Hoover Elementary School at 6302 Alta Avenue. Here you
encounter another US President, Herbert Hoover, our 31st president.
The school, named after his wife, was designed by William Harrison in the Art
Moderne style, built by the WPA, and completed in 1938. The facade of the
building presents an elaborately sculpted frieze depicting early Quakers and
the founding of Whittier, with a quotation from Alexander von Humboldt: “What
you would want in the life of a nation you must first put into its schools.”
Mrs. Hoover holds many honorary
degrees, including one from Whittier College, where she also served on the
Board of Trustees and first met the young attorney, Richard Nixon.
Go back down Camilla to Painter Avenue and turn left. At the
corner of Painter and Philadelphia you will arrive at Whittier College, Nixon’s
alma mater. On this corner stands the Ruth B. Shannon Center for the Performing
Arts. Although the future president performed in dramatic productions while a
student, it was not on this site, but in the auditorium in Founders’ Hall,
which burned to the ground in 1966.
4:00 p.m.
Just east of the Shannon Center in the Whittier College Memorial
Chapel, Chorale Bel Canto sings Love Songs Through the Ages. The
music captures true love, unrequited love, illicit love, courtly love, and
humorous love, expressed by composers from five centuries, from madrigals by
George Gershwin and the Beatles—Monteverdi to McCartney!
6:00 p.m.
To complete your day in Whittier we suggest dinner at either Phlight or
Setá, described for lunch, or at Vintage Cafe at 6741 Bright Avenue, serving
French inspired contemporary cuisine with a full bar. Open Saturdays 5:00-9:00
p.m., (562-696-5050).
