Club Meeting - March 20th

March 2016 Meeting Information

Hello Studio Chapter Family and Friends – With all this heat and the mid-year show and sale this past weekend you would think we were in the middle of July! Hope you are all enjoying the heat—or at least taking advantage of it somehow. J If you did make it to the show and sale we also hope you found some new treasures to add to your collection or, at least, got to visit with friends and other club members. We have information on our March meeting below. Similar to the Union Station tour space is limited so it does require an RSVP. Also please note the RSVP email for this tour. Please do not reply to this email to RSVP. (But, if you do accidentally, we will forward it onto Steve so no worries J ) We hope you can join us as it sounds interesting!

For our March meeting we will be touring The County of Los Angeles Fire Museum Association museum. They have brought together a collection including more than 60 examples of historic apparatus, some dating back to the 1800s, as well as hundreds of artifacts and thousands of photographs, related to Los Angeles County firefighting.  The most popular vehicles in the collection are the original paramedic/rescue Squad 51 and the two Engine 51s from the 1970’s television show, “Emergency!”  The collection is currently housed in warehouse locations in South Gate and Bellflower, California, as construction gets underway on a permanent museum building nearby in Bellflower.

Also included in the collection are two vehicles that will be popular with members of the Studio Chapter - an 1888 Silsby Steam Fire Engine, and a 1916 American LaFrance Fire Engine (aka:  the Disneyland Fire Engine driven around Main Street, U.S.A. and used as a mobile bandstand for the Firehouse 5 - Plus Two Dixieland Jazz band).  Both vehicles belonged to Ward Kimball, and were donated to the museum after his passing.

After our tour, we will make our way to a local eatery for lunch and socializing.

RSVP’s ARE REQUIRED.  Our volunteer can handle a group of 20.  If we have more, he can arrange for a second volunteer, and we will split the group in 2, with a maximum group size of 40.  Email RSVP’s to info@thestudiochapter.org on or before March 13th.

While the museum does not charge for tours, the Studio Chapter is requesting a donation of $5 from each attendee, to help the museum’s efforts.  Acquisitions, restorations and operating funds for the museum are supported by monthly and annual membership dues paid by over 3,000 active-duty Los Angeles County fire fighters, retirees, members of other fire departments and the public.  No federal, state or local funds are provided for this effort.

When: Sunday, March 20th, starting at 10:00am (allow about 2 hours for the tour)

Where: Los Angeles County Fire Museum - 9834 Flora Vista Street, Bellflower, CA  90706

RSVP: Forward or send an email to Steve Lombard at: info@thestudiochapter.org on or before March 13th.

Payment: Please bring your $5 cash or check donation with you to the tour.

Let’s Eat!: We will determine a local restaurant to have lunch at after the tour.  If you can, please indicate if you are interested in joining the group for lunch so we can plan.