What We Got Right in 1979

The June issue of Orange Coast in 1979 included a story called “Keeping the Kids Busy This Summer.” While we have the same hopes for you today—our “41 Fun Things to Do With Kids” package starts on page 86—you won’t be surprised to learn there isn’t much overlap in activities from 37 years ago. What that story did include was a reference to the Children’s Museum at La Habra: “The museum, situated in an old train station, offers kids a nature walk, a bee observatory, a model train village, and a (galactic) play area where Herman the Hands-on Robot greets visitors.” We’re pretty sure kids today wouldn’t be impressed by the hands-on robot, since they can swipe a finger on their mobile device to achieve more than any late-’70s robot could. But the Children’s Museum at La Habra still has the model train village, and in this issue we recommend the 1942 historic caboose there, too.