I agree with your concerns as you have probably read from my prior posts. The Whaley House is owned by the County of San Diego. I believe the contract is renewed on an annual basis. The Historic Shrine Foundation ran the house for 40 years. What changed this is that SOHO went to the County with another proposal. The County chose SOHO's proposal over the Shrine in 2000. There was a huge lawsuit (Shrine Foundation vs County of San Diego) for the contents of the house. SOHO had not planned on this happening so they had to scramble to fill the house. There was a lot of bad feeling all the way around. To answer your question: Another organization would have to step up with a better proposal than SOHO's at the end of the contract year. The house is in Ron Roberts district. I would like to know who is approving all these changes. I would also like the missing Whaley Papers to be located.
Thanks for stepping up on this issue. It has been pretty lonely out here.
Bonnie Vent San Diego Paranormal Research Project www.sdparanormal.com
Yeah, I agree about the house not having the original alure. Its really missing something. It does look nicer now they are doing something with the dining room. And the upstairs looked better for a while, but all of a sudden its sort of bare again. One of the docents always tells a funny story about dolls, but now the dolls are gone, there was a lot of them and toys too, just a little while ago and now all the fun stuff up in the nurserys are gone. He says they are gone for cleaning but they havent come back. Whats up with that? I know that its a slow process to fill a empty house and they were doing okay and now seem to be taking steps backwards. Also the outside of the house looks terrible. the shutters are falling apart and theres a hole in the front porch. The gardens are more bare too. And the floors in the theater are super weak. That floor wasnt even walked on for like, 40 years, and now theres tons of people stomping around up there. I think they should strengthen it or something first. I guess the county thinks thats okay, or they wouldnt let all those people walk all over it. Even though the boards are loose.
But I think the house always looked better before when the Shrine had it, both inside and outside. Its also too busy now to enjoy it. Maybe soon somebody else will take care of it. It might look better then. Who knows?
I can say as a close friend of the founder of the Historical Shrine, Bill Reading, and his wife, the original curator of Whaley House, June Reading, that there was not only concern for accuracy but a true love of the place.
As I have posted elsewhere on this board, I have been in and out of the place for about 40 years. It has apparently changed from the posts I read here, although I am slow to condemn anything until I see it for myself, something I hope to do before the end of 2005.
The original carpets, doors, finishes and so on were of very high quality and very expensive. The house always ran a bit in the red to be quite honest. I recall June saying on more than one occasion in the 60's and 70's that she would love to have more traffic.
She didn't know how bad it could get until she was essentially shut off from the other 'attractions' in Old Town for a time. That is the period when the house wasn't open as often and when some renovation work had to be postponed. In the late 1990's there was a new director although June was still curator.
The new blood seemed to be bringing some life into the place although it still needed a good (expensive) renovation. Now, after almost 10 more years, it appears something has been done.
The pictures I see of the work are frankly ghastly. The changes appeal I am sure to some, but are completely out of character with the historic Whaleys, both Thomas and Anna.
The place needs foot traffic, attention even in the best of times, and most important the respect for the family that made it famous.
I would just like to say that whoever thought the "brickwork" in the enterance hallway was a good idea, they really ought to have their reality checked. it was horrendous! If I were a Whaley ghost, I'd be sure to burn the place down just to avoid ever having to look at that again. something tells me that the walls were NEVER like that in this lifetime or any other. gack!
Perhaps we are talking about the faux marble on the walls in the entry way. It is more like 1970's public toilet decor centainly not something the Whaley's would have had. IMHO :-)
BTW...Thomas and Anna Whaley's house in New Town was at 933 State Street. It is the parking lot for the San Diego Hotel now. I have heard the San Diego Hotel is slated to be torn down. Has anyone else heard anything about this or been by there recently?
Thanks, Bonnie Vent San Diego Paranormal Research Project www.sdparanormal.com
I haven't been to San Diego in awhile, but I seem to have a memory that there was a mention of the San Diego Hotel being threatened recently in a National Historical Trust magazine.
