LOST LANDMARKS of Orange County.

By Jim Tortolano/Orange County Tribune

Harry Truman once wrote (or said) that “The only thing new under the sun is the history we don’t know.”

Here in Orange County, where it seems “the past” seems to only stretch as far as our high school yearbooks it’s often refreshing to find that there is indeed a rich and sometimes quirky backstory of people, places and events worth knowing about.Chris Epting, author of 45 books – mostly on local history – had written a gem of a book about the forgotten gems of the OC.

“Lost Landmarks of Orange County” recalls the days when alligators, buffalo, movie stars (in wax), rock stars (in progress) dotted the landscape all across the area from Brea to San Clemente.

Most everyone can point to Disneyland, Angel (formerly Anaheim) Stadium and Knott’s Berry Farm as places of interest in the county, but this book pulls the dusty cover off the county’s role in pioneering punk rock music, hot rod racing, surfboard riding and an extensive military presence, including a prisoner of war camp in Garden Grove.

Epting’s writing (and research) is engaging and far-reaching; his prose is composed with a twinkle in his eye. For those who might think of the OC as a bland land of pink stucco condos and never-ending freeways, here is the antidote to point out that Orange County has long had its quirky corners.

Especially appreciated in “Lost Landscapes” is the format. It’s a hard-cover, 300-page volume with lots of black and white and color photographs.

My only slight quibble is that there’s no index. But maybe there will be one in the second printing which will be necessary if this fine history gets all the attention (and sales) it deserves.

“Lost Landmarks of Orange County” by Chris Epting is published by Santa Monica Press. It’s available in hardcover for $24.95 from the publisher (santamonicapress.com) and Amazon; also in Kindle e-book for $13.95.