Santa Ana is also home to its small but popular zoo of the same name at Prentice Park. It opened in 1952 on land donated by local businessman Joseph Prentice with the promise of showcasing primates. “He made a unique stipulation in the actual deed that the zoo had to have 50 monkeys,” explains zoo Director Ethan Fisher. They include Brown-Headed Spider monkeys, White-Faced Saki and, as the name implies, the Black Howler monkeys known for their deep guttural screams. “You come to the zoo sometimes in the morning and you can hear them vocalizing,” notes Fisher. “It’s like you’re on vacation in Costa Rica.” And for the first time I see a giant anteater, the size of an extremely large dog. The zoo’s new exhibit featuring underwater viewing of South American river otters opens summer 2023. I can’t leave Orange County without taking a short drive north to Yorba Linda, to visit the Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum. I sit at the former president’s replica desk in an exact replica of his Oval Office and listen to snippets from his many phone conversations including
Richard Nixon’s boyhood home.
the Watergate scandal’s “Smoking Gun” tape and excerpts from his televised farewell speech. I walk through the actual Marine One helicopter that whisked Nixon and wife Pat away from the White House on his very last day in office. Also on the grounds are his boyhood home and burial site. As I leave California, I recall walking along Crescent Avenue to Catalina’s ferry terminal, passing storefronts decorated with the island’s tiles. I glanced across the harbor to see the Casino now aglow in the waning sunlight of early evening. “It’s often called the magic isle,” I recall Fornasiere telling me. “It’s like Southern California untouched.”
Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum.
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Replica of the Oval Office at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum.
THE MAGIC ISLE
COAST TO COAST MAGAZINE SUMMER 2023 | 19
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