Robert Lerner

Prohibition history — Valley Center Museum

Prohibition, which banned alcohol for 13 years starting in 1920, is being remembered at the History Museum in Valley Center where an area store was issued one of three original alcohol licenses awarded in San Diego County to sell beer on the first day it was legal in 1933. The display commemorates the 85th anniversary of the end of the booze ban on December 5, 1933.  …


Valley Center happenings: Frank Lloyd Wright, Dos Valles Garden Club awards

Frank Lloyd Wright at 150 — Valley Center connection — Robert Lerner Museums and architectural societies around the country are celebrating the 150th birthday this month of Frank Lloyd Wright, America’s best known architect.At the Valley Center History Museum, a display has been posted to note that work of the iconic architect is reflected in two local properties. In 1959, the year Wright died, one…


Valley Center meet Oscar

By Robert G. Lerner, Valley Center Historian The familiar gold statuette handed out at the Academy Awards ceremony is seldom seen on public view, but there will be a rare chance to get up close to Oscar during a one-month exhibition beginning Feb. 2 at the Valley Center History Museum.  The show is called “And the Oscar Goes to…”.  The Oscar on display was awarded in 1932 to…


VC Historical Society desperately seeking ‘missing’ Valley Center orchid

The Valley Center Historical Society is hunting for an orchid that was developed more than two decades ago and was given the name “Valley Center Pink,” Valley Center historian Robert Lerner said Monday.  A preliminary search by local flower enthusiasts so far has not been fruitful, he said The orchid was hybridized and grown in 1992 by Joseph P. Banando, a retired grocery supervisor who…