Train station on track for holidays
By Patti Rasmussen Sunday, November 12, 2000
Signal Staff Writer
(From left) Ted Emplit, Ric Robertson and Tony Lozano of RMR Holiday Lighting examine their handiwork at the Newhall Ranch House. Photo by Nathan Caswell/The Signal
ll it takes is a change in the weather and Southern California gears up for the Christmas season.
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At the Saugus Train Station in Heritage Junction Park, Ric Robertson and his crew have been busy all week climbing up and down the roofs of a couple of historic buildings.
Robertson has donated all the lights, extension cords and manpower necessary for the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society to get the historic homes ready for the holiday season.
"It was a lot of fun doing these historic homes," Robertson said. "The roof lines are great. You can do a lot with them."
Robertson has been putting up holiday lights for the last three years. Fully insured with five crews, Robertson begins the holiday lighting season around mid-November.
Most of the time, Robertson's crew merely uses ladders to reach the top of the roof line. Some of the homes he has worked on in Beverly Hills, the crew has to use a cherry picker to reach the top.
Many of Robertson's customers go all-out for the holiday season. Lights in the trees, bushes, window ledges and roof lines can call for strands and strands of lights.
A full service event designer supplying props and sets as well as lights, Robertson recently did a huge Halloween party complete with haunted cave.
"The customer had me make a five foot tall cave, 60 by 100 feet long. Inside we had live actors scaring people as live trees moved towards them," Robertson said. "We designed tombs that popped open."
Robertson said he really tunes into what the style of the house is before starting the job.
"I know what looks good," he said.
The Pardee House, originally built in 1890 by Henry Clay Needham, who ran for U.S. President in 1920, was built as a Good Templar's Hall. Needham founded the Newhall Water Co.
Ed Pardee, a pioneer oil man, local constable and owner of the livery stable, moved the home in 1893 to Market and Walnut streets. Western actor Tom Mix used it in films.
Pardee's daughter, Pearle Russell, sold the home to the Pacific Telephone Co. in 1946 when it became the second Newhall telephone exchange.
Throughout the years, the building was occupied by the Santa Clarita Valley Boys and Girls Club and the Newhall-Saugus Chamber of Commerce.
The home was moved to Heritage Junction in August 1992.
Robertson liked the clean, straight lines of the home and decided on a simple strand of lights which reflect a more innocent time.
The Newhall Ranch House belonged to the Newhall family, who bought it at a sheriff's sale in 1875. The historical society believes the house was originally a small structure with a basement.
Henry Newhall made improvements to the structure, but it is believed his son Gregory added the main, two-story portion in 1893. Family members used the house off and on until the death of Walter Scott Newhall in 1906.
The house then became the ranch foreman's residence. It was severely damaged in the 1971 earthquake, but repaired.
When Magic Mountain was built in 1971, the Newhall Ranch House sat in its parking lot. Magic Mountain employees used the house for costume changes and Halloween parties. At one point, barnyard animals were stored inside.
The Newhall Ranch House was moved to Heritage Junction in 1990. It is approximately 4,000 square feet and is said to be haunted by several spirits of the past.
Robertson was particularly intrigued with the Newhall Ranch House.
"This home has great roof lines, and the icicle lights add a dimension of a Victorian ranch-house feel," Robertson said.
For the train station itself, Robertson went for the old, grand country feeling by draping lights across the handrails and roof lines.
The train station was originally opened in 1887 when the spur line to Ventura was completed by Southern Pacific Railroad and located across the street from the Saugus Café.
President Benjamin Harrison stopped at the station in 1891 and Theodore Roosevelt was met by California Governor Henry T. Gage at the station in 1903.
The last passenger train stopped at the station in 1971 and the last freight train was discontinued in 1979.
Through a massive community effort, the building was saved and moved on June 24, 1980 to its present location on land leased from Los Angeles County within William S. Hart Park.
The Saugus Train Station is the headquarters of the SCV Historical Society. One end of the station holds local artifacts while the other end serves as a meeting room.
On Dec. 10, from 12-4 p.m., the Historical Society will hold an open house to commemorate its 25th anniversary. Society members will offer food and drinks and guests will be entertained by local artists.
The SCV Council PTA, which recently adopted the Mitchell Schoolhouse Adobe, will be on hand to explain the restoration process of the first school house in the Santa Clarita Valley.
The SCV Chamber of Commerce will be holding "Noël to Newhall" events the same day in Hart Park, with a snow party and the "blessing of the animals" starting at noon.
The Christmas lights will be on the historic homes every night until January. For more information about SCV Historical Society Open House, call 254-1275.
For information or estimates on holiday lights, call RMR Holiday at 1-866-8LIGHTS (854-4487). They recommend you book early.
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