By Melonie Magruder
Special to The Lookout

October 21, 2010 -- Santa Monicans will have the chance to experience the sublime and arcane moments in their city’s 135-year history up close and personal, starting this weekend at the opening of the Santa Monica Historical Society Museum on Sunday. The public is invited to this free event from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m.

The Historical Society is taking up residence in the Public Library campus on 7th Street, in a 5,000-square-foot complex that gives visitors a birds-eye view of Santa Monica from pre-Columbian days to the 21st century.

Exhibits will be interactive and loaded with vintage material and photos, thanks to a partnership with the library’s archives. Installations will offer virtual experiences of Santa Monica 100 years ago, including a computer-simulated ride on the Whirlwind Dipper Roller Coaster that was a popular feature of the pier back in the Roaring '20s.

Recognizing the important place the aerospace industry has had in Santa Monica’s developing economic strength, one exhibit will feature a replica of the middle section of a Douglas aircraft. Inside, information is displayed about the company and how it shaped Santa Monica.

A “Then & Now” exhibit features touch-screen maps that allow a visitor to call up videos showing the history and development of specific city locations over the years. Director of operations and exhibits designer Ho Nguyen has pointed out the number of research requests that come to the Society and an eventual database of will be available on line.

“We’re probably at any given time working on four to five research requests coming from the city, organizations, residents, even people from out of state who want to know about a relative,” Nguyen said.

A permanent gallery with an introduction and timeline to the major events that shaped the city’s history is surrounded by a research library and galleries devoted to different aspects of Santa Monican lives: The Arts, At Play, At Work and The Headlines, featuring a 100-year archive of front page stories clipped from the city’s daily newspaper, The Outlook.

A changing gallery with rotating exhibits will allow for a variety of opportunities to tell all the unique stories of Santa Monica’s history.

The Society began raising funds several years ago to meet the goals of a $5 million capital campaign, first opening a small museum space on Third Street in 1987. The founding members of the Historical Society were led by CEO and President Louise Gabriel, who has given more than 30 years of her life to collecting artifacts and creating exhibit spaces for the memories that make up Santa Monica.

Thanks to many local corporate angels, the museum is finally a reality. Morley Builders presented a quarter of a million dollars to the Historical Society. The Employees Community Fund of Boeing California kicked in another $100,000. Other prominent private citizens offered generous gifts to help sustain operations and programming.

Gabriel, a Michigan native, said she first knew the importance of historical preservation when a fire destroyed her childhood home.

“All of my mother’s memorabilia was lost, all of her baby pictures, and I realized how important history is,” Gabriel said.

Next Sunday, Santa Monica residents will learn just how important and fascinating home-grown history can be.