Sing along: Costa Mesa turns the big 5-0

Well, well, well. Someone you know is 50 today.

No, not me. I wish.

Come on, everybody -- “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to

you, happy birthday Costa Mesa, happy birthday to you.” Do you know

where the “Happy Birthday” song comes from? I do. I’ll tell you

later. Yes, sports fans, on this very date, June 29, exactly 50 years

ago, which is not dissimilar to 2,600 weeks ago, which is almost

identical to 600 months ago, the city of Costa Mesa was born, or more

accurately, incorporated.

But wait, there’s more.

By a stunning stroke of coincidence, someone else you know turns

227 this week, which would be your Uncle Sam, who looks marvelous for

227 years old. And give this some thought. If you divide 227 by 50,

do you know what you get? It’s 4.54, that’s what. How cool is that?

Needless to say -- but I will anyway -- with two highly

significant birthdays, this will be a very festive week, with

orations, celebrations, commemorations, pyrotechnic demonstrations

and some other stuff.

Tomorrow, at Costa Mesa City Hall, at the stroke of 11 a.m., will

be the official kick off of the year-long celebration of the city’s

first fifty, which was dubbed “50 CostaMazing Years.” Get it?

“CostaMazing?” Very clever, I think.

The highlight of the ceremony will be the official unveiling of

the new official city flag, followed by the official running up the

pole, then the official seeing if anyone salutes, in that order. I

happen to know what the new city flag looks like, but I am bound by

law not to reveal it. It’s got this big ... oh, sorry. At 7 p.m. on

Thursday, July 10, which falls exactly one week after July 3 this

year, at the Pacific Amphitheater, will be the official but

free-of-charge “50 CostaMazing Years” anniversary party. There will

be live entertainment, a fireworks display, and the first 2,000

people who show up will get a slice of the official anniversary cake,

which was sealed in a time-capsule buried in Lion’s Park on June 29,

1953.

That’s a lie. I made the time capsule part up. But the first 2,000

people really will get a piece of cake, which will be brand new.

You’ve heard a lot about the history of Costa Mesa lately, but I

want to give you the real deal, the inside story, the interesting

stuff nobody ever tells you about how Costa Mesa came to be -- a job

to which I am particularly well-suited, since I was five years old in

1953 and busy stealing Raisinets and Black Cows from candy stores in

the Bronx.

Until the 1830s, Costa Mesa was in Seal Beach. Between the horses

and the wagons and people on foot slogging their way back and forth

on the San Diego Freeway everyday, it was a nightmare. Finally, a man

named Eddie Fairview called everyone together and said, “You know

what? This bites.” Everyone agreed.

“Why don’t we just move the whole thing down there? It’s beautiful

and roomy and there’s always a nice breeze. What do you say?”

“OK,” they said. Then everybody cheered.

Right after they all got here, Eddie opened a hotel, which became

so famous for its hot springs that soon the whole area came to be

known as “Fairview.” Some years later, an Italian woman named Paolina

Paularino showed up and opened a cafe that served the best latte and

biscotti, especially the ones with the hazelnuts and the white

chocolate, in Orange County. On the weekends, people from as far away

as Brea and Aliso Viejo would line up for blocks and soon, the area

around what is now Bristol and Baker would become known as Paularino.

In 1860, a retired merchant seaman named Jedidiah Harper showed

up. He was a quiet man who kept to himself and eked out a living

towing flatbed barges laden with people, livestock, dry goods and

designer handbags up and down the Santa Ana River. But in the summer,

people from far and wide would come to ride Harper’s Ferry.

It became so famous by 1859 that the entire area came to be called

“Harper.” Years passed. By 1920, both Paolina Paularino’s Cafe and

Harper’s Ferry were long gone, and people adopted the name “Costa

Mesa” -- a Chumash Indian term for “shopping on the coast.”

33 years later, the election of June 29, 1953 made it official,

legal, incorporated, so forth and so one. And the rest, as they say,

is the rest.

So what about the Happy Birthday song?

It all started in the mid-1800’s with two sisters from Kentucky,

Mildred J. Hill and Patty Smith Hill, or as their friends called

them, Mildred and Patty. Both the Hill girls had long careers as

teachers and educators.

Patty, who was a faculty member at Columbia University, developed

a learning system called the “Patty Hill Blocks” that became a

national model for kindergartens and elementary schools across the

country. Mildred Hill was both a teacher and an accomplished

musician.

In 1893, while Mildred was teaching and Patty was principal at the

“Louisville Experimental Kindergarten School,” Patty wanted a

cheerful ditty that even the most unmusical teachers and kids could

sing to start the day. Mildred came up with the simple, repetitive

melody that we know as “Happy Birthday to You” and Patty added the

lyrics: “Good morning to you ... Good morning to you ... Good

morning, dear children ... Good morning to all.”

I don’t know why she switched to “Good morning to all” in the last

line either, but I guess you had to be there. Within months,

classrooms across the country were ringing with “Good Morning to

All.” By the way, for those of you old enough to remember it, we’re

not talking about “Good Morning to You” here, which is another song.

Not long after, someone decided Mildred and Patty’s simple song

also worked great for birthday celebrations and changed the lyrics to

“Happy Birthday To You.” Today, it’s been translated and used as a

birthday song around the world.

So what does any of this have to do with Costa Mesa’s 50th or the

United States of America’s 227th? Not a thing, of course.

Congratulations to all the birthday cities and countries out

there, and have a blast on the Fourth, figuratively speaking. I gotta

go.

* PETER BUFFA is a former Costa Mesa mayor. His column runs

Sundays. He may be reached by e-mail at [email protected].