News From the Bat Cave.........by Joyce Oroz

Today I have a mural update from the bat cave. There were no bats, but I saw the strangest things, a horse poking his head in the window, a chicken marching up the steps and a little critter hiding under a rug. 

     Joann perseveres 

Louise painting with her eyes closed

Amazingly, the two murals are coming to life, one brush stroke at a time by a team of earnest AHA elves. Linda magically produced a batch of glorious sunflowers, Joann patiently shaded the stone formations and Louise created a southwest style rug while Kathy painted an educated horse who likes to read. The Old Firehouse will never be the same!

Speaking of the Old Firehouse, did you know that it was built to be a school house in 1925. The old Aromas school was razed and a new structure built using community volunteers and hired carpenters. The building was designed by William H. Weeks, an architect who built his home in the hills, over-looking the school. The new school building was designed in the Spanish Revival style which Weeks had become known for as early as 1912. Week's reputation for school design was firmly enhanced by the Santa Barbara Earthquake of 1925, when his school survived virtually undamaged, while others completely collapsed.
Our school house, firehouse, water company, library, grocery store has served the community well, always looking lovely with its low-pitched, red fired clay tile roof, truncated eaves, decorative arches, cast and inlaid tile ornamentation and decorative urns. Ok, some of those features don't exist any more, but the murals are coming!

Thank you, Alan Kemp, for the wonderful research you have done concerning Aromas and the Old Firehouse.

Stay tuned for more news from the bat cave.