When Something Needs Fixing, There’s Always A Guy Around to Do The Job

Volunteer Guy Horanberg likes to tinker around at the Santa Clarita History Center in William S. Hart Park. He never knows what project is going to roll through the door – and he likes it that way.
A century-old rickety wooden cart previously took up space on the dock and baggage room of the Saugus Train Station, and when its history was discovered, Guy took it on as a project. Archived minutes of the SCV Historical Society board revealed that the area’s first historian, Lloyd Houghton, received the cart from Newhall’s first postmaster, James Gifford.
Houghton’s daughter, Historical Society founding member Betty Houghton Pember, donated the wagon to the society in 1975. The wagon was used to haul mail, but its tin lining allowed for another use: hauling ice. Guy disassembled the wagon, removed the tin lining and took off the wheels. He carefully sanded each spoke – 16 per wheel –using the sandpaper “like a shoeshine cloth.” The wagon looks quite different now.
He also restored the 1895 organ from the Ramona Chapel that was played by composer Carrie Jacobs Bond (“I Love You Truly,” “End of a Perfect Day”). The chapel was located at Callahan’s Old West Trading Post on Sierra Highway right before it was moved to the Santa Clarita History Center in 1987. The organ’s provenance is documented by photos of Callahan and Bond sitting on a bench inside the chapel.
Researching restoration techniques for the vintage instrument, he watched hours of videos on YouTube and visited the Musical Instrument Museum in Scottsdale, Ariz., to consult with experts. He methodically took apart the organ and found that the repairs went easy – until he got to the bellows, which had been partially glued in place. Guy found an unlikely restoration partner, a retired lawnmower repairman, who carefully removed the bellows and worked on them for two weeks, returning them to Guy in working order. The reassembled organ is now playable.
“Every day is different,” Guy said, referring to the myriad of projects around the historical park. “There is no end to things we can fix or make better.”
To learn more about Santa Clarita History Center, visit its website at www.scvhs.org.