|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
After five trips to San Diego County over the last two years, we finally got serious about figuring out how to visit the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley.
It was two hours each way from where we were staying, so we figured we’d get up early and go on our way home—it worked great. The museum is only about 30 minutes off Interstate 5 on its hilltop home that winds up a road reminiscent of Inspiration Drive in Dublin going up to Brave Church (originally Valley Christian Center).
One docent (they’re all volunteers and seemed uniformly well trained and knowledgeable) related how First Lady Nancy Reagan first saw the site. A developer building nearby had volunteered to donate 100 acres, but when she went to inspect it, the Secret Service vehicles could not get up the hill.
The developer provided a four-wheel drive vehicle and once Nancy was there, she loved the site so much she skipped the other two scheduled visits. The library, operated by the National Archives, opened in 1991 (anyone noticed the opening of the Barack Obama museum that wrecked a historical Chicago park?).
Once you are on the site, you can understand why the Reagan family loved it—the views are spectacular and the foundation has purchased 400 additional acres to ensure the views remain forever.
The government portion of the museum is first class, starting with his childhood and moving through his acting career into politics as California governor. It noted the importance of his role with General Electric theater that had him traveling all over the country engaged with citizens. GE is a significant donor on several exhibits.
Reagan’s political career started in my young adult hood. Early on, he dealt with the free speech protests on UC campuses and sent the National Guard to Cal. I was there as naïve freshman raised in the suburbs. When the guard helicopter tear gassed the campus (the famed picture of the gas spewing chopper flying by the iconic Campanile tower. I was in the gym, feeling a bit of the tear gas, during my basketball class.
The exhibits open with a replica of the presidential portrait followed by a statue of Ronnie and Nancy. A small theater follows with an excellent holograph that’s a relatively new feature (three rotate). The exhibits are tied together so once you start you walk through all of them. One highlight is the exact replica of the oval office with the real dimensions—a feature Reagan insisted upon. The architect said it was so high at 18 feet, it would wreck the roof line so they excavated to have the true dimensions.
One dramatic highlight is the Air Force One 707 that flew Reagan around the world (100,000 miles in the highest travel year). You are reminded how tight narrow bodies are compared to the expansive 747 replaced it during the term of George W. Bush.
The combined efforts of the foundation and Boeing resulted in the pavilion that houses it. The plane was flown into Ontario airport where Boeing removed the wings and tail assembly so the fuselage could be trucked to Simi Valley, a six-hour overnight journey.
The building was partially completed to allow room to move in the plane and then was finished. There’s also Marine One, the Beast (the presidential limousine) and other exhibits related to moving the president.
There’s also an extensive exhibit about his dealing with Mikahil Gorbachev that led the collapse of the Soviet Union and the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. Reagan’s famed “Tear down his wall Mr. Gorbachev” speech can bring tears to your eyes.
We ate in the grill and I could not pass up Reagan’s steak chili. Yes, not too warm and quite tasty. The meatloaf sandwich, another favorite, paled against the chili. It was far better when I ate the second half by itself after returning home.
Bottom line: Worth a visit for anyone interested, but particularly those of us for whom it is history we have lived through. For me, it was similar to visiting Checkpoint Charlie and the remnants of the Berlin Wall or the Apartheid Museum and Soweto in South Africa.
A PERSONAL ASIDE: the assassination of Charlie Kirk yesterday in Utah is just too real for me to write about a senseless act of political violence, particularly on the 24th anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks.
Pleasanton council shows early support for annexation, downtown plan, other priority projectsMarch 25, 2026 2:36 pm
Nighttime lane closures on I-580 near Pleasanton, I-680 through San Ramon ValleyMarch 25, 2026 2:05 pm