{"id":4104,"date":"2025-10-14T15:28:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T15:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/4104\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T15:28:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T15:28:06","slug":"ocean-beach-historian-earns-people-in-preservation-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/4104\/","title":{"rendered":"Ocean Beach historian earns People in Preservation Award"},"content":{"rendered":"

OCEAN BEACH \u2013 Local historian Eric DuVall<\/a> is one of the proud recipients of Save Our Heritage Organisation\u2019s annual People in Preservation Awards.<\/p>\n

DuVall, who has served as president of the Ocean Beach Historical Society<\/a> for the past eight years, accepted SOHO\u2019s Culture Keeper award on behalf of both OBHS and the La Playa Trail Association<\/a>, a nonprofit historical group focused on the La Playa Trail in San Diego.<\/p>\n

SOHO\u2019s PIP Awards each year honor outstanding individuals, organizations, and community groups whose work in historic preservation has enriched the cultural and architectural fabric of San Diego County.<\/p>\n

DuVall was among four beachfront individuals and properties honored by SOHO in this year\u2019s PIP awards. The group also included Crystal Pier Hotel & Cottages, Paradise Point in PB, and The Joan and Irwin Jacobs Performing Arts Center in Liberty Station. <\/p>\n

\u201cSOHO celebrates these remarkable individuals who demonstrate what\u2019s possible when dedication, skill, and vision are applied to the ongoing work of protecting our past,\u201d said Bruce Coons, executive director of SOHO. \u201cTheir achievements remind us that preservation takes many forms, each essential to safeguarding the identity, pride, and authenticity of San Diego\u2019s communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year\u2019s awardees demonstrate how historic preservation not only saves our built heritage but sustains the places and stories that fuel our economy, our cultural tourism, community pride, and long-term prosperity.\u201d<\/p>\n

DuVall, who moved to OB with his family at age 4, was always interested in history. He noted that it was \u201cold\u201d sidewalks that initially piqued his interest in local history, which ultimately led to his joining OBHS.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d be working in my yard and Ray and Kathy Blavatt (of OBHS) used to walk past my place on Sunset Cliffs and I would tell them about the old sidewalks (in OB), which has been a thing of mine since I was a teen, when I used to skateboard around looking for the oldest sidewalks I could find,\u201d noted DuVall. \u201cThe oldest I ever found in OB were from 1906. And those are long gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

DuVall also served as past president of the La Playa Trail Association. <\/p>\n

The oldest commercial route in the Western United States, historically connecting the harbor at Ballast Point to Old Town and beyond, the La Playa Trail was first used by the Kumeyaay and then by European settlers.\u00a0It was the primary route for commerce, with goods like cattle hides being transported to ships and supplies being brought back from them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The trail has been recognized for its historical significance, with 70 registered historic sites and the\u00a0La Playa Trail Association\u00a0working to preserve its legacy.<\/p>\n

DuVall is also a columnist who writes stories about Peninsula history. He talked about one particular story that was particularly special to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wrote about Church Row being one of the cornerstones of OB,\u201d he said, adding that he has also been keenly interested in the local movement to save historic Point Loma United Methodist Church \u2013which had been operating as\u00a0Water\u2019s Edge Church at 1984 Sunset Cliffs Blvd. \u2013 from being sold for development.<\/p>\n

That property was saved from sale earlier this year when the California-Pacific Conference of the United Methodist Church<\/a> took control to restore a ministry presence in the community.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t just tear down an old church that\u2019s almost 100 years old,\u201d said DuVall.<\/p>\n

Why is chronicling history important? Many reasons. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt adds to the sense of place,\u201d said DuVall. \u201cWhen historical places get torn down, you lose that. And that tends to be the beginning of losing things that make places not only livable, but better and more interesting places to live.\u201d<\/p>\n

DuVall issued this warning about historical preservation in the Peninsula: \u201cIf people don\u2019t stand up to protect historical things, and they go by the wayside \u2013 we will lose part of our culture and heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ NEXT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OCEAN BEACH \u2013 Local historian Eric DuVall is one of the proud recipients of Save Our Heritage Organisation\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[4918,4919,3101,4920,4921,74,76,75,4922],"class_list":["post-4104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-la-playa-trail","tag-la-playa-trail-association","tag-ocean-beach","tag-ocean-beach-historical-society","tag-people-in-preservation-awards","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-save-our-heritage-organisation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}