GOOD OLD DAYS:

The charming fired-adobe building at Dahlia Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway in Corona del Mar is set back, a little hidden and somewhat deceiving at first glance.

Beyond the iron gates that house the Sherman Library and Gardens, a narrow pathway leads guests toward rose gardens, fountains, sculptures and a profusion of color from flowers in beds and hanging baskets.

Wade Roberts, the garden director at Sherman Library and Gardens for the past 41 years, said first-time visitors had no idea what they were missing.

“People pass by it for years and years and don’t even know it’s here,” he said. “Then they almost trip on it and end up coming on in.”

In 1955, Arnold Haskell, a Corona del Mar businessman and associate of pioneer developer Moses Hazeltine Sherman, purchased the adobe building that had been hand-built in the 1940s for use as his downtown office. He also established the Sherman Foundation, in honor of his friend and mentor, which operated as a grant-making organization that donated funds to other causes.

Haskell added a wing to the building in 1956 and began landscaping the grounds. In 1958, the area became known as “The Coffee Garden.” Newport Beach Service League volunteers served guests lunch, pastries and beverages to raise funds for community service projects.

Haskell’s vision was far more extensive, though, Roberts said.

“Arnold Haskell had a dream of expanding the small garden into a public garden and of establishing a library of regional history.”

In 1966, Bill Hendricks, a history professor at USC, was hired by Haskell as the Sherman Library’s director.

“The principal focus of the library was to collect materials to explain the phenomenal development of the Pacific Southwest,” Roberts said.

The library maintains historical records, a small exhibit room in the building houses a display of historical items, and hanging on the library walls is a small collection of California Impressionist paintings.

Today’s visitors to the Sherman Library and Gardens can have lunch or Sunday brunch at the Cafe Jardin restaurant, or indulge in handmade crepes, pastries and sandwiches under a “bower of begonias” on the patio at the Tea Garden Creperie.

For Roberts, a horticulture graduate of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, working at the gardens is still a dream for him.

“Corona del Mar means crown of the sea, and we feel that we’re one of the major jewels in that crown. It’s an unbelievable place to have a career,” Roberts said.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Sherman Library and Gardens

WHEN: The Garden is open daily, 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $3 for adults; $1 for children 12-16. Call (949) 673-2261. The Library is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

INFO: Call (949) 673-0033 or go to www.slgardens.org.

SUE THOENSEN may be reached at (714) 966-4627 or at [email protected].