In 1964, a group of new Laguna Woods residents met at the Clubhouse 1 pool every evening. The women quickly became friends, sharing a love of water and swimming. In 1965, they had their first official meeting. Soon they decided to call themselves the Aquadettes. The rest, as they say, is history..
The Laguna Woods History Center is sharing that history in an exhibit that pays tribute to 58 years of the synchronized swimming team, the “first and oldest club in the Village.”
The curator of the exhibit is Village resident Robert Reyes, a PhD researcher who is the new director of social media and exhibits at the History Center.
The late Laguna Woods resident and cartoonist George Rowley, who once worked for Disney’s animation department, spent his retirement years enlivening the pages of the Leisure World News with his drawings, including this one promoting the Aquadettes’ Aqua Follies in 1987.
(Photo by Mark Rabinowitch)
An original Aquadettes program for their show “Swimerama of 1968,” kept in the archive room of the Laguna Woods History Center.
(Photo by Mark Rabinowitch)
A letter from the Nixon White House dated Aug. 20, 1969, to the Aquadettes.
(Photo by Mark Rabinowitch)
The “engineers” of the Leisure World Aquadettes in a clipping from the Laguna Hills News-Post of March 23, 1977.
(Photo by Mark Rabinowitch)
A newspaper clipping from Aug. 18, 1994, about the Laguna Woods Aquadettes swim team’s 29th Aqua Follies.
(Photo by Mark Rabinowitch)
Robert Reyes, director of social media and exhibits at the Laguna Woods History Center, holds a scrapbook page with photos of the Aquadettes from 2007.
(Photo by Mark Rabinowitch)
It was in the Laguna Woods Aquadettes’ later years when the women began embellishing their bathing suits. Here, some of the swimmers pose in 2014.
(Photo by Mark Rabinowitch)
Over the years, the costumes of the Laguna Woods Aquadettes artistic swimming team because more elaborate. Here, team members are shown in 2014.
(Photo by Mark Rabinowitch)
Robert Reyes, the director of social media and exhibits at the Laguna Woods History Center, holds up two of the five scrapbooks showcasing the Aquadettes’ history, in the center’s archive room.
(Photo by Mark Rabinowitch)
Robert Reyes, the director of social media and exhibits at the Laguna Woods History Center, has put together an exhibit spotlighting the Aquadettes artistic swim team’s 58-year history ahead of their Aqua Follies show Sept. 8-10 at the Clubhouse 1 pool.
(Photo by Mark Rabinowitch)
A display case in the entryway of the Laguna Woods History Center shows some Aquadettes accessories.
(Photo by Mark Rabinowitch)
The Laguna Woods Aquadettes strike a pose in 1970. The artistic swimming team got its official start in what was then Leisure World in the mid-1960s.
(Photo by Mark Rabinowitch)
The Laguna Woods History Center celebrates 58 years of the Aquadettes in a new exhibit that runs through Sept. 10.
(Courtesy of Laguna Woods History Center)
The Aquadettes exhibit serves not only to spotlight the artistic swimming team ahead of the Aqua Follies water show in September, but also to shine a light on the History Center.
“We wanted the community to know what we’re all about, to inform residents of our archive room,” Reyes said, calling it “one of the best archives in Orange County.”
It’s into the archive room visitors will have to venture to find a treasure trove of Aquadettes history: five scrapbooks full of photos, newspaper clippings, original programs, a 1968 handbook on swimming requirements, even a letter written on behalf of President and Mrs. Nixon, sending their regrets to an invitation to a water show in 1969.
While in the archive room, visitors might also want to peruse other Village history, including books on the various clubs over the years. According to Reyes, for $50 a year, clubs can store their history at the center.
The archive room also houses Village newspapers going as far back as when this editor was a youngster. There’s even a piece of the old Leisure World Globe that stood just outside the Village along the 5 Freeway.
The Aquadettes exhibit runs through Sept. 10. The team is back after a two-year Covid hiatus with the Aqua Follies show Sept. 8, 9 and 10 at the Clubhouse 1 pool.
The History Center is next to the Village Library. It is open Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., or by appointment; call 949-206-0150. Check out the center’s website at lagunawoodshistory.org.
See Pages 8 and 9 for historical photos of the Aquadettes.
