Luck Museum in need of repairs to save historic items

SAN JUAN BAUTISTA, Calif. (KION-TV)- Community members in San Juan Bautista are trying to repair some damages to a piece of history in town.

The Luck Museum is said to be suffering from some damages that could ruin pieces of history.

The Luck Museum, built in 1919 in San Juan Bautista was once a popular gas station for travelers when 3rd Street was once Highway 101.

Today the structure now serves history instead of gas, however, water damage from recent storms caused a leak in the building that could spill onto historic items.

"The museum archives a lot of our history in old newspapers and documents and things like that. And, so it needs to be repaired," said Darlene Boyd who lives in San Juan Bautista.

According to San Juan Bautista City Manager Don Reynolds, the city ordered an engineer to send a proposal to evaluate the building.

"Hopefully the existing, capital improvement money that we have set aside, for another use can be then applied to, the structural assessment," said Reynolds. "So not just repairing, the leak and in that where this damage occurred, but understanding why the leak occurred and addressing all the needs of the building in order to preserve the history.

The dollar amount is still unknown according to Reynolds, but no matter the cost, Boyd says its worth the investment if it means maintaining irreplaceable items.

"We learn from history, you know, and if we don't know what our history is or was or what mistakes we made, how can we carry on?" said Boyd. "So, I just think it's very important to preserve our history, to understand it, to reflect upon it and learn from it,"

The city is also taking steps to qualify for a grant from the State Historic Preservation Office.

A local architect donated his time to help manage the project according to Reynolds.