My Story with Phil Brigandi
Tired but accomplished - the team which led the bus tour following the Portolá Expedition's route through Orange County in the years 1769-1770. From left to right: Paul Spitzerri, Chris Jepsen, Stephanie George, Phil Brigandi and Eric Plunkett (author of this blog). Our friend and colleague, Phil Brigandi, died on December 12th, 2019. This is my story with Phil . I met Phil Brigandi at an Orange County Historical Society meeting on April 12 th , 2012. I had known about Phil for long before meeting him. He was a hard guy to avoid. Phil seemed to have written or spoken about every historical topic I was interested in and started researching myself. Even after seven years of friendship, I’m still only scratching the surface of the breadth of history Phil knew and wrote about. But the Phil I knew was a kindred spirit. He saw what I saw in the backcountry. He didn’t just see the chaparral and grass covered hills dotted with occasional oaks (which he likened in beauty t