Reprise of Second Santa Cruz Local History Question/Article

Santa Cruz, CA.

    Santa Cruz History. While this is presumably not considered ancient history, where was our June 1957 graduation party held?

    But first a photo I took a few weeks ago and a question. What noted local architect was largely responsible for the design of the small town to the left of the large silos? [Click once or twice for a better view. And for whom was the town named?

 

 

    The SCHS Class of '57 Graduation Party was held at the Riverside Hotel, which was also sometimes call the New Riverside Hotel.
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    The June 1957 graduation party was held at the Riverside Hotel. Here's what Margaret Koch wrote in her Santa Cruz County: Parade of the Past in a section titled "They Came and Stayed A While in Those Days...."
    "Santa Cruz had hotels which became famous, like the great Sea Beach which was known nationally and was a favorite society watering place before Del Monte across the Bay gained its wide reputation.
    "Others, perhaps not so well known as the Sea Beach, but known to the San Francisco society, also operated for years -- particularly the years from 1880 to the early 1900s.
    "In those years it was fashionable and sensible for big city folk from Oakland and San Francisco to pack up their families and come to the seaside for the two or three summer months. Trains disgorged hundreds of such families -- even the family dog came along in many cases, according to oldtimers who witnessed the great 'invasion!' year after year.
    "There were several Santa Cruz hotels which were highly popular with the family trade. The Pope House [at King & Mission Streets] -- where Mrs. Pope pounded her cane [on the floor] when she wanted the servants; the Barson family's Riverside Hotel which set a fabulous table, the St. George Hotel, lost to the 1989 quake, and for Italians, the Garibaldi Hotel [next the the Chinatown recorded on photos by George Lee] torn down years ago.
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    "Two generations of Barsons operated the Riverside Hotel which stood from 1870 in a bend of the San Lorenzo River, where the modern structure [sometimes called the New Riverside Hotel] of the same name is located, today.
    "When Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Barson died, four sons and four daughters took over: Fred, William, Arthur, Robert, Sadie, Mary, Gertrude, and Lilla.
    "The hotel was popular from the 1870's through the turn of the century, becoming in later years a restaurant instead of actually a hotel. In the 1880's, an octagonal 'clubhouse' was built where dances were held.
    "In the late 1870's, two footbridges crossed the San Lorenzo, extending from the Pacific Avenue side and the beach side. Later, the cut-bias bridge was built on an angle and bisected the Barson pear orchard.
    "The Riverside raised nearly all its own food. There were extensive vegetable gardens, orchards, an cows for milk, butter, and cream. The Basons were among the first Santa Cruzans to plant semi-tropical fruits, [for] according to Ernest Otto they had oranges, figs, and lemons.
    "Jim, the Chinese cook, worked for the family for more than 30 years. He had requested that when he died, that he be given a funeral service like Mr. Barson's. His wishes were carried out -- even to the religious service.
    "The Barson orchard was even more famous than the hotel and covered the entire flat back of the hotel, reaching to the hillside below Ocean View Avenue. Today this former orchard area is built up with motels and homes. A few isolated old pear and apple trees still stand in a few backyards, remnants of the once-famous orchard."

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    The photo above is of Spreckels, which may no longer have the sugar beet factory started by San Francisco and Santa Cruz resident Klaus Spreckels. But it does still have a post office.
    And while Pasatiempo developer Marion Hollins gets all of the press for developing a polo grounds, Klaus earlier had one across what is now SR1 from where the old Deer Park Tavern stood.
    And the architect who planned both the sugar factory and the town of Spreckles was the same architect who designed both Santa Cruz High School and the former Branciforte Elementary building as well as the current Beach Boardwalk Casino.
    His name: William H. Weeks. For more on his architecture see an article I did some time ago subtitled "Architect Extraordinaire."

New Santa Cruz Local History Question

Mission San Juan Bautista

Most locals call the highest point on SR17 between Santa Cruz and Los Gatos "The Summit." What is its official name?
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[Answer to follow before the turkey left-overs run out!]
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    Here's the answer to the above question courtesty of Richard A. Beal's Highway 17: The Road to Santa Cruz,c1991.
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Patchen Pass is the actual name of the spot where Highway 17 crosses the Santa Cruz - Santa Clara County line. Most people refer to it as "the Summit."

In the late 1870s there was considerable controversy about the name - which was decided by Los Gatos Councilman, later mayor, Albert Smith. Local historians protested that the area had been designated as "Cuesta de Los Gatos" by the explorer Fremont. Cuesta de Los Gatos means "wildcat ridge" in Spanish. Smith ignored the advice and even though outside the Los Gatos city limits, he had signs made and installed them at the summit. Caltrans later removed them. Politicians, Caltrans, the U.S. Department of Interior and local newspapers had a field day arguing about the name for the next three years before Patchen Pass was offcially designated as the official name.

There is no town called Patchen. The name refers to a 1872 Post Office and stage stop, about a mile north of the summit on the Santa Cruz Turnpike at the Mountain Charlie Road fork. The post office was situated on the Fowler ranch, on the west side of the old highway at the junction. The building burned down in the 1950s. Across the highway was the stagecoach barn, which was torn down in 1949.

As the story goes, the [Post Office] inspector stepped out of a stage coach in front of the Fowler's place to encounter a man sitting on the doorstep busily sewing. 'What are you doing?' asked the inspector, seeking to estabish friendly relations with the natives. 'Patchin,' replied the old man, and that was that.

Another less colorful version stated the town was named after the famous race horse, George Patchen, but the Los Gatos Times Observer disputes the story in a 1978 article. In any case, the location of the post office was moved several times over the next 50 years.

There is a historical marker at the site of the former Post Office, at the intersection of the old Santa Cruz Highway and Mouintain Charlie Road.

Previous to the establishment of the post office, mail had been deposited in a hollow tree nearby and the customers all sorted their own mail.

German cabinetmaker John Martin Schulthesis (known as "Mart") and his wife Susan Byerly homesteaded land about a mile from the Post Office in 1852 and built the first permanent home in mountains - a log cabin. The Schulthesis house is believed to be the oldest building still standing [as of 1991] in the Santa Cruz Mountains and is located at the rear of 22849 Summit Road. The Schlthesis family bought more land and eventually owned 75 acres, mostly used for growing prunes. Susan was a well-known nurse and delivered many of the babies born in the area.

By 1885 Patchen consisted of a post office, store and a few hotels serving local summit resisents and travelers along the Mt. Charlie road. An Episcopal Church was built nearby in 1899 as a branch of the Los Gatos Church. In 1887 the Schulthesis family donated land for the Summit Opera House. The 40' x 75' Opera House was erected with volunteer labor in 1890 and used for community dances, classic music (Mark Schuthesis was Director of the orchestra) and, of course, recitals by opera singers.

Another prominent citizen in the Summit area was Lyman John Burrell, who arrived in 1851 from Ohio. He was married to Clarisa Wright and in 1856 planted an orchard and vineyard. Soon many other settlers followed his lead and raising fruit became a major industry. The Burrell land was right on the county line about 1.25 miles south of Wrights and at its height had a store, blackmith, Presbyterian Church, and several hotels. There is still a Burrell School on Summit Road.
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[From pp. 30-33 of Richard A. Beal's Highway 17: The Road to Santa Cruz,c1991]

Reprise of First Santa Cruz Local History Question/Article

Mission Street Safeway, Santa Cruz, CA.

    Here's the question I asked in Update #81 of the 1957 Santa Cruz High School Grads Mailing List on 26 May 2005.
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    Santa Cruz History. What were the original names of Front Street and Pacific Avenue? (Extra-Credit Question: What was the previous name of Bay Street?) [Answers follow.]

    Answers to Santa Cruz History Questions (from Margaret Koch's Yesterday -- and the Day Before, c1964).

    "On July 7, 1846, Commodore John Sloat raised the American flag at Monterey. Santa Cruz County, originally named Branciforte County, was renamed in 1850 shortly after being designated one of the original counties by the first state legislature.
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    "Pacific Avenue was Willow Street and Front Street was Main Street in the old days. When the center of business moved down from Holy Cross Plaza, it went to Main Street which even had (a few years later) real plank sidewalks. Then the big Bernheim Company store moved from Main to Willow and that was the end of Main as the main drag.
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    "For 30 years the voice of the bull whacker and the sound of the axe were music for the Santa Cruz County's greatest industry: lumber. The fine virgin redwood trees fell, tree by tree, acre by acre, to make posts, poles, pickets, grapestakes, and boards for building homes. All this to the whining tune of the steel saws.
    "Loma Prieta, one of the county's largest mills, also had one of the greatest lumbering tragedies. The great earthquake of 1906 buried the cook shack, a bunk house and 13 men alive under tones of rock and dirt."
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    A photo of Bay View Elementary, apparently taken in winter or early spring, in the Schools Section of the Santa Cruz Library's Local History web site, shows the large multi-story bldg at the corner of Mission Street and a muddy Lime Kiln Road.
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    Am currently having the RV Service Center of Santa Cruz replace the weaker tie-downs for my camper with stronger Tork-Lift tie-downs as well as check the water pump for total functioning.
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    While I'm currently staying at the McAlpine Lake & Park near San Juan Bautista each night, may try a couple of other RV Parks/Campgrounds in the area. And, if I can ever catch Watsonville's Pinto Lake RV Park open, will try it as well.

Obituary for Margaret Hill Smith

San Juan Bautista Library

Margaret Hill SMITH
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Obituary
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Tuesday 10 April 1973 Palo Alto Times, p. 11
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    Mrs. Margaret Hill Smith, who with her late husband, J. Gilbert Smith, formerly owned the property where the Los Altos Civic Center now stands, died Monday at Stanford University Hospital. She was 95.

    Mrs. Smith had lived for many years at 51 South San Antonio Road, at the rear of the Civic Center site in a house her husband, an orchardist, built. The house and one-acre lot where it was located now revert to the city, which may convert the old home into a museum.

    The Smiths sold the [9-]acre civic center site to the city in 1954.

    Mrs. Smith was born in Oregon and lived in Oakland before her marriage.

    Her parents donated the land on which the San Antonio Club is located on North San Antonio Road. Mrs. Smith belonged to the club. She also belonged to the Foothill Congregational Church.

    [Survivors include] sister-in-law Florence Hill of Los Altos; nieces Florence Paul of Oakland and Betty Ward of San Francisco and nephew McCoy Hill of Sacramento.

    Friends may call at the Los Altos Chapel of Spangler Mortuary, San Antonio and Lyell until 12 noon Wednesday. Friends are invited to attend services Wednesday, April 11, 1973, at the Foothill Congregational church, 461 Orange Ave., Los Altos, under the direction of Spangler's Mortuary.

    Inurnment private.
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And here's a link to the J. Gilbert Smith House, which has indeed become a museum. I was particularly impressed with the old 30s-vintage toaster which was exactly like the one owned by my maternal grandmother. (She'd be busy talking and burn the toast. "It's a little dark." And she'd scrape off some of the surface charcoal before covering it with margarine -- which may explain why til recently I much preferred butter!)

Sat 18 Dec Route:San Juan Bautista - Santa Cruz - McAlpine Lake & [RV] Park