TTEN

OARD
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Newsletter of the Pacific Grove Heritage Society
February/March 2002
The above editorialfrom the October 8, 1943 Tide is continued inside on
the next page.
Editorial (Continued)
Local police and city officials believe that they have made arrangements to take
care of this particular case so that the people can return to Fresno, from whence
they came and where they have a house. But the incident once again indicates
that the city is in a business in which it has no right to be. The only other
occupant of the entire municipal camp is one auto trailer. There is little tourist
travel these days and those visitors who do come don't want out-of-doors
camping. Pacific Grove should close its camp. Let the property be made into a
first class picnic grounds. With gas rationing, people don't want to drive long
distances on picnics. There is need for a public picnic place close to town. Let's
get out of a business which no longer brings the city any benefit and which
results in other cities shifting their social problems onto us. (Editor's note:
Shortly thereafter, the city made the municipal camp a local picnic ground and
renamed it Washington Park.)
Police Say All Gypsies Leave Grove
(From the April 14, 1939 Tide)
Pacific Grove's Gypsy problem vanished this week when all the families located
here departed. There has been a general exodus extending over two weeks or
more. According to Chief of Police H.S. "Mike" Stalter, all the families except
one had left Pacific Grove early this week and the final group departed in the last
day or two. They do not plan on returning. Chief Stalter says that he contacted
the individual who was chief of the Gypsies here, explained the growing antipa­
thy of local residents toward the unwelcome visitors and suggested that the
Gypsies, as well as the police, would be happier if the Gypsies should go
elsewhere. At last reports, the Gypsies had established a camp on the Salinas
highway near the site of the old Green Lantern resort. Presence of the Gypsies in
Pacific Grove was the factor which recently determined the citizens to appoint a
general housing committee to try to remove the sub-standard houses in the city
which made their advent possible. The committee is now gathering data for a
thorough study of the problem.
Victor Mikhail Arnautoff (1896-1979)
After seeing the Post Office mural painted by Arnautoff in our last issue, Robert
Sitzman of Pacific Grove sent us a copy of a short biography from "Artists In
California" by Edan Milton Hughs. In addition to our mural, Arnautoff also
painted murals in post offices in Richmond, CA, Linden, Texas and College
Station, Texas. His murals can also be found in San Francisco at Coit Tower,
George Washington High School, the SF Art Institute Library and the Post
Chapel at the SF Presidio. He also has a mural at the Palo Alto Medical Clinic.
Arnautoff was born in the Ukraine in 1896, lived in China and Mexico before he
settled in San Francisco and Colma. He was an art professor at Stanford until he
retired in 1963. After the death of his wife, he returned to Russia where he died
in 1979
2
The above photo, taken in 1912, shows the Pacific Grove City Hall under
construction. This photo was donated to us in 1979 by Dick Chivers, whose
father and uncle, Harry & Richard Chivers were the general contractors. The
photo shows the roof being completed and forms being removed from the
concrete structure. The four men on top of the building are, from the left, Bill
Sweeney, Richard Chivers, George Turner and Frank Grantham. Mr. Ingram was
the plastering contractor, Tom Cope was the electrical contractor and Harry
Steinmetz handled the iron work. The first council meeting was held in the
building on September 6, 1912.
3
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The above newspaper clipping isfrom the October 24, 1930 Pacific Grove Tide. The 10 year old truck
mentioned in the clipping is pictured on the next age.
Photo taken in 1922. Truck delivered in 1920.
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Photo taken soon after construction was completed in 1912. With all the current construction going on around the
site, I thought you might enjoy this photo. The house on the right facing Laurel is the Oglesbee House, demolished in
May 1943, as noted in the Oct/Nov 2001 Board and Batten.
Down The Piney Path: News From Old Pacific Grove
+ by E. C. Davis
•
The Chautauqua Program will include Marine Botany, Land Botany
Conchology, etc., with something new added in a cooking school and a
school of photography.
•
Several blocks along the fringe of the pine forest in New Monterey and
facing our lovely bay have been divided into lots twenty-five by eighty feet
and will be assigned to parties free of charge wishing to reserve a delightful
spot to spend the summer.
+
The Pacific Grove Board of Trustees plan to charge a $500 fee to peddlers
and thus hurled a bombshell into the peddlers camp. It is said the crusade
against peddlers was originally planned to end the sale of malt and spiritous
liquors which, it is claimed, were sold from the peddlers' wagons in viola­
tion of the Grove restrictions. There will also be a $50 fee for outside
hackmen and bus drivers who take the cream of the business during the
season without leaving any of their earnings.
+
The Arion Quartet of Ohio will perform at the Chautauqua.
+
A band concert was held with Mr. George Jones. In addition to the band
selections, there was a piano selection and the Mandolin Club of Monterey
furnished some exquisite music. Afterwards Mrs. Bieghle of Centrella
Cottage offered a splendid collation for the club with the help of lady
friends.
+
The Pacific Grove Fire Department is to participate in a race with the
Monterey Fire Department on the Fourth of July.
+
Mr. Hollenbeck of Pacific Grove is putting up a new building adjacent to
Greenleaf's jewelry store for an ice cream saloon and candy factory.
+
Captain William Cole of Pacific Grove and a party from Gilroy have
chartered a schooner and gone to South America in search of a lost treasure.
+
A phonographic entertainment will take place tonight for the benefit of the
Sunday School. Admission IO cents.
+
In June 1890, an attempt was made to establish a railroad between Monterey
and Fresno. For a dozen years there was an occasional mention of this
project, which was to include a wharf and a steamship line. The piling for
the wharf was laid opposite the Custom House in Monterey and ten miles of
roadbed graded between Salinas and Monterey. Colonel A.W. Jones was a
principal in this; he was a resident of Pacific Grove. By 1902, he was in the
Philippines and the project abandoned "for lack of funds". Local investors
were out of pocket.
8
Magic Plaques?
by Adam Weiland
I am sure many of you have seen the simple green wooden plaques (pictured
above) on many of the older homes and businesses in Pacific Grove. They
contain the first owner's name (not necessarily the first resident nor the longest
term resident) and the year it was built (or more accurately, the year it was first
assessed).
Since 1978, the Heritage Society of Pacific Grove has given away, free of
charge, over 600 of these plaques, primarily to homes built in 1926 or earlier.
The only other criteria are that the structure must retain its original character and
architectural style. An old wooden cottage covered with stucco would not be
eligible. A house torn down and rebuilt exactly the same would not be eligible.
However, a house remodeled or added to over the years would be eligible, if the
changes were in harmony with the original structure and the original characteris­
tics of the house were retained and apparent.
Although demand for the plaques has increased over the years, a few owners
refused or returned their plaques for various reasons. One older person called to
have her plaque removed because she said people thought it was her name and
birth date, and she wasn't quite that old yet! A few years later she called and
requested the plaque back because she was selling her house and the agent told
her "it would increase the value." Two others declined the plaque because they
did not agree with the results of our research. The name and/or date we found in
the official county tax records did not match the name or date that someone else
had told them, even though our data was documented and their data wasn't.
The most common reason for refusing a plaque is the mistaken belief that it
somehow dictates what you can or cannot do to your house. A few residents
remarked that they couldn't paint their house, or had to paint it a certain color, if
it had a plaque. That is not true. In fact, one painter did not bother to remove the
9
plaque when he painted a house in the Retreat. He painted right over the plaque
as though it was not there. Of course, we do not recommend that procedure.
Other homeowners feared they would never be able to remodel or add to their
house if it had a plaque. That is not true. In fact, plaques are often requested
when a new owner fixes up an older home and adds a room or more. Some
consider plaques the finishing touch to a renovation or rehabilitation.
Another homeowner was reluctant to have his house "registered". A plaque does
not "register" your house. A house, or any other structure, is automatically
considered "registered" in Pacific Grove if it was built in 1926 or earlier and
retains its original character. A list of all currently "registered" structures is an
appendix to the Historic Preservation Element of the General Plan for the City of
Pacific Grove. The list can be reviewed at the Community Development's new
offices on Forest Avenue beside City Hall. Additional structures may be added to
the list as determined by future research.
No, the plaques do not have any magical powers that prevent you from, or forces
you into, doing anything regarding your house. The premise is simple. A plaque
is displayed only as a reminder of our heritage in Pacific Grove. It gives recogni­
tion to the age and first legal owner of a structure. it is considered an honor to
have a plaque on your house. It may only be my imagination, but a house with a
plaque seems to stand straighter and taller.
woman was a widow or unmarried when she had the house built. 4) Perhaps it
was a generally accepted practice at the time. 5) Religion had nothing to do with
it. Although Pacific Grove was founded as a Methodist retreat, nothing pre­
cluded men from owning real estate in the Retreat.
Trapp Family Singers
Many of you are familiar with the von Trapp Family from the movie "The Sound
of Music". After their escape over the Austrian Alps, they toured the world
singing as a family. On October 25, 1940, The Baroness von Trapp and her seven
children gave a concert at the Pacific Grove high school (now middle school)
auditorium. It was the first concert of the 1940-41 series of the Monterey
Peninsula Concerts Association. The program included folk songs, yodels, folk
dancing and numbers on antique instruments such as the tenor
Recorder, the Virginal and Viola da Gamba.
W hile on tour in 1939, the von Trapp family visited Stowe, Vermont in the Green
Mountains and decided to stay there. They opened up a lodge and it is still run
by Maria von Trapp's youngest child, Johannes, president of the lodge. Visit
trappfamily.com.
(Editor's note: The following volunteers all help in the creation of a plaque:
Vanessa (& Allison) Bredthauer does the lettering, Lowell Battcher does the
routing, Adam Weiland does the research and letter painting, Len & the Central
Coast Silk Screen and T-Shirt shop, 215 Forest, does the silk-screen and John
Billstrom does the final four marine varnish applications.)
Why So Many Names of Women On The Plaques?
Share The Heritage With a Friend Annual Family Membership $10.00
The names on the plaques are the first owners as recorded in the Monterey
County Tax records in Salinas. We do not know for sure why so many homes
recorded only a woman as the owner. Many long time residents are surprised
when they find out their family home was "officially and legally" owned by their
great-grandmother with no mention of their great-grandfather. Other descen­
dants are surprised when they find out their "family home" was really owned by
a great-aunt or, in a few cases, someone not even related to their family. In other
cases we find that the bank or the Pacific Improvement Company was really the
owner until a loan was paid off, although in most cases they are listed as only
having a mortgage interest in the property. Of course there were some that built
and owned many homes, living in one and renting out the others. Although this is
just speculation, here are some of my thoughts on why there are so many plaques
with a woman's name:
Members receive The Board and Batten newsletter of the Heritage Society of Pacific Grove.
I) Women lived longer, so perhaps it avoided some tax issues when the man
died. 2) Many of the men owned their own business, so perhaps it was to
protect their home from creditors should the business fail. 3) In some cases the
10
Name:
Address:
City:
State, Zip:
Phone:
*
$ Please return to The Pacific Grove Heritage Society
Box 1007 Pacific Grove, CA 93950 Telephone 372-2898
+
11
%e Jleritage Society
ofPacific (jrove
Nonprofit Org.
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
P.O. Box I 007
Pacific Grove, CA 93950
Board of Directors
Permit No. 30
Pacific Grove,
CA93950
President:
Vice-President:
Secretary:
Treasurer:
Bobbie Hall
Paul Finnegan
Carrol Patterson
Don Beals
Jean Anton
Darlene & John Billstrom
Bob Davis
Pete Houser
Muriel Pyburn
Adam Weiland
Marilyn Arioto
Michael Clark
Ken Hinshaw
Lisa Nickerson
Jan & Ted Rose
The Board and Batten Staff
Adam Weiland
Colin & Annette Gough
Typesetting courtesy of VISCOM
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Laurel & 17th
(831) 372-2898
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