More Movie Stories.....

The Golden Girls--Class of 1963 remember the days when you could attend the Aven Saturday matinee for 20¢ and you only drove 25 mph on the slow road around the mountain. They all attended Healdsburg High School and wouldn’t miss a day of classes.

Jerry & Mary Lou Eddinger recall that the Healdsburg of their youth had a population of about 3,500.  Mary Lou’s favorite childhood memories include watching Howdy Doody on the first black and white TV around. The Finchers and the Bellis taught her to swim in Dry Creek. She and Jerry loved the old Aven Theatre as well as ice cream at Chaney’s and the soda fountain at Medico Drugstore. 

OurHealdsburgHome recalls: "High school student Carl Flournoy worked nights and Sundays at the old Plaza Theater.  Movies were another 'Depression-proof' business, as people sought an escape from their cares and woes.  Carl remembers admission prices: 10¢ for kids, 25¢ for students, 35¢ for adults. Even at those prices theater owner Larry Killingsworth offered 'Bank Night' every Wednesday evening. Long lines of hopeful moviegoers would form a line down the block as the lottery cash prize increased by $25 increments each week. Sometimes a lucky winner took home $100 or more. Like many other young people, Carl used the $5 he earned each week at the Plaza Theater to help support his family. His wages mainly bought clothes for his sisters."

http://www.ourhealdsburg.com/history/depression.htm

Do you have a story about Healdsburg during the Great Depression?

Rollin' on the River

Many thanks to each of you who have e-mailed or Facebooked me with words of support for the blog. And thanks to you who are signing up to follow and author. That encourages me to keep bloggin'....

One of my most favorite things to do in Healdsburg is to walk right into the river, flop onto my back and let the current just float me effortlessly downstream. A friend and I do that as often as we can. Today we floated for about a mile. Since the river is low, we walked and swam slowly back the way we came. I won't reveal where or how we gained access because some folks might not like it, but I will share my other favorite river stories:

On a hot day in late June 1997 I came to explore Healdsburg thinking I might want to live here. The hotter it got, the more determined my sister Beverly and I were to get into that river, no matter what. Driving along Bailhache, we took a random left on Brandt Road, ignoring all the “No Trespassing” signs. We drove straight down to the beach, pulled off everything but our underwear and jumped in, splashing about until a woman came and shooed us off. About seven years later when I met Mary Brandt at the HHS Class of 1940 reunion on her property, I recognized her as the woman who’d chased us off her beach. She actually remembered and thankfully didn’t chase me away a second time.

Last year, my friend Lillian Reid and I discovered that we could walk our poodles from my house, short cut to Badger Park off Second Street and take the long path to the river. I felt so empowered that I could actually have river access from my very own home. I let the current take me away that day and Lillian filmed me! It was a wonderful day. A Tom Sawyer type of day. The kind of day I moved to Healdsburg for!

Let's Go to the Movies: Old Plaza Theatre

This is a 1932 Plaza Theater schedule from the Healdsburg Museum website (January 2008).  http://www.healdsburgmuseum.org/  The Plaza Theater was located at 335 West Street (now Healdsburg Avenue) on the west side, near the Plaza Hotel.  The newly-refurbished Plaza Theater opened in May 1930, boasting that it would be booking “some of the best Talkies that the cinema world affords!”  

Dad (Art McCaffrey) talked about everything. He’d tell this story about the 1925 silent film "Phantom of the Opera" playing in town. The night of the movie, after all the other kids had reached their homes, Dad had to walk the last three blocks of Johnson Street completely alone. He was so terrified that he began whistling really loud to keep anyone away!     --Maureen McCaffrey Gradek

My brother left for the Marine Corps and said, “I want you to stay away from (Milt) Brandt and (Lee) Engelke”. So I said, “Yeah, sure”. Milt and I went to the Plaza Theater on our first date. Two of the strictest teachers--Mrs. Long and Miss Destruel--were sitting right behind us! I scrunched way, way down in the seat!              

             --Mary Brandt on meeting husband-to-be Milt

The Healdsburg Avenue block around the Plaza seems to have been Dee Gagliardo's favorite. Shelford’s dress shop. Ben Franklin. The Plaza Hotel and old Plaza Theatre. Tomasco Drugs where she jumped in Benny’s red convertible. Rosenberg and Bush which was “exciting and glamorous” with its grand staircase! I ask her what she misses most and she has two answers for me: “I loved growing up when I did and where I did. Our school years were the best; so much of what we had has been lost today... And I miss being young again. I never use the word old. I just say were still growing up.”     --from Neighbors column with Dee Gagliardo 

Let's Go to the Movies!

I will be writing a series of posts on Healdsburg theaters. And I want to hear stories from you Healdsburgers about your experiences at the old Plaza Theatre, the Aven or the Raven. If you don't feel comfortable blogging, please e-mail your favorite memory to me at shonnie@sonic.net and I will post it for you and sign your name. I will soon be starting off with a little history of our theaters but mostly I will be writing your vignettes of favorite memories. 

Do you remember?

My dad owned the old Plaza Theatre and my friends and I loved the balcony seats. Medico Drugs on Healdsburg Avenue had a fountain where Mary Brandt, Gloria Selze and I would get ‘hickeys’--three scoops of sherbet with flavoring and whipped cream on top. 

--Norma Rafanelli Cousins 

Then there was the time Dad (Art McCaffrey) went to the big premiere for one of Janet Gaynor’s movies in the 1930s. Janet Gaynor’s cousin lived in the Warnecke Mansion. After the premiere at the old Plaza Theatre, the entire audience followed Miss Gaynor and her cousin as they walked home--down West Street and up Matheson, trailing discreetly behind until Janet Gaynor disappeared inside the house. 

-- Kathleen McCaffrey

The Aven was built in the 50's sometime when we were kids. It was very exciting to have the modern theater... The Aven had a nice little hamburger fountain accessed from outside on North Street, or inside the theater which sold good hamburgers for 20 cents, milk shakes for 20 cents, and cokes and flavored (cherry, vanilla,chocolate) cokes for 10 cents.  It was open so you could see from the fountain to the candy counter in the theater and visa versa.--Maureen McCaffrey Gradek

They used to run triple horror films at the Aven every Saturday night. My summer friend, Dana Johnson, and I would go. Her brother would drive us back to the Del Rio Woods store afterwards, but then he’d stay there and visit with friends. We’d have to run home alone in total darkness from the store to the cabin!   --Marie Butler

Alley One

As I was walking Alley One today behind Haydon Street, I noticed a few things from the past that have remained during this age of renovation and constant change. Our alleys with their overgrown blackberry bushes (a few berries

just starting to redden), beautiful orange trumpet vines cascading overhead, the oh, so sweet smell of jasmine and the birds which sing all day long (sometimes all night too) provide glimpses into Healdsburg's olden days. And I am taken back to my childhood at these moments. To the house of my grandparents in Reno which backed up to an alley where we kids played hide and seek and kick the can on warm summer eves.

There is a house on Fitch Street which used to look just like my grandparents' house. And the house next door to it so closely resembled my grandmother's next door neighbor's home in Reno. My heart would warm as I passed these homes walking back from the Plaza. Now they are both remodeled--though nicely. Time marches on. Everything changes. But I love seeing reminders of the past. 

Where are all you folks in town who have your own stories to share? And who know much, much more about Healdsburg than I do. I would love to hear the story behind my own Alley One. Is there someone out there who will tell it?

Reflections on Our Plaza: Now and Then

This evening some friends chose to bring their musical instruments and play Celtic folk music on the Plaza. People just appeared out of nowhere and gathered 'round. Children and dogs played. A couple of men lay down on their backs relaxing on a warm evening. As I was taking all this in, I found myself trying to picture the Plaza in the olden days. Found this blurb once again from Hannah Clayborn's OurHealdsburg:   

Almost as soon as a town band became well established in the 1880's the Healdsburg Plaza became its unofficial headquarters.  The Plaza was a perfect location for regular seasonal Saturday night band concerts drawing people from far and wide.  The Healdsburg concerts were economical.  They cost next to nothing and admission was free.  They brought trade for local business because shops stayed open until 9 p.m. on those nights.  The concerts also provided much needed entertainment and social opportunities.

Requests for a permanent bandstand, to replace a temporary one constructed annually next to the bell tower, had been made for years.  But in 1895 a concerted movement for civic improvement began in Healdsburg.  This movement, which in other spheres resulted in a municipally-owned water and electric plant, had a drastic effect on the Plaza, and pushed the question of the band concerts to the forefront.

            It all started with agitation by the local newspaper and citizens beginning in April 1895, resulting in the destruction of old "Miss Bell Tower" in 1896.  Barely 15 years old, she was now considered an "eyesore" and was accused of causing false fire alarms with her rickety frame in high winds.

            A new circular bandstand appeared in her place, a gazebo-like structure with a conical roof built upon the old bell tower legs.  Following the elaborate styles of that era, it included open banister work, fancy brackets and cornices, and a "swaying" staircase”.  This whimsical Victorian bandstand soon became a favorite gathering place, especially for young single men and women who would assemble on warm evenings after chores were done.  http://www.ourhealdsburg.com/history/healdsburg_plaza.htm

Happy Birthday, Clarence!

Let's all remember to wish our dear Clarence Ruonavaara a Happy 90th Birthday today!

The old house on North Street

That is what I always heard of it when I was younger when I met Tim. Tim always bragged his grandmother owned a house in Healdsburg but upon visiting it the first time with my parents we were all pretty shocked at the condemned state it was in! Myrthena Grace (Freshour) Perry and Charlie Perry were tim's g.grandparents and we have been restoring the house for years along with the family doing the "infrastructure" ie. basic services of plumbing, etc. prior to us purchasing it. Grace was known as the "cat" lady raising siamese cats, driving her Willy's around town which our friend Ken Scharer (when he was a teen working at the gas station) remembers putting new tires on frequently as she would bald the tires driving down our narrow driveway! Her husband (number 4 I think) was Charlie Perry and had the insurance business in town. Many folks remember him with his top hat and dressing up during patriotic holidays. Our "old lady" house has great energy in it which many folks comment upon entering it and feels like Grace has blessed our presence. We love our neighborhood and since I married into the family when we moved in in 1988 I was Grace Perry's g.grandson's wife. A few of the neighbors have moved... some have returned moving into their parents houses which is great fun and welcoming new neighbors who are passionate at restoring the other "old ladies" in our block. more stories later...my mother in law and her cousin could blog for days on the Freshours, Fitch and Carrillo families

What a Find: Hannah Clayborn and Ourhealdsburg.com

I am new enough to Healdsburg that I'd never heard of Hannah Clayborn or her website Our healdsburg.com.

There are numerous detailed, well research chapters on just about every aspect of early Healdsburg life and history. Here's just one tiny, enticing piece from the chapter on Captain Fitch and Josefa:   

Finally, on December 28, 1830, the ecclesiastical tribunal ruled that the Fitch/Carrillo marriage was "valid", although "illegitimate", by virtue of certain technicalities.  Padre Sanchez ordered a light sentence of prayer as penance for the couple.  But to atone for his part in the scandal Captain Fitch was also ordered "to give as a penance and reparation a bell of at least 50 pounds in weight for the church in Los Angeles which barely has a borrowed one."

http://www.ourhealdsburg.com/history/historyhome.htm

"The Squatter War" from the Life and Adventures of Col. L.A. Norton

Ann Howard reminds me to mention the Squatter War. Here is a tiny portion of that chapter:

We were all supplied with double-barreled shot-guns and plenty of ammunition. The sheriff had retired, and about a dozen of the squatters lingered for a time. I had gone out to reconnoiter the premises, when they commenced talking very rough to the boys, telling them that they had better leave, as every one of them would be killed before morning, etc. The boys were telling them that they were not there to fight, but merely to hold possession under the law. In the early part of the conversation I had slipped up behind a large oak tree where I could hear every word that passed, and at this juncture I sprang from my concealment and exclaimed,  "You are a bombastic set of cowards; you have dared me to hold these premises; now go home and rally your forces for your night attack; you will find 'old Norton' at his post." My boys all bustled up and told them to go or they would boot them, and finally bluffed the fellows from the ground; but on riding off they called back that we would see them again before morning.

http://books.google.com/books?output=text&id=gzdDAAAAIAAJ&dq=L.A.+Norton&jtp=342#c_top

Clarence Ruonavaara's 90th Birthday on June 18

I just learned that Clarence Ruonavaara will celebrate his 90th birthday this week. From all accounts Clarence is one of our most beloved Healdsburgers. After I wrote a "Neighbors" column about Clarence, he learned where my house was and began throwing my Press Democrat from the sidewalk to the porch every day as he walked by. I'd like to honor Clarence this week by sharing an article I found online that just happens to have been written by Al Loebel. See page 4 entitled "An Amazing Coincidence".

http://www.healdsburgmuseum.org/may2007_all_pages_final.pdf

OPEN INVITATION

Dear Friends,

In order to post on the healdsburghistory blog, all you have to do is send me your e-mail address and I will add you as a "co-author".  That way all you will have to do is sign in to post and comment! And to share links to other interesting online Healdsburg information.

I truly want this to be a COMMUNITY BLOG. Al Loebel, who runs the website for the Healdsburg Museum and Historical Society, will link us to the Museum's website as soon as they do their update. I think that's really cool. Thanks, Al!

Life and adventures of Col. L.A. Norton By Lewis Adelbert Norton

Check out this commentary on Healdsburg written after L.A. Norton's move to Healdsburg in 1856:

Life and adventures of Col. L.A. Norton By Lewis Adelbert Norton: "The town is also about two miles above the confluence of the two streams. No more lovely spot was ever selected for a town site. The soil in the valleys surrounding Healdsburg is probably the finest in the world. The banks of the Nile not excepted. And the best feature in the case is the fact that artificial fertilization is not needed as nature has provided a fertilizer in the flood that visits us in our winter season. Sometimes it is much greater than it is at others owing to the canon some twelve miles below Healdsburg which in a very heavy flood backs the water over our valleys to a depth of from three to four feet. There is then but little current and the rich vegetable deposits washed from the surrounding hills are allowed to settle on the surface of the ground. These floods run off very soon and never overflow the land more than from twenty four to thirty six hours, and though the grain crops may be sowed and all green, they are not injured but frequently improved by their inundation"

Life and Adventures of Col. L.A. Norton

When I interviewed Gala Norton, Sr. for the "Neighbors" column, I wrote about this colorful Healdsburg character. I have never forgotten this incredible online find ...

L. A. Norton, was a bona fide pioneer (as well as the first mayor of Healdsburg, the first attorney in town, former chief of police and fire chief). Lewis Adelbert Norton arrived in California in July 1850, eventually settling in Healdsburg.

“He crossed the plains twice as an Army Colonel,” Gala tells me. “He survived four bullet holes, presumably from fighting Indians, and died at age 66 from cancer. He buried four wives and is himself buried here in town.”

Online I find the “Life and Adventures of Colonel L.A. Norton” written by the man himself. Growing up in Canada and New York state, Norton left home at age 11 “with my worldly possessions in a pocket handkerchief.” Chapter titles such as “A Night of Fearful Suspense in a Strange Hotel,” “Memoirs of the Mexican War,” “Avenging an Outrage by Guerrillas,” and “My California Home--The Attractions in and Around Healdsburg.” beckon me to stay up all night reading. I can’t imagine memoirs that include both Healdsburg and the Mexican War!

books.google.com/books?id=gzdDAAAAIAAJ&dq=L.A.+Norton&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=-xBhW9SvQO&sig=C49ErMqb1rX6hr0-Vvo29gmgBlw&hl=en&ei=QjI3SszIJoXUsgOr0cyNDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#PPP1,M1

Welcome to healdsburghistory

I love sharing information online. And I love the rich diversity of Healdsburg's history. With this blog I want to encourage others to share relevant, interesting and educational information about our town's history and it's citizens. I will be posting links from time to time sharing tall tales of Healdsburg's glory days.