BIG SUR TO MENDOCINO
Kevin Milligan
Coastal Paintings & Stories with Legends Revealed
x
Backyard with White House 2012, Oil, 16”x 20”
Contents Russian River 109
Dedication v Acknowledgments vi About Kevin Milligan vii Foreword x Preface xi
Stillwater Cove 117
Big Sur 3
Stewarts Point 119
Point Lobos 19
Point Arena 121
Carmel
Manchester
Monterey
27
Ft. Ross 111
123
Elk/Cuffey’s Cove 127
45
Pacific Grove
63
Navarro-by-the-Sea 133
Salinas Valley
77
Albion 135
Central Coast
81
Little River
139
San Fransisco 91
Mendocino 145
Sausalito 97
Caspar 173
Point Reyes 101
Fenceline Roses
Tomales 107
Hooptedoodle! 187
185
xi
ii China Cove III
2017 Oil, 30”x 40”
Big Sur to Mendocino
Coastal Paintings & Stories with Legends Revealed
Kevin Milligan with Joyce Krieg
KEVIN MILLIGAN GALLERY CARMEL, CALIFORNIA
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Copyright ©2017 Kevin Milligan and Kevin Milligan Gallery Text and Paintings by Kevin Milligan Edited by: Joyce Krieg www.joycek.com All rights reserved. No park of this work may be reproduced or used in any form by any means including electronic, graphic or mechanical, photocopying, scanning, recording, taping or any information storage and retrieval system, without express written permission from the publisher. For information visit: www.kevinmilligangallery.com
A Note about Historical Resources Consulted Various websites, personal accounts, record books and newspaper articles were consulted in the creation of the text of Big Sur to Mendocino, including the following books: Cooper: Juan Bautista Rogers Cooper by John Woolfenden and Amelie Elkington; A Pioneer Lumberman’s Story by John Simpson Ross II; Memories of Cuffey’s Cove by Flora Buchanan and Yerda Matson Dearing; Chinese Gold by Sandy Lydon; Voices of Change by Gary Karnes, Karen Araujo, Juan Martinez; Gifts from the Celestial Kingdom by Thomas N. Layton; Little river’s Yesteryears 18531965 by Irene Mallory Macdonald; also works by Dr. Ruben Mendoza, Dr. Hillary Adams and Vicki Hessel-Werkley. Permissions to Quote from Copyrighted Works By Henry Miller, from BIG SUR AND THE ORANGES OF HIERONYMUS BOSCH, copyright ©1957 by New Directions Publishing Corp. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation Poem from THE COLLECTED POETRY OF ROBINSON JEFFERS, volume 1, 1920-1928, edited by Tim Hunt, Copyright (c), poem “Women at Point Sur” (c) 1927 Robinson Jeffers, renewed. All rights reserved. Used with the permission of Stanford University Press, www.sup.org. “Continent’s End,” copyright © 1924 and renewed 1952 by Robinson Jeffers; “The House Dog’s Grave,” copyright © 1941 by Robinson Jeffers and renewed 1969 by Donnan Jeffers and Garth Jeffers; and “The Place for No Story,” copyright © 1932 and renewed 1960 by Robinson Jeffers; from THE SELECTED POETRY OF ROBINSON JEFFERS by Robinson Jeffers. Used by permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
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First edition published by: Kevin Milligan Gallery ISBN 978-0-692-97790-3 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017960324 First Printing 2018 Printed in China
‘’The Canticle of Jack Kerouac ‘’ By Lawrence Ferlinghetti, from THESE ARE MY RIVERS, copyright ©1993 by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp. Excerpt (s) from BIG SUR by, Jack Kerouac copyright The Wylie Agency LLC. All rights reserved. Excerpt(s) from CANNERY ROW by John Steinbeck, copyright © 1945 by John Steinbeck; copyright renewed © 1973 by Elaine Steinbeck, Thom Steinbeck, and John Steinbeck IV. Used by permission of Viking Books, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. Excerpt(s) from EAST OF EDEN by John Steinbeck, copyright © 1952 by John Steinbeck; copyright renewed © 1980 by Elaine Steinbeck, Thom Steinbeck, and John Steinbeck IV. Used by permission of Viking Books, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. Excerpt(s) from SWEET THURSDAY by John Steinbeck, copyright © 1954 by John Steinbeck; copyright renewed © 1982 by Elaine Steinbeck, Thom Steinbeck, and John Steinbeck IV. Used by permission of Viking Books, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. Excerpt(s) from TRAVELS WITH CHARLEY: IN SEARCH OF AMERICA by John Steinbeck, copyright © 1961, 1962 by The Curtis Publishing Co.; copyright © 1962 by John Steinbeck; copyright renewed © 1989, 1990 by Elaine Steinbeck, Thom Steinbeck, and John Steinbeck IV. Used by permission of Viking Books, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved
Rocks at Monastery Cove with Granite Point 2015, Oil, 22�x 28�
Dedication This b o ok i s dedicated to Patr ic ia Di l lion For her c o ntinue d love an d en c o uragem ent
v
Carlson Water Tower 2012, Oil, 18”x 24”
Weston Beach 2017, Oil, 18”x 24” Barns and Cypress at Cascade Ranch 1997, Oil, 20”x 24”
Acknowledgments I am blessed by the continued love and support of Patricia Dillon. It was her encouragement that led to founding my own gallery, first in Mendocino, then Danville and now Carmel. Once in Mendocino all things became possible, including creating my first book, Mendocino: A Painted Pictorial. It was crucial to relocate to Carmel and Patricia led the way. Now close to the subjects of Big Sur and the Monterey Peninsula, I was able to round out the southern part of the painted pictorial needed for this volume. My twin brother Kris has always been there for me through the good times and the bad. His sense of humor is priceless. The recession was a crippling experience for me, and Kris and his wife Lisa Anne were there to come to my aid. They provided a helping hand that was a springboard to the important, life-changing move to Carmel. My brother Gary and his wife Sue have been kind supporters of my career going back to my arrival in California over 36 years ago. My sister Lisa has believed in my talents from the beginning. She is always there to remind me of the important things in life. When I was a child my mother Jacquelyn encouraged me to draw whenever I had a spare moment and planted the idea that
vi
I should become whatever I wanted to be. Her words of praise of these early efforts were important! While growing up I observed my father, Guy, painting and I learned to see the world through his eyes. His paintings taught me to take notice in the beauty of everyday life around me. His pictures were an instruction on how to compose from nature. My parents encouraged me to study art formally at the college level. My life as an uncle to seven nieces and nephews has been a joy as they carry on a bright future for the family. It began with Sarah, then Greg, Julie, Ben, Stephanie, Caroline, and Mathew. With special thanks to Mike Kelly who believed in my vision. Teachers, coaches and administrators of Parkway School District were influential in my life as they demonstrated and shared the joy of living as they went about their duties. Principal Virgil Schultz at Mason Ridge Elementary School and Principal Dr. Albert Burr were inspirational leaders. West High tennis coach Dr. Richard Lodholz took the time to care and patiently instruct, sharing his unique point of view as a mathematician and collegiate player. Art teachers John Dunivent and Owen Nagel helped prepare me for studies at the Kansas City Art Institute. The humor of math teacher Robert Buss is a fond memory as he did his best to help me break out of my shell. Just across the state from my hometown of St. Louis was the Kansas City Art Institute. During my sophomore year I studied with Michael Walling and Warren Rosser. Then in my junior and senior years I studied extensively with Department Chair Wilbur Niewald, who provided me with exceptional painting and drawing instruction. His lessons focused on how to see color in nature and to adjust the drawing while evolving an oil painting. These important methods were utilized to create this coastal pictorial. This book is built upon the experience of making my first book, Mendocino: A Painted Pictorial. Two people were instrumental in creating this first volume. After initially meeting in Mendocino, it was Don Gazzaniga who first said to me, “You should have your own book.” After some thought the idea of paintings combined with a text about Mendocino history became the concept. After I created the outdoor painted pictorial and wrote the text with Vicky Hessel-Werkley, Don came up with a design concept. He created a fresh, handsome style that brought my paintings and words forward so perfectly. To this day people still praise this style Don created.
vii
Vicki Hessel-Werkley was my editor and co-author for Mendocino: A Painted Pictorial. Vicky is an expert without rival on the history of Mendocino City and the neighboring towns. She generously shared her knowledge and research that took many painstaking years to acquire. Together Don, Vicki and I created a book that is included in university and public libraries as well as the ultimate athenaeum—the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery of Literature. This collaboration inspired me to continue my writing and painting efforts with Big Sur to Mendocino and to create something that speaks to their generous spirit. Big Sur to Mendocino was another team effort. This book project was created with the help of author-editor Joyce Krieg. She edited the text and worked on research details that helped shape each chapter. She contributed new ideas as a co-author to the direction of stories. She is the perfect collaborator with an enthusiasm for California culture and history. Her distinguished career includes work in newspapers and radio, and the publication of three mystery novels. Author-Designer-Publisher Patricia Hamilton of Park Place Publications created the beautiful layout for this volume. Her innovative design effectively showcased the text with the pictorial. Patricia has designed many of the most significant books produced by authors of the Monterey Peninsula area. She has authored three books on Monterey County travel and tourism, and an eco-travel guide, California Healthy, which became the first ever in-room green guide for Marriott Hotels, and won the IRWIN Award in 2008 for most creative ad campaign from the Book Publicists of Southern California. Her latest project is a book of stories, Life in Pacific Grove, a fundraising project for the Pacific Grove Library. I had the assistance of talented professionals at five studios when it came to photographing the paintings: John Birchard Photography of Mendocino, Tom Tsubota and Steve Kaspar at Spectrum Imaging-Monterey, Rick Forschino at Coastal Giclee-Carmel. Greg Mottin Photography-Livermore, and Camille Palmer and Dennis Calabi at Calabi Gallery in Santa Rosa. With thanks to Mickey Muennig, Allan and Sandra Silvestri ,Susan Shillinglaw, Jerry Low-Sabado, Kim and Gina Weston, Jim and Mary Alinder, Kathryn Wilson-Hallett, John Odello, Steven Hauk, Nancy Spiekerman, Nicholas Wilson, Dick Zampa, Alfred Zampa, Violett Chappell, Essie Parish, Bill Graham, Brian Peterson, Prue Wilcox, Dr. Hillary Adams, Alice Frazell-Latham, Ron Hanner, Naoimi Jarvi, Kate Lee, Keith and Judith Brandman, Lucia Zacha, Foggey Gomes, Shawn Sahm, Jeanette Hansen, Alvin Mendosa, Barry Cusick, and Daniel Dickson. With thanks to Carmel architects Ron Brown and Heidi Anderson Spicer, archworks.com. With additional thanks to Al Asuncion and Natalie Sweet of the Carmel Office Supply on Lincoln Street. Special thanks to Gary and Margaret McCray, for their kindness and support. viii
Kevin Milligan PAINTER AND AU THOR
K
evin was born in St. Louis, Missouri. When he was 7 years old his family moved out to the nearby countryside. The new house was
made primarily of glass with views looking out on hillside terrain in an oakhickory forest. In the idyllic setting, his father Guy began to work outdoors on paintings of the area and Kevin was invited along. Thus began a lifelong study of painting the landscape. With his older brother Gary and his twin Kris they began building tree houses, fishing in nearby ponds and exploring the outlying farms, forests and fields. In addition, the brothers had pet raccoons as companions. The trio became Eagle Scouts as they were in constant motion. The family, including younger sister Lisa, took up tennis. All four siblings played varsity tennis for Parkway West High. Mother Jacquelyn was busy managing their numerous activities while Guy was in his studio creating design projects for 7 Up and Monsanto and other companies in St.Louis. Guy would often show the design projects to the family at dinner time before they were presented to the corporations. This was a great artistic influence for Kevin and those designs paid for him to attend the Kansas City Art Institute where he studied with acclaimed figurative teacher Wilbur Niewald. Niewald’s interests were similar to those of the Bay Area Figurative Movement artists. Ironically, it was the San Francisco Bay Area where Kevin moved to join his twin brother Kris, a tennis director. He then began to put these Missouri influences and training to work portraying the San Francisco Bay Area landscape. His career has come full circle as he has shown at several museum exhibitions with the renowned Bay Area Figurative Movement. His works have been selected for major national exhibitions by art critics from The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg Report. He now directs the Kevin Milligan Gallery on Lincoln Street in Carmel, California. Kevin is the author of Mendocino: A Painted Pictorial, which was selected for the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery of Literature by the Chief Curator of American Art. ix
x
Backyard with White House 2012, Oil, 16”x 20”
Contents Ft. Ross 111
Dedication v Acknowledgments vi About Kevin Milligan vii Foreword x Preface xi
Stillwater Cove 117
Big Sur 3
Point Arena 121
Point Lobos 19
Manchester
Carmel
Elk/Cuffey’s Cove 127
Monterey
27
Stewarts Point 119 123
Navarro-by-the-Sea 133
45
Pacific Grove
63
Albion 135
Salinas Valley
77
Little River
Central Coast
81
Mendocino 145
139
Sausalito 97
Caspar 173
Point Reyes 101
The Last Southerly Stand 183
Tomales 107
Fenceline Roses 185
Russian River 109
Hooptedoodle! 187
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Foreword T
he picture I would paint for you of Kevin Milligan is
him there during working hours. To locate him you usually
that of a tall, thin man attired in a long-sleeved plaid
had to follow directions left hanging on the door as to which
shirt, jeans, and a wide-brimmed straw gardening hat. He is
field or street in town he had set up his easel that day. What I
standing on a sunny day in waist-high grass, with artist’s brush
learned later was that he moved to different painting spots at
in hand, staring intently at his painting easel and the scene
different times of day. He would have maybe three or more
before him. His painting’s subjects are the old charismatic
different oil paintings going and would change locations and
houses in the town of Mendocino with perhaps a bit of the
subjects every hour or so to match the changing light and
Northern California coast beyond. That is the Kevin I met in
shadows of the time of day. He also had a second group of
1998 when I became Director of the Mendocino Art Center.
works in progress featuring foggy weather. The Mendocino
I envied his dedication to his art. He had found a subject
plein air images might take up to fourteen sessions over two
matter to concentrate on and had developed his individual,
to three weeks to complete. At any one time he would have
spare, realist style that reflected California modernist
up to a dozen different pieces in process. The popularity of
landscape painters. I was captivated by his composition and
these 14 x 18 inch and 16 x 20 inch canvases allowed Kevin
his fresh brushwork. As a painter myself, I became intrigued
to later create a lovely, new, larger gallery space as well as a
by Kevin’s amazing control of the rich tones he mixes to
splendid book on his Mendocino paintings.
create atmospheric distance.
With a successful new exhibit space and the help of a
Kevin was funding his art by selling these Mendocino
gallery assistant, Kevin was able to expand his subject base.
house scenes through his small gallery in the first floor of a
On some days he would load his van with his painting supplies
historic water tower structure. Not that you could easily find
and explore other small coastal towns and inland rural
xii
sites. We even painted together in Anderson Valley where
Kevin has extensively researched these past efforts to define
I introduced him to a hidden vineyard scene. The resulting
the spiritual beauty of this wild, magnificent scenery. In this
painting ended up, with a selection of his other works, in
book he pays appropriate homage to the artists and writers
the 2005 group exhibition, “Landscape Interpretations:
who came before him. He now adds to this lineage his
Redwood to Oak - Ocean to Stream,” that I curated at the
contribution of unique, tranquil, inspired views that were
Grace Hudson Museum in Ukiah. By this time, in his effort
over twenty years in the making.
to challenge his results, Kevin had increased the size of many of his works to 18 x 24, 24 x 36 and 36 x 48 inches.
The interpretation of the landscape through the eye of an artist has been fundamental to man since cave painting.
Kevin’s passion for refinement of his art eventually led
It gives us context, drama, nuance, and enlightened vision to
him to move his painting and gallery base on down to the
our existence. Such truly poetic pictures live with you. They
Bay Area. He again increased the size of his canvases despite
speak to you every time you enter the room. It is a moment
the wind hazards of painting outdoors. Today his gallery is in
of quiet meditation on what is reality. Kevin produces that
Carmel. It seems he is addicted to the search of fresh scenes.
type of virtuoso image.
He says he has covered 275 miles of the Pacific Coast so far.
Your choice is to collect an original Milligan painting or
Though Kevin did his artistic training in the Midwest,
venture on Kevin’s artistic journey of the California Coast in
he has embraced the unique coastal regions of this Golden State for his art. It is a long and varied coastline where North America meets the Pacific Ocean. In California the terrain moves from fog-shrouded craggy cliffs in the north to wide sunny sandy beaches in the south. Through many different media and artistic styles, artists and writers have described the wonders of the Pacific Coast as each generation experienced it. It has been the inspiration for countless
this wonderful book. I recommend both paths. —Marvin A. Schenck, Artist/Curator; Philo, California; August 30, 2017 Marvin A. Schenck, M.F.A., is a painter and printmaker living in Mendocino County. He has recently retired from a long career as a museum curator and arts administrator. He currently serves as a Board Member of both the Arts Council of Mendocino County and the Anderson Valley Historical Society.
stunning paintings, photographs, prints, poems, and stories.
xiii
China Cove II 2017, Oil, 24”x 30” In the collection of Tom and Sue Redfern; Carmel, California
Kasten-Heeser House 2009, Oil, 16”x 20 St. Mary Magdalene Church 2012, Oil, 16”x 20”
Preface B
ig Sur to Mendocino celebrates the unparalleled beauty
farmhouses that are depicted in paintings from my travels
of this magnificent stretch of coastline that begins
along rural coastal California—reminders of a bygone era.
twenty miles south of Carmel and continues north of the
I remained true to two important concepts. First, I
Russian River to Mendocino. The topography boasts an
worked exclusively on-site, often near the cliff ’s edge. I
unrivaled abundance of cliffs, coves, islands, islets, natural
was not willing to paint in the studio from photographs
bridges, estuaries, rivers and headland fields. Some of the
or sketches. Secondly, I reported the stories faithfully
paintings in this volume depict structures reflective of
as I learned them. These two principles were guided by
the diverse people who settled the Golden State: Spanish
a concept in the art world known as “the shared lived
missions, the Russian fort, a Chinese temple, the Mexican
experience,” art that is derived from places and people that
Custom House, a Masonic temple and the Portuguese
are real. My goal is to capture a quality of light and space in
Fraternal Hall. Their stories are just as inspiring as the dynamic
my outdoor sessions. If someone senses this when viewing
setting. The pioneers also left us with a rich collection of
my paintings, perhaps this is because of a mutually shared
one-room schoolhouses, general stores, churches, barns and
experience. Communicating “the shared lived experience”
xiv
became a motivating force of Big Sur to Mendocino. These details realized both in the study of nature and in
shared a deep appreciation of the topography, people and culture of the coast.
the stories of others continue to fascinate me, and in time it
On the Central Coast, Nobel Prize-winning author John
became my mission to share with others in the form of this
Steinbeck attracted a worldwide audience as he described
book.
the people and places near his home town of Salinas. Robert
Big Sur to Mendocino is the culmination of over twenty
Louis Stevenson arrived ahead of Steinbeck and both
years of painting on-site along the California coast. Elements
authors’ novels made it all the way to Hollywood and the
of the climate like wind and fog played a large part in the
silver screen. Carmel resident Robinson Jeffers, a poet for the
project, often delaying the work and increasing the intervals
ages, inspired Big Sur novelist Henry Miller, who said, “Jeffers
between sessions on the same painting. It has been my
rediscovered here the atmosphere of the Gods.” Miller created a
practice to return to the same location and rework a picture
semi-autobiographical style mixed with social commentary
over time. Mid-tone colors help portray a quality of light and
blended with character studies of his friends in Big Sur.
space. With diligent study, the human eye can be trained to
This oddball form was an influence on Jack Kerouac, a non-
see a mid-tone color with greater detail and sensitivity than
conformist who followed in Miller’s footsteps, becoming
a camera could ever pick up. For me, these elusive colors
the voice of the Beat Generation. Kerouac, like other
are the lifeblood of painting and what I search out during
Central Coast writers, penned words that remain significant
my numerous outdoor sessions. I want the spontaneous
in American literature and have lived on in the nation’s
to merge with structure as both the color and drawing are
collective consciousness.
modified over multiple studies.
Many arrived from other continents, sailing uncharted
The majesty of the coastline became irresistible. My
waters to these faraway shores. Ships carried sailors and
new-found addiction could only be satisfied by the making
passengers from the four corners and beyond: the South
of hundreds of paintings in thick, rich pigments developed
Seas, the Azores, Mexico, India, Russia, England, Spain and
over time on glorious sun-filled days with the sound of
China. The diverse culture of these travelers has meshed
pulsing surf filling my ears. The connection to land and sea
together in a tapestry that defines the California experience.
deepened as I became immersed in the stories of many of the
As the young state was being settled, artists of various
legendary figures from past and present I admire who also
media could not resist the coast of California. These artists
xv
followed their hearts instead of convention. In some cases
The spotlight of the art world continued to shine on
they found accolades and financial recognition tough to
Monterey with the founding of the Monterey Jazz Festival in
come by early in their careers, but their works now grace
1958. Today, it is one of the oldest jazz festivals in continuous
the walls of museums and the shelves of athenaeums. Their
operation in the world, bringing talent ranging from Louis
lives became the stuff of legends. California’s rugged shores
Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie to Diana Krall,
were home to groundbreaking artists who in turn influenced
Herbie Hancock and Trombone Shorty to the stages at
others who found their own voices and set their own trends.
the Monterey County Fairgrounds the third weekend in
Though the California coast may seem far removed from
September.
the artistic and literary capitals of New York, London and
The eyes of the art and music world were again focused
Paris, the region has proved to be a lightning rod to a much
on Monterey for three days in June of 1967 as the fog-
larger world. Attention focused on Monterey, the Old Pacific
shrouded town played host to the Monterey International
Capitol, in 1941 when internationally recognized artist
Pop Music Festival. Now regarded as the first major counter-
Salvador Dali decided to host a party. Called “Surrealistic
cultural music festival, as well as the inaugural event of the
Night” and sponsored by the Metropolitan Museum of
“Summer of Love,” the incredible lineup of talent included
Modern Art, the grand event was held at the luxurious
Joan Baez, The Who, Jimi Hendricks, Ravi Shankar, the
Del Monte Hotel (now the Naval Postgraduate School)
Byrds, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead.
as a benefit for artists displaced by World War II. A star-
Though the legendary festival was never repeated, its impact
studded roster of Hollywood legends—Bob Hope, Clark
was immortalized by British performer Eric Burdon, whose
Gable, Alfred Hitchcock and Bing Crosby—joined New
song “Monterey” keeps the vibe fresh in our minds, vividly
York socialite Gloria Vanderbilt to support Dali’s cause.
recalling the images of flower children dancing and groovin’
They mingled with locals like poet Robinson Jeffers and
through the night in the spirit of peace and love, “down in
Pebble Beach founder Samuel F.B. Morse in an epic bash in
Monterey.”
a dreamlike forest setting, complete with live circus animals,
The visual beauty of the California coast continues
all planned by Dali. The spirit of the famous artist—and
to inspire singers and songwriters, from the Beach Boys’
his fabled party—lives on as the Museum of Monterey has
“California Saga: Big Sur” to Kate and Anna McGarrigle’s
announced plans to become the permanent home of a huge
“Talk to Me of Mendocino.” North Coast music lovers turn
collection of Dali prints.
to the annual Mendocino Music Festival which has been
xvi
Pines Above Strawberry Canyon 1997, Oil, 20”x 24” Private Collection
held in July for the last 30 years. The visual arts still thrive
on the whaling industry as the modern environmental
up and down the coast as the Carmel Art Association and
movement was sparking the zeal of a new generation.
Mendocino Art Center carry out their long history of fostering the arts.
On this fabled stretch of coastline, artists have created works as epic as the land itself, writers penned gripping
Perhaps due to its location on the western edge of the
novels that became international best sellers, musicians
continent, the California coast has found itself on the cutting
composed works that evoked the spirit of the place,
edge when it comes to political and social change through
architects designed timeless structures that integrated with
the decades. Socialist author Jack London wrote glowingly of
the natural surroundings, and activists spawned movements
the carefree Bohemian lifestyle of Carmel artists in the early
that have had world-wide impacts. Photographers conveyed
1900s, idealizing them in his novel Valley of the Moon. John
the essence of nature translated in black and white images
Steinbeck immortalized the lives of humble farm laborers
that were eventually exhibited in museums in New York and
in and around the Salinas Valley in Of Mice and Men and In
beyond. Still others captured the splendor of coastal colors
Dubious Battle, and in the 1960s and 70s, Cesar Chavez made
of California and their interpretations continue to inspire,
headlines around the world when he was jailed in Salinas
whether on museums walls or private collections.
due to his efforts to organize and improve the lives of farm workers. Further up the coast, and at roughly the same time,
Join me now through words and pictures as we begin our journey from Big Sur to Mendocino.
the so-called “Mendocino Whale War” focused attention xvii
2 Golden Pasture Looking South 2009, Oil, 18�x 24� In the collection of Phil and Marie Mumford; Livermore, California
Big Sur
B
ig Sur is a mystical and mythical ninety mile length of the California coastline south of the Monterey Peninsula. The seaside cliffs, wildflower-
covered plateaus, bald mountains, deep canyons, and wild rivers—sometimes trickling and sometimes tumbling into the crashing sea—are trademarks of this stunning topography. The Pacific waves beat endlessly and tirelessly upon shores where the Ohlone Rumsen, a sub-tribe of the Esselen, once hunted, gathered and established villages. Many of the Rumsen scattered when the Spanish colonists tried to convert them to mission life and Catholicism. They spoke a language unrelated to other neighboring tribes and carried feather quills filled with gold dust from a secret mine tucked away in the coastal hills. The early settlers brought commerce to the Big Sur coast, beginning with the hunting of sea otters for their pelts in late 1700s and into the 1800s. The fur trade attracted ships from England, Mexico, Spain, Russia and America. Asia was the largest market for the luxuriant pelts, which were used to trim collars and cuffs on silk jackets. In the 1880s, sea otter pelts were selling for between $100 and $150 each; the market was so lucrative that traders referred to the pelts as “soft gold.” Demand covered both sides of the world, extending as far away as London, where traders could demand a premium price for the dense fur pelts. Because of extensive and unregulated hunting, the sea otter population dropped to dangerously low levels. It wasn’t until 1911 that an international ban on sea otter hunting was enacted. Other commercial enterprises—lumber, ranching, and, later, tourism—took advantage of Big Sur’s abundant resources. Inspiring the Music of Cosmos
Producers for the television show Cosmos: A Space Time Odyssey chose to use this dramatic Big Sur view in the opening sequence. Carmel composer Alan Silvestri created the theme song for the revival of Cosmos: A Space Time Odyssey. In 2014, his excellence was rewarded—winning two Emmys for outstanding score and original main title theme music.
The earliest overland Spanish expedition into California,
trudge. Ironically they met at San Carpoforo Creek at the
led by Gaspar de Portolá and Fray Juan Crespi in 1769, took
southern end of Big Sur, the very place where the original
an inland route and missed Big Sur, probably to avoid the
explorers had been forced to head inland on their way north.
rugged terrain of the Santa Lucia Range. Two centuries later,
The Spanish explorers would eventually find Monterey
in his novel Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch,
and Carmel and create the presidio settlement and mission.
author Henry Miller—who lived in Big Sur from 1944 to
They referred to the land to the south as “El Pais Grande
1962—described some of the hazards the explorers faced:
del Sur”—“the big land to the south.” Through the years, the
“To advance, whether on foot or horseback, was to tangle
name became shortened to Big Sur.
with spikes, thorns, creepers, with all that pricks, clings, stabs and poisons.” The Big Sur region of Garrapata is even named after the wood tick that is prevalent in canyon vegetation.
Juan Bautista Alvarado was the earliest rancher on the south coast, with his presence dating back to the late 1820s.
When the missionaries first arrived on the Monterey
In 1834, more than a dozen years after Mexico won its
Peninsula, the Crespi party camped at San Jose Creek, next
independence from Spain, the Mexican government granted
to what is now Monastery Beach. On December 1, 1769, a
Alvarado a vast expanse of land bordered by the Little Sur
group was dispatched to the south—the completely wrong
River to the north and Cooper’s Point to the south. Alvarado
direction!—to find Monterey Bay. They got as far as just
named the land Rancho El Sur and traded it to his uncle
south of Bixby Canyon before giving up, returning to San
John Cooper eight years later. The family had a dairy barn
Jose Creek convinced it would be wiser to avoid the Big Sur
in a meadow near the mouth of the Big Sur River where they
area and use the Salinas Valley for southerly travel. Despite
made cheese. While the true origin of Monterey Jack cheese
such obstacles, a few members of the exploratory party did
is shrouded in mystery, these early Big Sur pioneers could
brave that hostile wilderness. Two Indians and two Spanish
certainly lay claim to being one of the first producers of the
mule drivers became separated from the main group. For
famous semi-soft Italian-style cheese. Cooper’s son, Juan
close to three weeks they made their way down the coast,
Cooper, eventually took over management of the ranch and
finally joining up with other Spaniards some sixty miles
expanded into the breeding of race horses and mules. Other
south. That was sixty miles as the crow flies; for those four
Big Sur ranches of the 1890s included the Brazil Ranch
weary souls battling the harsh terrain it was a much longer
at Bixby Creek just north of Rancho El Sur, the Victorine
4
Cliffs with Point Sur
2014, Oil, 24”x 20”
‘The rock shining dark rays . . . ‘ The dramatic rock formation—Point Sur—has been known as a navigation landmark since Spanish explorer Juan Cabrillo made log notations in 1532. The Sebastian Viscaino map of 1603 identifies Point Sur as “Punta que parse isla,” or point that appears as an island. This aptly describes how the mammoth 361 foot tall rock sits on the ocean edge apart from nearby cliffs. Poet Robinson Jeffers wrote in The Women at Point Sur: “The rock shining dark rays and the rounded/Crystal the ocean his beam of blackness and silence/Edged with azure, bordered with voices;/The moon her brittle tranquillity; the great phantoms, the fountains of light, the seed of the sky, …” 5
Ranch on the north side of Mal Paso Creek, and Gschwend
discovered gold there. A long-time gold-seeker, he called
Ranch, located along the lower Little Sur River.
his claim The Last Chance Mine. Soon after that the
Cooper had a dance floor built near the mouth of Big Sur
Melville Mining Company was formed, but Cruikshank’s
River for his ranch hands. It was a popular local attraction for
mine remained the richest. Transporting the gold from
the cowboys and settlers in the area, especially when ships
the rugged, remote area was more difficult than extracting
arrived with much-needed goods from the outside world.
it from the ground, and by 1895 the most accessible ore
These early settlers would forget the often-harsh realities of
had been mined. The boomtown of Manchester—which
life in a rugged wilderness as they danced to the music of
once boasted a population of 200—burned to the ground
guitars, violins and accordions on the large wooden outdoor
in 1892. The boom was obviously nearing its end, and the
pavilion. Those who delivered the goods also took part, and
town was never rebuilt.
the “unloading” parties would sometimes last as long as three days.
The most dramatic change to Big Sur in the twentieth century had its roots in the nineteenth. Dr. John Roberts, a
Another early business made use of the coastal oak trees,
Monterey physician who served Big Sur residents, had long
stripping them of their bark and selling it for tanning leather.
been an advocate of a coastal highway. The beloved Monterey
Redwood timber was harvested and taken to schooners
doctor had traversed the poor roads on his horse Daisy for
anchored in tiny harbors known as dog-holes, so named
years, up, down, around and through the isolated region
because the ships were expected to turn around in a space
as he cared for the injured and ill, so he above all people
“barely large enough for a dog.” In the 1880s slaked lime
knew the need for reliable access. In the 1890s, on a five-day
was created from lime kilns and used as a main component
walking trip, he mapped out a course for the proposed road.
of cement. Schooners that loaded the lime at Rockport
The State of California approved the building of the
Landing at the mouth of Limestone Creek also brought
highway in 1916, which would follow the outline of Roberts’
supplies to Big Sur from the outside world.
plan, and in 1921 California voters approved additional
In 1885—almost four decades after gold was discovered
funds. The project was further bolstered by President
in California’s Mother Lode region—prospectors on the
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal WPA project. As a young
west slope of the Santa Lucia Range established the Los
man, John Steinbeck worked on the surveying crew. San
Burros Mining District. Two years later, William Cruikshank
Quentin Prison set up three camps along the construction
6
Islet at Rocky Point
2014, Oil, 24”x 24”
‘I Come from the Rock’ The name Esselen refers to the location of the tribe near Point Sur and Pico Blanco. Ex’selen, “The Rock,” which is derived from a sacred phrase xue elo xonia eunea— “I come from the rock,” which could reference either promontory. The Esselen preferred to inhabit the rugged higher terrain, inside a hillside Big Sur cave called The Cave of Hands. These ancients painted hands in lime for a white color using bear grease to act as a binder. The paintings of symbolic hands in lime could have been part of an initiation ritual that may date back 4,000 years. Other symbols are painted in red and black. They likely hid in these caves from the over-zealous missionaries. The Esselen hunted deer in a a revered ritual and they’d say, “You give up your spirit and your life to feed my family. When I die, I will feed your family.” The Esselen waited for a favorable vision as a sign to go on a hunt.
7
route for convicts to live while working on the immense
Bohemian writer Henry Miller found his first real home
project. Convicts received 35 cents a day plus shortened
in Big Sur at age 53. Miller moved west in 1944, first residing
sentences for their labor. Elaborate engineering was required
in the Evans cabin on Partington Ridge. Then in 1946 he
for much of the Coast Highway through the rocky terrain of
moved into a convict shack left over from the Highway
Big Sur. Thirty-three bridges were needed to span the creeks
One project on Anderson Creek, before relocating to Jean
and river gorges. Much of the highway had to be chiseled
Wharton’s cabin back on Partington Ridge in 1947. During
into the side of cliffs and mountains. With such complex
these years he wrote Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus
terrain with practically no flat surfaces, it is little wonder that
Bosch. Miller stated in his novel, “As a man who is in love
it took eighteen years to complete the road.
with the world—the alien world—I must confess that I am
At long last, California Governor Frank Merriam, joined
also in love with my home, the first real home I have known.”
by scores of local residents, gathered for an opening-day
Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch is written
ceremony four miles north of the Lucia Bridge on June 27,
with the clarity of the Big Sur air. Henry Miller left a life in
1937. No one was prouder than Dr. John Roberts, who was
the New York City borough of Brooklyn to move to remote
there to celebrate his triumph.
Big Sur. I think of the sky which was always hacked apart by
A second ribbon-cutting celebration took place in
rooftops and hideous smoking chimneys, he wrote. I try to relate
November of 1937 at the Bixby Bridge with the State Engineer,
those squalid streets and shabby houses to the vast expanse of
Highway Commission Secretary and Labor Commissioner
sea and mountain of this region. When visitors would remind
among those who lined up for the opportunity to have their
him that he resided in paradise, but lamented how they just
photo taken on the new span. Even though the new road
could not imagine themselves living a quiet life in tune with
greatly improved accessibility to the once-isolated location,
nature, he would comment, Almost invariably the visitor will
it is still a sparsely populated area that most visitors know
confess that he lacks the courage—imagination … to make the
simply as a scenic passage to and from Carmel and San Luis
necessary break. Again, he noted, Even to relinquish his chains
Obispo County.
seems like a sacrifice.
Despite of—or perhaps because of—the challenges
He wrote about his new neighbors of Big Sur: They
presented by its remote location, Big Sur has been a center
behave as if it were a privilege to live here, as if it were by an
of intellectual, artistic, and spiritual activity for many years.
act of grace they found themselves here. The place itself is so
8
Cliffs at Rocky Creek 2009-2016, Oil, 24”x 36”
overwhelmingly bigger, greater, than anyone could hope to make
in the area who would call on him at his convict cabin just up
it that it engenders a humility and reverence not frequently
the hill from Emil White’s house, now a museum.
met in Americans. There being nothing to improve on in the
Miller described his fixation with a painting by
surroundings, the tendency is to set about improving oneself.
Hieronymus Bosch. The oranges of Bosch’s ‘Millennium’ as
Miller chronicled the endeavors of numerous writers living
I said before, exhale this dreamlike reality which constantly
The Shrouded Stranger Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac wrote the novel Big Sur while living in Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s rough cabin in Bixby Canyon, just south of Rocky Creek. Ferlinghetti wrote an ode to his friend—an eight-part poem, “The Canticle of Jack Kerouac” Kerouackian revellers crowd the wood booths ancient with carved initials of a million drinking bouts the clouts of the Shrouded Stranger upon each wood pew where the likes of Kerouack lumberjack feinted their defiance .... 9
eludes us and which is the very substance of life. They are far
debt to the mailman who supplied us with food as well as other
more delectable, far more potent, than the Sunkist oranges
necessities. Sometimes we owed him as much as two or three
we daily consume in the naïve belief that they are laden with
hundred dollars. We never bought any clothes for ourselves; even
wonderworking vitamins. The millennial oranges which Bosch
the baby used castoff things. But we did enjoy good wines, thanks
created restore the soul; the ambiance in which he suspended
to Norman Mini whose cellar we almost drained. Even the
them is the everlasting one of spirit become real.
purchase of a cheap second-hand car was out of the question. To
He wrote about the unique aspects of his isolated
go to town, forty-five miles distant, we were obliged to hitchhike.
enclave: If you are an artist and think to muscle in here, it would
In short, my earnings were just about sufficient to keep a goat
be wise to first find a patron, because the artist cannot live off the
alive … We had managed to acquire two important things: a
artist, and every other individual, seemingly is an artist of one
stove which didn’t smoke from every crack and crevice and a
sort or another … Even the plumbers.
decent mattress to lie on.
His written words evoke the rugged, yet idyllic Big Sur
Shortly thereafter, he received a letter from Obelisk
lifestyle of the era. What could one bring that would be of value
Press, his publisher in Paris, informing Miller that they were
to the community? Just a normal, modest desire to do whatever
holding $40,000 in accumulated royalties. Miller explained,
needs to be done in whatever way it can be done. Briefly, two
Now money is not one of the things which are conspicuous in my
capable hands, a strong heart, and a certificate of vaccination
horoscope. When I study it soberly, my destiny, I realize that it is a
against disillusionment. If you have an intellect, bring it with
good one. It decrees in effect, that I shall always have what I need
you, but not the rubbish that usually goes with it. There are too
and no more … The conviction grew in me that I would never
many intellects here already. And, if you bring nothing else, bring
see those forty thousand dollars, neither in specie, coin, bullion,
a sense of humor, for you will need it here if you haven’t needed
nor script, nor even in zloty or piastres … Impulsively I went
it elsewhere. If you believe in medicine, bring your own medicine
to the doorway at the edge of the sunken kitchen and, looking
chest, for there are no doctors here except learned ones.
out toward the Land of the Rising Sun, I burst out laughing. I
Here he describes his first year at Anderson Creek in
laughed so long and so hard that my guts ached. And over and
1946. Ever since my return from Europe I had waged a struggle
over I repeated: ‘It’s not for me! It’s not for me!’ Then I’d laugh
to keep my head above water. Though we were paying only five
some more. I suppose it was my way of weeping. Between laughs
dollars a month rent for the hovel we occupied, we were always in
I could hear my mother’s words ringing in my ears. ‘Why don’t
10
you write something that will sell?’ ‘If only he would send me a
but for some reason never connected, even though they were
hundred a month, that would be swell,’ I kept saying to myself. A
separated by only ten miles or so.
hundred a month—regularly—would have solved our problems.
In the summer of 1960 Kerouac wrote his novel Big Sur
Besides relieving the day-to-day economic pressures
while living in writer Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s Bixby Canyon
plaguing Miller, the money allowed him to buy his home
cabin. Ferlinghetti, founder of the legendary City Lights
outright from Jean Wharton. He wrote, If I were to single out
bookstore in San Francisco, is thinly disguised as Lorenzo
one element in the American temperament which has been exalted
Monsanto in the novel.
here, it would be kindness. It has always been the custom here
This passage from Kerouac’s Big Sur sums up main
on the Coast, when raising ones glass, to say: ‘Here’s kindness!
character Jack Dulouz as he arrives back in San Francisco,
Miller’s good friend and neighbor Emil White exuded such
and t’all ends up a roaring drunk in all the famous bars the
kindness helping him adjust to country living. White created
bloody ‘King of the Beatniks’ is back in town buying drinks for
the Henry Miller Museum in his home, located right beside
everyone … Kerouac resided in an isolated gulch in Big Sur
Highway 1, still serving as a resource to the community.
and continued writing the new novel while trying to sort out
Miller recognized their friendship in the dedication of Big
his thoughts, using the main character of Jack Duluoz as his
Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch: “To Emil White
alter ego. He had his new-found fame to deal with and was
of Anderson Creek. One of the few friends who have never
battling alcoholism and drug addiction. Big Sur was close
failed me.” The museum preserves the writings and paintings
enough for visits to and from his San Francisco friends, who
of Miller and hosts cultural events. White’s house is near the
were a source of inspiration and amusement.
world-famous Nepenthe restaurant and store, where both
Big Sur has hypnotic passages describing the endless
men attended many parties. Local revelers have long enjoyed
pounding surf. One night I got scared anyway so sat on top of 10
this landmark, first bought by Hollywood legends Orson
foot cliff … and the waves are going. Rare, he rammed the gate
Welles and Rita Hayworth and sold in 1947 to the Fassett
rare—Raw roo roar—Crowsh—the way waves sound especially
family to become Nepenthe.
at night—The sea not speaking in sentences so much as short
Like Miller, when Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac
lines: ‘Which one? … the one ploshed? ... the same, ah Boom’
left the East Coast for California, he fell under the spell of
… Writing down these fantastic inanities actually but yet I felt I
Big Sur. He and Miller were interested in meeting each other,
had to do it because James Joyce wasn’t about to do it now he was
11
Clffs and Islets at Garrapata
2014, Oil, 24”x 24”
Dreams of Evenings at the Shore “The tides are in our veins, we still mirror the stars, life is your child, but there is in me Older and harder than life and more impartial, the eye that watched before there was an ocean. “I’ve changed my ways a little, I cannot now Run with you in the evenings along the shore, Except in a kind of a dream, if you dream a moment, You see me there.” —Robinson Jeffers 12
dead … And I just sit there listening to the waves talk all up and
anew, babbling secrets are hissed, suddenly I see the Cross again,
down the sand in different tones of voice ‘Ka bloom, kerplosh, ah
this time smaller and far away but just as clear and I say through
ropey otter barnacled be, crowish, are rope the angels in all the
all the noise of the voices I’m with you, Jesus, for always, thank
sea?’
you—I lie there in cold sweat wondering what’s come over me for
Sadly, Kerouac’s alcoholism was distorting his
years my Buddhist studies and pipe-smoking assured meditations
perspective, and his observations in the canyon cabin
on emptiness and all of a sudden the Cross is manifested to me—
deteriorated into hallucinations, as demonstrated by these
My eyes fill with tears ….
passages from Big Sur:
The earlier zest for life he manifested in On the Road
—Because now the babbling’s not only in the creek, as I
darkens in Big Sur as Dulouz/Kerouac struggles with his
say it’s left the creek and come in my head, it would be alright
demons. Yet the novel concludes on a hopeful note when
for coherent babbling meaning something but it’s all brilliantly
he decides to return to the East Coast, envisioning a world
enlightened babble that does more than mean something: it’s
where On soft Spring nights I’ll stand in the yard under the
telling me to die because everything is over—Everything is
stars—Something good will come out of all things yet—And it
swarming all over me … The devil!—the devil’s come after me
will be golden and eternal just like that—There’s no need to say
tonight! tonight is the night! that’s what—But angels are laughing
another word.
and having a big barn dance in the rocks of the sea, nobody cares any more—Suddenly as clear as anything I ever saw in my life, I see the Cross. I see the cross, it’s silent, it stays a long time, my heart goes out to it, I hold out my arms to be taken away to it, by God I am being taken away my body starts dying and swooning
The Inner Life
T
he Esalen Institute, the storied New Age conference center, sits high on a Big Sur cliff on the west side of
Highway 1, about forty-five miles south of Monterey.
out to the Cross standing in a luminous area of the darkness,
Founded in 1962 by Michael Murphy and Richard
I start to scream because I know I’m dying but I don’t want to
Price, Esalen—as it’s commonly known—is noted for its
scare Billie or anybody with my death scream so I swallow the
natural beauty, its spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean,
scream and just let myself go into death and the Cross: as soon
and its intellectual, spiritual, and artistic atmosphere. It’s
as that happens I slowly sink back into life—Therefore the devils
also known for its delightful spring-fed hot baths, which
are back, commissioners are sending out orders in my ear to think
nude and semi-nude bathers have enjoyed since the Esselen
13
TWIN ISLETS AT SOBERANES CREEK
Twin Rocks at Soberanes Creek
Indians frequented the area more than 4,000 years ago.
2014-16, Oil, 24 ”x 36”
resort there and in the early 1960s hired a young man from San
Once known as Slate’s Hot Springs, the Esalen property
Francisco to guard it. His name was Hunter S. Thompson, and
was purchased by Michael Murphy’s father in the 1930s. After
in 1961 he landed his very first magazine sale, an article he wrote
he died, his widow, Bunny Murphy, developed a small tourist
about the resort for the men’s magazine Rogue. The unwanted
The ‘old ocean at land’s foot’ “The Place for No Story” by Robinson Jeffers The coast hills at Soveranes Creek: No trees, but scant pasture drawn thin. Over rock shaped like flame; The old ocean at land’s foot, the vast Gray extension beyond the long white violence;
14
A herd of cows and the bull Far distant, hardly apparent up the dark slope; And the gray air haunted with hawks: This place is the noblest thing I have ever seen. No imaginable Human presence here could do anything But dilute the lonely self-watchful passion.
publicity cost him his caretaker job, but launched the career
Like any long-standing organization, Esalen has faced its
of the dean of “gonzo journalism.” In the piece, he insulted
share of challenging permutations and internal conflicts—
Bunny Murphy, who—reasonably enough—promptly fired
more than half a century of them. But as current president
him.
Gordon Wheeler observed, “Sometimes we make mistakes,
While in their early thirties, Stanford University
but we certainly don’t want to turn into one of today’s big bad
graduates Murphy and Price decided to create a facility on
corporations. Everything we do here is about the evolution
the property that would bring together people who sought
of spiritual transformation.”
to expand the possibilities of human consciousness and physical capabilities and to explore traditional Eastern and Western philosophies. Murphy’s friend George Leonard, a writer, editor, and philosopher, was instrumental in founding the Human Potential movement at Esalen. The name drew on Aldous Huxley’s term “human potentialities.” Over the years, guests and teachers at Esalen have included philosophers, scientists, astronauts, mystics, psychiatrists, educators, physical therapists, writers, painters, musicians—people from almost any field concerned with developing human potential. Aldous Huxley himself was a guest. Others who visited, taught, performed, or simply enjoyed the baths at Esalen included Fritz Perls, Abraham Maslow, Gregory Bateson, Ida Rolf, Alan Watts, Virginia Satir, Buckminster Fuller, Linus Pauling, Joseph Campbell, Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg, Ken Kesey, Joan Baez, and Bob Dylan.
Ansel Adams
A
cclaimed photographers of the twentieth century have used the cliffs and coves of Big Sur and nearby Point
Lobos as subjects. These images were seen by a worldwide audience as the careers of Ansel Adams, Morley Baer, the Westons—Edward, Brett and Cole—soared. For years, Adams resided on the northern edge of Big Sur at Yankee Point, where his martini/dinner parties were an institution. Thus, he was close to the Friends of Photography gallery that he founded in Carmel, with Jim Alinder serving as director. Adams was born in San Francisco and he became forever linked to the land—quite literally—in 1906. One of numerous aftershocks of the massive earthquake threw him face-first to the ground, which left the self-conscious boy with a broken nose that was never properly straightened. In this ironic twist, the rock-hard California earth would become the subject that he would immortalize in thousands of photographs. In later life, Adams would poke fun at his
15
“Lombard Street nose”—a reference to San Francisco’s
years, photography would become his choice of creative
famed “Crookedest Street in the World.”
expression. Adams had been fortunate in having a father
His quirky personality forced his parents to seek
who encouraged his artistic pursuits. The elder Adams
alternative educational opportunities for the hyperactive
felt he had wasted his own life trying to make a living and
youth. In 1915, he was given a year’s pass to the Pan Pacific
wanted his son to live instead for the aesthetic pursuits of
International Exposition where the 13-year-old boy was
music and photography, teaching him the philosophy of
allowed to roam the grounds for endless hours. He was
Ralph Waldo Emerson—“to live a modest life guided by
fascinated with the new technology of the day like the
social responsibility to man and to nature.” James Alinder
adding machine and typewriter. Young Adams would
said, “He believed life experience was the best teacher.”
slip into the Dalton Adding Machine Company booth
Adams called his method “visualization,” which was
whenever it was unmanned and repeat the spiel he had
preconceived from a firsthand study of the landscape. With
heard so many times, while his fingers flew over the keys to
this vision of what each photograph should look like, he
astonished onlookers who were expecting an adult.
would then manipulate the image in the darkroom using his
Soon thereafter, he read In the Heart of the Sierras and
“zone system.” His book The Print explains the “zone system,”
was captivated by the romantic tales and descriptions
the photographic technique for determining optimal film
of the towering walls and falls of Yosemite. He begged
exposure and development. Adams’ system became a key
his family to take a summer trip to the national park in
resource to many amateurs and professionals who sought
1916. While at Yosemite, this summer trip took a life-
instruction in this new art form. Throughout his career,
changing turn when he was presented with the ultimate
Adams had to battle critics who thought he should be using
gift—a Kodak 1 Brownie box camera. Yosemite became
his talent for making portraits of gritty urban strife and the
the subject for which he attained international fame,
emotionally charged political topics of the day instead of
and now a mountain—Mount Adams—bears his name.
creating beautiful pictures of natural elements. His credo: “I
Adams was also a talented pianist, but after a number of
believe in beauty. I believe in stones and water, air and soil, people and their future and their fate.”
16
Garrapata Beach
2012, Oil, 20”x 24”
The View toward Morley Baer’s Home Renowned photographer Morley Baer lived in his Big Sur home beside Garrapata Creek just off the beach in the painting above. He founded The Friends of Photography Art Gallery in Carmel, with his longtime friends Brett Weston and Ansel Adams. His first one-man show was at the M.H. De Young Museum in 1959. He was so inspired by an exhibition of Edward Weston photographs that he made the journey from Michigan to Carmel to meet his hero. Within ten years, he moved to the Carmel area to be close to his mentor. He helped his close friend in his advanced age when he was afflicted with Parkinson’s Disease.
17
18 China Cove at Point Lobos 1996, Oil, 18”x 24” In the collection of Mike and Terri Phelps; Alamo, California
Point Lobos
P
oint Lobos is a hauntingly beautiful 554-acre State Reserve on the southern edge of Carmel Bay with a fascinating history. Just as California was becoming the 31st state
in the Union, Whalers Cove was a busy fishing village and whaling station. The cove has a narrow mouth that gave the Portuguese, Japanese and Chinese fishermen shelter from the crashing seas. Once inside the protective embrace of the cove, they could pull their shallowbottom boats onto a narrow rocky shore. The small harbor offered easy access to the plentiful fish and abalone of the Carmel Bay and seasonally migrating whales just off the westward point. The Rumsen natives had lived at Point Lobos for thousands of years before the Chinese fishermen arrived in the early 1850s. The Chinese lived in wooden cabins at the west side of Whalers Cove where they caught fish and squid. Whalers Cabin in the present-day park has been preserved as a museum. Inside there are pictures of Quock Mui, a.k.a. Spanish Mary, who was born at Point Lobos in 1859. Hers was the first birth of a Chinese girl to be recorded in the Monterey County census. Quock Mui could speak Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese and English. Today her great-granddaughter, Gerry Low-Sabado, a community preservationist of the former Chinese fishing village in Pacific Grove, proudly wears Quock Mui’s golden peacock ring that was passed down through the generations to her. Many of the Chinese fishermen like Quock Mui’s husband Jone Yow Hay moved themselves and their families across Carmel Bay to another fishing village at Pescadero Point (now in Pebble Beach) in 1876. The Play Misty House
Clint Eastwood made his movie directorial debut with Play Misty for Me, set in the Carmel Highlands in the background of this painting. The Play Misty house is perched 100 feet above the crashing Pacific. Eastwood played lead character Dave Garver, a jazz-playing Carmel disc jockey who has a final confrontation with the fan who is stalking him on the outdoor deck. Nearby is the Mal Paso Creek gorge that Eastwood named his production company after. The Malpaso Production Company continues to produce hit movies. 19
Shortly thereafter in 1879, writer Robert Louis Stevenson
thirty years with partner Alexander Allen.
visited the area, and the landscape of Point Lobos made
Allen’s heirs sold the property to California State Parks
such an impression he based his book Treasure Island on the
in 1933. The first Park Ranger, Roland Wilson, came to Point
unique setting. Stevenson is often credited with calling Point
Lobos in 1934 with his wife Margaret and children, and would
Lobos “the greatest meeting of land and water,” but that
serve as Chief Ranger for 25 years. “There was no house
honor actually goes to painter Francis MacComas. A student
there when we first arrived. We camped in a tent in what
of Arthur Mathews, McComas exhibited his landscapes of
was later the back yard of the ranger station,” commented
Monterey cypress in the prestigious New York Armory Show
their daughter, Kathryn Wilson Hallett, in April of 2014. She
in 1913 with the likes of Cezanne and Matisse.
recalls, “There were some days when nobody came to the
Portuguese whalers arrived at Point Lobos in 1862 and built a hoist on the west side of Whalers Cove in which they
park. The entrance fee was 25 cents, a noteworthy amount considering it was the end of the Depression.”
could place a large mammal for rendering. From the look-out
Roland and Margaret Wilson’s house guests were a
point of a nearby knoll, flag signals were used to alert men in
who’s who of the art world: Edward Weston, Percy Gray,
the village below that whales had been sighted nearby. The
Albert Jacobson, and Robinson Jeffers, as well as numerous
Portuguese would then go out in boats to harpoon whales.
scientists. Ms. Hallett reminisces, “There were often scientists
They brought the mammals back to the cove to extract oil
from UC Berkeley visiting the park: Dr. David Anderson,
from blubber in huge iron pots—relics that are still on display
ornithologist, Jean Linsdale, ‘naturalist’ (I think we would
today next to Whalers Cabin Museum. The floor beams of
call him an environmentalist or conservationist today).”
the museum are partly supported by whale vertebrae bones.
Another frequent visitor was philanthropist C.M. Goethe
The Portuguese and Chinese also had Japanese neighbors
who established the Save-the-Redwoods League, dedicated
who were focused on harvesting abalones, eventually
to preserving redwood groves in Northern California.
building a cannery to process their catch. Large outdoor
Goethe began the interpretive movement to encourage the
racks were created to dry the abalone. Divers wore suits that
study of nature and conservation. “My mother and I lived
allowed them to venture to greater depths to locate the prized
at Point Lobos during the war until I was about four years
catch, a delicacy in their homeland as it is here. Gennosuke
old. Even I remember fascinating discussions around the big
Kodani owned the Point Lobos canning operation for over
table in the kitchen about scientific subjects, conservation,
20
NEED NEW BLURB
Rocks and Cliffs with Big Dome 2012-15, Oil, 30”x 24” In the collection of Patricia Dillon; El Sobrante, California
21
HIDDEN COVE
Hidden Cove
1994, Oil, 16”x 22”
Next to Edward Weston’s Favorite Place Edward Weston spent the better part of his career photographing the tide pools and rocky shores at Point Lobos. It is fitting that in 1948, Weston’s final photographs were taken here at his favorite place where his ashes were scattered. In 1979, Ansel Adams and Cole Weston proposed that the name of a nearby cove be changed to Weston Beach in honor of Edward Weston. Cole performed the dedication, with Jim Alinder, Beaumont Newhall, Morley Baer, William Van Dyke, Ansel Adams and Brett Weston in attendance.
22
and art,” Ms. Hallett said in 2014. Amateur painter Albert
my knowledge—as I have, and will.” During his career he
De Rome of Pacific Grove was a Wilson family friend who
remained true to his art form, using an array of subjects from
visited after he was injured in an auto accident. He took up
a Point Lobos tide pool, a pepper and female nudes in the
painting after a career as a traveling salesman for Haas Candy
landscape.
Factory of San Francisco.
Even with a rich oeuvre without rival, he struggled for
“I can remember that there was often an enormous
sales in this then-new medium. Grandson Kim commented
salmon in a tub of rock salt on the back porch,” Ms. Hallett
in February of 2014, “Prints that were priced at $30 did
continued. “Fishermen would bring Grandpa a salmon
not sell and were marked down to $15. He could not have
caught off the point and he would smoke it in a little smoke
imagined that a photograph of his would one day sell for one
house, fueled with peach pits my uncle would send him
million six hundred thousand dollars!”
from his ranch in Rio Oso. Never since have we tasted such
Kim continued, “My grandfather died when I was five.
wonderful smoked salmon. Not only that, abalone was
My dad inherited some 3,000 negatives and I got to know
plentiful and we had big abalone feeds in the back yard …
him through these images. My father Cole devoted his life
It was such a different time. It was a consortium of creative
to printing from Edward’s negatives and lecturing about his
people whose ideas seemed to synergistically flow, each
work. Photographs like Pepper #30 began to get prices of ten
seemingly to feed off the other.”
thousand dollars. My father did not want to be poor. It was
Artists discovered Point Lobos as early as the first decade of the 1900s, when Guy Rose, William Ritschel and Edward
bittersweet because it took so much time away from his own work.”
Weston roamed the cypress and pine-shaded paths next to
Kim was close to his uncle Brett, whom he called, “The
craggy coves in this pristine place. Edward Weston, hailed
most dedicated artist I have ever met. Brett was relentlessly
as the “greatest American photographer of the twentieth
photographing and working in the darkroom.” Brett Weston
century,” found the tide pools along the western shores
was known as a great teacher, strict but generous in his praise
a favored subject. He wrote in his day book, “Poor abused
when the student’s work merited it. Kim treasures a comment
cypress—photographed in all their picturesqueness by
his uncle once gave him: “I respect the passion you have for
tourists, ‘pictorialists,’ etched, painted, and generally vilified
your work and point of view as a storyteller.”
by every self-labeled ‘artist.’ But no one has done it—to
Ansel Adams also found the subject of Point Lobos
23
to his liking. Adams was a close friend of Edward Weston
of the downtrodden in and around San Francisco to much
and helped him with contacts for sales of his work. They
acclaim. But the two friends refused to stray from their
were members of the short-lived Group f/64, a collective
beliefs. Adams spoke about how it was important to follow
formed in San Francisco to promote “straight photography,”
his creative intuition as to what was truly significant in art
and which counted among its members such luminaries
and to realize that beauty has a legitimate role in society.
as Imogen Cunningham, photographer and filmmaker
Weston wrote soon thereafter, “I agree with you that
Willard Van Dyke, Sonya Noskowiak and Henry Swift, with
there is just as much ‘social significance in a rock as in a line
Weston the unofficial leader. The collective’s name referred
of the unemployed.’ All depends on the seeing. I must do
to the camera lens aperture they favored for giving them the
the work that I am best suited for … There is much talk of
sharpest images in both the foreground and background of
the artist getting down to the realities of life. But who is to
their photographs.
say which are the realities? Obviously they cannot be the
In 1932, Weston wrote in a manifesto for Group f/64,
same for everyone … If I saw an interesting battle between
“The camera should be used for a recording of life, for
strikers and police I might be tempted to photograph it—
rendering the very substance and quintessence of the thing
if aesthetically moved. But I would record the fight as a
itself, whether it be polished steel or palpitating flesh.”
commentator, regardless of which side was getting licked.”
For Adams it was shows at Alfred Stieglitz’s gallery An
These were some of Edward Weston’s favorite sayings:
American Place and the Museum of Modern Art in New
• “Sometimes I do get to places just as God’s
York that cemented his status as an acclaimed artist of a new
ready to have someone click the shutter.”
medium. Commenting on the photographer’s detached
• “You don’t take a photograph, you make it.”
position regarding the New York art scene, Stieglitz said,
• “When words become unclear I shall focus
“It is good for me to know that there is Ansel Adams loose somewhere (with a camera) in this world of ours.” On the other hand, French photographer Henri CartierBresson said, “The world is going to pieces and people like Adams and Weston are photographing rocks!” In the 1930s, their friend Dorothea Lange was preserving on film the faces
24
with photographs.” • “When images become inadequate I shall be content with silence.” • “There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fussy concept.” • “The perfect is the enemy of the good.”
WHALER’S COVE WITH COAL CHUTE POINT
NEED NEW BLURB
Fallen Pines at Whalers Cove
2012-2015, Oil, 24”x 30”
Early Chinese Fishing Village It was here at Whalers Cove that the Chinese established a fishing village and Quock Mui was born in 1859 to Cantonese parents who arrived on an ocean-going junk. At age seventeen she married Jone Yow Hoy and they moved across the bay to Pescadero Point, visible in the distance of this painting. She would give birth to four children. This would become the second of four locations of Chinese fishing villages and Quock Mui had the distintion of living at all four sites. The third and fourth would come later on the Monterey Bay at Point Alones and lastly McAbee Beach where her husband caught eels for Ed “Doc” Ricketts. From McAbee Beach the Quock family founded Regal Seafood Company in 1947, which was later named Royal Seafood. Quock Moi’s brother, Quock Tuck Lee, helped perfect night fishing using lanterns made of wire baskets filled with flaming pitch, which attracted squid. The Jones family purchased a home at 744 Wave Street, which now lives on as the Quock Mui Tea Room. 25
26 Mission with Fountain 2008, Oil, 16”x 20” In the collection of Gary and Sue Milligan; Grand Rapids, Michigan
Carmel
T
he legend and lore of Carmel-by-the-Sea traces back to one humble Franciscan padre, Junipero Serra, the father of the California mission
system. Serra was born in 1713 on the Spanish island of Mallorca. His boyhood dream was to become a missionary in the New World. He eventually accomplished his goal when he arrived in Veracruz, in New Spain (Mexico), after a ninety-nine day voyage from Cadiz, Spain. He walked all the way to Mexico City from Veracruz, following the tradition of the founder of his order, Saint Francis of Assisi, who believed that the vow of poverty included traveling only by foot. During the arduous journey, he suffered an insect bite to his leg that became infected and caused him pain for the rest of his life. Despite the ailment, he still managed to traverse hundreds of miles of wilderness in Mexico and later in Alta California. In 1769, at age of 56, he made the monumental trip on foot from Mexico to San Diego and later to Monterey with the intent of bringing Christianity and civilization to the native people. Serra joined a group under the command of the governor of Baja California, Don Gaspar de Portolรก, to make an exploratory trek along the coast and through the interior of Nueva California all the way to Monterey Bay. The first objective was to build a mission in San Diego before heading north to Monterey. Two packet boats left from San Blas, Mexico, loaded with supplies bound for a rendezvous in San Diego. A group headed by Captain Rivera and Father The Carmel Mission The scalloped star-shaped window above the front door is oriented to receive the light on the summer solstice. The exact date varies between June 20 and 22, depending on the time the sun reaches its highest position in the sky as seen from the North Pole. On this special day in June, the sun light streams in the asymmetric window and illuminates the tabernacle. 27
Crespi set out with 180 mules and 350 horses and livestock
crosses at Carmel next to the mouth of the Carmel River and
with soldiers and Christian Indians who went first to mark
along the shore in the present-day city of Monterey to signal
and blaze the trail for the second group to follow. Only half
their arrival to the supply ship, which never arrived due to
the original party survived the treacherous journey through
strong winds. In need of fresh supplies, the explorers headed
the barren, dry land to reach San Diego. Many died and others
back to San Diego, making the trek desperately lacking food.
deserted. The ships battled wind, storms and inaccurate
They survived by eating their pack mules and returned to
maps, but finally managed to join the two land parties at their
report their findings to Padre Serra. The San Diego mission
destination of San Diego. Padre Serra arrived with the second
was suffering from a lack of food as well and Captain Rivera
overland group to find that many of the crew aboard the two
was sent to Baja California to bring back supplies. The
ships had died of scurvy. Most of those who survived were
Franciscans at the new mission in San Diego conducted a
sick, and the San Diego encampment resembled a hospital.
Novena of Prayer for the arrival of a supply ship. On the ninth
When the first mission in Alta California was established, a presidio was also built for protection. Padre Presidente
day of prayer the San Antonio arrived from Mexico with rice, beans and flour.
Serra remained at the new mission, where he erected the first
Leaving assistants behind to manage the mission, Father
cross and sang High Mass to a bewildered group of native
Serra boarded the San Antonio, bound for Monterey. Now
people. Some soldiers were left behind to protect the new
familiar with the route, Portolá led a group by land on the 460-
mission while Father Crespi continued north into uncharted
mile journey back to Monterey. When they finally arrived,
territory with Portolá. Despite the loss of lives and lack of
they had to wait a week until lookouts posted at Point Pinos
supplies, Portolá was determined to push northward to
sighted the arrival of the San Antonio on June 3, 1770.
Monterey and complete the assigned task.
Serra created a makeshift altar beneath an oak tree that
This expedition struggled through rugged territory,
Vizcaíno had used for religious services when he landed
including the crossing of snow-covered mountains, for 38
at Monterey Bay in 1602. A statue of Mary, a gift from the
days before they reached Monterey Bay. When they finally
Viceroy, was placed on the altar. This statue had also been used
arrived, they weren’t even sure if they had actually reached
in the dedication of the San Diego Mission, and may now be
the right place, as it did not match the description given by
seen at Carmel Mission. With sailors and soldiers assembled,
explorer Sebastián Vizcaíno a century earlier. They erected
Father Serra consecrated the mission site and dedicated it to
28
Bell Tower with Bougainvillea 2011, Oil, 16”x 20” In the collection of Eric and Marilyn Robison; Montecito, California
‘Confidence and Good-will’ Father Serra commented on his first encounter with the Native Americans, “We found on our journey, as well as in the place where we stopped, that they treated us with as much confidence and good-will as if they had known us all their lives.”
San Carlos of Borromeo, the Cardinal Bishop of Milan in the
A mission and fort (presidio) were constructed side-by-
1500s, a teacher and humanitarian as well as the patron saint
side in Monterey almost immediately. It did not take long for
of King Charles III. Serra delivered a sermon and afterward
Father Serra to realize that the mission would not function
Governor Portolá claimed the land for the crown.
well so close to the presidio. For one thing, the Leather Jackets
29
left to guard the settlement were crude and undisciplined,
Serra had been closely involved in the planning process,
lacking the training of the more elite Catalonian soldiers.
and a few days before his death in 1784 he instructed Father
Some had criminal records in New Spain and had been
Palou, “When the stone church is built you may place me
released early from prison with the agreement to serve in
where you will.” Serra’s request was honored and he was
the mission system. Their vulgar behavior was unsettling to
buried inside the Carmel Mission church under the sanctuary
the neophytes. Secondly, the land next to the Carmel River
floor—where he rests to this day.
was much more suitable for farming. Padre Serra received
Like several other California missions, Carmel
permission to make the move to the idyllic riverside location.
demonstrates the mystical architectural element known
In his correspondence, Serra described the land around the
as solar illumination. In designing their churches, the
Carmel River: “… a locality indeed more delightful and
Franciscans sited the building using precise astronomical
suitable because of the extent and excellent quality of the
calculations, locating doors and windows so that they would
land and water supply necessary to produce very abundant
capture the light of the rising sun on significant days on the
harvests.” In May of 1771, General Galvez approved Serra’s
church calendar—usually the winter or summer solstice, or
request to construct a new mission near the mouth of the
sometimes a particular saint’s day. Worshippers would arrive
Carmel River.
in the dark and wait expectedly as the rays of the rising sun
Thus the neighboring communities served dual
would blaze through the opening and trace a path to the
purposes. Carmel was the religious and agricultural center,
altar, tabernacle, or the saint’s statue, creating a brilliant and
while Monterey became the military and governing center.
inspiring lighting effect in the days before electricity.
The new mission was constructed of timbers and adobe
For decades after secularization and into the twentieth
bricks. A wooden chapel, storehouses, soldiers’ quarters, and
century, the phenomenon of solar illumination—also known
a dwelling for Padre Serra were enclosed by a palisade. Later,
as sacred geometry—at the California missions was forgotten
bigger and more elaborate buildings were put up around and
in the dust of history. Then in 1997, a priest at Mission San
over the original structures. These new stone buildings took
Juan Bautista was opening the doors of the church to a few
sixteen years to complete with the help of a master mason
early morning worshippers on the first day of winter when
from Mexico and Christian Indians who had built the Baja
he was amazed at the beautiful “light show” being played
missions. Father Fermin Lausen completed the project after
out on the altar. Since then, Dr. Ruben Mendoza, a professor
Serra’s death.
of archeology at California State University-Monterey Bay,
30
has conducted extensive research and discovered similar
part of the Indians were brought from their native mountains
amazing design elements at thirteen other California
against their own inclinations, and by compulsion, and then
missions, including Carmel. Dr. Mendoza calls the buildings
baptized; which act was as little voluntary on their part, as the
“ecclesiastical computers,” helping the padres keep track
former had been. After these preliminaries, they had been put to
of the calendar, echoing the design of the great cathedrals
work as converted Indians.
of Europe and tracing their lineage to Stonehenge and the temples of ancient Greece and Egypt.
Julio Cesar recalled his early life as a neophyte in the documentary Golden Lands Working Hands by Fred Glass:
Dr. Mendoza wrote movingly in the San Juan Bautista
When I was a boy the treatment given to the Indians at the
Mission newsletter of his first experience with solar
mission was not good at all. They did not pay us anything, but
illumination on the winter solstice of 2000: As I approached
merely gave us food, a breechclout and a blanket, the last was
the altar-borne tabernacle with camera at the ready, I was
renewed every year, besides flogging for any fault, however slight.
smitten by the most unusual sensation that I was soon to share
We were at the mercy of the administrator, who ordered us to be
two centuries of a most esoteric and spiritual experience. I
flogged whenever and however he took notion.
couldn’t help but feel what many describe when in the course of
The cruel mistreatment of the California native tribes
a near-death experience—they see the light of the great beyond.
perhaps becomes clearer to a modern audience when one
No discussion of the mission system is complete without
understands the cheerless nature of Serra’s personality. In a
acknowledging the cruel and senseless mistreatment of the
biography written by Father Palou, Serra’s lifelong trusted
California native tribes. They were forced to work, slaves in
assistant and friend since childhood, it becomes obvious that
essence, subject to floggings for minor infractions. They were
Father Serra did not believe in typical joyful activity. Life on
fed a diet of acorn mush while store rooms remained full of
earth for him was simply an intermediate step to another
grain, vegetables, cheese, fruit and meat, stores being saved
life more spiritually meaningful. He did not drink wine, eat
for trading purposes. This injustice becomes all the more
savory food, read books or poetry and beat his own bare
unthinkable as the native tribes tended the crops, fruit trees
skin with stones, wire and a chain. He even burned his chest
and extensive herds—only to be denied sustenance from the
with a torch. He did not openly laugh, joke or have a jovial
food they produced. Indians often escaped because of the
moment. His singled-minded focus to a higher being was a
starvation conditions. As a fur trapper observed, The greater
commitment few could understand.
31
Mouth of Carmel River 2014, Oil, 20”x 20” In the collection of David and Katie Cash; Shaver Lake, California
32
A
Robert Louis Stevenson
and decorated for the service; the Indians troop together, their
nother view of the life of California Indians was
bright dresses contrasting with their dark and melancholy faces;
recorded by Robert Louis Stevenson in The Old
and there, among a crowd of somewhat unsympathetic holiday-
Pacific Capitol in 1880:
makers you may hear God served with perhaps more touching
In Comparison between what was and what is in California,
circumstances than in any other temple under heaven. An Indian,
the praisers of times past will fix upon the Indians of Carmel. The
stone-blind and about eighty years of age, conducts the singing;
valley drained by the river so named is a true California valley,
other Indians compose the choir; yet they have the Gregorian
bare, dotted with chaparral, overlooked by quaint unfinished hills.
music at their finger ends, and pronounce the Latin so correctly
The Carmel (River) runs by many pleasant farms, a clear and
that I could follow the meaning as they sang. …I have never seen
shallow river, loved by wading kine; at last as it is falling towards
faces more vividly lit up with joy than the faces of these Indian
a quicksand and the great Pacific, passes a ruined mission on a
singers. It was to them not only the worship of God, nor an act
hill. From the mission church the eye embraces a great field of
by which they recalled and commemorated better days, but was
ocean, and the ear is filled with the continuous sound of distant
besides an exercise of culture, where all they knew of art and letters
breakers on the shore. But the day of the Jesuit is gone by, the day
was united and expressed. And it made a man’s heart sorry for
of the Yankee has succeeded, and there is no one left to care for the
the good fathers of yore who had taught them to dig and to reap,
converted savage. The church is roofless and ruinous, sea-breezes
to read and to sing, who had given them European mass-books
and sea-fogs, and the alternation of the rain and sunshine, daily
which they still preserve and study in their cottages and who
widening the breaches and casting the crockets from the wall.
had now passed away from all authority and influence in that
Only one day in the year, the day before our Guy Fawkes,
land—to be succeeded by greedy landthieves and sacrilegious
the Padre drives over the hill from Monterey; the little sacristy,
pistol-shots. So ugly a thing may our Anglo-Saxon Protestantism
which is the only covered portion of the church, is filled with seats
appear beside the doings of the Society of Jesus.
Traces of Early Explorers On December 10, 1769, the Portola-Crespi expedition erected a cross on this elevated point to signal the supply ship San Jose. The cross is visible on the hill in the middle of this painting. A message was left on the site, “The land expedition is returning to San Diego for lack of provisions.”
33
The Carmel River in Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
T
he Carmel River is a lovely little river. It isn’t very long but in its course it has everything a river should have. It
rises in the mountains, and tumbles down a while, runs through shallows, is dammed to make a lake, spills over the dam, crackles among round boulders, wanders lazily under sycamores, spills into pools where trout live, drops in against banks where crayfish live. In the winter it becomes a torrent, a mean little fierce river, and in the summer it is a place for children to wade in and fisherman to wander in. Frogs blink from its banks and the deep ferns grow beside it. Deer and foxes come to drink from it, secretly
the flies, the dragon flies, the wasps, the hornets, went home. And as the shadow came to the beach, as the first quail began to call, Mack and the boys awakened. The smell of the chicken stew was heartbreaking. Hazel had picked a fresh bay leaf from a tree by the river and he had dropped it in. The carrots were in now. Coffee in its own can was simmering on its own rock, far enough from the flame so that it did not boil too hard. Mack awakened, started up, stretched, staggered to the pool, washed his face with cupped hands, hacked, spat, washed out his mouth, broke wind, tightened his belt, scratched his legs, combed his wet hair with his fingers, drank from the jug, belched and sat down by the fire. ‘By God that smells good,’ he said.
Along the Carmel River Odello Farm
in the morning and evening, and now and then a mountain lion crouched flat laps its water. The farms of the rich little valley back up to the river and take its water for the orchards and the vegetables. The quail call beside it and the wild doves come whistling in at dusk. Raccoons pace its edges looking for frogs. It’s everything a river should be.
F
our generations of the Odello family have grown artichokes in the fertile fields beside the Carmel River
on both sides of Highway 1. Italian immigrants Battista and Josefina Odello founded “the little farm in the fog”
There is no golden afternoon next to the cliff. When the sun
in 1924. Twenty years later, sons Emilio and Bruno took
went over it at two o’clock a whispering shade came to the beach.
over the farm management, and in the late 1970s, Bruno’s
The sycamores rustled in the afternoon breeze. Little water
sons John and Michael, both graduates of the agriculture
snakes slipped down to the rocks and then gently entered the
program at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, carried on the
water and swam along through the pool, their heads held up like
family tradition. With the help of a business consultant
little periscopes and a tiny wake spreading behind them. A big
from California State University-Monterey Bay, they
trout jumped in the pool. The gnats and mosquitoes which avoid
developed a thriving niche market selling the trimmed inner
the sun came out and buzzed over the water. All of the sun bugs,
core known as artichoke crowns to upscale restaurants.
34
Odello Farm
Artichokes are not native to California, but they thrive in the foggy climate of the Monterey area. Still, they aren’t
2014, Oil, 18”x 24”
a matter of time before disaster struck again. The final blow came only two years later with another flood.
the easiest crop to grow. The plume moth has been known
Today, the one-time artichoke farm is preserved as open
to destroy up to sixty or seventy percent of the crop. The
space, with the land west of Highway 1 belonging to the State
insect arrived to the Central Coast in the 1940s and 50s
of California, and the property to the east of the highway
and remained a source of aggravation to the Odellos to the
purchased by actor/director Clint Eastwood. He came to
end. A flood in 2005 took out the Highway 1 bridge and the
the rescue to preserve the flood plain after it was threatened
levees and wiped out the nearby fields of the Odello farm,
with condominium development. In September 2013, John
uprooting the plants and washing them away. The Odellos
Odello said, “It was a relief to sell the farm after the amount
went to work and repaired the flood damage as best they
of work that went into the clean-up after the floods. But it
could, and at a significant cost. But with various government
was difficult because it happened on my watch.”
entities refusing to allow the levees to be rebuilt, it was only 35
Robinson Jeffers
A
mong Carmel’s unique and beloved structures are Tor House and Hawk Tower, the rugged stone
edifices overlooking Carmel Bay and Point Lobos built by poet Robinson Jeffers. In 1877, Jeffers was born into a life of words that began with religion and philosophy as the son of a theology scholar. In order to keep young Jeffers focused on his studies, his parents kept him isolated from other children. The intense concentration on scholarly pursuits was evident in his ability to speak five languages before he attended college. The brilliant student graduated from Occidental College at the age of eighteen. He enrolled in graduate school at USC, where he fell in love with a married woman who would become his buffer against the harsh realities of the world. His affair with Una, which made the front page of the Los Angeles Times, was the first of many controversies that would mark his life. He married Una and arrived in Carmel in 1914, recalling, “For the first time in my life I could see people living amid unspoiled scenery. When the stagecoach topped the hill from Monterey, and we looked down through pines and sea fogs on Carmel Bay, it was evident that we had come without knowing it to our inevitable place.” Jeffers embarked on building a house and tower on Carmel Point out of granite boulders and rocks that he found on the property and nearby beach. When he first
36
arrived at Carmel Point, the area was desolate and isolated, with no other nearby homes and devoid of foliage. After a professional mason helped him complete Tor House, Jeffers felt he had learned enough about working with stone to take on another, even more ambitious project, on his own. It took him four years to build Hawk Tower, dedicated to Una and twin sons Donnan and Garth. Jeffers was financially aided by Noel Sullivan, a Carmel patron of the arts, whose portrait hangs above the dictionary in Tor House. Jeffers did virtually all of his writing in this idyllic setting created with his own hands. He loved the physical stone work in the morning and writing in the afternoon. “Somehow, laying stones and putting verses together seemed to go well,” Jeffers wrote. “I think that one may contribute ever so slightly to the beauty of things, making one’s own life and environment beautiful … But I would have each person realize the beauty of things is sufficient without him.” His philosophy, dubbed “inhumanism,” included the belief that one should transcend conflict. When he spoke out against the U.S. involvement in WWII, his popularity waned, despite having been on the cover of Time magazine and performing a reading at the Library of Congress. The poet was known as a relentless hiker who roamed the coast and traveled on foot to Big Sur and the surrounding countryside. Jeffers found his original voice while in the Carmel area, immersed in the rhythm of the ocean, animals and landscape of the coast. The anthropologist/author
Tor House with Hawk Tower 2014, Oil, 16”x 20” In the collection of Tom and Sue Redfern; Carmel, California
Lauren Eisely said of Jeffers, “Something wild crept into his
Naked vulnerable, set against an overwhelming backdrop of
mind. The sea-beaten coast, the fierce freedom of its hunting
might and majesty, one’s problems become magnified because of
hawks, possessed and spoke through him. It is one of the
the proscenium on which the conflict is staged. Robinson Jeffers is
most uncanny and complete relationships between a man
unerring in high-lighting this aspect of his narrative poems. His
and his natural background that I know in literature.”
figures and their manner of behavior are not falsely exaggerated,
He liked to remind people that, “Mankind was too self-
as some believe. If his narratives smack of Greek tragedy, it is
centered, and too indifferent to the astonishing beauty of
because Jeffers rediscovered here the atmosphere of the gods and
things.”
fates which obsessed the ancient Greeks. The light here is almost
In Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch, Henry Miller described the vision of Robinson Jeffers:
as electric, the hills almost as bare, and the community almost as autonomous as in ancient Greece. The rugged pioneers who settled here needed only a voice to make known their secret drama. 37
Carmel is a community known for artistic expression.
at their studios, but as one early member noted, “Such open
The talents of these artists have been celebrated locally at the
houses were expensive for the host, and visitors often got
Carmel Art Association, Friends of Photography, Weston
lost in the woods hunting for the various cottages.”
Gallery, Carl Cherry Center and the Sunset Center. These
It was a natural evolution to create a formal association.
entities and institutions have provided inspiration, fostered
Many of these artists had extraordinary careers and their
careers and promoted comradeship while enriching the lives
works are in the collections of museums throughout the
of many.
United States and abroad. Early members included Armin
T
Carmel Art Association
Hansen, Paul Dougherty, Frances McComas, Salvador
he Carmel Art Association was founded in 1927 with
Dali, William Ritschel, Arthur Hill Gilbert, Mary DeNeale
the mission “to advance art and cooperation among
Morgan and first president, Pedro Lemos.
artists, secure a permanent exhibition space, and promote
Some of the most outstanding work was created by
greater fellowship between artists and the public.” The
a pair of women members, M. Evelyn McCormick and E.
founders met one of those goals in 1933 when they secured
Charlton Fortune, who more than likely used their initials
gallery space on Dolores Street, thanks to a loan from local
to avoid discrimination and garner respect in a profession
businessman Barnet J. Segal. The Carmel Art Association
dominated by men. Their paintings of the backyards, people
returned the favor by naming one of the main exhibition
and buildings of old Monterey are highly coveted, with an
rooms the Segal Gallery, paying tribute to his lasting
E. Charlton Fortune painting of Monterey recently selling
contribution. The Carmel Art Association has promoted
for 1.8 million dollars. Several of her paintings won silver
“greater fellowship between artists and the public” for over
medals at the Panama-Pacific International Expositions in
80 years, which makes the CAA the longest continuously
San Francisco and San Diego in 1915.
operating gallery in Carmel.
Euphemia Charlton Fortune, known as “Effie” to family
At first, artists met as friends in various locations in
and close friends, was born in 1885 in Sausalito and spent the
town: individual artist’s studios, a gallery in the old Arts and
first two decades of her life alternating between Northern
Crafts Hall at the present-day Golden Bough Playhouse, the
California and Scotland. In 1906, after the San Francisco
Carmel Art Institute and the Del Monte Hotel in Monterey.
earthquake and fire, she followed many other artists and
In the old days artists printed invitations for afternoon teas
writers to temporary housing in Carmel.
38
Effie warned her best friend Ethel McAllister Grubb in a
for beauty to someone who looked like me was more than the
letter against the “Made Picture”: I think it is better to paint as
school could make itself do … Well, you don’t forget these things.
much as you possibly can out of doors and then if you want to do
I nearly gave up art.
something from memory, all right … you can never be original if
Another prominent Carmel artist, Armin Hansen, was
you invent pictures. To be original you must chew up the meat in
the son of an accomplished illustrator, Herman Hansen,
your own meat chopper, and the meat is nature …
referred to as “the Frederic Remington of the West Coast”
Ethel McAllister Grubb’s daughter Elizabeth Lampen
for his depiction of Native Americans. Armin studied with
observed the relationship between her mother and Effie and
Arthur Mathews, director of the Mark Hopkins Institute
how she had developed her personality because of the scar
of Art in San Francisco, in 1903 at the age of seventeen. He
on her upper lip from a cleft palate, “She had a hard shell and
continued his training in Europe, residing in the artist colony
my mother was the only one to get through it. They were
of Nieuport near the North Sea port of Ostende. There he
always laughing.”
observed men working at sea and began developing the
She lived to 84, and in her last years, wrote to a friend, I
theme which was to become his trademark subject. These
live the life of an animated snail but I am very comfortable …
marine studies were then exhibited in the Munich Academy
so often have (I) wanted to write to you but I don’t write letters
and in Brussels, where he won his first award in 1910.
now … after all I’m 82 and should shut up. And moreover, I said it all when I was painting …
He moved to Monterey with only sixteen dollars in his pocket, but he found a place where he could continue
Steven Hauk, owner of Hauk Fine Arts in Pacific Grove,
to capture his favorite subject—the men who worked
wrote a play called Fortune’s Way with E. Charlton Fortune,
at sea—in both etching and oil painting. His method of
played by Teresa Del Piero, as the lead character. Hauk’s
posing fisherman outdoors with the authentic background
poignant script delves into the difficulties of a life devoted to
of docks, ships, rocks, sky and sea resulted in paintings that
the visual arts, as well as Fortune’s own personal challenges.
reflect liveliness and vigor, qualities sometimes lacking in the
The audience is left with a profound sense of her heroic life,
works of artists who employ the more convenient process of
where perseverance and talent triumphed over tremendous
working indoors from grafted sketches.
challenges. Her character sadly recalls being passed over
He served as president of The Carmel Art Association
for awards during her school days: I began to think I didn’t
for two terms and was regarded as the “Dean of the Monterey
win because of my … disfigurement … that to give an award
Peninsula art scene.” 39
Monastery Cove–Jack London
comradeship as artless and warm as the sunshine itself.”
amed novelist Jack London is most closely associated
F
Billy accepts a challenge to run a race to nearby Point
with Oakland and Sonoma—and, of course, Alaska—
Lobos and scale the cliffs barehanded, then return to the
but he also has close ties with the early Bohemian scene in
finish line back at the beach with the cheers of the onlookers
Carmel. Several key passages from his novel The Valley of
for motivation. Billy loses the first race but after a week of
the Moon are set in Carmel circa 1910. The story opens in
practice on the course, he is victorious in the rematch. The
Oakland during a time of labor union strife. Billy Roberts is
two contestants were timed thirty seconds apart due to a
a teamster and his wife Saxon works in a sweat shop sewing
narrow, cliff-side passage that could only fit one person at
garments for a meager wage. After witnessing the death of
a time. Billy, modest in victory, explains how his opponent
a friend in a union riot, the young couple flees the violence
had to wait for the tide to recede before squeezing through
of city life, traveling on foot in search of their own land to
the passage, thus slowing him down.
farm. When they arrive at Monastery Beach along the south
Billy and Saxon spend a perfect Indian summer camping
side of the Carmel River, Billy and Saxon join a young
near the beach, hiking in the daytime along the beautiful
athletic and artsy crowd that meets weekly on the beach
coastline and dining in the evening on their own catch of
for abalone dinners. The group teaches Billy and Saxon the
perch, abalone and mussels. Billy sums up his wonderful
famous “Abalone Song,” written in 1907 by London’s friend
new life: “This beats being any kind of millionaire.”
George Sterling. The idea is to continue making up verses
One member of the group is thinly veiled, a fast-walking
while pounding the abalone to tenderize the meat. It was
poet who built his house out of marble. Jack London could
considered bad luck to sing the tune at any other time except
only be referring to one person—his friend Robinson Jeffers
when pounding abalone. The song was later immortalized
with his nearby home of granite.
by Carl Sandburg in The American Songbag.
Billy and Saxon stay in Carmel waiting out a rainy winter,
The likeable couple is a hit with their new friends as
but end up leaving, still in search of their own land to farm.
Saxon entertains by playing the ukulele and singing Hawaiian
But they are forever changed by the kindness and friendship
tunes. The good vibes from the Carmel Bohemian crowd
they experience in Carmel.
were felt by the young couple, “engulfing Saxon and Billy in
40
Rocks at Monastery Cove
1987-89, Oil on Canvas, 16”x 20”
Jack London’s Carmel Jack London described the color of the water in Carmel Bay circa 1910 as “peacock blue” in his novel The Valley of the Moon. A century later, I noticed the ocean water exhibits the identical stunning shade on a sunny day that London wrote so eloquently about. I worked numerous sunny afternoons to capture the unique color in my painting. I read the Jack London book just a few years ago and was excited to discover that I had observed the same “peacock blue” when I made this painting some 30 years earlier.
The Monastery Beach Abalone Song
“Oh some folks boast of quail on toast, Because they think it’s tony, But I’m content to owe my rent, And live on abalone. Oh Mission Point is a friendly joint, Where every crab’s a crony, And true and kind you’ll never find, The clinging abalone.”
41
42 Cypress and Pines with Pebble Beach 2013, Oil, 16”x 20” In the collection of Tom and Sue Redfern; Carmel, California
Now the home of the luxury resort community of Pebble Beach, the cove in the distance in this painting was originally a Chinese fishing village. Quock Mui gave birth at Pescadero Point on Carmel Bay after she arrived with her husband in 1876. Jung Choy and his wife Ah Slow also lived at Pescadero Village beginning in 1868 until its closing in 1912. Their five children helped fish and tend their three abalone shell souvenir stands— an early sign of the lucrative tourism industry that would slowly develop. Their children made the long walk to the Chinese Mission at Point Alones to attend school. In addition to Jung Choy’s fishing company, the Boo Lee company operated out of the cove, recorded in an informal census published in 1875 by the Monterey Weekly Herald. Among the earliest Chinese residents of California were sailors on a junk fleeing the turmoil of southern China and heading for Northern California, gateway to the Gold Rush. The boat overshot its destination and ended up in Baja California. In 1850, they resumed their journey. The more difficult sail to the north ended with the boat capsizing near Point Lobos. The six young occupants remained and settled the area, some at Whalers Cove, fishing for abalone and later squid. This scene also played a poignant role in the final years of Ansel Adams. In a 2016 interview with photographer Jim Alinder, he related how in February of 1984, Adams visited his home and asked his wife Mary, “Can Jim come out to play?” Jim accompanied Ansel out to Pebble Beach for what turned out to be Adams’s last outdoor photography session.
43
Royal Presidio Chapel
2014, Oil, 16”x 20”
A Yankee Captain Becomes a Citizen of Mexico In the spring of 1827, American Captain John Rogers Cooper was re-baptisted here in the Royal Presidio Chapel as Juan Bautista Rogers Cooper and swore his allegiance to Mexico. On August 24, 1827, Cooper married Encarnación Vallejo in this same chapel. He was informally known throughout California as Don Juan el Manco (literally John the Lame, more informally as John One Hand) due to an injury in a knife fight that rendered his left arm and hand weak and withered.
Monterey
M
onterey may have ceded its claim as the seat of California’s government a century and more ago, but when it concerns California history, no other city can come close to Monterey’s
rich heritage. In 1602, Sebastián Vizcaíno became the first European to set foot on the future city, landing near what is now the Presidio of Monterey and celebrating mass under a large oak tree. One hundred and sixty-eight years later, Junipero Serra said mass under the same oak tree using the Vizcaíno altar. The gathering was a combination of men from the Portolá expedition who traveled by land and the Serra party, which had arrived on the ship San Antonio, captained by Juan Perez. Both parties had traveled from San Diego with the purpose of building a new mission in Monterey. Junipero Serra described his first day in Monterey in 1770: Our arrival was greeted by the joyful sound of the bells suspended from the branches of the oak tree. Everything being in readiness and having put on alb and stole, and kneeling down with all men before the altar I intoned the hymn Veni, Creator Spiritus at the conclusion of which, after invoking the help of the Holy Spirit on everything we were about to perform, I blessed the salt and the water. Then we all made our way to a gigantic cross which was all in readiness and lying on the ground. With everyone lending a hand we set it in an upright position. I sang the prayers for its blessing. We set it in the ground and then, with all the tenderness of our hearts we venerated it. I sprinkled with holy water all the fields around. And thus after raising aloft the standard of the King of Heaven, we unfurled the flag of our Catholic Monarch likewise. The Spanish chose Monterey to be the governing center of the vast mission chain in Alta California that would eventually extend from San Diego to Sonoma. However, early settlers were confronted with a problem—where, exactly, was Monterey Bay? Vizcaíno created the confusion when he wrote in his log in 1602 that Monterey Bay was “very secure against all winds.” This did not match the wide open bay offering minimal protection that Portolá and company saw a century later. Still, Monterey
45
was a logical choice for the seat of government since it is a
a tile roof. The architectural design was created in Mexico
port city and centrally located for the Spanish government’s
and the plans were executed in Monterey by master mason
plans to settle the new territory both north and south.
Manuel Ruiz.
The Spanish had claimed California during the Cabrillo voyages and were afraid that the Russians or English were going to settle this new territory and eventually wrest control away from them. The mission chain would formally stake Spain’s claim to the vast frontier.
L
The Old Custom House
ocated a mile from the cathedral is the first government structure in California—the Custom House—built on
the shores of the Monterey Bay in 1827. By then, Mexico had won independence from Spain and was eager to open up
The Monterey mission and presidio were constructed
trade with England, the United States, and South American
side-by-side on a slight hill with a view of the bay to the west
nations. The government required a way to inspect and levy
and the estuary to the north. This church, built by Father Serra
taxes on cargo from foreign trading ships being unloaded at
in 1770 as the second Alta California mission, was the original
the Monterey port, hence the need for an official building as
mission of the Monterey Peninsula and was named San Carlos
close to the wharves as possible.
Borromeo de Monterey. When the mission was relocated to
Richard Dana wrote in Two Years Before the Mast in 1840,
the more favorable location next to the Carmel River, the
The Mexican revenue laws are very strict, and require the whole
name was modified to Mission San Carlos Borromeo de
cargo to be landed, and examined, and taken on board again;
Carmelo. The original mission in Monterey was renamed the
but our agent, Mr.R., had succeeded in compounding with them
Royal Presidio Chapel. When the soldiers left the presidio
for the last two vessels, and saving the trouble of taking the cargo
during Mexican rule in 1835, the name was changed once
ashore.
again, this time becoming San Carlos Cathedral, the name it bears to this day.
The next day, the cargo having been entered in due form, we began trading. The trade-room was fitted up in the steerage, and
The original church was crudely built of pole, thatch and
furnished out with the lighter goods, and with specimens of the rest
mud, until a more permanent adobe structure was completed
of the cargo; and M- , a younger man who came out from Boston
a year later. A pine fence encircled the barracks and mission
with us, before the mast, was taken out of the forecastle and made
with cannons placed at the corners. It was not until 1794 that
supercargo’s clerk. He was well qualified for the business, having
the entire church was constructed of sandstone masonry with
been clerk in a counting-house in Boston. For a week or ten days
46
Custom House
2008-2014, Oil, 16�x 20�
Raising the Flag On July 7, 1846, at the Monterey Custom House, the American flag was raised for the first time on California soil as Commodore John Drake Sloat claimed the territory for the United States. He declared, I will hoist the standard of the United States at Monterey immediately, and shall carry it through California. I declare to the inhabitants of California that, although I come in arms with a powerful force, I do not come among them as an enemy of California; on the contrary I come as their best friend, as henceforward California will be a portion of the United States, and its peaceful inhabitants will enjoy the same rights and privileges they now enjoy. Four years later, on September 9, 1850, California became the 31st state in the Union.
47
all was life on board. The people came off to look and to buy—
usually a good bit ornamented. They have no suspenders, but
men, women, and children; and we were continually going on
always wear a sash round the waist, which is generally red, and
boats, carrying goods and passengers, for they have no boats of
varying in quality with the means of the wearer. Add to this the
their own. Everything must dress itself and come aboard and see
never-failing cloak, and you have the dress of the Californian.
the new vessel, if it were only to buy paper and pins. The agent
This last garment, the cloak, is always a mark of the rank and
and his clerk managed the sales, while we were busy in the hold
wealth of the owner. The ‘gente de razon,’ or aristocracy, wear
or in the boats.
cloaks of black or dark blue broadcloth, with as much velvet
Our cargo was an assorted one; that is it consisted of
and trimmings as may be; and from this they go down to the
everything under the sun. We had spirits of all kinds, (sold by
blanket of the Indian; the middle classes wearing something like
the cask,) teas, coffee, sugars, spices, raisins, molasses, hardware,
a large table-cloth, with a hole in the middle for the head to go
crockery-ware, tinware, cutlery, clothing of all kinds, boots and
through. This is often as coarse as a blanket, but being beautifully
shoes from Lowell, crepes, silks; also shawls, scarfs, necklaces,
woven with various color, is quite showy at a distance. Among the
jewelry, and combs for the ladies; furniture; and in fact, everything
Mexicans there is no working class; (the Indians being slaves and
that can be imagined, from Chinese fire-works to English cart-
doing all the hard work;) and every rich man looks like a grandee,
wheels-of which we had a dozen pairs with their iron rims on.
and every poor scamp like a broken down gentleman. I have often
Dana gives a vivid description of the people he found in
seen a man with a fine figure, and courteous manners, dressed
Monterey in 1838, providing an important record of the life
in broadcloth and velvet, with a noble horse completely covered
and times.
with trappings; without a real in his pocket, and absolutely
The officers were dressed in the costume, which we found
suffering for something to eat. There is no danger of Catholicism’s
prevailed through the country. A broad brimmed hat, usually of a
spreading in New England; Yankees can’t afford the time to be
black or dark brown color, with a gilt or figured band around the
Catholics. American shipmasters get nearly three weeks more
crown, and lined inside with silk; a short jacket of silk or figured
labor out of crews, in the course of a year, than the masters of
calico, (the European skirted body-coat is never worn;) the shirt
vessels from Catholic countries. Yankees don’t keep Christmas,
open in the neck; rich waistcoat, if any; pantaloons wide straight,
and shipmasters at sea never know when Thanksgiving comes, so
and long, usually of velvet, velveteen, or broadcloth; or else short
Jack has no festival at all.
breeches and white stockings. They wear the deer-skin shoe,
Dana’s descriptions of the early homes in Monterey
which is of a dark-brown color, and, (being made by Indians,)
are likewise rich and evocative of the era: The houses here as
48
everywhere else in California are of one story built of adobes that
their infractions. These fines funded his masterpiece—
is clay made into large bricks about a foot and a half square, and
California’s first meeting hall. Colton Hall stands today
three or four inches thick, and hardened in the sun. These are
as a lasting memory of his pioneer vision. California’s first
joined together by a cement of the same material, and the whole
constitution was drafted in Colton Hall in October of 1849
are of a common dirt color. The floors are generally of earth, the
at the Constitution Convention. The deliberations of forty-
windows grated and with-out glass; and the doors, which are
eight delegates enabled California to be admitted to the
seldom shut, open directly into the common room, there being
Union as the 31st state.
no entries. Some of the more wealthy inhabitants have glass
In 1846, Colton wrote, The town hall, on which I have been
to their windows and board floors; and in Monterey nearly all
at work on for more than a year, is at last finished. It is built
the houses too, have red tiles upon the roofs. The common ones
of a white stone, quarried from a nearby hill, which easily takes
have two or three rooms which are open into each other, and are
the shape you desire. The lower apartments are for school; the
furnished with a bed or two, a few chairs and tables a looking
hall over them-seventy feet by thirty-is for public assemblies. The
glass, a crucifix, and small daubs of paintings enclosed in glass,
front is ornamented with a portico, which you enter the hall. It
representing some miracle or martyrdom. They have no chimneys
is not an edifice that would attract any attention among public
or fireplaces in the houses, the climate being such as to make a
buildings in the United States: but in California it is without
fire unnecessary; and all their cooking is done in a small kitchen
rival. It has been erected out of the slender proceeds of town lots
separated from the house.
the labor convicts, taxes on liquor shops and fines on gamblers.
R
Walter Colton
The scheme was regarded with incredulity by many; but the
everend Walter Colton played a vital role in both
building is finished and the citizens have assembled in it, and
the history of Monterey as a city and the destiny of
have christened it after my name which will now go down to
California as state. A scholar of theology, he was an author
posterity with the odor of gamblers, convicts, and tipplers. I leave
and founder of The Californian, the first newspaper in what
it as a humble evidence of what may be accomplished by rigidly
would soon be the brand-new state. He authored two books,
adhering to one purpose, and shrinking from no personal efforts
Three Years in California and Deck and Port. His appointment
necessary to its achievement.
as alcalde of Monterey—a combination judge, governor
The citizens of Monterey elected me to-day alcalde, or chief
and sheriff of the new frontier—proved to be fortuitous.
magistrate of this jurisdiction-a situation which I have been
As judge, he fined gamblers and thieves fifty dollars for
filling for two months past, under a military commission. It has 49
been restored to its civil character and function. Their election
new star added to our Confederation.
is undoubtedly the highest compliment which they can confer;
Famed historian Hubert Howe Bancroft wrote, Never in
but this token of confidence brings with it a great deal of labor
the history of the world did a similar convention come together.
and responsibility. It devolves upon me duties similar to those
They were there to form a state out of an unorganized territory
of mayor of one of our cities, without any of those judicial aids
only lately wrestled from a subjugated people, who were allowed
which he enjoys. It involves every breach of the peace, every case
to assist in framing a constitution in conformity with the political
of crime, every business obligation and every disputed land title
views of the conquerors.
within a space of three hundred miles. From every other alcalde’s
The carefree life of the early California residents was
court in this jurisdiction there is an appeal to this, and none
delightfully captured by Walter Colton: There are no people
from this to any higher tribunal. Such an absolute disposal of
that I have ever been among who enjoy life so thoroughly as the
questions affecting property and personal liberty never ought to
Californios. Their habits are simple; their wants few; nature
be confided to one man. There is not a judge on any bench in
rolls almost everything spontaneously into their lap. Their cattle,
England or the United States, whose power is so absolute as that
horses and sheep roam at large—not a blade of grass is cut, none
of alcalde of Monterey.
is required. The harvest waves wherever the plough and harrow
Reporter Bayard Taylor covered the California
has been; and the grain which the wind scatters this year, serves
Constitutional Convention for the New York Tribune in 1849
as seed for the next. The slight labor that is required is more of a
and filed this report, They proceeded to affix their names to the
diversion than a toil; and even this is shared by the Indian. They
completed Constitution. At this moment a signal was given; the
attach if it, is with them no object of emulation or envy. Their
American colors ran up the flagstaff in front of the Government
happiness flows from a fount that has very little connection with
buildings and streamed out in the air. A second afterword the
their outward circumstances.
gun boomed out in from the fort, and stirring echoes came back
There is hardly a shanty among them which does not contain
from one hill after another, till they were lost in the distance. As
more true contentment, more genuine gladness of the heart, than
the signing went on, gun followed gun from the fort, the echoes
you will meet within the mostly princely palace. Their hospitality
reverberating grandly around the bay till finally, as the loud
knows no bounds; they are always glad to see you, come when
ring of the thirty-first was heard, there was a shout: ‘That’s for
you; take a pleasure in entertaining you while you remain; and
California’ and everyone joined in giving three times three for the
only regret that your business calls you away. If you are sick,
50
Colton Hall
2008-2013, Oil, 16�x 20�
there is nothing which sympathy and care can devise or perform
Never has any writer summed up the happiness and
which is not done for you. No sister ever hung over the throbbing
perfection of Monterey life more enthusiastically than one
brain or fluttering pulse of a brother with more tenderness and
of its Spanish governors, Diego de Borcia. In 1795, he wrote,
fidelity. This is as true of the lady whose hand has only figured her
To live much, and without care, come to Monterey. This is a great
embroidery or swept her guitar, as of the cottage-girl wringing
country; climate healthful, between cold and temperate; good
from laundry the foam of a mountain steam; and all this from
bread, excellent meat, tolerable fish; and bon humeur which is
the heart. If I must be cast in sickness or destitution or the care of
worth all the rest. This is the most peaceful and quiet country in the
the stranger, let it be in California; but let it be before America
world; one lives better than in the most cultured court of Europe.
avarice has hardened the heart and made a god of gold.
51
Juan Bautista Rogers Cooper
visited during their voyages around the world, committing
ohn Rogers Cooper—ship captain, rancher, store
himself to an ocean-going life.
J
owner—was one of the most important pioneers of
After spending eighteen years at sea, most while serving
Monterey. As a captain, he sailed the high seas during the
as captain of the California, a cranky ship renowned for its
days of Mexican rule in California, trading from the ports of
state of disrepair, Cooper settled in Monterey and converted
Boston, Canton, Honolulu, San Blas, and Monterey, and even
to Catholicism, formalized with a baptism as Juan Bautista
with the Russians at Bodega Bay. Because of his marriage to
Rogers Cooper. In the New World settlement of Monterey,
Encarnación Vallejo, he was allowed to be one of the first
he took a Spanish name and became a naturalized Mexican
persons to reside in Monterey who was not of Mexican or
citizen.
Spanish descent. He operated a general merchandise store in the heart of California’s new capital.
His two names reflect his two distinct lives. John Rogers Cooper represents the first half of his life on the open sea. In
Cooper was born on Alderney, a tiny island in the English
his second life on dry land in Monterey under Mexican rule, he
Channel only nine miles from France. His father was a ship
was known as Juan Bautista. He made this significant change
captain born in England. Thus, he had an English name and a
at age 35 when he married Encarnación Vallejo. Together they
French homeland. But most of his youth was spent in Boston
had four children and used Monterey as a base for a huge real
with the influence of another seafaring man, his uncle William.
estate empire. He adjusted to his new “landlubber” status
Young Cooper left Alderney with his mother, Anne, when
quite well, acquiring and managing massive land holdings as
he was nine years old, after his father was presumed to have
far south as Big Sur with a vast property called Rancho El Sur,
perished at sea. They settled near Boston with his mother’s
and another seven-thousand acre ranch in Castroville. He had
sister Martha, the wife of Captain William Matticks Rogers.
still more land in Marin and Sonoma counties.
He captained the ship Hunter, traveling to East India, China,
W.D. Phelps, in his 1871 book Forward and Aft, described
the Sandwich Islands and California from his home port of
Cooper: … could not relinquish the sea altogether, and was
Dorchester in Boston Harbor.
placed by the Mexican government in command of their Navy,
Captain William Rogers was a major influence on young
which consisted of an old schooner named the California, on which
Cooper, and it was only a matter of time before he was sailing
the Commodore hoisted his pennant when ordered to perform any
and trading in the very same ports his uncle and father had
naval duty.
52
Cooper-Molera Adobe
2007, Oil, 16”x 20”
The old gentleman is still living, and long may he survive, as
Despite amassing what today would be billions of
he is a rather original character … A seamen of the old school,
dollars worth of prime California real estate, Cooper always
he despised a long-tailed coat and would not discard a sailor’s
seemed to be short of cash. When a flood destroyed his
jacket. Known throughout California for his integrity and good
Sonoma County lumber mill and he became bankrupt, he
nature, his honest countenance was always welcome wherever it
was prompted to say, “Thank God they are not so civilized in
appeared. The slouched white hat, blue short jacket, grey satinet
this country yet as to put poor debtors in prison. That’s one
pants and cowhide shoes constituted his every-day dress at all
consolation for me.”
seasons from year to year and his uniform on all occasions. 53
Thomas O. Larkin
A
In 1842, Commodore Thomas Catesby sailed his ship,
nother important figure in the legend and lore of
the United States, into Monterey Bay, believing that he was
early Monterey was Thomas O. Larkin Also known
outracing a British ship all the way from Callao, Peru, that
as Oliver Larkin, he was invited by his half-brother John
planned to take Monterey by force and claim Alta California
Rogers Cooper to serve as a bookkeeper at his general
for England. Catesby demanded the surrender of Monterey
merchandise store in the heart of Monterey. Larkin sailed
from Governor Alvarado. Negotiations proceeded with
from the East Coast and arrived in April of 1832, becoming
Larkin serving as interpreter. The next morning, the
one of only about seven other men of northern European
Americans paraded through Monterey with the band playing.
descent in the town.
The Monterey Presidio did not have sufficient men or
He only remained in the bookkeeper position for about
arms to resist. Catesby had the Mexican flag taken down at
a year before striking out on his own ventures. His East
the Custom House and replaced it with the Stars and Stripes.
Coast education and business experience, combined with
The American forces seized the California, the lone ship that
the connections that John Cooper and wife Encarnación
comprised the Mexican navy on the California coast.
provided into the Mexican community, proved to be
When Captain Cooper learned of the seizure of the
invaluable. He opened his own store, a flourmill, and then
California, he was reported to have rushed out of doors, and,
a sawmill a little further away in Santa Cruz. His wide-
beholding the changes, scratched his left elbow with his right
ranging ventures included building a wharf in Monterey and
hand, which he always did when unusually or immensely
remodeling the Custom House. In 1843, when California
excited. His neighbors, anticipating some extraordinary
was still under Mexican rule, he was appointed American
outburst of passion, awaited the explosion. His only emotion
Consul to Alta California by President Tyler. He was still
was expressed in another scratch of the elbow and, “Well, I
serving in this position for President James Polk when he
wouldn’t care a snap for the loss of the old schooner, if I only
received several secret messages from the President. These
got a well-rope out of her first.” He had been digging a well,
communiqués, delivered by Marine Lieutenant Archibald
and a rope for the bucket was needed.
Gillespie, instructed Larkin as to how to proceed should war
Cooper got his schooner—and the well-rope—back, as
break out between Mexico and the United States—which
the Americans withdrew the next day, deciding they were
was becoming more and more likely.
not at war with Mexico after all!
54
Larkin Store
2014-15, Oil, 16”x 20”
Larkin was a secret supporter of the Bear Flag Revolt, a
were going to be used in an attack on foreigners—in other
rebellion organized by Yankees living north of San Francisco
words, American settlers—under the command of General
against their Mexican rulers. It manifested in June of 1846
Jose Castro. After taking over the Presidio of Sonoma, the
in Sonoma, when a group of Americans placed General
Americans raised a homemade flag with one star and a
Mariano Vallejo, brother of Cooper’s wife Encarnación,
grizzly bear for the short-lived California Republic. Though
and other Mexican soldiers under arrest. Prior they had
the independent nation lasted only a few weeks, the Bear
intercepted Captain Aze and commandeered horses that
Flag lives on as the official California state flag and as a
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John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row beloved symbol on t-shirts, caps, hoodies, and much more. It was Larkin who persuaded Commodore Sloat to take Monterey from his flagship that had been waiting in the
S
alinas native John Steinbeck had the kind of luck most writers can only dream about. Right in his own
backyard—in this case, Monterey’s sardine canning district—
Monterey Bay for five days alongside two other American
he found the perfect setting and a classic cast of unforgettable
ships with sailors and marines aboard. The Bear Flag Revolt
characters. The results are the novels Cannery Row and Sweet
yielded to the official U.S. takeover in Monterey, paving the
Thursday. Central character Ed Ricketts (a.k.a. Doc) is the
way for California’s statehood.
ideal man: independent, educated, humble and admired.
During the Gold Rush, Larkin and his brother moved to
Doc’s profession as a marine biologist allowed Steinbeck to
the new boomtown of San Francisco. But Larkin returned to
place a non-conformist who was a bit misunderstood as the
Monterey in 1849 as one of the delegates from San Francisco
center of the Cannery Row universe. Mack, Hazel, Joe Elegant,
at the California Constitution Convention at Colton Hall. He
Whitey and the boys, who avoid any idea of a regular job,
was one of forty-eight delegates who signed the constitution,
reside next to Dora’s brothel in the days when the sardine
which was written in both Spanish and English.
canneries flourished and later declined, near Doc’s Western
The stampede of gold-seekers from all over the world in
Biological Laboratory and Lee Chong’s Market.
1849 reduced the Californios to an insignificant minority
Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink,
lacking political power. These original pioneers had the
a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia,
indignity of being treated as foreigners in the land of their
a dream. Cannery Row is the gathered and scattered, tin and
birth, the role they and their ancestors played in the founding
iron and rust and splintered wood, chipped pavement and weedy
of the West all but forgotten. Vallejo lost his vast estate of
lots and junk heaps, sardine canneries of corrugated iron, honky
a quarter million acres, and was left only with his home in
tonks, restaurants and whore houses, and little crowded groceries,
Sonoma. Fittingly, that property was known as Lachryma
and laboratories and flophouses. Its inhabitants are, as the
Montis, or Tear of the Mountain. Toward the end of his life,
man once said, “whores, pimps, gamblers, and sons of bitches,”
Vallejo said, “I compare the old relic with myself … ruins and
by which he meant Everybody. Had the man looked through
dilapidation, what a difference between then and now. Then
another peephole he might have said, “Saints and angels, and
youth, strength, and riches; now age, weakness and poverty.”
martyrs and holy men,” and he would have meant the same thing.
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In Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday, Steinbeck produced poignant, sensitive observations of people and the physical
Monterey had changed, and so had Cannery Row and its denizens.
place they lived that make them come to life and forever stay
Doc was changing in spite of himself, in spite of the prayers
in our minds. The reader can feel the wind and sun on their
of his friends, in spite of his own knowledge. And why not?
faces, take their steps and feel their feelings as their shared
Men do change, and change comes like a little wind that ruffles
experiences take on another dimension. He takes you to a
the curtains at dawn, and comes like the stealthy perfume of
moment in time that you want to visit over and over again,
wildflowers hidden in the grass. Change may be announced by a
like this passage from Sweet Thursday when the winds of
small ache, so that you think you are catching cold.
change begin to blow in Cannery Row after the war.
Before the war Doc lived a benign and pleasant life, which
Looking back, you can usually find the moment of the birth
aroused envy in some gnat-bitten men. Doc made a living, as
of a new era, whereas, when it happened, it was one day hooked
good a living as he needed or wanted, by collecting and preserving
on to the tail of another.
various marine animals and selling them to schools, colleges, and
There were prodigies and portents that winter and spring, but
museums. He was able to turn affable and uncritical eyes on
you never notice such things afterward. On Mount Toro the snow
a world full of excitement. He combined the beauty of the sea
came down as far as Pine Canyon on one side and Jamesburg
with man’s loveliest achievements—music. Through his superb
on the other. A six-legged calf was born in Carmel Valley. A
phonograph he could hear the angelic voice of the Sistine Choir
cloud drifting in formed the letters O-N in the sky over Monterey.
and could wander half lost in the exquisite masses of William
Mushrooms grew out of the concrete floor of the basement of the
Byrd. He believed there were two human achievements that
Methodist Church. Old Mr. Roletti, at the age of ninety-three
towered above all others: the Faust of Goethe and The Art of
developed senile satyriasis and had to forcibly restrained from
the Fugue of J.S. Bach. Doc was never bored. He was beloved
chasing high school girls. The spring was cold, and the rains came
and preyed on by his friends, and this contented him. For he
late. Velella in their purple billions sailed into Monterey Bay and
remembered the words of Diamond Jim Brady who, when told
were cast up on beaches, where they died. Killer whales attacked
that his friends were making suckers of him, remarked, “It’s fun
the sea lions near Seal Rocks and murdered a great number of
to be a sucker—if you can afford it.” Doc could afford it. He had
them…Perhaps all this meant nothing; you never notice such
not the vanity which makes men try to be smart.
things until afterward.
Doc’s natural admiration and desire for women had always
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Cannery Quarters with Ricketts’s Lab 2008, Oil, 12”x 16” In the collection of Scott and Patricia Teaford
Bruce Ariss Way, Cannery Row This concrete walkway, named after Monterey artist Bruce Ariss, covers the site of the “chicken walk,” the dirt path that connected the canneries and the Palace Flophouse that Steinbeck described so vividly in Cannery Row. In the 1930s and 40s, the hills in the district now known as New Monterey were dotted with cabins such as the three pictured here, providing housing for cannery workers, most of them recent arrivals from Japan and the Philippines. The small, rustic building at far right in this painting is the real “Doc’s lab,” Pacific Biological Laboratories owned by Ed Ricketts. Though not open for public tours except on special occasions, visitors may still get a glimpse of the back deck and the concrete tanks where Ricketts kept his marine specimens by venturing onto the narrow public walkway between the lab and the new hotel next door.
58
been satisfied by women themselves. He had few responsibilities
designed and lovely purposelessness. …It was a good thing Doc
except to be a kindly, generous, and amused man. And these he
had, and many people wished they had it too.
did not find difficult. All in all, he had always been a fulfilled and contented man. A specimen so rare aroused yearning in other men, for how few men really like their work, their lives—how very few men like themselves. Doc liked himself, not in an adulatory
Lee Chong’s Market
L
ee Chong’s grocery, while not a model of neatness, was a miracle of supply. It was small and crowded but within its
sense, but just as he would have liked anyone else. Being at ease
single room a man could find everything he needed or wanted
with himself put him at ease with the world.
to live and to be happy—clothes, food, both fresh and canned,
…Where does discontent start? You are warm enough, but
liquor, tobacco, fishing equipment, machinery, boats, cordage,
you shiver. You are fed, yet hunger gnaws you. You have been
caps, pork chops. You could buy at Lee Chong’s a pair of slippers,
loved, but your yearning wanders in new fields. And to prod
a silk kimono, a quarter pint of whiskey and a cigar. The one
all these there’s time, the bastard Time. The end of life is not so
commodity Lee Chong did not keep could be had across the lot at
terribly far away—you can see it the way you see the finish line
Dora’s. The grocery opened at dawn and did not close until the last
when you come into the stretch—and your mind says, “Have I
wandering vagrant dime had been spent or retired for the night.
worked enough? Have I eaten enough? Have I loved enough?”
… and the favorite—Old Tennessee, a blended whiskey
All of these, of course, are the foundation of man’s greatest curse,
guaranteed four months old, very cheap and known in the
and perhaps his greatest glory. “What has my life meant so far,
neighborhood as Old Tennis Shoes. …Lee never left the cigar
and what can it mean in the time left to me?”And now we’re
counter, the top of the glass was his desk. His fat delicate hands
coming to the wicked, poisoned dart: “What have I contributed
rested on the glass, the fingers moving like small restless sausages.
in the Great Ledger? What am I worth?” And this isn’t vanity or
A broad golden wedding ring on the middle finger of his left hand
ambition. Men seem to be born with a debt they can never pay no
was his only jewelry and with it he silently tapped on the rubber
matter how hard they try. It piles up ahead of them. Man owes
change mat from which the little rubber tits had long been worn.
something to man. If he ignores the debt it poisons him, and if he
Lee’s mouth was full and benevolent and the flash of gold when
tries to make payments the debt only increases, and the quality of
he smiled was rich and warm.
his gift is the measure of the man.
—Cannery Row, John Steinbeck
People made pilgrimages to the laboratory to bask in Doc’s
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Doc’s Lab
T
he lights were on in the lab all night and yet he seemed to be up in the daytime too. And the great shrouds of music came out of the lab at any time of the day or night. Sometimes when it was all dark and when it seemed that sleep had come at last,
the diamond-true child voices of the Sistine Choir would come from the windows of the laboratory. —Cannery Row, John Steinbeck After Ricketts’s death in a traffic accident in 1948, several of his friends, dubbing themselves the PBL Group, took over ownership of the lab. For many years, the lab functioned as a private men’s social club. It was in 1957, inside the plain wooden walls of this modest building, that the idea was hatched for an event that became the world famous Monterey Jazz Festival. Over the decades, the membership aged and dwindled, and in 1993, the remaining members turned over the property to the City of Monterey to preserve this unique cultural resource. The last member of the PBL Group, Frank Wright of Carmel, died in September, 2017. In 1960, John Steinbeck made a final trip to the street he made famous and observed in Travels with Charley: It (Monterey) is a beautiful place, clean, well run, and progressive. The beaches are clean where once they festered with fish guts and flies. The canneries which once put up a sickening stench are gone, their places filled with restaurants, antique shops, and the like. They fish for tourists now, not pilchards, and that species they are not likely to wipe out. In 1977, a group of scientists connected with Hopkins Marine Station gathered together to carry out the legacy of Ed Ricketts on an ambitious scale: they dreamed of starting a world-class aquarium on the site of the Hovden cannery, which had anchored Cannery Row since 1916. With funding from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Monterey Bay Aquarium opened October 20, 1984. Today, some two million annual visitors pass through this window to the wonders of the ocean. On the Chicken Walk A walkway Steinbeck referred to as the “chicken walk” connected Lee Chong’s Market to the nearby “Palace Flop House.” Flora, Doc and the boys passed daily on the “chicken walk” and so did the mysterious old Chinaman with the loose shoe sole that made a flapping noise when he walked at dawn. It happened in the time between sunset and the lighting of the street light. There is a small quiet gray period then. People sleeping heard his flapping shoe go by and they awakened for a moment. Steinbeck may have been referring to the ghost of “Chinaman Joe,” a shepherd known in the 1880s for a walking route from Monterey to his home built into a rock formation at Point Joe south of Pt. Pinos. 60
Lee Chong Market with Cannery Walkway
2007, Oil, 16”x 20”
61
LOVERS POINT PAINTING
62
62
Lovers Point 2015, Oil, 16”x 20” In the collection of Patricia Hamilton, Pacific Grove, California
Pacific Grove
T
his quiet town located on the western edge of the Monterey Peninsula is known for its quaint, lovingly maintained
Victorian homes and as the winter home of the migrating monarch butterfly. The town’s history is graced with esteemed artists, including renowned architect Julia Morgan, who designed the coastal retreat Asilomar, and author Robert Louis Stevenson, who toured Pacific Grove and wrote about it in his book The Old Pacific Capitol. Nobel Prizewinning author John Steinbeck’s family had a weekend cottage in Pacific Grove where he wrote some of his classics in the 1930s. Acclaimed painter Euphemia Charlton Fortune created a mural for the newly-built St. Angela Merici Catholic Church in 1928.. The classic lighthouse located at Point Pinos was constructed in 1855 to aid ships navigating the jagged and often fog-shrouded southern tip of the Monterey Bay, helping vessels locate the entrance to the harbor. The small house with a rooftop beacon helped put “The Point of the Pines,” as it was named by early Spanish explorers, on the map and today is the oldest lighthouse still in operation on the West Coast. Pacific Grove boasts an entrance to the fabled Pebble Beach Seventeen Mile Drive and is home to migrating monarch butterflies.
The Piney Paradise Local legend has it that this rocky point was originally named Lovers of Jesus Point by the Methodist church ladies who founded “the piney paradise.” Later on, people would describe the three major towns on the Monterey peninsula as “Carmel-by-the-Sea, Pacific Grove-by-God, and Monterey-by-the-Smell,” the latter a reference to the stench created by the sardine canneries. 63
The butterflies come to a certain eucalyptus grove—now a
dwellings to sell at a minimum price of $50. Under the
sanctuary—annually in October for the moderate climate.
agreement with Jacks, he would receive payment for every
The monarchs are protected under city statute and are
other lot sold. Wooden frames were constructed on the
appreciated as a natural phenomenon.
lots so canvas tents could be hung to create housing. The
The town developed as a Methodist camp retreat in 1875.
event was a seasonal affair. After the summer, the tents were
W.S. Ross, a visiting minister, was seeking help for health
taken down and stored at Chautauqua Hall during winter
issues and came to Pacific Grove because of the temperate
months. The enclave had rules prohibiting alcohol, music,
climate. In summer months he slept on hammocks hung
dancing, card games and dice playing. There were swim attire
in pine groves. After several weeks of fresh coastal air, the
restrictions as well as a curfew. There was a law covering just
reverend’s health improved. He recommended to church
about everything, as John Steinbeck poked fun at in his novel
elders and local land baron David Jacks the idea of locating
Sweet Thursday: …. Pacific Grove sprang full blown from the
a church retreat in the woodsy paradise. Reverend Ross met
iron heart of a psycho-ideo-legal religion. It was formed as a
in San Francisco with church leaders and became part of a
retreat in the 1880s and came fully equipped with laws, ideals,
committee to further explore the suitability of the area as a
and customs. On the town’s statute books a deed is void if liquor
place for meditation, prayer and religious study.
is ever brought on the property. As a result, the sale of iron-and-
In September of 1874, Jacks presented one hundred acres
wine tonic is fantastic. Pacific Grove has a law that requires you
located in the center of his vast Rancho Punta de los Pinos
to pull your shades down after sundown, and forbids you to pull
land holding to the Methodist Church for the new retreat.
them down before. Scorching on bicycles is forbidden, as is sea
Given his entrepreneurial nature, he probably had hopes that
bathing and boating on Sundays. There is one crime which is not
the influx of Methodist visitors would bring attention to the
defined but which is definitely against the law. Hijinks are or is
area and thereby bolster the sale of his surrounding land. At
forbidden.
an organizational meeting in San Francisco, the town was
The Methodists took quite seriously that which David
named Pacific Grove to mirror Ocean Grove, New Jersey,
Jacks had granted them: Moral and prudential control over
the site of another Methodist campground that served as an
the grounds. He created such a declaration when the Pacific
inspiration.
Grove Retreat Association expressed concern at the news
Trustees divided the land into 30’x 60’ lots for tent
64
that the Del Monte Hotel was about to be built in nearby
Blue Cottage with Steeple
2013, Oil, 20”x 20”
Pacific Grove’s Quaint Tent Cottages This blue cottage is an example of a classic Methodist campround retreat cottage built on a 30’ X 60’ lot in the 1870s. Originally the structure was a wooden framed tent cabin created for seasonal summer use. Later, it morphed into the cottage that you see today.
65
Monterey by the Pacific Improvement Company. Additional
Charlton, Pacific Grove offers a wealth of interesting
measures were taken when the Methodists fenced in the
architecture, from vintage one-story cottages to colorful
campground and locked the gates in the evening to further
Victorian and Queen Anne mansions. Perhaps the most
control residents and ensure adherence to the numerous
impressive architectural achievement lies at the westernmost
strict rules.
end of town—the Asilomar Conference Grounds.
The Pacific Grove chapter of the Chautauqua Literary
Asilomar—a contraction of the Spanish asilo del mar,
and Scientific Circle was established in 1879. The two week
meaning sea haven—is a masterpiece created by another
seminars became an annual summer event. The CLSC built
talented woman, Julia Morgan, the first female licensed
two museums to showcase the wonders of nature. A small
architect in California. Following the earthquake of 1906 she
wooden octagon-shaped museum once occupied Jewell Park,
redesigned the damaged Fairmont Hotel and then designed
and Chautauqua Hall exists as a community center today.
William Randolph Hearst’s so-called castle in San Simeon,
Together the CLSC and the Pacific Grove Methodist
now a National and California Historic Landmark. In 1913,
Camp Retreat helped shape religious, educational and
the Young Women’s Christian Association hired Morgan to
political directions of California. The religious values included
design buildings for their new seaside leadership camp. With
a reverence for nature and a “clamoring for its protection.”
a keen sense for beauty and practicality, Morgan blended the
John Muir and other pioneers of the Sierra Club attended.
sixteen buildings of Asilomar into the natural surroundings
The “hijinks” ban that Steinbeck had so much fun deriding remained for much of the 20th century. 1969
of pines and sand dunes. Today, Asilomar operates as a conference center under the California State Parks system.
marked the year that it was finally legal to sell liquor in Pacific
Pacific Grove seems to have attracted a number of
Grove, though to this day the town has no stand-alone bar or
strong, independent women in its history. Widow Emily Fish
nightclub. The year 1969 also saw the opening of the Pacific
became keeper of the Point Pinos lighthouse in 1893 at age
Grove Art Center, a community based non-profit that offers
50, a position that she held until 1914. She was light-keeper
studios, classes and exhibitions. Sadly, 1969 marked the
when the 1906 earthquake struck, which damaged the lens
passing of famed local artist Euphemia Charlton Fortune at
and weakened the tower, and oversaw the repairs.
the age of eighty. Prized for its natural beauty by plein air artists like
66
Marine biologist Julia Barlow Platt arrived in Pacific Grove in 1899 after despairing of finding an academic
St. Mary’s by the Sea
2009, Oil, 16”x 20”
position despite her stellar credentials, due to the blatant
Pacific Grove bills itself as “The Last Hometown,” and its
sexual discrimination of the era. She instead devoted her life
homey community events hearken back to a simpler time. In
to being a rabble-rouser and political gadfly—today, she’d
the annual Butterfly Parade that takes place every October,
be referred to as an activist—best known for tearing down a
elementary school children dress in costumes and march
fence that blocked public access to the beach at Lovers Point.
through town to welcome the monarch butterflies. Early
In 1931 at age 74, she was elected mayor and successfully
April sees the aptly-named Good Old Days, a festival of
lobbied Sacramento to permit Pacific Grove to establish its
entertainment, food, and crafts booths along the main street,
own marine sanctuary along the coastline.
Lighthouse Avenue. 67
Point Pinos Lighthouse
floor while Aunt Vi and Uncle George slept in their bedroom
Interview with Nancy Spiekerman, August 26, 2013.
on the first floor. As a young man, my uncle George Peterson
was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where my father was
happened to get hired at Aunt Viola’s family farm in Painted
a doctor and mother a nurse anesthetist. Along came the
Woods, North Dakota. He was traveling across the country
Second World War and my father volunteered for the Navy, too
working wherever he could get hired. Her family hired him to
old to be drafted. He was told he would be training the medics in
work. It is there that he fell in love with my Aunt Viola, who had
Great Lakes, Michigan. But instead they sent him to the South
polio and was confined to a wheelchair. George was determined
Pacific, to the Solomon Islands.
to marry her and make a life together. He joined the Coast Guard
I
My mother got tired of shoveling coal (we had a coal-burning
instead of the Navy so he could be stationed on shore so he could
furnace) and snow, so she rented the house and drove my sister
look after Aunt Viola. He was a strong sailor and could lift Aunt
and me to Pacific Grove where one of her sisters (Viola) lived. Vi
Viola out of her wheelchair by himself.
was married to George Peterson, who was the assistant lighthouse keeper at Pt. Pinos Lighthouse in Pacific Grove.
Eventually, my mother moved us to a rental in Pacific Grove. She worked as an anesthetist at Fort Ord and the Presidio of
What a wonderful spot for two little girls (ages 5 and 7)
Monterey as a volunteer. She also helped at the USO. Though we
to grow up! The lighthouse at that time was encircled by a huge
lived in town, we still spent a great deal of time at the lighthouse.
cypress hedge. We would crawl up among the branches of the
One memorable evening we were playing Chinese checkers in the
hedge and establish little rooms of our make-believe playhouse.
lighthouse kitchen. The radio was on and it was announced that
The lighthouse then sat in the middle of a military reservation
the war was over. The Japanese had surrendered. We danced and
(now a golf course). We would walk down to the beach where my
squealed. Our dad would be coming home.
mother and uncle would go to hunt for abalone. We were told to stay out of the foxholes which dotted the area. We lived with my aunt and uncle in the lighthouse for about six months, with the three of us sharing a bedroom on the second
68
When that time came, we drove to Salinas to meet the troop train. It pulled in and hundreds of uniformed men exited the train. I was then 10 years old and hadn’t seen my father for almost 4 years. Finally reunited, it was a great homecoming.
Point Pinos Lighthouse
1993-94, Oil, 16”x 20”
The Dream of Lee Chong It is customary to think of a sea captain sitting in his cabin, planning a future grocery store, not to object to wind or bottom-fouling. Lee Chong dreamed while he worked his abacus and passed out pints of Old Tennis Shoes and delicately sliced bacon with his big knife. He dreamed all right—he dreamed of the sea. He did not share his plan or ask advice. He would have got lots of advice. One day Lee Chong sold out and bought a schooner. He wanted to go trading in the South Seas. He dreamed of palms and Polynesians. In the hold of the schooner he loaded the entire stock of his store—all the canned goods, the rubber boots, the caps and needles and small tools, the fireworks, and calendars, even the glass-fronted showcases where he kept gold-plated collarbuttons and cigarette lighters. He took it all with him. And the last anyone saw of him, he was waving his blue naval cap from the flying bridge of his dream ship as he passed the whistle bouy at Point Pinos into the sunset. —From Sweet Thursday, John Steinbeck
69
Point Pinos Lighthouse
1994, Water color, 16”x 24”
Three Views of the Point Pinos Lighthouse After a few days we made the land at Point Pinos (pines), which is the headland entrance to the bay of Monterey ... and five of us went fishing in the jolly-boat in the direction of Point Pinos; but leave to go ashore was refused. We took several fish of various kinds among which cod and perch abounded and our second mate ... brought up with his hook a large and beautiful oyster shell ... that this place is celebrated for ... —From Two Years Before the Mast, 1840, Richard Henry Dana Westward is Point Pinos, with the lighthouse in a wilderness of sand, where you will find the lightkeeper playing the piano, making models and bows and arrows, studying dawn and sunrise in amateur oil-painting, and with a dozen other elegant pursuits and interests to surprise his brave, old country rivals. —From The Old Pacific Capitol 1880, Robert Louis Stevenson Just south of the lighthouse is a granite rock formation that had a lean-to built up against it. This was the home of Chinaman Joe in the 1890s. He tended a flock of sheep and sold trinkets to tourists on 17 Mile Drive. The Point was even referred to as Point Joe where he wandered to and from Chinese villages at Point Alones andMcAbee Beach. He walked while softly singing to himself, sometimes with a cat on his shoulder. —From Chinese Gold, 1985, Sandy Lydon 70
Christian Church looking down Carmel Avenue 2013, Oil 20”x 20” In the collection of Scott and Patricia Teaford
71
Feast of Lanterns
T
he week-long Feast of Lanterns is one of those “only
rough wooden dwellings. The shallow-bottom sampan boats
in Pacific Grove” traditions and traces its history
were able to be pulled up on the adjacent shore. Large junks
back to 1905. Originally a winter event to mark the close
would anchor offshore to receive fish for export to San
of the Chautauqua lecture series, it now is held annually in
Francisco and China from six different fishing companies
the third week in July. Activities range from elegant fashion
by 1875. The Chinese first fished for abalone and later for
shows and formal teas to more down-home events like a pet
oysters, mussels, squid and shark. The village grew to serve
parade and street dance. It all climaxes at Lovers Point with an
the larger needs of the region’s Chinese community as
ancient Chinese-themed pageant. A high school girl and her
residents of neighboring towns would come to shop in the
companions act out a melodrama that professes to intertwine
stores or pray at the Joss House.
the Blue Willow legend and the arrival of the monarch
Eventually and perhaps inevitably given the times,
butterflies. It traditionally concludes with a fireworks display
tensions grew between the Chinese and the mostly Caucasian
and a sing-along to the by-now scratchy record of Kate Smith’s
residents of the surrounding towns. The Chinese dried squid
rousing rendition of “God Bless America.”
in the open air, which created an odor that aggravated nearby residents. The Italian fishermen from Monterey complained
Point Alones Chinese Fishing Village
P
about the Chinese fishing nets in the bay, even though they
oint Alones was the third home of the early Chinese
employed similar practices. Portuguese whalers routinely
community of the Monterey Peninsula. After living in
cut the nets belonging to the Chinese sampans.
fishing villages at Point Lobos and Pescadero Point, next to
In 1906, an arsonist was seen leaving the village as he
Pebble Beach, some of the Chinese moved from Carmel Bay
ignited a blaze that burned Pacific Grove’s Chinatown to the
to Monterey Bay and Point Alones, now the site of Stanford
ground. The Pacific Improvement Company held the lease to
University’s Hopkins Marine Station. The fishing village was
the property. One man who witnessed the arsonists fleeing
founded in April of 1853 and grew to over sixty one-story
from the scene of the crime took the identity of the culprits
wooden buildings with shake roofs. A two-story Joss House
“to the grave.” It is believed that the Pacific Improvement
and a one-story school, called the Chinese Mission, both
Company wanted the Chinese gone and this fire was a way
painted white, stood out against the rest of the unpainted,
to expedite matters.
72
Point Alones
2013-16, Oil, 20”x 20”
Walk of Remembrance In May 2013, Gerry Low-Sabado led a parade from the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History to Point Alones to commemorate the lives of her ancestors. Pacific Grove has been celebrating Chinese culture with the Feast of Lanterns offand-on since 1905 and annually since 1958, but many residents remain unaware that a Chinese village had once existed in “The Last Hometown” and was burned to the ground in an act of blatant injustice and racial prejudice.
73
Steinbeck Cottage
J
Men, which suffered an interesting fate. His new puppy, Toby, chewed the manuscript to shreds. An avid dog-lover,
ohn Steinbeck’s father built this three room family
Steinbeck took it in stride, telling his literary agent, “The
summer cottage in 1903. As a child, the future author
poor little fellow may have been acting critically. I don’t
and his family spent summer vacations here, escaping from
want to ruin a good dog for a manuscript.”
the heat of Salinas. He and his sister would wander over to
Steinbeck used the rustic addition at the left of the main
Point Alones to explore the ruins of the Chinese fishing
house as his writing workroom. He built a fireplace inside
village.
the house and a turtle pond in the backyard. The remnants
After Steinbeck married Carol Henning in 1930, the couple moved into the house. Later that year he met Ed
of the pond’s stonework are still visible in a peek over the fence of this private residence.
Ricketts, also a resident of Pacific Grove, who became
Throughout his life, Steinbeck chose small, unassuming
the inspiration for the character of Doc in Cannery Row.
living spaces, whether it was this little house two blocks
Steinbeck’s father gave him twenty-five dollars a month for
from Monterey Bay, the snug camper truck in which he
an allowance so John could focus on his writing. Quitting
toured the United States in Travels with Charley, or his final
his two part-time jobs, he took advantage of the opportunity
home, a seaside cottage in Sag Harbor, New York. By then,
and wrote some of his classics in the family house: Pastures
his celebrity and wealth could have afforded him digs far
of Heaven, Tortilla Flat and In Dubious Battle.
more opulent, but he preferred to preserve his anonymity as
He continued to live here when his new home in Monte Sereno was being built, writing the first draft of Of Mice and
74
much as he could and to live a modest, quiet—some would say Spartan—lifestyle.
Steinbeck House
2014, Oil, 18”x 24”
75
76 Salinas Valley Fields with Train Signal
2016, Oil, 18”x 24”
Salinas Valley
T
he Salinas Valley is in Northern California. It is a long narrow swale between two ranges of mountains, and the Salinas River winds and twists up the center until it falls
at last into Monterey Bay. I remember my childhood names for grasses and secret flowers. I remember where a toad may live and what time the birds awaken in the summer—and what trees and seasons smelled like—how people looked and walked and smelled even. The memory of odors is very rich. I remember the Gabilan Mountains to the east of the valley were light gray mountains full of sun and loveliness and a kind of invitation, so that you wanted to climb into their warm foothills almost as you want to climb into the lap of a beloved mother. They were beckoning mountains with a brown grass love. The Santa Lucias stood up against the sky to the west and kept the valley from the open sea, and they were dark and brooding—unfriendly and dangerous. I always found in myself a dread of west and a love of east. Where I ever got such an idea I cannot say, unless it could be that the morning came over the peaks of the Gabilans and the night drifted back from the ridges of the Santa Lucias. It may be that the birth and death of the day had some part in my feeling about the two ranges of mountains. From both sides of the valley little streams slipped out of the hill canyons and fell into the
The Old Del Monte Express This painting depicts Salinas Valley fields with a defunct Del Monte Express train crossing with signal and rails. The tracks run next to fields of artichokes, lettuce and strawberries that stretch some 20 miles from the Monterey Bay to the base of the Gabilan Mountains and the town of Salinas in the distance. This fertile valley is sometimes referred to as “The Salad Bowl of the World.” The rails and signal are remnants of a leg of the Southern Pacific Railroad known as the Del Monte Express that ran between Castroville and Pacific Grove, the tracks running through Steinbeck country fields over the Salinas River and on to Monterey and Pacific Grove. In 1948, the author’s good friend, Ed “Doc” Ricketts, was tragically killed when his car was struck by the train as it crossed the tracks at Drake Avenue in Monterey. Tex-Mex legend Doug Sahm lamented the closing of the railway in 1971, immortalizing it in the song, “The Railpak Dun Done in the Del Monte,” that he performed with his group, The Sir Douglas Quintet. The musician had moved to San Francisco after a pot bust in Texas in 1965 and wrote several songs about the places he visited on the coast of California.
bed of the Salinas River. In the winter of wet years the streams
struggles of the downtrodden farm laborers.
ran full-freshet, and they swelled the river until sometimes it
Like Steinbeck, humanitarian Cesar Chavez championed
raged and boiled, bank full, and then it was a destroyer. The
the cause of the migrant workers who toiled in this valley. Born
river tore the edges of the farm lands and washed whole acres
in Yuma, Arizona, Chavez had searing childhood memories
down; it toppled barns and houses into itself, to go floating and
of his father losing his grocery store and ranch due to the
bobbing away. It trapped cows and pigs and sheep and drowned
effects of the Great Depression. Destitute and desperate, the
them in its muddy brown water and carried them to the sea.
family had no option but to follow the flood of migrants into
Then when the late spring came, the river drew in from its
California, where they became farm laborers, following the
edges and the sand banks appeared. And in the summer the
harvests. These experiences at a tender age had a profound
river didn’t run at all above ground. Some pools would be left
and lasting impact on the future farm labor organizer.
in the deep swirl places under a high bank. The tules and the
Chavez and Dolores Huerta co-founded the National
grasses grew back, and willows straightened up with flood debris
Farm Workers Association (later the United Farm Workers
in their upper branches. The Salinas was only a part-time river.
or UFW) in 1962. His many activities on the Central Coast
The summer sun drove it underground. It was not a fine river
included leading a march from Castroville to Salinas, and
at all, but it was the only one we had and so we boasted about
organizing rallies in nearby Watsonville. He united laborers
it—how dangerous it was in a wet winter and how dry it was in
and fought for their right to higher wages and better working
a dry summer. You can boast about anything if it’s all you have.
conditions, amenities that are now taken for granted like
Maybe the less you have, the more you are required to boast.
drinking water and sanitary facilities in the fields.
—East of Eden, John Steinbeck
Pacific Grove resident Gary Karnes has a long history
The Salinas native observed the countryside in a way
of involvement in progressive causes. He joined with Karen
that captivated readers and moviegoers as well. East of
Araujo and Juan Martinez to produce Voices of Change (Park
Eden was one of six Steinbeck novels that were made into
Place Publications, 2016), featuring oral histories of 63 fellow
Hollywood movies. One could make an argument that
activists, many of whom have memories of the early days of
the Salinas Valley itself was one of the major characters in
the UFW movement and of working with Cesar Chavez. The
works like East of Eden, Of Mice and Men, The Pastures of
following stories come from the pages of Voices of Change.
Heaven, and The Red Pony. The Valley was not just a scenic
Rosemary and Howard Matson offered Chavez and his
backdrop, but a hotbed of gripping stories describing the
top aides the use of their home in Carmel Valley as a “safe
78
house” in 1970 at the height of the lettuce strike. Howard was
off the lettuce boycott. His supporters feared for Chavez’s life
a Unitarian minister and both were very active in progressive
and actually arranged to have themselves arrested on various
causes. Rosemary recalls one of the neighbors was a major
petty charges so they could keep their eyes on the labor
official with the Growers Association and tried to convince
leader while he was behind bars. Martinez recalls, Not that
the Matsons to get rid of their house guests, but they wouldn’t
it’s a big plot of any kind, just some crazy guy out there decides
hear of it. Rosemary said, Later, the Growers Association official
this guy is name-worthy .... and does him in. Martinez has vivid
stopped calling us. We are not sure why the calls stopped. We
memories of the day Chavez was released from jail, the major
speculated that perhaps either local or state authorities knew
media coverage, and the thousands of people overflowing
Chavez was at our house and suggested the grower back off
onto the streets.
because they did not want a martyr on their hands.
Like many activists, Chavez achieved his greatest respect
Noemi Moreno Armenta, now a member of the Alisal
only after his death. He was posthumously awarded the
Union School District Board of Trustees, was a teenager in
Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton,
1970 when Chavez was in jail in Salinas for his union activity.
and appeared on a U.S. postage stamp in 2003.
She recalls, When Cesar came out of jail—it was the day before Christmas 1970—I think it was the same day that Coretta King
To finish this look into the landscape of legends of the Salinas Valley, we return to Steinbeck and East of Eden:
came to town, and Ethel Kennedy, they were all there. My whole
…she saw how the dawn had come silver to the windows. She
family was there too. There were a lot of people out there, a lot of
smelled the good morning wind rippling the curtains, bringing the
farm workers, and then there were a lot of Anglo people that were
odor of grass and roots and damp earth. After that sounds joined
yelling insults at Coretta King and Ethel Kennedy. Some people
the parade of perception—sparrows haggling among themselves,
actually came up and tried to spit in their faces. It was really, really
a bawling cow monotonously berating a punching hungry calf,
sad to see, but it kind of makes you stronger, you know? To continue
a blue jay’s squawk of false excitement, the sharp warning of a
the fight. We knew that what we were doing was right, the struggle.
cock quail on guard and the answering whisper of the hen quail
Juan Martinez was a UFW organizer who has similar
somewhere near in the tall grass. The chicken yard boiled with
memories of Coretta King and Ethel Kennedy coming
excitement over an egg, and a big lady Rhode Island Red, who
to Salinas in 1970 to show support to Chavez and being
weighed four pounds, hypocritically protested the horror of being
harassed, heckled and spat upon by the growers and their
lustily pinned to the ground by a scrawny wreck of a rooster she
supporters. Chavez was in the Salinas jail for failing to call
could have blasted with one blow from her wing. 79
80 Pigeon Point Lighthouse
1993-94, Oil, 16”x 20”
Central Coast
T
his magical stretch of Central Coast has miles of cultivated fields that extend from the base of the Santa Cruz Mountains across Highway
1 to seaside cliffs from Davenport to Half Moon Bay. Artichokes, Brussels sprouts and leeks grow in fertile plateaus broken by small gorges carved out by creeks flowing out of the nearby redwood-covered mountains. Weathered, turn of the century barns and farmhouses accent the fields of different shades of green. During the mission days and prior to the arrival of agriculture, this region was largely uninhabited except for Chief Pomponio, (a.k.a. Ponponio). Born near Bolinas in 1799 as a member of the Coast Miwok tribe and baptized at age four at Mission Dolores, he developed a strong hatred for the padres as he had watched the torture of his people since childhood. He escaped mission life and lived with his band of followers, called Los Insurgents. They roamed the rugged Santa Cruz Mountains, hiding out from the missionaries in the steep, foliage-covered canyons. Pomponio was finally captured during a raid on Mission Dolores. Sadly, he was taken to the territorial capital of Monterey, tried and then executed by firing squad, and buried at the Royal Presidio Chapel in 1824. As Northern California’s growth exploded in the late 1800s, lumber for construction of homes and businesses was in high demand. The nearby redwood forests of the Santa Cruz Mountains seemed like the ideal solution, an inexhaustible and highly profitable resource. Before long, 300 square miles of ancient redwood forests had been stripped down to the bare hills. In 1899, local residents began to take action. Led by San Jose photographer Andrew Hill and Stanford University president David Starr Jordan, they formed the 81
Major Creek Farm
Sempervirens Club. Through their fundraising and lobbying campaign, the first California state park was created at Big Basin in 1902. Now called the Sempervirens Fund, the organization continues to protect the redwood forests of the
1994, Oil, 18”x 24”
Swanton Pacific Ranch
O
n October 20, 1769, the Portola-Crespi expedition camped at the present day Waddell Creek, one mile
north of Scott Creek, pictured in this painting of Swanton
Santa Cruz Mountains, playing a key role in the founding of
Pacific Ranch. They were looking for Monterey Bay and
Castle Rock, Butano and Portola Redwoods state parks.
the Carmel River, but couldn’t find either. The sickly group
82
Swanton Pacific Ranch
1996, Oil, 18”x 24”
began to regain their health during a month-long stay at
the understanding that it would be used exclusively for
Waddell Creek. They named the valley Cañada de Iassalud—
“agriculture, recreational and educational purposes.”
canyon of health—now known as Rancho del Oso. Today,
Kevin Milligan’s painting of Swanton Pacific Ranch
the property is owned and operated by Cal Poly-San Luis
won a silver award in the 1999 Hilton Head Art League
Obispo as a working ranch. Previous owner Al Smith, the
National Exhibition. The artist’s father, Guy Milligan, won
founder of Orchard Supply Hardware and a graduate of Cal
an award in the watercolor category, and they were selected
Poly, donated the property to his alma mater in 1993 with
by Smithsonian curator Susan Lawson-Bell. 83
Barn with Dirt Road
Cascade Ranch
I
1997, Oil, 24�x 30�
Cruz Mountains. The rich plain widened in places, bounded by the Pacific to the west and by forested mountains that rise
first noticed Cascade Ranch while traveling along
dramatically to the east. Agricultural fields spread west of
Highway 1 between Pescadero and Davenport. A narrow,
Highway 1 to the wild saw grass and sand dunes of Franklin
cypress-lined road led back from Coast Highway to sheds,
Point.
barns and farmhouses. The ranch was visible from views on
Worn, faded colors of weather-beaten sheds and
either side of the rows of giant cypress. Brussels sprouts grew
barns and the shingled and tar papered roofs were subtle.
in blue-green fields on a fertile plateau that stretched from
Contrasting shapes and the grouping of buildings were
Highway 1 back to farm buildings at the foot of the Santa
complemented by trees and rusted farm equipment. This
84
White Barn with Farmhouse
1997, Oil, 24�x 30�
motif contained enough elements that would provide a
the morning, another in the early afternoon and a third in
subject with varied compositions. It is this type of visual
the late afternoon or early evening on the long summer days.
information that is a motivating force in my work. These
The morning view was next to a field of Brussels sprouts
particular qualities comprise the fabric of a subject that
looking at a farmhouse and barn with the peaks of the Santa
seemed impossible to make up.
Cruz Mountains rising above the roofs and trees. This
I was content knowing that I could paint several views
painting location was next to the main road that led back to
and only have to move the easel a short distance. Days would
Highway 1. The gravel road had become dry and dusty as the
be spent switching views and canvases with the changing
last rains of April had fallen a long time ago from this hot
light conditions. It would be possible to paint one canvas in
August day.
85
Barn with Packing Crates
Pigeon Point Lighthouse
D
1997, Oil, 20”x 24”
crags at Pigeon Point as a place where “black reefs of rocks rear their ugly fangs, like wild beasts watching for their prey.
uring the heyday of clipper ships in the 1850s and
A current sweeps in from Point Año Nuevo toward Pigeon
60s, these rocky shores were the site of numerous
Point, and many a vessel has been drawn in fog, to be dashed
shipwrecks; so many that the name Pigeon Point came from
on rocks.” He added a macabre touch, “On the sandy bluff
the sinking of a ship called the Carrier Pigeon in 1853. In
at Point Año Nuevo is an enclosure within which lie buried
1889, Colonel Albert Evans vividly described the coastal
side by side, forty of the victims of these terrible disasters.”
86
Pigeon Point Lighthouse
1995, Watercolor, 16”x 22”
The lighthouse was long petitioned for, as early as
was Eusebio J. Molera, married to Amelia Bautista, the
1855, and construction on the classic white tower finally
daughter of Monterey pioneers John Rogers Cooper Bautista
commenced in 1871. The beacon was lit for the first time
and Encarnación Vallejo.
at sunset on November 15, 1872, and the lens cast magical
Today, the Pigeon Point Lighthouse remains an active
light beams that looked like spokes in 360 degrees. A name
Coast Guard navigational aid and is a California State
connected to the legend and lore of early California played a
Historic Park.
role in the lighthouse construction, as the assistant engineer
87
Arata Ranch
1993, Oil, 16”x 20”
Arata Pumpkin Farm
I
n 1932, teenage brothers John and Clarence Arata started
had just created a popular seasonal tourist industry. Today, an
to grow pumpkins to feed the family’s hogs. So the story
estimated 3,000 tons of pumpkins are grown on farms in and
goes, they were carrying an armload of pumpkins along
around Half Moon Bay and shipped throughout the United
Highway 1 when a passing motorist stopped and asked if he
States. The citizens of Half Moon Bay celebrate all things
could buy a few. The brothers said sure, selling the orange
pumpkin at the Art and Pumpkin Festival in mid-October,
gourds for a quarter apiece. Little did they know that they
featuring a weigh-off to find the world’s heaviest gourd.
88
Farm at Pilarcitos Canyon 1996, Oil, 24”x 30” In the collection of Patricia Dillon; El Sobrante, California
Tree Farm at Pilarcitos Canyon
L
to harvest and a brand-new business was born. Dan, wife
ike the Arata Pumpkin Farm, this “choose and cut”
Natalie and son Mike continue to run Santa’s Tree Farm and
Christmas tree farm outside of Half Moon Bay all
Village, now offering 70 acres of Christmas trees. The dairy
began with a teenage boy. In 1969, Dan Sare needed a project
barn has been converted into a themed workshop for Santa’s
for Future Farmers of America, so he decided to plant
elves. After 40-plus years in the business, the Sares frequently
Monterey Pine seedlings on an unused patch of land on his
hear customers say, “I came here as a child with my parents,
family’s dairy farm. Three years later, the trees were ready
and now I’m bringing my own children here.” 89
90 Golden Gate Bridge 1996, Oil, 24”x 20” In the collection of Patricia Dillon; El Sobrante, California
San Francisco
Catalina Monastery in Monterey until her death in 1857. Their bittersweet love story lived on in 19th century popular
I
n 1806, the Russians arrived in California when the
culture, in a ballad written by Bret Harte and a novel by
Rezanov expedition sailed through the Golden Gate on
Gertrude Atherton. More recently, a Russian rock opera
two ships, the Avos and the Juno. Captain Nikolai Rezanov
about the star-crossed lovers, called Juno and Avos, premiered
met with the Presidio Commandant, Don Jose Argüello, his
in 1981 and has played to sold-out audiences in Moscow ever
family and Catholic missionaries. Rezanov’s exterior motive
since.
was to negotiate a trade: the Californios’ wheat in exchange
The Golden Gate again provided the backdrop to history
for the Russians’ metal tools. In reality, his intention was far
when US Naval Captain John B. Montgomery sailed through
more ambitious—the colonization of Alaska and California
the passage on the sloop Portsmouth and captured Yerba
for the Russian tsar.
Buena from the Mexicans on July 9, 1846. Montgomery was
During Rezanov’s six months’ stay at the San Francisco
following orders from Commodore John Drake Sloat, who
Presidio, fate intervened. He fell in love with Argüello’s
had taken possession of the Mexican capital of Monterey two
15-year-old daughter, Maria Concepción, known as
days earlier. Sloat’s dispatch on July 6 read, I have determined
Conchita. She returned the feeling. They became engaged,
to hoist the flag of the United States at this place (Monterey)
creating a sensation in the tiny colony due to their differences
tomorrow, as I would prefer being sacrificed for doing too much
in nationality, religion and age. Rezanov left for Russia to
rather that too little. If you have sufficient force, or if Fremont
obtain permission to marry from the tsar. On this return
will join you, hoist the flag at Yerba Buena (San Francisco) or
journey to the Russian capital, he became ill and died of
any other proper place, and take possession of the fort and that
fever and exhaustion shortly after reaching land in Siberia.
portion of the country. Montgomery received the order on the
One year later Conchita was informed of his death, but she
8th and captured Yerba Buena the next day.
refused to believe the story. The young woman waited for
On October 6, 1854, entrepreneur Henry Meiggs sailed
him for 35 years, accepting the sad reality only when Sir
out of San Francisco on the brig America with five thousand
George Simpson explained the details of Nikolai’s death to
dollars in gold. He was escaping from his mounting debts
her 1842. She was so heartbroken that she took a vow of
and fleeing from creditors after his real estate investments
silence and lived out her years as a Dominican nun at Santa
crashed and his Mendocino lumber mill failed to show a 91
profit. He reinvented himself in Chile, orchestrating the
June 1976, the Golden Gate again saw history as the SS
building of a railway from sea level up thousands of feet into
Phyllis Cormack headed out to sea for the first time as part
the Andes, using redwood ties purchased from his former mill
of the Mendocino Whale Wars, its mission to interfere with
in Mendocino! Today his legacy is a network of warehouses,
foreign ships while they were attempting to harpoon whales.
piers and streets along the San Francisco waterfront known
Nicholas Wilson, the official photographer of MWW, stated
as Fisherman’s Wharf.
in 2014, “It was a thrill when our ship passed beneath the
In 1915, thousands traveled from around the world by ship through the Panama Canal and on through the
Golden Gate Bridge headed out on our first mission to Save the Whales.”
Golden Gate to San Francisco to attend the Panama-Pacific
Ghirardelli Square and Angel Island
International Exhibition, celebrating the city’s Phoenix-like rise from the ashes of the great .earthquake and fire just nine years previous. During construction of the Golden Gate Bridge in 1936, ironworker Alfred Zampa slipped on a piece of wet iron and
I
talian candy-maker Domenico Ghirardelli got word of the gold strike at Sutter’s Mill and went sailing for
California. He quickly figured out that the real treasure
plunged off the bridge into safety netting that had been strung
lay not with prospecting, but with selling supplies to the
far below. The net saved his life but still gave way. He crashed
thousands of fortune-seekers pouring into the new state.
to the ground, breaking four vertebrae. His recovery time
He set up shop in tents, first in Stockton and later in San
was spent at St. Luke’s Hospital in San Francisco in a body
Francisco. In 1852, he incorporated as D. Ghirardelli and
cast. He was one of 19 men who fell from the bridge during
Co., becoming one of the oldest businesses in continuous
construction who formed a group called “The Half Way to
operation in the state.
Hell Club.” He was known as an ‘ace around the iron’ and
In 1893, Ghirardelli purchased an entire city block
would often say, “When I fall off the bridge I will bounce up
near Fisherman’s Wharf as his business headquarters and
like a rodeo clown.” He would not work in the rain and told
chocolate factory. Today, Ghirardelli Square is preserved as
his son, “That‘s work for desperate men.” Zampa recovered
a complex of restaurants, shops and condos
from his injuries and went on to work on the construction
Angel Island, a prominent feature of San Francisco Bay
of numerous other bridges, living to age 95. The Carquinez
and visible in this painting, is known as the “Ellis Island
Straits Bridge is named in his honor.
of the West.” Between 1910 and 1940, an estimated one
92
Ghiradelli Sign with Clock Tower 1997-2004, Oil, 18”x 24” In the collection of Patricia Dillon; El Sobrante, California
million Asian immigrants made their way through the Angel
They carved poems into the walls, some of which endure to
Island Immigration Station on their way to a new life in the
this day despite many attempts by government officials over
United States.
the years to paint over their emotional expressions.
Unlike Ellis Island, though, the purpose of Angel Island
World War II finally prompted the closure of the
was not so much the processing of potential new citizens, but
immigration station. Today Angel Island is a state park, and
keeping Asians from entering the country. Many spent weeks
the building where so many waited for the chance to pass
or even months in the barracks enduring long and stressful
through the “Gateway to America” is a National Historic
interrogations as they waited for their case to be decided.
Landmark.
93
Palace of Fine Arts 1996-1999, Oil, 24”x 30” In the collection of Patricia Dillon; El Sobrante, California
94
Palace of Fine Arts
T
Gauguin, Pissarro, Renoir, Fantin-Latour, Toulouse-Lautrec and Sisley. Many California painters attended in order to
he 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition
study these master works and were greatly influenced by
celebrated the rebuilding of San Francisco after the
what they saw.
1906 earthquake and fire, as well as the completion of the
The United States section of the Pan Pacific International
Panama Canal, which now linked California’s jewel—San
Eposition grew to an exhibit of over 4,500 paintings. Separate
Francisco—to the East Coast. The world’s fair was a huge
feature exhibitions were held for California masters: Arthur
event, with a fairground of over six hundred acres created by
Mathews, Francis McComas and William Keith. California
landfill in the mudflats of what is now the Marina District.
was represented by gold medals for Henry Joseph Brewer,
Most of the buildings, designed by famed architect Bernard
and Paul Dougherty. William Ritschel, E. Charlton Fortune,
Maybeck, were intended to be temporary—constructed
Armin Hanson, Lucia Mathews, Bruce Nelson, and Joseph
merely from wood frames and foundations with plaster and
Raphael won silver medals. Anne Bremer and Percy Gray
burlap walls. A color theme consisting of eight pastels added
were bronze medalists. Of Fortune’s seven entries, several
unity to the new entertainment district. Maybeck’s beautiful
were smaller works, 12”x 16” oils that were painted outdoors
Palace of Fine Arts was the one structure chosen to remain as
at the Exposition depicting people, the grounds and
a glorious reminder of the event.
architecture made in a virtuoso fluid style that demonstrated
Like the architecture and artistic scheme of the buildings
a clear knowledge of Impressionism.
and grounds, exhibits displayed the latest word, the newest
Many critics felt satisfied that California artists had held
thought, a New Day for the New World. Each state in the
their own. Christian Brinton, author of the book Modern
union was represented in its own building. Despite the
Artists, was a visitor to the Exposition and wrote: The west
threat of World War I, twenty-two foreign nations were
has a great future in art. Indeed, I go so far as to say the future of
housed in separate buildings, with England and Germany
art belongs to the west. It is inevitable. The freshness and vitality
missing. A large European section exhibited the works of
of your life , the stimulation of the environmental influences—
French Impressionists like Manet, Monet, Cezanne, Degas,
these things must result in big things.
95
96 Pyramid Rock at Rodeo Beach 1994, Oil, 12”x 16” In the collection of Patricia Dillon, El Sobrante, California
Sausalito
T
he saga of William Richardson—founder of the hamlet that would become San Francisco, as well as the town of
Sausalito—is a classic rags-to-riches-to-rags tale that seems all too common in early California history. In 1822, Richardson was 27 and the first mate of the British whaler Orion when he first arrived at the Presidio of San Francisco, then a remote territorial outpost owned by Mexico. Since he spoke Spanish he was selected by Captain Barney to purchase meat and water for the Orion at the Presidio. He made friends quickly and was invited to and stayed for an all-night fiesta. When he returned to the ship the next morning he was likely discharged. But, he saw the opportunity his bilingual skills afforded him and left the life of a crew member of the Orion for one in this new frontier. He traveled to the territorial capital—Monterey—and petitioned the governor of Alta California, Pablo Vincente Sola, to remain in Yerba Buena. He was granted permission under the provision that he instruct the Mission Indians on how to build boats for San Francisco Bay as well as how to navigate the waters. Thus Richardson became the first Anglo allowed to live in the Mexican Presidio, first residing with Commander Ignacio Martinez and family, teaching carpentry. In the course of the project to introduce the Indians to seamanship, he constructed a small launch for himself, which he used to move cargo and people around San Francisco Bay. He became the first person to draw up navigational charts of this important body of water. 97
Three years after his arrival, he converted to Catholicism
For years, Richardson worked the lucrative hide and
and became a Mexican citizen. He fell in love with the
tallow trade with merchants from up and down the coast
Commandant’s oldest daughter, Maria Antonia Martinez,
to South America. The Californios had a plentiful supply of
and they married in 1825.
cow hides that were needed for the manufacture of shoes and
In 1829, Richardson moved his family south to Mission
belts, as well as tallow for making soap and candles. These
San Gabriel, where they lived for six years and where he
“California Greenbacks” could be traded with entrepreneurs
met the Governor of Alta California, Jose Figueroa.
from South America, Europe and New England for items the
They talked about colonization and commerce of Alta
Californios needed. Especially prized were shoes, furniture
California. When Figueroa appointed him Port Captain of
and clothing—crucial necessities not yet being made in Alta
Yerba Buena, Richardson headed back north to the upstart
California. Richardson shifted his base of operation across
town to assume the new job. He decided Yerba Buena Cove
the bay in 1841, when he was awarded a grant of 19,500 acres
would be the perfect location for his family’s home. On
of land known as Rancho Sausalito as a reward for his time
June 25, 1835, he chose a site on a rise above the beach and
served as Port Captain of Yerba Buena. He was also granted a
set up a temporary dwelling made from a ship’s sail and four
small residential parcel on Yerba Buena Cove.
redwood posts. This was the first residence at Yerba Buena
He assumed the position of Port Captain at Richardson
Cove, site of the future city of San Francisco. Today a small
Bay (a. k. a. Whalers Cove), where he acted as a pilot and
plaque on the front of a store at 827 Grant Avenue in the
interpreter to ships entering the Golden Gate and on to
heart of San Francisco’s Chinatown marks the site of that
Richardson Bay, where they could stock up on food and
first home in San Francisco.
water. His family lived on the huge rancho that stretched
Mariana Richardson, daughter of the captain, was nine
all the way to Bolinas Bay. During the Bear Flag Revolt, he
years old when they arrived and later she recalled: Father,
remained loyal to the Mexican government and allowed
upon arriving at Yerba Buena, pitched his tent and made us as
Mexican Captain de la Torre to use his launch to escape John
comfortable as possible. Yerba Buena at the time was nothing
C. Fremont’s attack and flee across the bay to the safety of
but sand dunes, covered with shrubbery and trees. Most of the
Yerba Buena. Rancho Sausalito served as a haven for some of
trees are what we call the Christmas berry. Wild animals were
his Mexican friends.
numerous such as bears, wolves and coyotes.
98
Richardson continued to prosper when the United
States took control of California and the Gold Rush brought
cows that had strayed into the village of Mendocino a mile
a flood of fortune-seekers to the area. Like other shrewd
away. This early training helped her grow into an expert
businessmen, Richardson quickly figured out that the real
equestrian.
riches could be found not by mining, but in selling supplies to the thousands of 49ers on their way to the Mother Lode.
James Alinder accompanied Ansel Adams on a photographic trip, to the Marin Headlands not long after
But the good times didn’t last forever. Richardson
Adams’ eightieth birthday. This outing brought back
purchased three ships and cargo, which all sank at sea
memories of his youth when he would sling a camera over his
within six months in the same year of 1855. This, combined
shoulder or load his gear onto a pack mule for a trip high into
with problems with a newly constructed lumber mill at
the Sierra. He said he felt “a bit sad” to be confined to the car
Albion, led to his financial ruin. He was awarded a second
and limited to a roadside shot. Using his patented medium
land grant on the North Coast called Rancho Albion,
format Hasselblad (that he insisted on loading himself), he
where high seas destroyed his water-powered sawmill in
photographed a crumbling concrete bunker.
the first year. Despite owning two massive land grants, he
Adams said about the subject he photographed that day,
fell on hard times. Like so many of the Mexican Californios,
“It seems that almost anything that endures in time acquires
this original Anglo settler could not keep up with the new,
some qualities of the natural,” and, “Bleak shapes grow into a
fast-changing times. The influx of newly arriving Americans
kind of magic that once seen, cannot be easily ignored.”
and Europeans eroded the old-timers’ political base and
From Ansel Adams and the American Landscape by
relevance, and they saw their way of life fade away piece by
Jonathan Spaulding. In a 2016 interview, photographer James
piece, along with their land.
Alinder told me that this excursion was Adams’ second-to-
In the early 1900s Peter R. Donaho was the dairyman
last outdoor photographic session.
in the Marin Headlands for the government, serving Fort Barry. Here at Fort Barry his wife Lillian gave birth to their first child, Bonita, who was named after nearby Point Bonita. The family moved in 1912 to operate the Ocean View Dairy on the north side of the village of Mendocino. As a young girl, Bonita would ride on horseback to help round up
99
100 Coast Guard House with Drakes Bay 2004, Oil, 16”x 20” In the collection of Scott and Patricia Teaford
Point Reyes
E
nglish pirate Sir Francis Drake careened his ship, the Golden Hind, in a large lagoon off a bay which now bears his name—Drakes Bay—on
June 17, 1579. This protected estero was the perfect location: safe from ocean surf, allowing the ship to be emptied and turned on its side. The careenage was necessary as the vessel had been out to sea on a long voyage and was leaking. The party of two ships had first sailed north to Oregon, but were driven south by battering northwesterly storms. Unable to find a passage around North America back to England, Drake was forced south in search of a haven to make repairs, finding shelter from the bay after rounding Chimney Rock. Drake’s crew camped for thirty-six days to rest and repair, with Drake claiming the land for the Queen. In honor of his country, he named the new land Nova Albion. When the voyage began at Plymouth, England, the flagship was first called the Pelican, then renamed the Golden Hind, after the chief patron of the voyage, while making port at the Strait of Magellan. Two additional ships accompanied Drake to the tip of South America. They met harsh storms and the Marigold was lost with all hands, while the Elizabeth headed back to England. Drake’s small warship with twelve guns headed north, raiding ports in Chile and Peru. He learned that the Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion, known as Cacafuego, had left Lima and was headed for Panama, laden with riches. In two weeks Drake caught up with the Cacafuego near the equator
101
Drake’s Cove from “F” Ranch
Oil, 12” X 16”
and took her by surprise. The reward was substantial: silver
The heavily-laden ship was barely able to make it into the
bars, coins, gold and jewels weighing twenty-six tons. He
shallow, sixteen-and-a-half foot deep estero entrance at high
let the ship and crew go free after capturing the loot. Off
tide. Once safely inside, the twenty-six tons of stolen riches
the coast of Costa Rica, Drake seized a small passenger bark
had to be taken off the ship to perform the careenage in a
that could sail in open seas and yet was small enough to
sub-inlet, now known as Drake’s Cove. Water casks, cannon
row and pilot the Golden Hind into coves. This smaller boat
and food were also removed for the careening procedure.
led the way when the two ships discovered Drakes Bay and
Tackle from the mainmast was attached to the small bark
then Drakes Estero.
alongside to steady the giant ship as it shifted. Using small
102
rafts, the crew worked on the hull, burning and scraping
left behind in California the small, forty foot bark that he
off seaweed and barnacles. Other repairs and maintenance
had seized off Cano Island, along with twenty sailors who
involved adding new planking and caulking. For security,
were suffering from shellfish poisoning. One crew member, a
the crew made small stone walls next to the encampment at
Portuguese pilot named N. de Morena, made a four year trek
Drake’s Cove. Perhaps the English pirates were unsure of the
by land all the way to Mexico. The other sailors blended with
reception they might receive from the indigenous people, or
the Native population, with evidence of Anglo features and
feared a surprise arrival of a Spanish ship seeking reprisals
traits mixed with the Miwok being reported by eighteenth-
and return of their plundered valuables.
century Spanish explorers.
The English foreigners met the Coast Miwok and
Dairy farming on the windswept coastal grasslands
exchanged gifts. This we know because some of those
became the key focus of Point Reyes in the 1860s and remains
objects were found in 20th century archeological digs. The
so today. Consumers in nearby San Francisco came to look
Miwok gathered in large numbers to witness the visitors’
to the Point Reyes brand as a symbol of high quality when
strange ships and customs. As they became acquainted
it came to butter, cheese and milk. The land was divided
with each other, the two different cultures performed
into dairies, named with letters of the alphabet, and rented
ceremonies together, including the coronation of Drake,
by tenants of Swiss, Irish, Portuguese, Filipino, German,
whom the Miwoks thought to be a god. The Natives
Mexican and Miwok descent. Two early ranches were owned
believed in the divinity of these mysterious strangers to the
by C. W. Howard and the Shaffer brothers. Solomon Pierce
point that the women performed self-mutilating rituals,
maintained a self-contained operation in a beautiful setting
violently scratching themselves and throwing themselves
overlooking Tomales Bay. In 1985, Pierce Point was added
onto rough rocks or thorny foliage. This behavior unsettled
to the National Register of Historic Places and opened as an
and upset the English pirates, who tried to convey to the
interpretive site, now with a tule elk habitat. The National
Miwoks that they were not gods and did not want or need
Park Service has acquired 17 of the historic ranches. The
the Natives’ worship.
conservation of this special place for generations to come
Drake left New Albion to complete his circumnavigation of the globe, sailing near the Philippines, the Spice Islands
was solidified by the founding of the Point Reyes National Seashore.
and across the Indian Ocean to the Cape of Good Hope. He
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Cliffs at Drakes Bay
104
Oil, 14” X 18”
The Point Reyes Boat House
P
oint Reyes is home to a decomissioned lifesaving station known as the Boat House. Established in 1890, it is credited with saving countless
lives and vessels in its 80-year history. Its heroic past has a strange and somewhat spooky side. On a stormy Thanksgiving eve in 1960, a two-man crew responded to a distress call from a fishing boat north of Fort Bragg. They successfully rescued the boat, then set out to return to Drake’s Bay. But they never made it. The next morning, a search party found the lifeboat run aground just 150 yards from the Boat House, with the motor still running and the propeller still churning. But there was no sign of either crew member, and their bodies were never found. Twenty years later, when the Boat House became part of the National Park Service, the lifeboat was restored with the intention of using it for ceremonial purposes. It was on display on two sawhorses, waiting for its rechristening before a crowd of reporters and park personnel, when it suddenly lurched forward and crashed to the ground, smashing one of the sawhorses and damaging the keel of the boat. Today, the “haunted lifeboat” is shut away in a room, still teetering on an old sawhorse, and people who have spent the night in the Boat House report hearing mysterious footsteps and supposedly secure items falling to the floor by themselves.
The White Cliffs of the Pacific This country our generall named Albion, and that for two causes: the one in respect of the white bancks and cliffes, which lie toward the sea; the other, that it might have some affinity, even in name also, with our owne country, which was sometime so called. — World Encompassed, a book written by Sir Francis Drake’s nephew, in 1628. 105
BLDGS WITH ROAD DILLON BEACH
106
Warehouses with Road to Dillon Beach
Oil, 16” X 20”
Tomales
L
ike so many delightful locales on the North Coast, the early days of Tomales are shrouded in mystery and confusion. The Vizcaíno Expedition, sent by Spain to explore and map its New World
territories, discovered Tomales Bay in 1603, but mistook it for a river, naming it Rio Grande de San Sebastian. Another 250 years would pass before the hamlet had enough residents to merit a post office, and by 1879, it was officially calling itself Tomales. Though tiny in size, Tomales is rich in architectural diversity, with Italianate commercial buildings and Queen Anne-style cottages. A satellite church of Mission San Rafael Archangel—Church of the Assumption of Mary—was built in 1866 and features a crenellation detail on the top of the white, square bell tower. Handsome Gothic windows flank the front door with similar windows on both sides of the structure. From the dairy fields below, this imposing church can be seen from a distance because of its hillside location. Rock legend Jessie Colin Young moved to Inverness Ridge above Tomales Bay in 1970 as his fame soared with his group, the Youngbloods, and their mellow, peace-and-brotherhood hits like “Get Together” and “Sunshine,” as well as the heavy rock hit “Darkness Darkness,” covered by Led Zeppelin. The New York native produced albums from his home-based studio; the Youngbloods’ third—Elephant Mountain—was
named after a nearby peak. He celebrated his love of the tree-covered hideaway with its views of Point Reyes to the west and Tomales Bay to the east with songs like “Mornin’ Sun,” “Ridgetop” and “Evenin’” in his 1973 album, Song for Juli. Sadly, the Mount Vision fire on October 5, 1995, engulfed Inverness Ridge and destroyed 48 homes, including Young’s long-time sanctuary, triggering a move to Hawaii. Though far distant from the nation’s media and technology centers, Tomales played an important role in the development of radio, with Guglielmo Marconi choosing this location in 1913 to set up a trans-Pacific receiver station. Today, the hotel he built to house his employees is a conference center run by the state. Going full circle, today Kate Hayes, the wife of Youngbloods’ bassist David Hayes, is the midday personality on classic rock station KOZT (“The Coast”) in Mendocino. 107
Mouth of Russian River with Penny Island
108
Oil, 18” X 24”
Russian River
N
ikolai Rezanov sailed past the Russian River circa 1807 with his ships Juno and Avos as he searched
for a place to establish a California outpost of the Russian-
clever caps provided protection from the sun’s glare off rivers and the ocean while serving as camouflage.
Penny Island
A
bout eighty years after Rezanov’s voyage, another Russian trading vessel visited the area and made a
American Company. He had just negotiated a trade
lasting impact in the form of an eleven-year-old stowaway
agreement at the San Francisco Presidio with Commandant
from Guam named Joe Santos. The South Sea Island native
Don José Argüello and had become engaged to Argüello’s
stayed behind and was adopted by the Kashaya Band of
teenage daughter Maria. Rezanov would find the site for his
Pomo. He later married a Pomo named Nora. Together
Ross Colony ten miles north of the river. From Fort Ross,
they built a house on a sand-spit next to Goat Island. When
Aleuts imported from the Russian colony in Alaska would
the home was destroyed by high seas in a winter storm in
paddle their seal skin-covered baidarka kayaks all the way
1914, the Penny brothers invited the couple to construct a
down from Fort Ross to the Russian River. The one hundred
new home on their delta island. Two homes were built on
acre Kostromitinov Ranch stood at Willow Creek, not far
stilts near a pig barn. Another barn was constructed for a
from the mouth of the river. The ranch included a house,
herd of cows that produced milk for their Jenner Island Milk
barracks, granary, threshing floors and a boat landing, and
Company. They delivered milk by flat-bottom redwood
the fields were planted with wheat. The otter-hunting parties
boats to neighbors perched in the hills above Jenner.
could rest at the ranch before traveling on to other stations
William “Bill” Graham lived on the small sandbar—Penny
at Bodega Bay and the Farallon Islands. Some Aleut otter
Island—as a youth. Penny Island is visible near the mouth
hunters wore a disguise—wooden helmets with visors with
of the Russian River in the adjacent painting. In 2015, Bill
a carved otter face complete with whiskers on the front. The
Graham recalled, “When we left in 1976, we were the last to live on Penny Island.”
Memories of Penny Island This painting depicts the Russian River flowing into the Pacific Ocean at Jenner. The delta formation near the mouth of the river is the sandbar called Penny Island. The children attended nearby Jenner Grammar School, a one-room schoolhouse. Instead of a yellow bus, they traveled to school on a boat made of redwood planking. In an interview in 2016, William “Bill” Graham, the last person to live on the island, described his teacher, Mrs. Cuthill, as a “beautiful person and a wonderful teacher, but a stern taskmistress.”
109
Kuskov House with Chapel
2008, Oil on Canvas, 16�x 20�
The Russians Come to Northern California In building Fort Ross, the Russians followed the design for their fort in Sitka, Alaska, creating a walled fortress made of huge timbers twenty feet tall. The stockade was built in the shape of a rectangle, about 294 feet long by some 252 feet wide, situated on headlands several hundred yards from ocean-side cliffs. Two turrets were constructed in the northeast and southwest corners with openings for flintlock muskets and cannons to protect against attack. The timbered walls enclosed a chapel, a well, quarters for three clerks, a kitchen, a barracks, Rotchev House (for the commandant), and three fur warehouses. 110
Ft. Ross
O
Fort Ross was organized under class lines, with the Russian officers privileged to live inside the fort. Russians
ne of the most surprising and fascinating aspects of
with Creole family (mixed California Native and Aleut blood)
California history concerns the early 19th century
lived in small cabins outside to the west of the stockade, each
Russian settlement in Sonoma County. In 1812, Russian
with its own garden. The local Kashaya band of the Pomo tribe
explorers headed by Ivan Kuskov established a permanent
lived on the outside of the stockade on the northeast side and
settlement called Fort Ross on an isolated stretch of
in other encampments in the hills to the east. The Aleutians
California coastal headlands forty miles north of Bodega
resided on the west side of the fort in a village consisting of
Bay. The Russians chose the remote location with political
wooden houses and subterranean dwellings built into the
and geographic strategy in mind, as a steep set of coastal
hillside facing south to Sandy Beach below.
mountains separated the new outpost from rival SpanishMexican neighbors to the south and east.
Before building Fort Ross, the Russian-American Company had established a headquarters on Sitka Island in
Twenty-five Russians accompanied Kuskov and some
1808. From this Alaskan outpost, the Russians began trading
eighty Aleutian Island natives to establish a new eastern
with the Spanish in San Francisco. After a period of famine,
outpost in California. Some of the Russian craftsmen on the
Nikolai Rezanov took action and sailed from Sitka to San
Fort Ross expedition had recently rebuilt their fort at Sitka,
Francisco. Presidio Commandant Don José Argüello received
in present-day Alaska, that had been burned to the ground
approval from Spain to make a deal with the Russians: wheat
by natives during a revolt. Outside the walls could be found
in exchange for metal implements. Rezanov returned to Sitka
a scattering of mixed-use buildings and villages belonging
with both the wheat and an idea—to take possession of the
to a variety of ethnic groups. These out-buildings included
one unoccupied stretch of California coastline for use as an
bathhouses, a bake house, threshing floors, brick works,
agricultural and hunting base for the settlements in Russian
barns, two grindstones, (one powered by a windmill, the
Alaska. A few days before his death, Rezanov persuaded the
other by water) and a tannery. Adjacent to the fort, down on
Russian governor of Alaska, Alexander Baranov, to form an
Sandy Beach, stood a blacksmith shop, boathouse, cooperage
expedition with the goal of establishing a colony in California.
and shipways.
A large part of the plan involved the use of the Native 111
people of Alaska as a labor force. The Aleuts were always the
as hoped due to foggy climate, poor soil conditions, and the
largest group at Fort Ross. At any one time there might be
Russians’ lack of knowledge about basic agricultural science.
as few as fifty or as many as one hundred twenty-five Aleuts,
Some crops did flourish, but raccoons, gophers, mice, and
compared to twenty-five to one hundred Russians, living at
blackbirds devoured seeds, roots, fruit and vegetables.
the California outpost. The Russians coerced the Aleuts into
Livestock herds were developed from trades for
traveling away from their homeland to hunt the sea otter.
breeding stock with the Spanish missionaries. The herds
Even though they were paid a small wage, some were forced
grew to thousands of cattle, horses, mules and sheep. The
to leave their families against their will. Often the women
enterprising Russians were achieving their goal of self-
and children left behind suffered as a result.
sufficiency and were able to ship a surplus of butter, wool,
Kirill Khlebnikov was the accountant and bookkeeper
tallow, hides, and salt beef to Sitka. Wool blankets and saddle
for the Russian-American Company during the Fort Ross
cloths were woven at Ross, and a tannery run by an Aleut
years, and his records form a valuable archive for researchers
produced leather shoes and boots.
today. Among his papers is a letter to him from one of his
In 1817, shipwright Vasily Grudinin arrived from Sitka to
managers, a Finn named Karl Schmidt, who wrote candidly
build ships at Ross, resulting in the first large seagoing vessels
about the desperate reality of life for the Aleuts: …the men
built in California and adding another colorful chapter to
all asked me to not keep them for the hunt…because the last
the enterprise of the Russians. Under his direction, the Fort
time they had been separated from their families, their wives
Ross carpenters built the Rumyantsev, Buldakov, Volga, and
and families (had) received no assistance and had gone hungry;
the Kyakhta from oak and redwood. Unfortunately, they
therefore they begged me to help this time to feed their families.
didn’t season the oak planks long enough to prevent rotting.
Not with-standing the shortage of supplies at Ross, I tried to
As a result, these ships had to be restricted to voyages close
supply them some food as much as possible but some of the
to the home port, and after about three years of service, rot
women nevertheless ran away out of hunger and others endured
had rendered them useless.
terrible privation.
Aleut men sometimes married Kashaya, Coast Miwok
The Natives and Aleuts at Ross produced vegetables,
and Southern Pomo women with the consent of the Russian–
grain, cattle, and fruit from an orchard that still exists today.
American Company and tribal leaders. As is typically the
The Ross settlement was not as successful with growing wheat
case, the marriages resulted in offspring. The children of these
112
mixed ethnic unions were called Creole. Russian men also
Little has been written about the negative cultural
chose wives from the local Indian population due to the lack
impacts of the Russian settlement in California and how
of Russian women in the expedition, and fathered children.
manual labor was forced upon the Kashayan people. Betty
In 2005, archeologist and UC Berkeley Professor Kent
Jones, the tribe’s spiritual leader dating back to the 1870s,
Lightfoot stated, “Ross became an interesting mix of races
taught her daughter Rosemary of the mistreatment by the
seen nowhere else and its study has fascinated historians,
Russians. In 2004, Rosemary spoke of the hardships of life
sociologists and archeologists for years.”
under Russian rule, including the taking of Pomo women
As soon as the Russians arrived on the North Coast,
against their will and forcing them to live in Russia or Sitka.
they negotiated with the Kashaya for land one mile long
Mariano Vallejo, commander of the Mexican army in
by two miles deep where Fort Ross was built. Later, the
Northern California, made a reconnaissance of Bodega Bay
Russians became concerned about the Spanish settling and
and Fort Ross and was familiar with the Sonoma-Marin
claiming land north of San Francisco. In 1817, the transfer
County area and the plight of its Native people. According to
of land was formalized with a deed releasing the land to
several reports, the Russians would search the outlying hills
the Russian-American Company. The Russians presented
in the vicinity of the fort to aggressively capture Pomos and
a silver medal to the Pomo Chief, Chu-gu-an, declaring his
force them to work on planting and harvesting. He witnessed
tribe to be “Allies of Russia.” Even so, their Spanish-Mexican
the Natives’ treatment at the hands of both the missionaries
neighbors did not approve of the settlement and referred to
and the Russians. Vallejo reported from his Fort Ross visit
the Russians as “squatters.”
that Commander Peter Kostromitinoff was in such a state of
Several Russian artists recorded the Coastal Native people
exasperation that he decisively told Vallejo, That if in addition
wearing intricate headdresses and other adornments. Ilya
to my orders I would engage in hostilities against the natives,
G. Volznesenskii, Pavel Mikhailov, F.H von Kittlitzand and
he himself and 30 of his men would assist me in chasing and
Mikhail T. Tikhanov made beautiful paintings and sketches
attacking them. Vallejo declined the offer.
of the Kashaya people and the Aleuts, as well as a layout of
Vallejo reported on his observation of the missionaries,
the fort. These serve as a valuable record of the life and times
Sr. Commandant General, it is necessary to confess cruelties
in the Russian outpost in the New World, and are now part of
and injustices perpetrated against the poor Indians by those
the collection of the State Museum in St. Petersburg.
entrusted with the administration of justice. The temporal and
113
Officers’ Quarters with Well
Oil on Canvas, 14�x 18�
even greater spiritual harm done to these unhappy people has
the same time, it is imperative to admit that these poor men had
come from the missionaries who have debased the origins and
reason, as I stated before, to band together in such large numbers
fundamentals of our Christian doctrines. The result is that the
and remain in a hostile state. These are the inherent consequences
natives now ridicule our attempts at evangelism, lose the truth
of bad faith, of bad treatment and cruelty by the missionaries,
in our religion and ignore the true morality of our customs. At
and of the bloodthirsty system that they introduced wanting to
114
convince others that this is the method and example of Jesus
George Call was an adventurous man with experience in
Christ. What monstrosities! It would not be difficult to give Your
gold mining. Among his enterprises was the purchase of a
Honor examples of some of the methods actually practiced at the
building in San Francisco, which later housed the menagerie
missions in this area, such acts that would horrify the most feral
of Grizzly Adams. Call sold his interest in the business,
of men. However, I omit them because this is neither time nor
bought a schooner, and headed to Peru with two grizzly
place to discuss these matters in detail. Let it suffice to say that I
bears on board, brought to perform in bull and bear fights.
have found no untruth in any of these accusations.”
In his South American travels he met disgraced California
After almost forty years of effort, the Russians decided
entrepreneur Henry Meiggs, in exile after his failed ventures
to abandon Ross Colony because of a lack of commercial
with San Francisco real estate and the Mendocino Lumber
success. After being turned down by the Hudson Bay
Company. Call worked with Meiggs on his railway projects
Company, the French and Mexico, Rotchev negotiated the
in Chile and the Andes Mountains in Peru. He settled in
sale of Fort Ross to John Sutter in 1841. The sale price of
Peru and fell in love with fifteen-year-old Mercedes Leiva,
$30,000 included the buildings, livestock and equipment
marrying the young orphan and then creating the nation’s
like the sawmill and tannery. Ranchers Muniz, Benitz, and
first gunnysack factory. With this success he decided to return
Dixon followed Sutter as owners. Dixon did not make the
to San Francisco with his family and purchased 2,500 acres
Kashaya feel welcome and they permanently moved in the
at Fort Ross, later adding another 5,500 acres. The Calls and
early 1870s to winter settlements above Haupt Creek inland
their nine children lived in relative happiness on this massive
from Stewarts Point.
ranch. The Call family leased the Rotchev House and “Uncle
I
Call Ranch
Billy” Morgan turned this piece of Russian history into the
n 1873, George W. Call and his wife, Chilean-born
Fort Ross Hotel until State Parks took possession of the fort
Mercedes Leiva, settled at Fort Ross, amassing a huge
in 1906. The Call family remained next door at their ranch
ranch of some 7000 acres. The Calls had a thriving operation
well into the twentieth century. Their house remained in
of farming, ranching and shipping, and the port made the
the family for over one hundred years and still stands on the
ranch the hub of this isolated community.
northwest side of the fort.
115
116
Barn at Stillwater Cove 2004, Oil on Canvas, 14”x 18” In the collection of Tim and Laura Zadel; San Jose, California
Stillwater Cove
S
tillwater Cove Ranch started its life as a school for boys from 1932 to 1961, founded by two teachers from Los Angeles, Paul and Clairinel Rudy. They paid what was considered
an exorbitant sum of some thirteen-thousand dollars for a broken-down ranch on a wind-swept cove that locals called the “rock pile.” During the Great Depression, these two city-bred teachers rebuilt the ranch with new stone buildings and opened the school in 1932. The school featured the three R’s with Clairinel teaching ‘rithmatic, reading and ‘riting. Paul was the stern headmaster who taught English and Spanish, and who loved to recite from the classics, with Shakespeare and Mark Twain being his favorites. Even the Rudy’s five children became students at the school. There “was always a reason” that families sent their boys to this remote boarding school. In some cases, the fathers were overseas in the war, splitting the family. Other boys had a deceased parent or parents, and in some cases divorce was a factor. The school enrolled students from first to tenth grade and classes were scheduled more like a college, with free time between classes, when the boys went on hikes, checked trap lines or fished. Today, this unique school sounds more like a Western theme camp than an academic institution. Each student had his own cowboy hat and rifle, and practiced marksmanship, horseback riding and cow roping. The last day of school had its own traditions. Each student was required to give an oration, reciting poetry or literature on graduation day in front of classmates and parents. The school closed in 1961 and the ranch was converted to an inn. Though the inn has subsequently closed and the ranch is now private property and not open to the public, “Old Boys” are permitted to schedule an appointment to come back and walk in the fields of their cherished boyhood memories.
117
Stewarts Point General Store 2003-2004, Oil on Canvas, 16”x 20” In the collection of Jim and Sally Gude; Santa Rosa, Californiaa
118
Stewarts Point
H
erbert Archer Richardson and his wife Althea arrived at Stewarts Point in 1876 and bought the Stewarts Point General Store in 1881. Over the years, the Richardsons
amassed over 25,000 acres that included eight miles of shoreline. The coastal meadows were ideal for grazing herds of sheep and cows, while the inland mountains boasted redwood timber harvested by some 300 lumberjacks. Forks of narrow gauge railway all led to Richardson Wharf, a massive operation that included nine ships. The General Store became an icon of the region, and a crucial resource to the isolated community. A third generation Richardson, Arch, worked in the store from age six for 61 years until he retired at age 67. With 134 years of consecutive operation, the store is believed to be the longest business in continuous operation west of the Mississippi River. Over time, the venerable structure began to noticeably list to the east and in 2006 underwent a major remodel to create a stable foundation. The list can be seen in the painting to the left. The Richardsons gave a gift to the community by donating coastal land that the Kashaya band of Pomo tribe could use to access their sacred fishing site known as Danaka. The Kashaya had been treated poorly by the Russians at Fort Ross, who considered the Native Americans to be little more than slaves for their agricultural enterprises. In 2014, in the spirit of forgiveness, the Kashaya Band of Pomo accepted an invitation to travel to Russia and performed tribal dances at the International Museum for Peace and Solidarity.
119
Main Street 2007, 16”x 20” Oil on Canvas In the collection of Phil Carter; Grover, Missouri
120
Point Arena
T
took the stage along rugged trails that snaked through
he town and lighthouse sit on a giant sand bar that
redwoods and coastal ridges. Black Bart favored sharp turns
Spanish explorers mapping the California coast
(which were numerous) that forced the stage to slow down.
in 1775 named “barra de arena.” This translates, fittingly
He would appear from behind rocks or foliage to accost the
enough, as sand point. The huge sand reef juts out a half
driver. His methods were odd to say the least: he traveled on
mile into the Pacific, creating a hazard to ships in foggy
foot because he was afraid of horses, wore a faded flour sack
conditions. The obvious solution was a lighthouse, and in
with cut-out eye holes over his head, and covered his body
1870 a beautiful brick and mortar structure with ornate iron
with a long linen duster coat. He would point an unloaded
balcony supports was completed, along with a classic two
shotgun at the stage driver and firmly demand, “Please throw
story Victorian keeper’s house.
down the box.” Then he would vanish on foot into the dense
The Point Arena Wharf was built in 1866 to serve as an export station for local products like butter, eggs, chickens,
forest with the loot. He even left behind poems, like this one from 1877:
wool and produce. Railroad ties created from the nearby
I’ve labored long and hard for bread,
redwood forests became the other major export. It was
For honor, and for riches,
this diversity of farm and dairy products that allowed the
But my corns too long you’ve tread,
community to survive when other “logging only” towns did
You fine-haired sons of bitches.
not. The fabled schooner Seafoam made weekly trips from
He signed his poems—Black Bart, the Po 8
San Francisco to Point Arena to deliver and receive products
His accumulated stolen money allowed him to lead
and passengers. The cove and pier is precarious as the harbor
a double life, hobnobbing with San Francisco elite, who
lacks protection from fierce southerly and northwesterly
thought he was a mining engineer. Under the alias of Black
winds to offer a safe year-round anchorage.
Bart, the short, bald Charles E. Boyles robbed 28 Wells
The town was also connected by a stagecoach route.
Fargo stages. San Francisco high society knew him as
Black Bart, the so-called “gentleman bandit,” robbed the
Charles E. Bolton, but he was finally revealed as Black Bart
Wells Fargo stage that traveled the remote stretch from Point
when he was captured in 1883. He served a six year term in
Arena to Duncans Mills in 1877. The thirteen-hour journey
San Quentin Prison. 121
122 Stornetta Barns with House 2003, Oil on Canvas, 18”x 24” In the collection of Bruce Saldinger and Lynne Royer; Orinda, California
Manchester
R
afael Garcia lived on the banks above the Garcia River in this beautiful rural coastal setting. The government
granted the coastal land to Garcia in return for his service in the Mexican army. Lush grass grows on the floodplain, ideal for grazing cattle. The nearby hills were thick with redwood trees that Garcia harvested with his own mill beginning in 1849. In the distance is the giant sandbar that would later be occupied by the Point Arena Lighthouse. Jerome Ford rested here at Garcia’s on his journey from Bodega Corners to begin building the new Mendocino mill. Ford was trekking up the coast with ten oxen and an assistant named Warner. He had just lost his pack mules when fording the Gualala River. One mule drowned and the other ran away, leaving him without food and blankets. Ford made an entry in his diary as he ventured north: Monday June 14, 1852 Arrived at Gassier [Garcia] Rancho at 9 o’clock. Bought the Blacksmith claim on ‘Bul Don’ for 100$. This diary entry reveals that it is here at the Garcia Rancho on a one night layover that Ford meets the only black man in the area, Nathaniel “Nat” Smith, and negotiates to buy his cabin and land on the east side of the Mendocino Headlands for one hundred dollars! In his diary, Ford refers to Nathaniel Smith as the Blacksmith. This confused historians for many years who incorrectly thought Blacksmith meant a 123
124 Ranch at Alder Creek 2007, Oil on Canvas, 16”x 20” In the collection of Jerry and Sally Holcombe; Walnut Creek, California
metal worker, possibly Gebhard Hegenmeyer, as Hegenmeyer and his brothers were among the only European men in the Big River area at the time. It was also noted in Ford’s diary that Hegenmeyer stayed on to become the first blacksmith at the mill, adding to the confusion. As Ford bushwhacked his way up the coast, his next diary entry was at the Navarro River, where Captain Fletcher was not at home. On Tuesday, June 15, 1852, Ford wrote, Stayed at The ‘Navata [Navarro] House.’ Could not Ford the River—’No Supper’—very foggy all day and evening. And for Wednesday, June 16, 1852, he noted: Took an Early Start and crossed the ‘Navata’ [Navarro] tide low arrived at ‘Portagees’ Rancho at 6:00 a.m. had a good ‘meal’—which I enjoyed much after being without 24 hours ... It took a day and a half to traverse the twelve miles from the Garcia River to Rancho Albion due to the rugged, steep terrain. Thus, a full day and more had gone by before they were able to enjoy a hot meal courtesy of “Portagee Frank.”
125
Cuffey’s Cove
126
Oil on Canvas, 18”x 24”
Elk/Cuffey’s Cove
T
he town of Cuffey’s Cove was first settled by a colorful group: Francisco Faria (a.k.a. “Portagee Frank”), a giant of a ship captain named Charles Fletcher and a free black man, Nathaniel “Nat” Smith (a.k.a. “The
Blacksmith”). Later, the neighboring town of Greenwood was founded by mountain men—the Greenwood brothers: Britt, William, James and Boggs. Another early resident of the area was Li Foo, a one-legged Chinese man. Mendocino-area historian Dr. Hillary Adams researched the census at Richardson’s Rancho Sausalito to separate fact from fable when it comes to the arrival of these early settlers. She found official census records dating back to 1850 that document Charles Fletcher living in a boarding house only a few doors down from William Richardson’s hacienda. His occupation was listed as a farmer. Nat Smith is also listed in the same 1850 census at the William Richardson Rancho, only six doors down from where Fletcher resided. Smith was listed as living with the Hill family from Baltimore. He probably accompanied the family of Benjamin and Mary Hill as their servant when they relocated from Maryland to Sausalito. The census lists Smith as a nineteen-year-old mulatto servant in the Hill household. These facts clarify that Fletcher and Smith knew each other and Richardson before they arrived at the North Coast. One story had Fletcher, Smith and Faria arriving on a whaling vessel with a Hawaiian crew. The boat anchored at present-day Cuffey’s Cove when the crew sighted bears at the shoreline. As the story goes, the trio went ashore to hunt bear. When the weather changed the ship was forced to sail away and stranded the trio on the North Coast. The historical facts in the census throw doubt on this fanciful tale. It appears that Smith and Fletcher arrived on the North Coast with the intent to settle land on Richardson’s vast grant, not as the result of happenstance on a bearhunting expedition. On June 2, 1853, Frank Faria purchased a piece of that grant from Richardson for $1,530 to create a 510 acre ranch at Cuffey’s Cove. Captain Fletcher chose to settle a little further north at the mouth of the next major river— the Navarro—where he remained Faria’s good friend and neighbor. In her column, “Presenting the Past” (The Mendocino Beacon, August 6, 1986), Helen Smith quotes Nathaniel Smith as saying of Francisco Faria and himself: “We’s about the first white men here,” to differentiate himself and 127
Methodist Church with Hospital 2007, Oil on Canvas, 16”x 20” In the collection of Scott and Patricia Teaford
A Photographer Marries His Model Though tiny in terms of permanent population, Elk has played host to its share of visiting celebrities over the years. Popular novelist Jack London liked to spend time in Elk in the early 1900s, renting an upstairs room in the building with the green roof in the painting, then a hotel that later became the hospital. On April 24, 1939, famed photographer Edward Weston and the model of many of his nude portraits, Charis Wilson, were married in Elk, at the Methodist Church in the painting above. When she first met Weston, she said, “For anyone interested in statistics – I wasn’t – he was 48 years old and I had just turned 20. What was important to me was the sight of someone who quite evidently was twice as alive as anyone else in the room, and whose eyes most likely saw twice as much as anyone else’s did.” 128
Faria from the Pomo Indians. Nat was known to say, “He was
town boasted a school and Catholic Church. In the 1870s,
first, since he was ahead of Frank on the trail.” Some think
40’x 80’ size lots sold for $300 to $1,000 dollars.
that since Nat Smith remained near Cuffey’s Cove and Point
Lorenzo White first negotiated to buy the shipping point
Arena as a land owner, the name referred to Nat because,
at Cuffey’s Cove from Kenney for $40,000. Kenney stood
according to Dr. Hillary Adams, “In the South, the term
firm, refusing to take anything less than $75,000. This caused
‘Cuffey’ was apparently used, when speaking of household
White to look for other shipping locations in the harbor.
slaves, as a form of respect.” To this date the debate continues
He ended up building a gangway out into the harbor on a
on the origin of name and the specifics of the first settlers’
chain of islets. White’s pier was built so that it connected to
arrival.
the north side of the islets which led out to deeper waters. A
From the Cuffey’s Cove area, Faria and Smith hunted
railway was laid on top of the wooden wharf to expedite the
elk and bear. One particular expedition near the Mal Paso
loading process. A wharfman manned a small donkey engine
demonstrates the dangers of life in this remote and rugged
that helped transport the lumber from wharf to schooner by
country during the early years. The bear being hunted
cable. A trapeze-like sling device attached to the thick cable
decided to fight back, and Faria’s arm ended up in the
could hold up to six boards. Meanwhile, Kenney’s long,
creature’s mouth. Smith came to the rescue, firing his gun.
cliffside wire chute could only handle one board at a time.
The bullet killed the bear, but also passed through Faria’s
White’s combination of deeper waters and greater loading
leg. His arm was never the same after the mauling and he
capacity made Kenney’s operation obsolete. As a result, the
could only manage to hold a pipe with the injured limb. The
focus of the Cove turned to Greenwood. Kenney, the man
diminutive, big-talking pioneer lived to 105 years of age and
who first created Cuffey’s Cove’s commerce, unintentionally
is buried in the Catholic Cemetery of Mendocino.
caused its demise.
James Kenney built a mill which launched the lumber
Meanwhile, another early resident, Li Foo, was dealing
industry in the area. Railroad ties and lumber were shipped
with troubles of his own. He was working as a woodsman
from a wire chute to waiting ships. The shipping port
when his leg was pinned to the ground by a falling tree in
attracted new arrivals. In 1870, a post office joined saloons,
a remote area. After waiting and realizing no one was going
hotels, livery stable, butcher shop and slaughterhouse. One
to come to his rescue, he took out his knife and as he put
hotel, the China House, also served as a wash house. The
it, “took care of business.” He managed to crawl back to
129
Garage 2007, Oil on Canvas, 16�x 20� In the collection of Rich and Celia Lenson; Napa, California
130
civilization, where his injury was treated at the hospital in Greenwood. Longtime resident Pru Wilcox commented in 2003, “I found a Chinese poster behind some paneling that was being removed during remodeling that took place at my house in 1953. My house is next to the hospital and was used by local doctors and might have been left behind by Li Foo when he was convalescing from his amputation.” The poster is an advertisement for girls receiving scholarships for education back in China. Perhaps Li Foo kept the cloth banner around as a keepsake from his homeland. He became a barber with a shop located in the back of the Greenwood Mill building. He was able to get around with the help of a wooden leg, which did not deter him from being an avid fisherman and popular resident in town. He was laid to rest in the Cuffey’s Cove Cemetery, his name living on at Li Foo’s Gulch at the north end of Greenwood State Park. Elk is known as “The Town with Two Names.” Originally called Greenwood after a pair of brothers who were early settlers, the town fathers discovered the name had already been taken by a Greenwood in El Dorado County when they applied for a post office in 1887. A herd of elk grazing in the area provided the inspiration for the new name. However, many settlers refused to give up the original title, continuing to claim the town was named Greenwood with a postal address of Elk. Evidence of this may be seen in a sign in the Greenwood State Beach Visitor Center that reads, “Elk Post Office, Greenwood, California.” The gas pumps may be long gone in front of the large blue garage in the painting at left, but it remains in the automotive repair business. The Elk Garage was established in 1901 by John ( Johan) Matson, a hard-working, non-drinking 18-year-old immigrant from Sweden. Originally a blacksmith shop with a livery stable across the street, the two structures burned to the ground in 1926, and the building you see here is its replacement. In 1924, the Elk Garage became a contract station for AAA, only the second in the state. Today grandson Bob carries out the tradition of John Matson and John’s son, Melvin Matson, in running the Elk Garage. Beyond the garage in this painting are the Elk Store and Greenwood Community Center.
131
Twin Rocks
132
2005, Oil on Canvas, 16”x 20”
Navarro-by-the-Sea
T
he town of Navarro-by-the-Sea was founded
In 1861, Fletcher sold part of his property east of
on the flats at the mouth of the Navarro River
his hotel to a lumber company. Soon the remote river
by Captain Charles Fletcher in 1851. He first built a
became a busy lumber port and ship works. He built
cabin and later an inn with a tavern to serve the early
the Sea Nymph in 1862, one of the first schooners on
travelers by land and sea. Fletcher was an imposing
the North Coast.
man at 6’5” tall with light green eyes, known as a “kind
Life on the frontier of California’s North Coast
hearted man” despite his size. His mother accompanied
could and did include as much danger and adventure
his father Charles, a captain aboard a British merchant
as one could hope to find in a Western movie. Riding
ship, the Wildcat. She gave birth on board to a baby who
the stage on twisty, deserted mountain roads was
fittingly would grow up to be a ship captain himself. He
especially fraught with peril. John Ross II recalled a
spent his younger days sailing on trading and whaling
memorable journey he took by stage from Cloverdale
ships. Before he arrived at Navarro he knew how to
to Mendocino City. The stage driver, George Brereton
both command ships and build them.
of Navarro-by-the-Sea, was making his last trip after a
In the early years at Navarro, he ferried travelers
career that involved wrecks, runaways and floods—but
across the wide river to earn money. He also hunted
never a hold-up. Sure enough, Brereton suffered another
numerous grizzly bears that would come to the
incident of bad luck on that last run. Ross later wrote, It
shoreline in the1850s and 60s with a legendary custom-
was a dark, dreary night. After leaving Philo we ascended
made rifle. Fletcher ordered a thicker, longer piece of
a small hill. Just beyond the church … Brereton had pulled
steel to be used for the barrel. As a result, most men
up … He was struck dumb when a voice said, ‘Throw out
were not strong enough to raise and fire the heavy gun
the Wells Fargo box, and be quick about it.’… He now saw
and successfully hit a target, but that didn’t stop local
a six shooter pointed at him. We kept awake after that as
hunters from asking to borrow the weapon. Portagee
we really had something to think about; and Brereton had
Frank recalled, “It was a gun nearly six feet long and
something to round out his numerous adventures—his
weighed over thirty pounds.”
hold-up on his last night. 133
134
Bridge with Houses Oil on Canvas, 18”x 24” In the collection of Tim and Laura Zadel; San Jose, California
Albion
I
n 1844, William Richardson, an English sailor turned naturalized Mexican citizen, petitioned Governor José Manuel Micheltorena
for a land grant as compensation for his unpaid service as Port Captain of Richardson Bay in Sausalito. The Mexican governor responded by giving Richardson the right to “search for and occupy land 2 leagues by 10 on the unoccupied North Coast.” Richardson found the land north of Francisco Garcia’s grant to his liking. He named the territory Albion after his homeland of England and submitted a rough drawing that mapped out the boundaries of his 50 thousand acres. This became the Rancho Albion Mexican land grant, stretching from nearby Big River all the way to Mal Paso Creek south of the present-day community of Elk. Circa 1851, Gebhard Hegenmeyer and Francisco Faria helped him build a water-powered lumber mill in Albion. The mill was situated on the north side of the narrow estuary and had a tide-driven water wheel, which was destroyed by large waves in the first winter. Richardson quickly rebuilt the mill, this time powered by steam, but he did not get to enjoy the fruits of his labor. Like many other holders of Mexican land grants, he lost everything when the United States seized control of California after the Mexican-American War. Even though his title was confirmed by the U.S. Land Commission in 1854, his claim was later rejected by the U.S. District Court. This great pioneer died unexpectedly in 1856 from an accidental overdose of mercury tablets, prescribed for his rheumatism. 135
Rooftops with Bridge
Oil on Canvas, 18”x 24”
Jerome Ford referred to the Albion Rancho as having
livery stable. The mill was modernized with huge saws
breakfast at “Portagees Rancho” in his diary entry of June
powered by steam generated from wood-burning boilers.
1852, probably because Richardson was away on business
As the Flats became crowded, homes began to appear on
and Frank Faria, a native of the Azores, was there in his
Michigan Hill—the north side. The south side of the hill
stead. Ford misunderstood Faria to be the owner instead of
earned the nickname Snob Hill, perhaps because the wealthy
a hired worker.
mill owners resided there. During this time, a 1,200-foot
A mill continued to operate at this site for another 75
wharf reached out to deeper water in the small, rocky harbor.
years as the town grew to include a hotel, mercantile, and
With the presence of sawdust, wood scraps and drying
136
lumber, the gas-powered engines often ignited fires, and the
across the center line and struck the left front wheel. The
entire mill complex burned to the ground several times. Out
force might have broken the tie rod. Dompeling lost control
of necessity, the mill organized and equipped a substantial
of the truck’s steering as it crashed through the heavy wooden
fire brigade.
guardrail. The truck plunged some125 feet, nose first, with
Alice Frazell Latham has vivid memories of the
Dompeling inside the cab, landing on the south of the bank.
adventures she encountered in growing up in Albion, such
The vehicle hit the ground with such force that neighbors said,
as racing across the Albion Bridge on her horse in the early
“I thought a boat exploded on the river.” He survived because
1940s to “check the sheep on the other side of the hill.”
nearby paramedics came immediately to his aid in a boat from
Born in Watsonville, her parents died of “things that could
across the river. Dompeling suffered numerous broken bones,
be cured today”—her father from pesticide poisoning from
including his jaw, ribs, left knee cap, right leg and left arm, and
working in the fields, and her mother from pneumonia.
it took him two years to recover from his injuries.—Excerpted
She was adopted by her grandparents, the Andersens (her
from the Mendocino Beacon, article by Naomi Jarvie.
grandfather was Palle-Hans Andersen, known as P.H. to his friends) and moved to Albion when she was six months old. In an interview on July 8, 2004, Ms. Latham recalled, “My grandfather had an old truck and when he drove it down
T
he Mendocino Coast is known for its watercolor artists who could create full sheet paintings in
one outdoor session. On the south side of the steep Albion River bank is the University of the Pacific’s
the grade to the Albion River Flats he would make me get
Biological Field Station. This facility has also doubled
out before the steep grade. He would always say he was afraid
as quarters for art instructor Vernon Nye’s watercolor
the brakes would fail and I would not be able to get out. I
classes. Other masters in the area include Millard
would get out and, without him knowing it, hang on to the back all the way down.” She remembers “when they burned
Sheets, who traveled from his home at Barking Rocks north of Gualala with his friend, Los Angeles painter Emil Kosa, Jr., to paint Mendocino village area
the remnants of the Albion Mill down. The fire was so hot we
subjects. Contemporary George Post taught classes
had to move away from our position on the north incline.”
for the Mendocino Art Center. Under the direction of
This village on the rugged Mendocino Coast continues to
Marvin Schenck, the Mendocino Art Center created
pose challenges even in the 21st century. On August 9th 2002, Albert Dompeling was driving a northbound logging
a George Post retrospective in 1999. The works of Nye, Sheets, Kosa Jr. and Post are chronicled in several books by Gordon McClelland.
truck on the Albion Bridge when a southbound car swerved 137
Kent House 2003, Oil on Canvas, 18”x 24” In the collection of Derek and Laura Webb, Ross, California
The Tales This House Could Tell A Chinese cook was antagonized by one of the Kent children. The cook chased the child around the kitchen with a meat cleaver and was later dismissed. Master photographer Carleton Watkins made pictures of the Little River Cove and Albion River, in addition to the mill at Big River, when he was hired to work for the Mendocino Lumber Company in 1863. He described his pull-back style of composing the landscape as “the best general view.” Sadly he suffered greatly when the San Francisco earthquake and fires destroyed most of his work at a downtown studio. Pacific Grove painter Albert DeRome stopped at the Kent farmhouse during his route as a traveing salesman.
138
Little River
L
Point on the most northern side to enter Mendocino Bay, as the 260 acre property stretched from bay to bay. Lumber continued to play a vital role in the early days of
ittle River was first settled by the Beall brothers—Lloyd,
this region. In 1863, Silas Combs and Ruel Stickney decided
Samuel and Harvey—in the early days of the nearby
to strike out on their own and quit their jobs at the Albion
Mendocino Lumber Company. The brothers were hunters
Lumber Company, opening their own mill to make railroad
who provided game to the Mendocino Mill. The region was
ties on the south side of Little River. Millwright Charles
known as Beall’s Harbor and then shortly thereafter Kent’s
Pullen had arrived from Maine and built the mill for a cost of
Landing, named for William Kent, who first worked in the
$20,000. It was a great moment in town when, on the evening
Anderson Valley as he waited for the Mendocino Mill to be
of October 15, 1864, the whistle blew for the first time at the
completed. Kent continued to scale logs for the Mendocino
Little River Mill to announce the opening. Eventually, Ruel
Mill when it was reopened. He purchased land from the Beall
Stickney, Isaiah Stevens and Silas Coombs owned all the land
brothers and more from Richardson’s Mexican land grant.
around Little River Bay. Tapping Reeves, a machinist and
With this new property, he changed professions in 1857,
engineer, joined them as partners to form the Little River
cleared the land and began farming. He grew grain and began
Mill Company (a.k.a. Stickney Coombs & Company). The
a dairy, the first in the area. He raised livestock in his large
lumbermen all built homes in the area. Silas Coombs’ house
seaside pastures next to the slaughterhouse which supplied
later became the Little River Inn and remains a much-loved
meat to his Main Street butcher shop in Mendocino. The
icon by both travelers and locals to this day.
iconic family home was constructed in 1869, adjacent to the
Thursday was the scheduled day for the Sea Foam on the
vast meadows that stretched to the cliffs’ edge. Similar features
northward trip. Not long after she left Point Arena, we could
are found in the prominent homes of Mendocino built by
see her coming and followed her progress expectantly. Some of
J.D. Johnson. The American Gothic Revival style with steep
the older folks, such as Fred Mahlmann and Silas Combs, could
pitched roofs, board-and-batten siding and round windows
name most of the old ships while they were many miles away.
is echoed in the design of the Blair, Denslow-Hayden and
Freight day; as we called it, added much to our quiet existence
Denslow-Maxwell homes built in that era in Mendocino.
and everyone made a point to be on hand. As the ship drew nearer,
Ships coming into Mendocino City had to round Kent’s
Silas Combs could be seen coming afoot to fire up and operate
139
the donkey engine used to move the freight cars to and from the wharf. William Coombs would bustle about arranging for men to handle the freight, and attending to other details of freight day. The Sea Foam carried passengers as well as freight, and horse-drawn rigs began to arrive to pick up friends and relatives who were coming from San Francisco. It was really a sight to see Joshua Grindle arrive from Mendocino. Joshua always came down the road at full run and the reins hanging loosely over the dashboard. When he rounded the corner of the Mahlmann Saloon, he missed by inches the Quail Barn with Spring Flowers 2004, Oil on Canvas, 12”x 16” In the collection of Derek and Laura Webb; Ross, California
large post set at the corner of the steps as protection against just such speedsters. As the ship neared the wharf, everyone ashore lined up expectantly, and on the ship, the passengers lined the rail, ready to come ashore. Fore and aft, sailors prepared to cast the heaving lines in order that the mooring lines might be pulled across the intervening space. With the hawsers in place, the ship was warped up to the wharf. These heaving lines were weighted on the end, and I still believe the sailors threw them right at my head. With the ship moored securely, the gangplank was
140
Barn 2006, Oil on Linen, 16”x 20” In the collection of Warren and Jennifer Hedgepeth; Santa Rosa, California
Glendeven Inn Oil on Canvas, 16�x 20� In the collection of Richard and Rita Lodholz; Creve Coeur, Missouri
Shipbuilding on the North Coast Out of necessity, shipbuilding became an important business on the North Coast. Captain Thomas Peterson, assisted by George Escola, John Petersen, Richard Coombs, Charles Pullen and Wilder Pullen, built 14 schooners circa 1872. The ships were made of hand-hewn logs harvested from the best trees to be found in the abundant forests of the area. A reporter from the West Coast Star made a tour of the shipyard and wrote, The shipyard is well adapted for the purpose of which it is used; roomy and with every convenience at hand, it is just the place for speedy execution of the work. Three vessels can be in the course of construction at one time. Everything is right at hand: the material is so close that hauling is necessary only a short distance. In fact Mr. Peterson has not forgotten a single item which tends to make a first class yard, and with such superior accommodations as are there contained, a vessel can be readily constructed and built cheaper than other yards on the coast. The schooner Electra now in the Big River trade carried off first prize in the regatta at San Francisco, July 4 1879, which speaks volumes in favor of the sailing capacities of the vessels built in this yard. 141
China Rock 2006, Oil on Canvas, 12”x 16” In the collection of John and Stephanie Macklin; San Francisco, California
The Perils of Life at Sea In April of 1873, Captain Henry Nelson’s Light Wing, loaded with lumber, was attempting to sail out of Little River harbor with a strong breeze blowing, and was advised by Captain Peterson to take the craft out under short sail. Captain Nelson agreed, going out under jib and mainsail, but before he was past the harbor’s mouth the wind died entirely, sending the vessel into very strong seas with many crosscurrents. Within minutes, the Light Wing drifted onto the south reef at the harbor’s entrance. The mate went overboard just before she struck rocks, swimming to safety behind China Rock where he was rescued by some Chinese. The remaining seamen took to the rigging, stripped to their underwear in preparation for the swim to shore, but rescuers on the beach managed to complete the perilous trip to the crippled ship with great difficulty, and removed the sailors clinging to the rigging. Captain Nelson was last to leave, and badly bruised and shaken up, was taken to the Pioneer House to recuperate.
142
Buckhorn Cove 2004, Oil on Canvas, 18”x 24” In the collection of Bonnie Tansky; Alameda, California
placed in position and the passengers began to come ashore.
All activity is gone. Captain Hendrickson has long passed
On the lower deck, the hatch covers were removed, the winch
on, and the Sea Foam went on the rocks at Point Arena and was
clattered, sea gulls screamed, and Captain Sharkey Hendrickson
a total loss. At Little River there is no longer a wharf. Only the
bellowed orders in a voice that could be heard to the Kent Ranch.
everlasting seagulls remain and their cries mingle with the shrill
The purser usually paid me a dime to carry two bags of silver
voices of children playing on the beach just as I did.
coins up to the rig awaiting him, and I lost that job the day I left
Quote from Homer Barton in a section about the
the bags lying unguarded on the store porch and returned to the
Barton Family of Little River, pages 117-118 in Littleriver’s
wharf.
Yesteryears, 1853-1965 by Irene Mallory MacDonald. 143
Main Street 2003, Oil on Canvas 16”x 20,” In the collection of Jim and Irene Hodge; Danville, California
144
Mendocino
T
became part of the Mendocino community and soon a small Chinatown was built on the headlands above, looking
own pioneer Jerome Ford was appropriately
down on its sandy shores. Adjacent to Chinatown would be
named—he forded many creeks and rivers as he
another town consisting of wooden buildings resembling a
made his way some 140 rugged miles on his coastal journey
New England village, where a Chinese temple still stands.
between Bodega Corners and Meiggsville! The final river for
The first shipwreck survivor was William Kasten, a pioneer
Ford to ford was Big River. He crossed Big River, leaving the
name that lives on as Kasten Street still bears his name. His
Rancho Albion Mexican land grant and making his claim to
boat broke up on Mendocino Bay, where he swam to safety
Meiggsville for the Mendocino Manufacturing and Lumber
circa 1850.
Company. For one last time he would fight the river currents
Three sets of shipwreck survivors could not argue with
with ten oxen to establish a significant empire that would
one of the headlands’ first names—the Port of Good Hope.
have far-reaching effects that still resound today. It was his
Nor could they imagine that a scant dozen years later, the
charge to bring the draft animals needed to drag the massive
isolated Big River Flats would become the site of a busy
felled timber. This effort required a true pioneer spirit and
lumber mill and a bustling shipyard. Among the many vessels
with enough grit to rival any, Ford launched what would
constructed there was the Sea Foam, which delivered supplies
become the storied town of Mendocino.
and lumber to and from Little River and San Francisco for
This would take place on soil that was previously crossed
many years.
by the first black man on the North Coast and a group of
Mendocino Bay-Big River Estuary became their safe
Panaji boys from India, Malayman, Chinese, Portuguese
haven. The Native Americans originally called the place
and a New England ship captain. The latter comprised the
“Bull Don,” meaning blow hole, referring to a giant hole
crew and were survivors of the wreck of the Frolic, an opium
where waves crash underneath, located on The Point on the
runner that had sailed all the way from Hong Kong bound
western end of the headlands where lumber shipping would
for San Francisco before crashing into a reef three miles
soon take place. Before the mill workers arrived, Ford was
north of Mendocino Bay. The survivors regrouped at Big
one of only about ten non-Native American men in the
River and departed, but there would be yet another wreck of
vicinity of the Mendocino Headlands in June of 1852. Of
a small boat, name unknown, also from China. The survivors
these ten men, one was a blacksmith and a second was a free 145
black man called The Blacksmith! There was always plenty of
Meiggs already owned a sawmill and wharf at North Beach
irony mixed with determination and surreal forces at work in
and was a partner with Steven Smith in a small mill operation
the early days of Mendocino—enough to make the heavens
on the northwestern foothills of Mount Tamalpias.
smile—which is a story to tell.
Meiggs had made his fortune and reputation by putting
Jerome Ford was dispatched to Mendocino by San
together two major business deals that both involved lumber.
Francisco entrepreneur Henry Meiggs. Soon the brig
The first was the purchase of the ship Albany on the East
Ontario would arrive from Meiggs’ Wharf at North Beach
Coast and filling it with lumber. The laden ship rounded Cape
in San Francisco with equipment and men to construct the
Horn and reached San Francisco in three months, where the
mill. On board were town pillars Captain David Lansing,
desperately needed building materials sold for twenty times
E. C. Williams and William Kelly, who would join Ford.
what Meiggs had paid. With the profits he built a pier and
This reliable quartet would help make Meiggs’ North Coast
sawmill in San Francisco. Then he hired 500 men to harvest
Lumber Mill a dream come true.
timber in Contra Costa County, where the logs were floated
Meiggs established the first major lumber mill on
as rafts across San Francisco Bay to the North Beach sawmill.
California’s North Coast. He orchestrated the founding of
The trees were turned into boards that fetched a high price as
Mendocino Lumber Company from his San Francisco office,
construction soared in the boomtown of San Francisco and
likely having never set foot in Mendocino. At first, Meiggs
vicinity. Meiggs made half a million dollars, an incredible
was able to fund this major undertaking at the northern
sum in those days.
end of the coastal Mexican land grants. The region was
It was only natural for Meiggs to realize the possibility
undeveloped and Meiggs and Company would stake their
of amassing another huge fortune in the lumber business.
claim to the timber up Big River estuary—at no cost. At their
Mendocino became the opportunity which would be his
disposal were acres of 200 to 300-foot virgin redwoods as far
most ingenious to date. He even called his new venture
as the eye could see.
Meiggsville and sold shares to investors, his friends in the
This remote, unsettled land stood in great contrast to
elite social circles of San Francisco. An original share hangs
San Francisco, 160 miles to the south, where the Gold Rush
on the wall of the Kelley House Museum today. The printed
had turned the tiny hamlet of Yerba Buena into a bustling
document is 6”x 8” in size, is for a $100 share, and titled
city crowded with treasure-seekers from around the globe.
Meiggsville and Mendocino Lumber Company. It would
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Presbyterian Church 2003, Oil on Canvas, 16�x 20,� In the collection of Derek and Laura Webb; Ross, California
147
seem that everything was in place for another huge success
felled trees could not be turned into boards quickly enough
for his new, grand project.
to fill sales orders, crucial and necessary to offset expenses
Meiggs’ attention was first drawn to the remote forests
like worker wages and purchase of new equipment. Further
of the North Coast because of the shipwreck of the schooner
complicating the situation, they could not easily get the felled
Frolic near present-day Point Cabrillo. Meiggs learned of the
trees up on the headlands point to be sawn in the first place.
wreck when survivors reached San Francisco, and promptly
Back in San Francisco, a series of unforeseen
dispatched a party to salvage the cargo. By the time the
circumstances contributed to the downfall of Meiggs’ empire.
team from the city reached the isolated region, the goods
Property taxes and interest due on loans began to mount at
had already been taken by Pomo Indians and others. While
the same time as the depression of 1854. He was unable to
the bounty from the shipwreck may have vanished, Meiggs’
sell his real estate holdings to improve his cash flow situation.
salvage party discovered another far more valuable treasure
Meiggs had been elected a San Francisco alderman, and as
on the North Coast. These city fellows were astounded by the
such had access to a blank set of city warrants already signed
size and sheer numbers of the redwood trees that flourished
by the mayor and comptroller. The man known as “Honest
in the vicinity of the wreck and reported the information
Harry” forged the documents as collateral for his loans. With
back to Meiggs in San Francisco. He sent E.C. Williams
the loans and interest due, disaster and disgrace were soon
and Jerome Ford on a reconnaissance mission to the North
to follow. At midnight one foggy night in October of 1854,
Coast, and it was Ford who noticed Pomo women wearing
a sailor and one Captain Cousins could be seen traveling by
silk shawls recovered from the Frolic.
rowboat from their ship to the Broadway Wharf. From there,
Once the new party had assembled, the decision to build
they proceeded on foot to the Meiggs residence, where they
the mill on the cliffs of The Point was their first major mistake.
were met at the front door by Henry Meiggs himself. He took
Perched on the edge of the cliff, the new mill required pier
Cousins by the hand, saying, “Captain this is hell, but I can’t
posts, which complicated the construction. The roof was
help it.” As the clock struck three, Cousins announced that it
not finished soon enough to protect the mill from the first
was time to board. Meiggs jumped up, put on his hat, giving
winter rains of late 1852 and early 1853. Years later Williams
it a knock on top, and said,” I am ready.” His brother John
recalled the delay by saying, “It still comes back to me a like
Meiggs produced a sack containing $10,000 in gold, which
holy nightmare.” Because the construction took so long, the
he emptied on the table and divided in half. Captain Cousins
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Mendosa House and Store
2005-2006, Oil, 16”x 20”
A Tradition of Service in World War I John “Jack” A. Mendosa was born in this house on February 18, 1927, delivered by Maggie Mattos with Dr. Preston presiding. His father, John S. Mendosa, was one of five brothers who served their country in World War I. He suffered long-term health effects from the gassing on the battlefield. As Jeanette (Mendosa) Hansen stated in 2007, “Another brother was headed to Santa Rosa to join the Army and the seventh was being enlisted. If the war had not ended, all seven Mendosa brothers would have served.”
149
kept one half and Henry Meiggs the other. The entire party
progressed into the twentieth century, most of the nearby
then walked down to the wharf, and Captain Cousins sculled
forests were depleted from years of logging. This, combined
them out to the bark. Thus the founder of the Mendocino
with the economic hardships of the Great Depression,
Lumber Company and his family fled the city where they
forced the mill to finally close for good, taking with it the
had made and lost a great fortune.
principal livelihood of the village.
His ship the American headed first to the Society Islands
Mendocino has always been a town that rebounds
in French Polynesia and then on to South America. The
after hardship and disaster. It is a place where serendipity
Meiggs family decided to make their home in Santiago,
is woven into the fabric of its history. The seaside town
Chile, where Henry carved out a new life and reputation. He
has survived fires, Prohibition, an earthquake, and twice
helped facilitate one of the greatest engineering projects ever
the closing of the mill. But larger forces were at work.
with the building of a railway through the Andes Mountains.
Mendocino icon Bill Zacha carried a dream of creating an
This railway begins at sea level and climbs to 17,000 feet,
art center for twenty years. Those twenty years paralleled
traversing expansive gorges with mountain tunnels 4,000
the town’s doldrums as it sought a new identity after the
feet long. A sculpted bust of Henry Meiggs is on display at
closing of the mill in 1938.
a train station in Santiago celebrating his accomplishments
In 1958, on a day trip from Marin County, Bill Zacha
in building the railways of South America. During this time,
first arrived in Mendocino with his wife Jennie. Here in the
he attempted to pay his creditors that he owed back in San
sleepy village he found the ideal location for the art center
Francisco and restore his good name.
he had dreamed of founding. A fifty dollar down payment,
Back in Mendocino, after the mill was finally constructed
a contract written on the back of a grocery receipt from
in 1853, the enterprise sputtered and closed and then
Mendosa’s Market, and a handshake secured the property for
financially reorganized while Meiggs lived in exile in South
Zacha, preventing it from becoming the site of a trailer park.
America. The population of Meiggsville shrank to 26 when
Fate played a hand in the destiny of this two block long
the mill closed. But when the mill reopened, it ushered in
property on Little Lake Street that would become the home
the beginning of an incredible eighty-four year run, selling
for Zacha’s long-envisioned art center. Two years earlier,
untold tons of lumber to build the picturesque Victorian
incorrect directions given to the fire department caused
mansions of San Francisco and beyond. As the years
the historic Preston home to burn to the ground. As former
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Woodward Alley with Crown Hall Oil on Linen, 18”x 24” In the collection of Richard and Rita Lodholz; Creve Coeur, Missouri
In the Footsteps of the Stars The Warner Brothers movie Summer of ’42 was filmed in Mendocino in 1970, the North Coast standing in for Packett Island on Nantucket. In one scene, the main characters, Hermie (Gary Grimes) and Dorothy ( Jennifer O’Neill) walk up this alleyway. Hermie’s teenage friends, Oscy and Benji, are heckling Hermie, who does his best to ignore them. Scenes set in Hermie’s house were filmed in the yellow house depicted in this painting on the right side of the alley. In 1909, Princess Mamie Bettencourt led the Pentecost procession through town to Crown Hall, depicted as the blue colored building in this painting. She was the first to wear the new silver crown made in Terceira in the Azores.
151
Mendocino Fire Chief Foggy Gomes stated, “We got a
exactly the same building, where James Dean once gave a
call that a fire was up Little Lake (Road). By the time a car
legendary performance!
flagged the fire truck down, we were at the top of Little Lake
Bill Zacha was gifted in both the visual and performing
(Road). When we got back down to the fire, it was too late
arts. He developed his performing skills with Helen Schoeni
to save the house. All they had to do was tell us the fire was
while serving in the Navy. They performed together on ships
at the Doc Preston Mansion and we could have been there
touring the South Seas to entertain servicemen. She helped
in time to save it.”
him deal with his intense stage fright. Years later, Zacha wrote
This was the property that Zacha purchased two years
a letter to Helen Schoeni to inform her that he was naming
after the tragic fire. Thus, the Mendocino Art Center was
the new theater at the Mendocino Art Center in her honor.
constructed on the ruins of one of the most elegant structures
As she read the letter to friends, the excitement became too
in the village, with Zacha’s dream taking root in the ashes of
great and she died of a heart attack.
the home of Mendocino’s beloved doctor. Memories of this
The naming of Mendocino is an example of yet another
elaborate American Gothic Revival dwelling are preserved in
implausible coincidence that seems to go hand-in-hand
the movie version of John Steinbeck’s most ambitious novel,
with this rugged and remote region. Mendocino the town
East of Eden. In 1954, Warner Brothers’ director Elia Kazan
was named after Cape Mendocino, located 120 miles north
chose the Preston mansion as the ideal representation of the
of Mendocino City. The cape was named after Antonio
home of the fictional Trask family, and many scenes featuring
de Mendoza, the first Viceroy of New Spain, circa 1535.
James Dean as Cal Trask and Jo Van Fleet, who played his
Mendoza spent his career in Mexico and never set foot in
mother, were filmed inside the walls of the Victorian jewel.
Alta California, but he did contribute significantly to its
Other exterior scenes were shot in and around Mendocino,
history, commissioning the expeditions of Coronado and
standing in for the Salinas Valley and Monterey’s waterfront.
Cabrillo to map out and explore the northern lands claimed
Coincidently, after the house had burned to the ground
by Spain. Fast-forward some 345 years later, when Francisco
several years later, a stage was erected on this site for the
J. Mendonca immigrated to California from the Azores. In
Mendocino Art Center. Over the past fifty years numerous
1859, he left the Portuguese archipelago as a cabin boy on
theatrical productions have taken place on the stage of the
a whaling ship and then later joined the lumber business in
Helen Schoeni Theatre, the same ground and air space, if not
Mendocino. Francisco J. Mendonca changed his name to
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Mendosa House and Market with Masonic Temple Oil on Canvas, 18”x 24 In the collection of David Thompson and Cristina Marcon; Bainsville, Canada
A Glimpse of Home from New Orleans When Alvin Mendosa served in the Army in 1954, he was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas. While on leave, he visited New Orleans and saw the new James Dean movie, East of Eden. In that distant movie theater so far from home, he caught a glimpse of his very own house on Little Lake Street, as much of the movie had been filmed in Mendocino. He noticed that the grass was overgrown and the paint was peeling on the wooden dwelling. Alvin recalled, “I made a telephone call to my brother-in-law, who had promised to take care of the place. I complained to him about taking care of the house. He was quite surprised and wondered how I found out!” In the distance is Mason Erik Albertson’s masterpiece, the Masonic Temple. The Masonic Lodge was one of the earliest buildings in town, built over the course of seven years beginning in 1866.
153
Temple Kwan Tai
2006, Oil, 16” x 20”
‘The Great Gong in the Joss House’ And do you remember how an easterly breeze brought odors from Chinatown, roasting pork and punk and black tobacco and yen shi? And so you remember the deep blatting stroke of the great gong in the Joss House, and how its tone hung in the air so long? John Steinbeck, East of Eden Temple Kwan Tai dates back to at least 1871 and has stayed in the same family of early Chinese settlers. Even though most of the Chinese have left the area, fifth-generation Californians Lorraine and Loretta, George Hee’s daughters, have carried on the family tradition and have lovingly maintained the Temple for the enrichment and enjoyment of their community and visitors.
154
Frank J. Mendosa after settling in the Golden State. Thus a
difficult lives of the Mendocino Mill workers. The men often
man named Mendosa, originally Mendonca, found his way
lost their lives in their twenties or thirties in work-related
to the isolated town of Mendocino which was named after a
accidents: drowning in Big River or the Mendocino Bay, or
Spanish government official with the moniker of Mendoza!
being crushed to death by trees and boards, or being mangled
Frank Mendosa became the patriarch of a prominent
and maimed in accidents with machinery and equipment.
family in Mendocino. His heroic life epitomized the spirit
Perhaps fatal mill accidents witnessed by Albertson inspired
of the Portuguese citizens of this seaside community. He
him to create this allegory about fleeting time and death as
suffered a horrific lumber mill accident; his arm was nearly
much as Masonic beliefs.
torn off when it became entangled in rope rigging. The
Adding to the rich tapestry that is Mendocino is the
foreman finished what the machinery had started, amputating
Taoist temple located in the western section of town
Mendosa’s arm right there at the mill. Left without a job, the
overlooking Mendocino Bay. The Temple of Kwan Tai has
brave one-armed man opened a restaurant and then later a
been part of the good karma that has flowed in this coastal
store in 1909, supporting his wife and eight children. After
village since the tall trees were discovered during the Gold
years of hard work by the entire family, the store began to
Rush era. The temple pays homage to Kwan Tai, a legendary
flourish. Mendosa’s Market and Hardware Store has been
general in the pantheon of Chinese history. For more than
serving the community for the last one hundred years.
140 years, Chinese and other Taoists have come to pray at
Just down from Mendosa’s Market is an iconic Masonic
this brightly colored, red and green sanctuary. The temple is
Hall. This town is presided over by a sculpture known as
built on a narrow lot located next to other narrow lots that
“Father Time and the Maiden,” created by Erick Albertson, a
William Heeser divided and made available to mill workers.
member of the Mendocino Masons, just after the Civil War.
The parcels were sold at affordable prices so that the working
The white statue is perched on top of the Masonic Hall and
class could buy land and build homes to live their lives in
depicts an allegory about life lost at a young age. The hour is
comfort and peace.
at hand, symbolized by the hourglass, for the young maiden
One block west is the Portuguese community center,
as the Angel of Death, with a scythe resting on his shoulder,
Crown Hall, built in 1901. Crown Hall became the site for
braids her hair. He is waiting to escort the maiden into the
Pentecost celebrations and at times served as a church. In
next world. The statue seems fitting when one thinks of the
the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a crowned
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Portuguese Flats
Golden Field at Portuguese Flats 2001-2002, Oil on Canvas, 18”x 24” In the collection of Peter and Gretchen Imlay; San Francisco, California
From The Azores to Mendocino Portuguese Flats is one of three Portuguese neighborhoods in town. Some of the original settlers like Domingo Valador left the Azores as a cabin boy on a whaling ship. He would often tell the story that while leaving the island of Flores by ship, he was being shot at—the result of a dispute over a woman. Several scenes from the movie Summer of ´42 were filmed in this field.
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Red Cottage with Roses, 2006, Oil, 16”x20” In the collection of Dale and Mary Cexton; Anaheim, California
Green Cottage with Roses Oil, 16”x 20” In the collection of Patricia Dillon; El Sobrante, California
157
princess portraying Queen Isabella led Pentecost processions
move with the comment, “It cost too much to heat,” telling
from the Catholic Church through town, and after 1901 to
astonished family members, “Get over it and move on.”
this fraternal hall.
Hollywood again came to Mendocino in 1970 with the
The seventh Sunday after Easter—Pentecost Sunday—
filming of the coming-of-age comedy/drama Summer of ‘42.
was the day the Portuguese community fed the entire town
In one major scene, actress Jennifer O’Neill appears with
the Old World dish known as sopa, made of bread and beef.
teenager Gary Grimes as he carries her groceries beside
In the early days, the Portuguese delivered the meal door-
the Portuguese meeting hall on Osborne Street (now
to-door while singing and playing musical instruments.
called Woodward Street). As they proceed on the narrow
The celebration ended at Crown Hall and would last late
alley past Crown Hall, his friends tease him about being in
into the evening as they visited with friends and danced the
love with her. With the beautiful woman on one arm and
Charmarita to the sounds of accordions and guitars.
her groceries in the other, he does his best to ignore their
One of the prominent Portuguese names in Mendocino
immature comments.
legend and lore is Hercules Silva. The family lived in a two-
The young actors also appear in scenes in a field to the
story house on Calpella Street at Portuguese Flats. Born
west of Crown Hall in the section called Portuguese Flats.
Herculano DaSilva on Flores Island (part of the Azores),
The home opposite Crown Hall across Ukiah Street had a
he was a boat builder who arrived in Mendocino on the SS
starring role as Gary Grimes’ character’s home on Nantucket
Seafoam in 1899, liked what he saw and said, “I was looking
Island. In 2007, 37 years after the release of Summer of ‘42, the
for land that reminded me of home.”
film was screened in Crown Hall as part of the Mendocino
Silva’s wife Laura gave birth to eleven children over a
Film Festival. That year, the festival honored Toni Lemos,
span of thirty years. As the time passed, eight of his offspring
who over the years served as the location coordinator for
moved out to live on their own. On a spring day of 1949,
Hollywood production companies during their filming stays
his two remaining sons, Joe and Lawrence, were gone for the
in Mendocino. The Mendocino County Film Office lists 43
day playing in double header baseball games for Mendocino
features being shot in Mendocino, as well as the popular
High against Point Arena. With wife Laura conveniently
TV series Murder, She Wrote, with the town’s breathtaking
away visiting her sister, he had the house to himself and
scenery and quaint cottages providing the backdrop of the
proceeded to cut off the second story! He explained his bold
fictional Cabot Cove, Maine.
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MacCallum House 2004, Oil on Canvas, 18”x 24” In the collection of Aaron Barak; Mesa, Arizona
A Life-long Friendship Emma Shirley “Daisy” Kelly lived in this house into the 1950s. As an infant, circa 1861, she was carried around town on a cradle board by a Pomo man named Busah. Her father had bought his life. It is not known what Busah did to have his own people want to put him to death, but William Kelly interceded and Busah became a protector of the family. The duo went on a trip to San Francisco where William purchased a fancy set of clothes in the latest style as a gift for the Pomo. When his business in the city was held over, Kelly bought a single return ticket for his now well-dressed friend. But Busah’s allegiance was so strong he did not want to leave Kelly’s side and refused to depart.
159
The new millennium brought an end to an era as the
Bertram’s neighbor—Mendocino Art Center co-founder
last of the old-timers on West Main Street passed. It began
Jennie Zacha—died in 2008, leaving daughter Lucia to carry
when Alphonse Reide closed his Main Street store, the
on the family tradition. Then her good friend, Hilda Pertha,
eponymous Alphonse’s, and moved to Fort Bragg, carrying
passed on May 18, 2011, at the age of 99, proving that sea air
out a retirement plan that included the move to Fort Bragg
and the artist’s life agreed with her. She lived and worked for
when he became ill. Alphonse’s was one of the first Main
years in an apartment and studio above Zacha Bay Window
Street stores to reflect the spirit of the early 1970s, a funky
Gallery. She was one of the key artists Bill Zacha coaxed to
mix of items like off-center ceramic mugs, videos for rent
Mendocino to teach at his art center. During Mendocino’s
(always featuring a starlet that he admired) and assorted
“Golden Age,” she exhibited her dynamic florals alongside
pipes and tobacco. He also sold records that reflected his
the works of Toshi Yoshida, Bill Zacha, Dorr Bothwell, Fran
love and knowledge of classical music, which he studied
Moyer and Charles Stevenson, who was directed to move to
in Santa Barbara as a young man. He even figured out a
Mendocio by a fortune-teller. One knew they’d “arrived” in
way to pipe in classical music to nearby stores. Mendocino
town if Hilda extended an invitation for afternoon tea on her
County families traveling from Willits or Ukiah would
porch overlooking the ocean and Mendocino Bay.
often comment that a visit to Alphonse’s was a highlight of their trip to the coast.
It does not seem that our cherished memories will ever be enough when compared to the chance at one more heartfelt
Then, a few doors south, Jim Bertram left his second
conversation with these lost local legends. They made so
story residence and studio on Main Street when he needed
many contributions and were such an integral part of the
assisted living. Just prior, well into his later years, he could
town that it seems the tremendous void left by their deaths
be seen working in the morning at the Mendocino Bakery,
cannot be filled. It leaves us to think about their absence and
or on a midday bike ride on Heeser Drive, peddling past
ponder all of the others who also passed during the early
Portuguese Flats. In the evening he would often occupy
years of the 21st century. We are left with the melancholy of
a window seat at the Mendocino Hotel, drinking a brandy
loss but also their spirit, which remains a motivating force to
while gazing out at the bay. His calligraphic-style paintings
many in Mendocino and beyond.
are displayed annually inside the Mendocino Music Festival main tent, reminding us of his talents.
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Bishop-Beggs House 2004, Oil, 16”x 20” In the collection of John and Joyce Ogden; Toronto, Canada
Hermie’s Bedroom from the Summer of ‘42 The upstairs room with the “T” window played the part of Hermie’s bedroom in the film Summer of ‘42, shot on location in Mendocino in 1970. Major interior scenes were filmed in the yellow house on Woodward Alley across from Crown Hall, but the upstairs bedroom in the Bishop-Beggs house provided the right combination of light and space that the director was looking for in this one scene.
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Green House and Red House with Kelliowen Hall Oil, 16”x 20” In the collection of Barry and Wendy Cusick; Mendocino, California
Byrd Baker and Kelliowen Hall Byrd Baker once lived in the “red house” and sold his carved whale sculptures in the front yard circa 1976. One of his works can still be seen in front of the McCallum house across the street. The taller cream-colored building in the background is Kelliowen Hall, a multipurpose community room. The unusual name is the combination of the last names of William Kelly and his wife, Eliza Owen. She was the only Baptist in town, so William Kelly built the red church in the painting opposite just for her.
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Green House with Baptist Church 2002, Oil, 16” X 20” In a private collection
The Mendocino Whale Wars Byrd Baker is credited with originating the name “Mendocino Whale Wars.” Byrd viewed reports about the environmental group Green Peace as he watched the nightly TV news while sitting in a bar in Mendocino village. He was profoundly affected by the sight of Russian harpoons flying over the heads of Green Peace activists aimed at whales swimming next to a hunting vessel. He was determined to take action to “save god’s whales.” In December of 1975, the Mendocino Whale Wars Association was formed by Byrd Baker, J.D. Mayhew, John Griffin and Nicolas Wilson with John Bear serving as first president. Byrd borrowed the very same Oregon-based ship used by Green Peace, the 66 foot Phyllis Cormack, for the Mendocino Whale Wars. Film footage of Byrd and friends intercepting whaling ships off the California coast is shown annually at the Mendocino Whale Watch Festival the first weekend of March.
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Green and Yellow Houses on Ukiah Street 2006, Oil, 16” X 20” In the collection of Jim and Cheryl Deem; Arlington, Virginia
Ukiah Street Homes Barry and Heidi Cusick lived in the house next to the blue cottage at left in 1975. When the new arrivals were moving into the house, the weight of the refrigerator caused it to fall through the rotted flooring. The Cusicks were in a bind with all their money “in the house,” a broken refrigerator and a newborn. Mendosa’s Market sold the Cusicks a $360 refrigerator on good faith and a promise of ten dollar monthly payments. Barry attempted to tell them, “I do not have a job!” But the Mendosa staff asked only for his name and post office box number. Before the Cusicks could even return home, the Mendosa team of Eddie Dovorak and Art Piscitelli had already delivered the new appliance. Cusick paid off the loan in three years. The refrigerator is still running and in use forty years later, six blocks away at his Pine Street home!
Blue Cottage with Fences
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2006, Oil, 16”x20”
Cottage Behind Crown Hall, Oil, 16”x 20” In the collection of Mark and Jan Roberto, Springfield, Ohio
The Mendocino Connection with East of Eden And everything changed color. And the world opened out. And a day was good to awaken to. And there were no limits to anything. And the people of the world were good and handsome. And I was not afraid anymore. The preciousness lies in the lonely mind of a man. I believe a strong woman may be stronger than a man, particularly if she happens to have love in her heart. I guess a loving woman is indestructable. —John Steinbeck, East of Eden
165
Western Calpella Street—The Street of the Sisters
Houses with Backyard Fences 2006, Oil on Canvas, 18”x 24” In the collection of Bob and Debbie Handley; Lee’s Summit, Missouri
The Street of the Sisters Between 1878 and 1886, five Thomas sisters arrived to Mendocino village from Flores Island in the Azores. Annie, Rosa, Marianna, Joaquina and Maria Thomas chose to settle along or near western Calpella Street, one of three Portuguese districts in Mendocino. Joaquina lived with her husband on Calpella Street on the crest of a hill in the red cottage seen in the painting on the facing page. Sister Maria lived directly across the street with her husband Antone Bettencourt. The heroic pioneer women of Mendocino is a favorite theme of novelist Vicki Hessel Werkley in her upcoming book, Taking the Redwoods.
166
Cottage with Tower of Jewels
2006, Oil, 16”x 20”
In the collection of Meredith Smith; Mendocino, California
King-Rice Cottage 2004, Oil, 14” X 18” In the collection of Peggy McCullough; Sedona, Arizona
The Disappearing Second Story Just down the hill one block from the King-Rice Cottage is the Silva family home, well-known in Mendocino legend and lore for the patriarch who lopped off the second story in the 1940s when the family was away for the day because it was too expensive to heat, much to the bewilderment of the family.
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Red Cottage with Blue Hydranga 2007, Oil, 16�x20� In the collection of Scott and Patricia Teaford
Woodblock Inspiration Mendocino has a rich tradition of woodblock printing. Printmaker Anne Kendall Foote is honored with a room dedicated in her name in the Kelley House Museum, where her dynamic block prints grace the walls of an upstairs bedroom. Emmy Lou Packard created blackand-white block prints and is regarded as an important artist of the twentieth century. Art Center founder Bill Zacha was influenced by Japanese block printer Toshio Yoshida. Dor Bothwell admired their work and produced her own block prints.
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Shake Cottage with Pine 2003, Oil, 16” X 20” In a private collection
The Mendocino Style One of Bill Zacha’s most treasured cohorts was the multi-talented Dorr Bothwell. She and Zacha created a Mendocino style, simplified imagery derived from fences, foliage, headland fields and buildings of their seaside home that was used in their print-making media. The Mendocino style incorporates the use of positive and negative shapes in muted tones, working in silk-screen and block printing. These lessons learned are covered in a book she co-authored titled Notan: The Dark-Light Principle of Design. Zacha’s enthusiasm for art was such that he tempted Bothwell to relocate from San Francisco to Mendocino by offering her free housing—a generous gesture that would be unheard of in today’s real estate market. Bothwell’s acclaimed works can be seen in both the Metropolitan and the Modern Museum of Art in New York. The Japanese concept of notan is exemplified by the dark row of fences in the painting at left.
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Mendocino Headlands
Mendocino Archway 2006, Oil, 16” X 20” In the collection of Patricia Dillon; El Sobrante, California
Songs of Mendocino Talk to Me of Mendocino Musicians have described their attraction to the North Coast
It has been covered by a number of well-known singers, including Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris and Nora Jones.
shores in memorable songs. “Talk to Me of Mendocino” was
Closing my eyes I hear the sea
written and originally recorded by Canadian sisters Anna and Kate
Must I wait, must I follow?
McGarrigle.
Won’t you say “Come with me?”
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Mendocino Doug Sahm, front man for The Sir Douglas Quintet, wrote “Mendocino” in 1969. “My dad got busted for pot in Texas and decided to move to San Francisco. Dad traveled up to the North Coast from San Francisco and fell in love and wrote about it,” said his son Pyramid Rock Oil on Canvas, 18”x 24” In the collection of Chip Hooper; Carmel Valley, California
Shawn Sahm in 2014. The keyboard-driven song reached #27 on the U.S. Billboard charts and was an even bigger hit in Europe. The iconic musician presented a unique image that was part hippie, part cowboy, while his group, the Texas Tornados, produced music that defied category. Teeny Bopper, my teenage lover I caught your waves last night It sent my mind to wonderin’ You’re such a groove.
“H” Rock 2006, Oil on Canvas, 16”x 20” In the collection of Jeff and Alicia Leite; Coopersburg, Pennsylvania
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School House with Church 2002, Oil on Canvas, 18”x 24” In the collection of Scott and Patricia Teaford
Caspar
B
efore Caspar was settled as a lumber mill town, a shipwreck and a ship landing played significant roles in the history of the North Coast. First, the clipper Frolic
ran aground in 1850 while en route to San Francisco from China. Then in 1854, a small unnamed wooden boat, also from China, made land at Caspar Beach with the first Chinese to inhabit the North Coast. The Chinese went south to Mendocino City to begin a new life and create a Chinatown on the headlands. The wreck of the Frolic triggered the arrival of salvagers at the site of the disaster to attempt to retrieve the ship’s cargo of Chinese porcelain and other goods. What they discovered proved to be much more valuable: vast forests of virgin redwood and Douglas fir that covered the hills for miles around. In 1851, Henry Meiggs, a San Francisco entrepreneur, sent Jerome Ford to see what he could salvage from the wreck of the Frolic—he arrived too late, but he did note the oddity of Pomo women wearing silk shawls. Based on Ford’s report, Meiggs decided to choose this remote location to create a mill town, Mendocino City, four miles to the south. Nine years later in 1861, a steam powered lumber mill was built at Caspar Creek by founders of the Mendocino Mill. By 1889, electric lights at the mill allowed lumber schooners to locate the anchorage at night. Life was anything but harsh for the 500 residents, as they had the use and enjoyment of a hotel, five saloons, a school, a lodge hall, an indoor roller-skating rink, and a baseball team that had rivalries with Mendocino and Fort Bragg.
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T
The Wreck of the Frolic
anticipated to bring huge sale prices of up to 75 percent
he Frolic met her demise on the evening of July 25,
profit in San Francisco. The cargo of the Frolic was to mirror
1850, on the north side of present day Point Cabrillo
that of the Eveline, which had recently earned huge profits
Lighthouse. Captain Edward H. Faucon made an error
in San Francisco. John Rogers Cooper of Monterey was the
judging the distance to the shore, due to hazy skies, and hit a
captain of the Eveline on this successful voyage. His brother-
reef. The Frolic was a 97-foot long, two masted sailing vessel
in-law, Jacob Leese, with the help of John Everett, had the
making her final voyage from Hong Kong to San Francisco.
retail acumen to select the items in Canton and also chose
The ship was at the end of a forty-five day journey, filled
the cargo for the Frolic’s last hurrah voyage. It took three
with items from China to be sold in the boomtown of San
months to fill the Eveline as the suppliers in Canton were
Francisco.
low on inventory, having recently sold goods to four other
The Augustine Heard & Company had commissioned
ships. These would be some of the same manufacturers used
the construction of the brig with the intent of transporting
to provide cargo for the Frolic. Everett knew tough times and
opium from Bombay, India, to Canton, China. The ship was
the import-export business, having spent years on Boston
designed in Boston and built in Baltimore at the Gardener
brigs trading up and down the California coast at missions
Brothers shipyard in the summer of 1844. Prominent New
and pueblos from San Diego to San Francisco. His carefully
England families were investors in the Frolic, including
developed contacts with Larkin and Leese were now finally
Thomas O. Larkin Sr., and did not want it to be known that
coming to fruition. But fate intercepted the Frolic some 160
they had participated and profited in this illegal trade. The hull
miles north of her final destination of San Francisco. Most of
was constructed with a narrow “V” shape for speed in order to
the extensive cargo ended up in the Pacific Ocean instead of
avoid being intercepted while filled with opium. The Frolic had
in the homes of newly founded Yerba Buena.
made numerous runs in the South Seas over a six year span.
The captain, officers and crew survived by fleeing in
By 1848, steamships were replacing sailing brigs.
lifeboats to make shore two miles south at Big River beach
The Frolic had developed rot in the hull and outlived her
in present day Mendocino. Six frightened crew members
usefulness. The Augustine Heard & Company planned
refused to leave the Frolic and clung to the rigging for an
a final run for this obsolete clipper ship. The Frolic was
entire night. Three were Malaysian; two were Chinese and
laden with carefully selected items of Chinese trade goods
one was a Panaji boy. They were terrified of jumping from the
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Point Cabrillo Lighthouse
2000, Oil, 20” X 30”
safety of the rigging into the lifeboats with the surging sea and
who were left behind set out on foot, heading inland. They
crashing waves battering the vessel. The next day a lifeboat
never made it to San Francisco to collect their pay. To this
returned for the six weary crew members, who at that point
day, it remains a mystery as to what happened to them. The
were finally ready to spring from the rigging into the lifeboat.
Augustine Heard & Company collected the insurance money
They were taken to the nearest beach, where they proceeded
after the wreck and some speculate this was why Captain
to kiss the ground. Once at Big River, Captain Faucon and
Faucon did not attempt to salvage the cargo. The wreck of
several others rowed a lifeboat south, close to the shoreline,
the Frolic occurred two years before the California Lumber
until they reached Fort Ross and then Bodega Rancho, where
& Manufacturing Company was founded at Big River. These
they ate and rested. They made it to San Francisco, their
shipwreck survivors preceded another survivor of a seagoing
intended destination. Food and supplies had been salvaged to
disaster—William Kasten, who would soon have a claim on
aid in their journey down the coast. Eighteen crew members
the western headlands overlooking Mendocino Bay.
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they were in the north part of town, west of and adjoining the
T
John Simpson Ross II
coast road. This piece of land was nearly covered with brush and
he story of John Simpson Ross II is told in an
bull pine trees … He had a part cleared off in order to build a
autobiography he wrote in Elk at his residence, now
house. A lumber schooner had been wrecked in the vicinity and
known as the Harbor House, in the years 1933-37. He was
the lumber washed up on the beach, so in addition to the lumber
the son of a preacher who became a key lumberman in the
purchased from the Caspar Lumber Company, he salvaged a
early days of the North Coast. His father, John Simpson Ross
great deal of lumber from the wreck. From this the house was
Sr., arrived from Canada prior to his family and became the
built.
Baptist minister of Caspar.
The old school house stood across the street from where the
John Simpson Ross II first arrived in California in 1870
Caspar Lumber Company’s brick store and office now stands
on a train with his mother, two siblings and grandparents to
… the pupils were the Alex Gordon family, Harry Burwash, the
join his father. He wrote, I was only about three and a half years
Marshes, Kuhns, Doyles, O’Briens, Cummingses, MacCallums,
old … I remember the Indians on the platforms near the passed
Snows, Lame John Gordons, the Gordons of Pine Grove,
stations that we saw when coming through the States.
Davidsons, Morans, Mathews, Colburns, Gregors, Heldts and
The family traveled the final leg by boat from San
some more whom I forgot.
Francisco, arriving at Caspar Landing in June of 1870. His
I had a professor, H.E. Whipple, surely of the old school.
father had left Thurso, Canada, to come to the Golden State
Sometimes he would keep a student at recess, and he would
in 1869 due to health reasons.
become so absorbed in the (Bible) reading that if a student
Six years prior to Ross’s arrival, the Caspar Mill opened under the direction of William Kelley and Captain Rundle,
escaped by crawling out the open window, he would never remember having kept him in.
pioneers in the Mendocino Mill. Ross recalled how his new
The men worked six exhausting days a week in the mill.
home looked from his boyhood days in the 1870s. The town
A typical workday at the Caspar Mill in1879 began when the
consisted of a few dwellings , cabins for single men, the Company’s
whistle blew at 5:15 a.m. The workers went to the cookhouse
store, a hotel, a few saloons, but no church—the nearest church
for a cup of coffee and a cold biscuit. At twenty minutes
being in Mendocino five miles to the south.
to six they began work till 7:00 a.m. They returned to the
My father had purchased ten acres of land from Alex Gordon;
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cookhouse for a hot breakfast, then back to work at 7:20 and
Baptist Church 2001-2002, Oil, 20” X 24” In the collection of Patricia Dillon; El Sobrante, California
continued till noon .After a lunch break, it was back to work
said, Goaded on for six successive days at this high pressure and
at 12:30 p.m. This shift went all the way to 6:40 p.m. then
speed they were completely exhausted with fatigue …I saw my
back for dinner.
fellow men busy at their daily avocation, many toiling hard with
On the Sabbath, some men were so exhausted that they
no bright prospect of any future reward, and I who had the hope
did not leave their cabins to attend church services. Minister
through faith in Christ: why should I not faithfully persevere in
John Simpson Ross Sr. reflected how on Sundays he had the
my high calling, rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him?
impossible job of preaching to a town too weary to attend and
In the early days of Caspar whites lived next to Indians.
those who did were too tired to comprehend the sermon. He
Ross recalled, A party of them had a camp right opposite
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Red House with Cypress 2003, Oil, 18”x 24” In the collection of Fritz and Simone Dietz; Zurich, Switzerland
our house, some hundred feet away, in the pines that grew on
old frying pan that was lying on the ground, and struck Martin
that side of the coast road. He witnessed the torturing and
on the side of the head, laying him out stiff as a poker. You can
killing of Native Americans by white members of town. His
imagine this put him on good terms with the Indians.
grandfather came to the rescue one time. He wrote, They
His grandfather was like no other at age 70. Ross said,
were miserably treated by the whites. I remember hearing a
He went into a field that a runaway bull had entered and side-
commotion and screaming over at the Rancheria, as if someone
stepped the charging beast several times and … grabbed the bull
was being tortured. Grandfather Ralston rushed over and found
by the horns, and gave a mighty twist. We heard the bones crack.
a big, burly roughneck, by the name of Caspar Martin, abusing
It was some time before the bull came out of its daze; it left the
the Indians. Grandfather rushed into the scrap, grabbed up an
field with a crooked neck that never did quite straighten out.”
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Cottages with Fence 2002, Oil, 16”x 20” In the collection of Tim and Laura Zadel; San Jose California
House with Pine Oil on Canvas, 16”x 20” In the collection of Steve and Printha Worthen; Fort Bragg California In memory of Nancy Azevedo from the bequest of Harry and Debbie Carrison
179
His confounding deeds continued as once he confronted
responsibility. In time, he began to manage the books of
a coward, Pete Davis, who was hiding out at Heldt’s Saloon
all of Heeser’s enterprises—Mendocino Savings Bank,
after beating his wife and children. He treated his family like
Mendocino Discount Bank, the Mendocino Beacon newspaper
dogs. The local women wanted to put an end to the constant
and Mendocino Lumber Company—for a monthly sum of
abuse inflicted on his family. Davis was hiding from a group
forty-five dollars. While working for Heeser he established a
of women who had formed to accost him for his abusive
solid business reputation in the county. Ross II would utilize
deeds, which included Christina McDonald, who weighed
this financial knowledge as a mill superintendant at mills in
200 pounds, and his mother. Grandfather made a rush for
Cleone, Caspar, Greenwood and Mendocino.
him (inside the saloon) and grabbed him by the back of the neck,
He managed the final years of the old Mendocino Mill for
shook him as a terrier would a rat, and marched him up the street
E.C. Williams and Captain Simpson (who bought the Ford
to where the women were waiting. By the time he got there, Davis
interests) beginning in September 1902 to December 1924.
was a mighty humble man. He begged like a trooper for mercy
He resided at the old Ford House on Main Street. “I was
… said how good he was to his family. The women told him they
well acquainted in Mendocino,” he said. “Nearly everyone,
were going to put him in a water trough, not once but several
especially the Portuguese fraternity, was glad to see me in
times. However, he made so many promises of good behavior that
charge.”
they let him off on probation—much to my grandfather’s chagrin
He attempted to update the mill into a modern era with
(I suppose he wanted to finish the job). Anyway, he treated his
a new boiler plant, run by steam, which was an economical
family better after that … but my grandfather had sized him up
upgrade. But the old West Point graduate E.C. Williams was
right: a man who will beat up his own family is nothing but a
set in his ways and resisted most change. In 1902, the mill
coward—as proved that day in the saloon.
still had two yoke of oxen in use to haul the cars up the incline
At eighteen years of age, John Simpson Ross II was
using tarred Manila rope. Still even with these handicaps,
hired as an assistant bookkeeper by August Heeser in 1884.
under his direction for twenty-two years, the mill sawed over
At first, he filed papers and then slowly he was given more
500 million feet of lumber!
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House with Stovepipe and Chimney
2006, Oil, 18� X 24�
Searching for the Mountain of Gold In 1854, a small wooden boat landed somewhere near Caspar. No one knows exactly where, but it could have been the small beach on the west edge of Caspar. Eight Chinese men were on board who had survived a trans-Pacific journey that lasted years. Farmers from Canton who had trained to sail in the Philippines, they followed the continents and the Black Tide current down the west side of the Pacific Ocean to California in search of the Mountain of Gold. The Chinese walked four miles south to find not gold, but Mendocino.
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182
Frontage Road Looking West Oil on Canvas, 18”x 24” In the collection of Howard and Reka Goode; Oakland, California
The Last Southerly Stand by Kevin Milligan On the left side of Frontage Road is the ravine of Caspar Creek. The town’s cemetery is located on a small hill above the ravine and the citizens of Caspar are laid to rest beneath the last southerly grove of Sitka spruce.
Caspar citizens laid to rest Beneath coastal conifers in shade On slopes facing west The mighty verdant glade Grows in seaside mist best Through the dense grove Shafts of light reach mossy headstones below On a hill near the lumber mill cove From Sitka all the way to Caspar, the tall trees grow The screech of the mother osprey cries That echo from a tree top nest The silence is broken To give the last goodbyes On this blessed land No words are spoken In the last southerly stand.
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Green Cottage with Roses 2002, Oil, 18” X 24” In the collection of Jim and Sally Otvos; Cary, North Carolina
184
Fence Line Roses by Kevin Milligan Chased whales and dreams ‘round the Horn Left the Azores Islands where they were born Found a home on distant shores
No getting older Last grains of sand
On Mendocino headlands where golden grasses sway From Pico, Flores, and San Miguel Seaside breezes everyday Only time would tell
Fathers gave their blood and sweat Caught in rope rigging unable to be freed Francisco Mendosa lost an arm with no time for regret Forward the one armed man would proceed Opened a market to serve the village need His eight children inspired by the heroic deed
Chorus: Their hearts always had room Fence line roses still bloom
Chorus: Their hearts always had room Fence line roses still bloom
On Pentecost processions thru town, A young princess wore a silver crown Families dressed in Sunday best and her, a flowing gown To celebrate Fifty Holy Days And continue Old World ways
Hauling trees with oxen down a skid row Logs slid on a corduroy road To currents of Big River below Floated to the mill-timber cut and sold Oxen pulled boards on tracks by rail Up to Headlands stacked high Left in the sun to dry Loaded on to the Babolink, Ocean Pearl, and Golden Rule to set sail, Bound for San Francisco Bay Gold Rush frontier underway
At Festa, sopa was made of bread and beef Delivered door to door for one and all Staying true to family belief Families of Mendosa, Thomas, Silva, Lemos, and Nieto together in Crown Hall Danced the Chamarita into the night (with guitars and accordions) Tradition shown bright Chorus: Their hearts always had room Fence line roses still bloom Felled tallest trees on earth Impossible to measure their worth Lives hung in the balance, a sacrifice for family sake Masonic Figures preside over men at work Angel of Death ready to take Arduous tasks not to shirk Watching in silence, scythe against his shoulder Hourglass has emptied and time is at hand
Chorus: Their hearts always had room Fence line roses still bloom Echos of their spirit can be heard in the wind Through branches of outstretched pines And sun-dried grasses on headland fields with blackberry vines Crashing waves below For all to know In Mendocino, Mendocino, Mendocino … Generosity … A journey of destiny Chorus: Their hearts always had room Fence line roses still bloom
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186 Tower of Jewel with Green Field 2012, Oil, 16”x 20” Private Collection
Hooptedoodle! * “Sometimes I want a book to break loose with a bunch of hooptedoodle … Spin up some pretty words maybe or sing a little song with language. That’s nice. But I wish it was set aside so I don’t have to read it. I don’t want hooptedoodle to get mixed up with the story.” —Mack in John Steinbeck’s Sweet Thursday, describing the kind of books he likes.
“We could have made a fortune if there had been a brand of whiskey named Old Tennis Shoes.”
—Frances Yee, whose family owned the Wing Chong market, the inspiration for Lee Chong’s store in Steinbeck’s Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday.
“John Steinbeck was ready to unravel his intertwined heritage of place, history and people—and to retie it with a knot of his own invention.”
—Dr. Susan Shillinglaw, director of the National Steinbeck Center, on the author’s frame of mind when he commenced to writing his epic work, East of Eden.
“Yeah they’re pulling up the rails and selling them to Japan. They will probably come back to us in the form of bullets!”
—John “Johan” Matson, as the railroad tracks near Elk were being torn apart and sold as scrap to Japan just before World War II.
“She was too modern for stand-pat conservatives and too like nature for doctrinaire moderns.”
—A critic reviewing the exhibition of E. Charlton Fortune’s exhibition at the Del Monte Art Gallery of Monterey in 1928.
“I want to develop a technique that would express my efforts to capture light and movement.”
—Artist E. Charleton Fortune
“My goal is to make organic, timeless structures. Each of the buildings was made to fit the site which kept me from repeating myself.” —Mickey Muennig, renown Big Sur architect “A fortune teller I knew told me that I had a chance to remake my life. What I really wanted to do was to find a place like Carmel or Monterey were forty years ago, when the artists and writers were there. She said Mendocino, and I put my things in the back of my Buick and came here. What happened in Mendocino gave us the feeling that we could influence the course of events by our dreams and visions. The people who came helped complete our connection with the arts and I think we did have a Golden Age.” —Charles Stevenson of Mendocino, speaking about his long-time dream to be part of a Golden Age of Art.
“Hooptedoodle” comes from a passage in Steinbeck’s SWEET THURSDAY.
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John Steinbeck once said that the Salinas Valley haunted him, “like a remembered symphony.” Kevin Milligan’s stunning paintings of this region may also linger in the mind. His paintings and the stories that accompany them trace the shadows, surf, and human presence in the place Steinbeck called home—Monterey County, Big Sur and north to San Francisco. Milligan’s book follows Highway 1 further north to Mendocino, where the opening of Elia Kazan’s East of Eden was filmed. This lovely volume of images and text will help us see and experience anew the magic of this region--to appreciate the summits and vistas of the country that Steinbeck wrote about—and Milligan paints--with great sensitivity. — Susan Shillinglaw Executive Director, National Steinbeck Center
Kevin’s magnificent work captures an exquisite sense of place both rooted in and celebrating the physical, emotional and historic beauty of this region. For those of us fortunate enough to live here year-round, Kevin’s magnificent work reminds us what we value, why we stay and why we work so hard to protect this gorgeous and fragile region. For everyone fortunate enough to visit, his work captures some of your best memories and includes spots you may have missed. For all of us, Kevin’s book is a treasure chest of stories and paintings and iconic moments that commemorate and illuminate one of the most loved regions in the world. — Paulette Lynch
Executive Director, Arts Council for Monterey County
In this book Milligan pays appropriate homage to the artists and writers who came before him. He now adds to this lineage his contribution of unique, tranquil, inspired views that were over twenty years in the making. — Marvin Schenck
Board Member, Mendocino County Arts Council
$85.00 ISBN 978-0-692-97790-3
58500>