To enjoy the stories and images, please click here
Thursday, Dec 10: Muralist/Artist Ellen Joseph Invites You View Her Latest Work at US Bank
Ellen Joseph
Muralist and Fine Artist
www.ellenjoseph.com
Studio: (650) 728-7518
Cell: (415) 722-7420De
On the Road in New Zealand: One Flat White In A Tulip Cup, Please
On the South Island in New Zealand there’s a Half Moon Bay Scenic Reserve Stream Walk
A few weeks ago, my New Zealand guide, silver jewelry designer Paula Martin visited the reserve and enjoyed the sight of baby seals playing in the misty falls. They had somehow gotten way upstream to this dreamy place. When we revisited the falls a couple of days ago, the baby seals were gone, probably to join their family at the sea– but please join me now on the beautiful walk…
Dr. Eric Z. Shapira Autographing “A New Wrinkle” at Harbor Books….
Luckily, I ventured into a very busy Harbor Books at Princeton-by-the-Sea this afternoon in time to pick up an autographed copy of Dr. Eric Shapira’s book: “A New Wrinkle: What I learned from Older People Who Never Acted Their Age.”
Many of Dr. Shapira’s fans were there, prominent among them
Sally Benson and Dr. Shapira’s wife, Susan
Angelo Mithos: On Montara’s Dangling Rails
Story by Angelo Mithos
The Montara washout (dangling rails) is a puzzlement. When I first read about and saw a picture of the suspended track over Montara Creek, I thought the trestle had washed away. Now not so sure. I searched all my OS material and couldn’t find the original article. In an Arcadia Publishing book , San Mateo Coast by Michael
Smookler, Pg. 50, appears the same photo that June sent to John V., except more of the landscape appears to left and right. Caption reads: “Montara Creek flooded and washed away the ground underneath the railroad tracks some time between 1907 and 1919, as shown in this westward-facing photograph. Point Montara Lighthouse buildings are on the shore side of the tracks. A trestle was later built to support the tracks. (Courtesy F. Bezek.)”
In another Arcadia book, Ocean Shore Railroad by Chris Hunter, on Pg.89 is a picture of a woman sitting on a trestle support. The caption reads: “Ted Wurm’s mother is shown perched here on the Montara trestle in 1916. The late Ted Wurm had a lifelong love affair with the Ocean Shore Railroad.” ( Note: no Montara trestle appears in the Trestle list in Wagner’s OS book.) It is obvious there’s no roadway immediately to Mrs. Wurm’s right. I mention this because on Pg. 126 is a photo showing Mr. Wurm Sr. (holding a single barrel gun), presumed Mrs. Wurm, another woman, and a small child all posing atop the trestle.
I have a photgraph of the same people, posed the same way, given to me in the late 1930s by Ted Wurm along with several other OS pictures, The only differences between it and the book’s picture is that in the book picture everything is reversed–the people are posed in exactly the same way, but Mr. Wurm Sr. is on the left of the picture and presumed Mrs. Wurm is on the right. Also in the photgraph that I have, Mr. Wurm Sr.’s cap is not cut off and there are a few more railtoad ties in the foreground. And it shows the roadway in its proper place–to Mr. Wurm Sr.’s left, i.e., just East of the trestle. The party was facing South; the photographer North. This agrees with my recollection and with the 1930s Brownie photos of the trestle I still have. It’s also evident in the Wurm photo that only every other tie was spiked to the rails and no guard rails next to the main rails, in keeping with the OS’s “on the cheap” construction practices. Incidentally, does anyone know anything about F. Bezek or when the aforementioned Montara flood actually occurred? Angelo
John Vonderlin: Great Inventions of HMB: Mr. Downing’s Portable Hay and Feed Rack
Story by John Vonderlin
Email John: [email protected]
Hi June,
While Mr. Knapp’s sidehill plow (known as a “Half Moon Bay” according to articles I’ve read) is probably Half Moon Bay’s most famous invention, with one ending up at the Smithsonian, I thought Mr. Downing, deserved a nod of recognition too. Enjoy. John
Portable Hay and Feed Rack.
Good arrangements for field feeding are generally known to be of great advantage to the stock – grower in saving feed from waste and aiding in its distribution among the animals entitled to it. The engraving on this page shows a device for feeding both hay and vegetables and grain, invented by W. S. Downing of Half Moon Bay, San Mateo county, and patented through Dewey & Co.’s Agency by O. H. Walker (1910 Filbert street, S. F.) and Mr. Downing. The plan adopted for introducing this rack is to sell the right to construct, accompanied with full specifications of material cut to specified sizes, so that any one handy with the saw and hammer can easily do his own building. A circular is issued, which gives a full account of the advantages claimed for the rack, the number of animals they will accommodate, also the benefit of rack feeding generally, which will interest stock-growers. These circulars can be had by addressing the inventors as above.
John Schmale: On Viaducts
Story by John Schmale
John Schmale is the author of the “Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railroad”
Email John Schmale: [email protected]
Hi John, Angelo, June,
Years ago I went through all of the newspapers that I could find day-by-day, wishing that there was a database that could show me only what I need and not have to search the entire paper. How wonderfully the internet has changed the way we do everything. I checked my files and I indeed had the same article. The via duct was built in 1905 by the Ocean Shore Railway to cross over the Southern Pacific tracks at Florida & Division Streets in San Francisco. The approaches were very steep and the Ocean shore crews had a hard time holding the trains on the steep grade. In 1908 the trestle was eliminated and a regular grade crossing of the SPs old mainline was installed. The SP had completed their Bayshore Cutoff line through Brisbane and South San Francisco thus allowing the routing almost all of their traffic over the new route. The OSRY tracks had just reached Tunitas Creek. The trestle was built using the surplus timbers and material from the Viaduct. I do have photo, I will locate it.
John Schmale
This is what a field of tussocks looks like in New Zealand
On my drive through New Zealand’s South Island this sight never hurts the eyes. They look like grasses, and we who live in Half Moon Bay might have one or two or three grasses in the garden but these tussocks come in masses and their golden color, texture and shape never bores. The tussock covered landscape reminds me of one huge mural, as big as you can imagine.
Some people say there are great similarities between the bucolic scenery of the Coastside and New Zealand’s remote South Island–and it’s true, if you visit, many sights will seem familiar. You will think, gee, that reminds me of back home. It definitely does. But here there is just so much more of everything, and it seems to be designed by an artist who was a perfectionist. There are no natural flaws here. I’ve commented before that the color of the water is dazzling, call it turquoise, aquamarine, opal or eggs nest blue. The colors will call to you, draw you in. It’s also freezing cold.
Lakes are everywhere, so pretty and blue they must have inspired the authors of old-fashioned fairy tales. There are thousands of cows, black and white, brown and white, deer, Elk, sheep, white and merino, and heaps of stunning rocks that come in as many shapes and sizes as do the endless mountains, some with what appear to be hanging gardens. Along one stretch of road someone began the tradition of gathering rocks into a small pile and every few feet this has been replicated. I stopped the car and made one of these piles myself–it’s kind of like leaving a tiny bit of yourself in the midst of the giant-sized scenery.
Having recently finished an Arcadia book on Moss Beach, I was handling many photos of the early 20th century beach landscape, very different from what it looks like today. In the early 1900s there were many “natural curiosities” (caves, spouting rocks and elegant arches) to see at Moss Beach–it seemed to be in a more primitive state which reminds me of the South Island beaches I’ve had the pleasure of seeing during the past week.
Kiwis are very proud and protective of their South Island with its massive collection of landscapes, one spectacular painting after the next.
John Vonderlin: Pilarcitos Honey was the “Bee’s Knees”
Story by John Vonderlin
Email John: [email protected]
Hi June,
Pilarcitos’ Honey was the Bee’s Knees or at least this March 3rd, 1888, article from the “Pacific Rural Press,” thought so. Enjoy. John
San Mateo. Pilarcitos Products —Redwood Times and Gazette:
” Pilarcitos valley has become noted for its meats, butter, fruits and honey. Our beef is of excellent quality; S. F. butchers assert that the best beef they get comes from the hill lands of the coast. The luxuriant growth of bunch-grass and evergreen grasses and shrubs serve to keep our stock in good condition, while stock in the open valley lands have to depend entirely on the fodder they get from the barn. Consequently when spring opens the stock in the foothills are already beginning to fatten. Many kinds of fruit can be raised to perfection; the most prominent are the apple, pear, plum and cherry; among the smaller fruits are strawberries, blackberries, currants, gooseberries and raspberries. The leading orchards are those of H. M. Jewell and Mr. Gilchrist. That of J. Fillmore is a very thriving young orchard. Bee-culture is a promising industry in this locality. The honey raised in the foothills is superior to much of that so-called southern honey; the mild climate makes it unnecessary to give the bees any extra protection in winter, and as a general rule the apiaries yield a handsome interest on the capital invested. Among leading apiarists are M. Knopf, H. M. Jewell and M. Diggs.”
In the 1920s it was fashionable to devise nonsense terms for excellence – ‘the snake’s hips’, ‘the kipper’s knickers”, ‘the cat’s pajamas’, ‘the sardine’s whiskers’ etc. Of these examples of “Flapper Talk”, the bee’s knees and cat’s pajamas are the only ones still used, at least by me.