Month: October 2007

As I’ve been re-reading my Granada article, I have more thoughts and more questions.

How could the Ocean Shore promise lot buyers that two schools would be built in Granada? It is true that if there was a county building department they did not keep track of construction on the Coastside. You can’t find building dates for a lot of pre-1906 earthquake buildings–and post-earthquake as well.

Perhaps, like the educational publisher, Harr Wagner, who attempted to develop an artists-only colony at Montara, the Ocean Shore Railroad had the same idea in mind for Granada–more than their showplace….There is no place on the Coastside like Granada, with its Daniel H. Burnham street plan, a plan, that incidentally, confuses many people driving through, looking for a friend’s home.

who worked at the “Half Moon Bay Review” when I used to turn in my historical columns. If you know her name, please tell me, I’ve forgotten.

(Photo: Jerry Koontz, circa 1980.)

having a Sea Glass Festival at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk this weekend, John Vonderlin tells me.

Hi June,

…I saw it online. I became acquainted with the details of the collection of this most mainstream of the branches of non-buoyant marine debris collecting, when I and my friend attended a book signing of “Pure Sea Glass,” the sea glass Bible, by Richard Lamotte in Half Moon Bay.

I don’t collect it myself, unless it has artistic potential for me, but by reserving it for my beachcombing partner, who’s collection these photos are of, I assure I get all of the treasures shown in the last photo, part of one of the many collections I have from Neptune’s Vomitorium at Invisible Beach. Though I must admit the natural glass valentine shown in the last photo is collectible even in my odd world. Enjoy. John

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Mary Beth writes:
Good morning June,
I caught your blog this morning while doing my dialy “sea glass” Google searching. I and was interested to see that you’ve mentioned the Sea Glass Festival. Just a friendly FYI, it is being put on by the North American Sea Glass Association. And I love the idea of having a Norther Cal. chapter.

Richard will be there and he’d probably sign your book for you. Someday soon perhaps we’ll get those chapters formed 🙂
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[Note: I wrote this in 1977. I did a lot of research at the San Mateo County History Museum….then I began to study old newspapers and talked to some oldtimers, now gone. It was great fun and very satisfying work.]

Every weekend crowds arrived to celebrate the most recent progress along the Ocean Shore line. Locals often joined the out-of-town speculators who hoped to turn a fast profit when the resort skyrocketed. To provide additional incentives for wavering buyers, developers offered what they guaranteed as a perfect sewer system and water supply.

Before the first summer houses appeared on the scene, building contractors poured cement sidewalks and curbs at no extra cost to the purchaser. Promoters also pointed out to potential lot buyers that they reserved land for two public schools.

…to be continued…

Why buy lots in Granada? some asked. Remember the year was about 1908 and after the devastating San Francisco Earthquake and Fire two years earlier, people were truly frightened–and many wanted to move to a “safe” place where the earth wouldn’t shake.

Some “experts” predicted that thousands would actually flee the City–and hopes for the Ocean Shore Railroad soared.  The railroad’s real estate subsidiary, the Shoreline Investment Co. chose Granada as their showplace–where they expected a large number of investors to purchase lots on the San Mateo County Coastside.

Daniel H. Burnham, one of the country’s finest landscape architects [he had designed a new street plan, with wide boulevards,  for post-earthquake San Francisco but it was never implemented] was hired to design a beautiful plan for Granada. Not just any old plan, but something different and unique.

Instead of straight lines, he sketched a series of semi-circles joining up with Plaza Alhambra.  Some avenues in Granda were 150 to 200 feet wide and architect Burnham suggested planting colorful flowers to spurce up the streets. Thousands of trees were planted on the surrounding hillsides–and when completed, everybody agreed that Granada was a masterpiece.

[Note: Irene Bettencourt told me that the Eucalyptus trees on the hillsides were planted by a San Francisco family–I have to find the name.]

….to be continued…

John Vonderlin writes:
Hi June,
I started my emails by asking about Gordon’s Chute. Here are a few related photos. The first is from the top of the hill that I have to carry the tires up. 99% of the time a shot of Tunitas will be from here.

Gordon’s Chute was anchored on the first rock projection below the cliffs to the left. You can barely see HMB(Princeton?) in the distance.The second shot is looking up from that projection at the cliffs above. The third is looking seaward from the rock. The fourth captures a little bit of the hazard the ships must have faced while loading so close to the rocky shore. The last is of an unusual feature in the nearby tidepools that is generated when waves repeatedly hit concretions exposed by erosion. I’ve only seen these in a few places.

I suspect the acceleration of the water causes this feature in the same way that an airplane wing derives lift from its shape by accelerating the air and subsequently lowering the pressure along its upper surface. Enjoy. John

One other thing. Just as Tunitas was the End of The Line for the Oceanshore R.R., Gordon’s Chute is the end of the line for beach explorers. I believe between there and Martin’s Beach is impassable despite a mention in an old book about the possibility during low tide.

I’ve been there at extremely low tide and it looks scary even to me. We are planning an attempt with wetsuits, boogie boards, cell phones, and a small, light ladder some time later this year when the lowest tides are happening. If you go to California Coastal Records Project Picture # 200506431(Gordon’s Chute’s location) or “Tunitas Tidepools” and keep hitting the Northwest 1 Button, you’ll fly along the most heavily sea caved (20+) area I know of around here. It looks pretty gnarly, but that’s why I want to see and photograph it.

“Black Joe’s Amsterdam Bar”, painting by Michael Bowen, copyright Michael Bowen, beatscene.com