Downtown Hollister Historic District: 501 Monterey Street

The red brick Hollister United Methodist Church is another contributing historic building to the Downtown Hollister Historic District, standing at the district's western perimeter. The National Register of Historic Places registration form lists the building as being built around 1880. The brick church was actually built in 1910. It was the second building for the then Methodist Episcopal Church (South). The original church was a wooden structure built in 1872. The original sanctuary is used today as the congregation's social hall.

The architecture style of the two-story church is Late Gothic Revival. Everything about the church's facade is picturesque and romantic, from its pointed spires and square towers to its rounded roof,  inviting porch, and multi-paneled windows with pointed arches.

In 2012, the Hollister United Methodist Church celebrated its 150 anniversary. To read a bit about its history, click here.  If you'd like to see photos of the church's beautiful stained glass windows, click here.

I'm hooking up at Sundays in My City, hosted by the Unknown Mami. Come check out posts of other cities around the world by clicking here.

Downtown Hollister Historic District: 725 San Benito Street

This two-story, reinforced concrete historic building in the Downtown Hollister Historic District was constructed around 1915. It is listed as 725 San Benito Street on the National Register of Historic Places registration form. The second floor shows its original face, while the first floor has been remodeled.

The registration form notes that the building was once the Winneville Hotel. Was it that originally? I have no idea. Does anyone? During the 1990s, the building was home to the Family Bargain Center. Today, the storefront is divided into three businesses:

• Smokey Pete's Smoke Shop, 727 San Benito Street
• Bella Mia Salon, 729 San Benito Street
• Eclectic Treasures, 731 San Benito Street

The ceiling in Eclectic Treasures still has the original tin tiles. Click here to see how gorgeous they look. Better yet, head over to the store. The other two shops may have the original ceiling, too.

Downtown Hollister Historic District: 101 Fifth Street

Today, most people in San Benito County know 101 Fifth Street as being the home of Pat's Place, a very cool thrift shop that raises money for the Community Food Bank of San Benito County.  Originally, the historic two-story building was a laundry called the Model French Laundry. It was constructed around 1934 by Joseph and Marie Latapie, according to Welcome to Historic Downtown Hollister, a walking tour pamphlet by Sharlene Van Rooy. The Latapies moved from San Francisco to Hollister after the 1906 earthquake and operated their laundry in two other locations previously to settling at 101 Fifth Street.

This is a contributing building to the Downtown Hollister Historic District. It was noted in the registration form submitted to the National Register of Historic Places for its parapet with a zig-zag band at the top to building and the tiled cornice with false vigas a foot or so below the parapet. The alluring arched doorway on the right side of the building was mentioned, too. I think the light fixture beside the doorway also gives the building its pizazz.

The storefront, with its anodized aluminum door and windows, was remodeled in the 1980s.

When I was a kid in the 1960s, I was fascinated with the Model French Laundry. The name always made made me think of the Eiffel Tower and I thought all French buildings had to look like this cute one. I never went into the laundry, but that did not stop me from imagining people inside speaking  French and having a special way of making the clothes they laundered look chic and ooh-la-la.

Downtown Hollister Historic District: 542 San Benito Street

One of the contributing historic buildings to the Downtown Hollister Historic District stands at 542 San Benito Street. Until a few years ago, it was home to Enterprise Electric. Several decades before that it was the K&S Market.  Today, the building is empty and up for sale.

The two-story commercial edifice was built around 1915, with the first floor being remodeled around 1970. The storefront has a modern look, while the second floor, which has four apartments, retains its original architectural style.

The ornamentation on the top of the second floor is quite handsome. Here's a partial description of the second story design from the registration form that was submitted in 1992 to the National Register of Historic Places:

". . .The parapet, which is the front (east) elevation, is divided into two curved sections. The cornice has a paneled band, a dentil course, and decorative brackets that appear to re-emerge above the paneling and give the effect of clamps. . . ."

Signs of San Juan Bautista

About seven miles west of Hollister is the second biggest city in San Benito County -- San Juan Bautista. In 2013, the U.S. Census estimated its population to be 1,922.  It's a quaint town to wander around, especially if you're into exploring California history. The city was named after Mission San Juan Bautista, the fifteenth in the chain of 21 missions that the Spanish Franciscan friars built between San Diego and Sonoma.

The grounds of Carl Martin Luck Memorial Library and the adjoining Carl Martin Luck Museum and Carl Martin Luck Memorial Park were donated to the city by Francisca Luck, the daughter of Mr. Carl Martin Luck, when she passed away in 1974. She stipulated in her will that the property be used for a library, museum, and park complex in honor of the memory of her father, who operated a gas station there. Today, the renovated gas station is the museum. 

Every holiday season for the past 30-some years, the city puts up its beautifully hand painted wooden icons along Third Street, the city's main street. Restored in 2010 by local artists, the icons honor the saints for which the California missions were named.

Along with its history, San Juan Bautista offers visitors a richness in art and theater -- El Teatro Campesiño is based here, as well as a variety of shops and restaurants to enjoy. To start your exploration, check out this online guide of San Juan Bautista.

Today, I'm linking up at Our World Tuesday. To see what's going on in other parts of the world, please click here.

Not the Same

Methinks it's time again to say that Hollister, California, the store, is not the same as Hollister, California, the city.

Yup.

Abercrombie & Fitch began selling apparel with the Hollister brand in 2000, which is weaved around the fictional beach town of Hollister in Southern California where the made-up Hollister Company is located. Either the fantasy town or company was established in 1922 by an imaginary  Dutch East Indies immigrant named John Hollister. The marketing team must've had fun dreaming up the fanciful, fake Hollister, California story.

The real city of Hollister is located in San Benito County, the only landlocked county of the Central Coast region of California, which is about 45 miles east of the Pacific Ocean. The ocean breeze, as well as the fog, comes through the low mountain passes on most days. Thank goodness for that, otherwise the temperatures, especially in the summer, would be unbearably hot.

Hollister was founded in 1868 and, until it incorporated as a city in 1872, the town was part of Monterey County. Two years later, Hollister became the county seat of the newly formed San Benito County.

The main industry in our county is agriculture. It has been from the start and unless all the ranchers and farmers sell their land to housing developers and oil companies, we shall always be an agricultural community. Something for which we, locals, ought to be proud. The number of local farmers and ranchers choosing to follow sustainable and organic farming practices continues to increase, which I think is good for both our health and the environment.

The mascot for our local high school is the Haybaler, also called Baler. Not a machine, but a young farmer. Everyone who goes--and went--to San Benito High School, also known as Hollister High School, is a Haybaler, regardless of whether the person played a sport or not. Once a Haybaler, always a Haybaler.

I don't know about the history of the mascot, but in the late 19th century, our area was known for the quality and quantity of its Hollister Hay. During the summer of 1892, for example, 5,412 tons of hay was shipped from Hollister to Seattle, San Diego, Chicago, New York, and other parts of the United States.  In fact, the Lathrop Hay Company, owned by Hollister pioneer resident Levi B. Lathrop, constructed some of the largest hay warehouses in the world back then. Lathrop built the first hay warehouse to have a railroad track running through it and to have railroad track scales. That's rather impressive.

Hey! How did I end up talking about hay?

Today is Mrs. Denise Nesbitt's ABC Wednesday. I'll be checking out posts featuring the letter N. Come join me by clicking here.

A Puddy Cat

The other day, I was standing in front of the Porter House on Monterey Street, fantasizing yet again about having an office in the tower room. Then I gazed down to the front porch, which I also admire, when I saw something on the drying lawn.

I "taut I taw a puddy cat."

And, just as Tweety Bird said, "I did, I did. I did see a puddy cat."

If you'd like to know a bit of history about the Porter House and see a photo of the tower, please click here.

Today is Our World Tuesday, and that's where I'm hanging out. Come join me by clicking here.

Limekiln Monorail

 

Limekiln Monorail
Built in 1894 by J.J. Burt to carry "diamond brand" lime from Harlan Mt. to the S.P. Railroad at Tres Pinos.

The track was a single wooden rail. The locomotive was wood fueled steam operated. On its maiden voyage, the engine exploded while taking on water from Pescadero Creek thus ending the operation forever.  

So states this E Clampus Vitus plaque that stands towards the southern end of Cienega Road, which was erected on April 21, 1979 by Monterey Viejo Chapter 1846. 

Doesn't the idea of a monorail at the turn of the 19th century running all the way from Tres Pinos to Cienega Road just astound you? It does me. 

J.J. Burt was the owner of the Cienega Lime Works, which makes sense for the name of Limekiln Road off Cienega Road.

The New York Railroad Men reprinted an article about the monorail in its October 1891 issue, Vol. 5, No. 1, page 722. It begins: 

A curious little railroad train goes crawling up and down the mountain from Tres Pinos to Burt's lime kiln in the Gavilan range, San Benito county, every day. It is probably the strangest railroad that ever was seen; yet, thus far, not a word has ever been printed regarding it. The train moves on a curious single track and is drawn by an engine set low on it.

If you'd like to continue reading the article, click here. For a relatively more current article, check out this piece by David B. Simons Jr., that's posted at The Monorail Society website.

Remembering the Tres Pinos Hotel

Standing at the corner of Fifth Street and Highway 25 in Tres Pinos is an E Clampus Vitis plaque commemorating the Tres Pinos Hotel that was there from 1873 to 1958. The hotel was originally known as the Southern Pacific Hotel, which Southern Pacific built when it brought the railroad to Tres Pinos. If I understand the various references correctly, Juan Etcheverry, who owned 1,400 acres of land in and around Tres Pinos, took over the hotel and it became known as the Etcheverry Hotel.

What was the hotel like? Here's what Marjorie Pierce wrote on page 129 in East of the Gabilans:

". . .the hotel was a bustling place. It was to Tres Pinos what the Plaza Hotel was to San Juan. Hay and grain buyers and stockmen would come and stay. The train would stop overnight before going back so the railroad men also were guests. The station was across from the hotel and the turntable was a short distance away. In the kitchen there were three Chinese cooks to handle the busy dining room. There was a pool room, a public room with a fireplace and poker tables, and a bar which was probably called a saloon in those days. . . ."

The Anza House in San Juan Bautista

The Anza House, or the Casa Juan de Anza, is one of the oldest buildings in the Third Street Historic District of San Juan Bautista. It was designated a Registered National Historical Landmark in 1970. The sign says it was built in 1799, but, according to this National Park Service article, the building was constructed in 1834.  Jose Tiburcio Castro, a Mexican official, built it for his residence.

Still, there could be truth in the sign. I've got it on my list to find out the story. I'm also curious as to how the building became known as the Anza House. Anyone know?

5/28 update: According to the research done by the current owner of the Anza House, the original construction date is 1799. Read the owner's comment below for more details. Thank you!

Happy Mother's Day!

San Juan Bautista State Historic Park

El Camino Real Bell

This El Camino Real Bell stands in the front yard of the Native Daughters of the Golden West Adobe at 203 Fourth Street in San Juan Bautista. Cast from a mold of an original El Camino Real bell, it was dedicated in 2010, the year that "The Gold Dust Girls" of Parlor No. 179 celebrated its 100th anniversary.

El Camino Real was the foot path that the Spanish padres took between the California Missions, from San Diego to Sonoma. In the early 1900s, bells were erected every one to two miles to mark this historical route as well as to promote tourism in the state. By 1914, over 400 markers were placed.

To learn more about El Camino Real and its bells, check out these sites:

• How El Camino Real, California's "Royal Road" was Invented, by Nathan Masters
• El Camino Real, Wikipedia
• California Highways: El Camino Real
• California Bell Company

Hollister by Bill Sparling

Today, Dear Readers, you have a wonderful treat. Mr. Bill Sparling of Washington has kindly allowed me to post his story about his memories of visiting his family in Hollister when he was a child. Please, everyone, give him a big, warm welcoming Hi! Hello! and It's a pleasure to meet you.  Thank you, Bill! 

Hollister

by

Bill Sparling 

Hollister -- I love the way that city name sort of rolls off the end of my tongue.  It is one of those words that almost say themselves -- like Montana and Cumberland.

It is also where I did a good bit of growing up.  My father was born in Panoche in 1894 and he had brothers and sisters all over that area and many in Hollister.  The family name, Sparling, is not unfamiliar to anyone who has lived in Hollister for more than say, 50 years.

I never actually lived in Hollister but since my dad had several brothers and sisters there, we made the trip from Cupertino (where we did live) to Hollister quite regularly.  I had herds of cousins there and many of them were my age and we all got along famously.

When I stumbled over this website (Take 25 to Hollister), I was really excited over all of the information and pictures I found on it.  The first time I hit it, I spent a couple of hours poking around town, checking out familiar old byways and enjoying “visiting” one of my favorite places.
 

One of the things that really got my memory juices flowing was a picture of a house that was used in the TV mini-series East of Eden.  This was no ordinary picture of an ordinary house.  This was a place that I had birthed many happy memories.  My Aunt Nada lived there with her husband Louis Mays who was President of the Hollister National Bank when I was a kid.  Their son, Tom, had some great electric trains and we played with them by the hour in his room and in the upstairs hallway.  We used to sneak down the “secret” back stairway that led into the kitchen and snitch cookies my Aunt Nada or Tom’s sister, Nancy, had made.  I’m sure they both knew who snagged the cookies but they never let on.

The house is on the southwest corner of Monterey and South Streets and is a beautiful old Victorian house with miles of wood trim as well as shiny mahogany banisters inside.  There was a big upright grand piano in the front parlor that I used to play when we visited.  The floors were waxed and shiny, and there was a huge stove in the kitchen where Aunt Nada used to turn out some amazing things to eat.
 
I bought a copy of East of Eden just so I could see that house “in action” again.  Much of the interior as shown in the movie was still familiar, even after 60 years.  Yes, 60 years.

The last time I really remember being at and in that house was Thanksgiving of 1949.  I was twelve years old.  There is a scene in the movie of the Trask family eating their Thanksgiving dinner in the dining room.  I, too, ate a Thanksgiving feast in that same dining room, only 32 years before the mini-series was made -- before some of the actors in the story were even born.  (Why do I suddenly feel so old?)  I have a family picture of our whole clan (ten sons and daughters and their spouses and all of their children), which was taken in the east side yard of that house after our Thanksgiving feast.

All of those Aunts and Uncles are gone now but there are a few cousins left scattered around the country.  My cousin Linda still lives on a ranch outside Hollister and my cousin Frank, whom I thought was living in the San Diego area, now lives in Redmond, Washington just 90 miles and a ferry boat ride from my wife and me.

 

Some of you who live in Hollister may be familiar with what is referred to by many as “The Birdcage House” on South and West Streets.  That used to be where my Uncle Brick (Earl) Sparling, his wife, my Aunt Jean (Hawkins) Sparling and their three children, Earl Jr. (Sonny), Tom and Linda lived.  It was just a block from their house to the house I previously described, and my cousin Frank taught me to roller skate on the sidewalk between the two houses.  I took many a nose dive on that sidewalk until I learned where all of the Calaveras fault line branches were.  

There are other memories I could write about like trips with my dad and mom out to the Las Viboras Ranch after Brick and Jean moved from the house in town; trips dad and I took out to the old ranch in Panoche where he grew up; and a trip from Panoche to Los Banos over a road cut with a bulldozer where we crossed a couple of bridges my grandfather built and where we had to ford the creek where there were no bridges.  I told you I am old.  Freeways were not even a thought in anyone’s mind when I was a kid but we got there just the same.  It just took longer and gave us more time for counting cows and carrying on conversations.  We had to talk to each other back then; we didn’t have any I-thingies.

To Su-sieee! Mac, the hostess of this amazing web site, I must say thanks for your amazing site and thanks for rewinding the tape of my life so I could play it again.

God bless you.
 
Bill Sparling
Sequim, Washington

©2014 Bill Sparling.  

Past and Present: San Benito County Superior Court

The new Superior Court of the County of San Benito is situated on the residential site of William Welles Hollister, for whom the city of Hollister was named. I think Mr. Hollister's house eventually became a  hotel, then somewhere along the way, this property became the home of first the Hollister Grammar School and then Fremont School.

Lest we forget, the old courthouse is visible across the street.
That's the building in the middle.

O'Neill Drive

This beautiful humongous tree is in the center of O'Neill Drive, which is in the residential section of historical downtown Hollister.

O'Neill Drive is a hidden gem, and I'm sure has some interesting history about it. It's not a thorough street in the sense that you enter at one spot and come out another. Nor is it a dead-end street because you drive in a circle around this tree and other trees. It's more like a private driveway, as there are several small homes on the street.

I wonder if the houses could've been built for Navy officers and their families who were based at the Naval Auxiliary Air Station in Hollister during World War II. I also wonder who O'Neill was.

The Old City Hall

The words City Hall are etched into the front of this building. But, it is not the City Hall, although the city of Hollister now uses the bottom floor for some offices.  Today's City Hall is a few buildings to the west—the white, concrete building that was once the Hollister City Library.

The old City Hall was built in 1906 and also housed the fire department. It was designed by the infamous California architect William H. Weeks, who designed many other buildings in town. Here are a couple of older posts about the old City Hall that may interest you:

• Look Up: The Old City Hall
• Postcards of the Old City Hall 

The Gilmore Colony of Cienega Valley

Poster by the San Benito County Historical Society

 In 1888, Daniel Gilmore of Arkansas bought several hundred acres of land in the Cienega Valley where he planned to create a plantation like the one he grew up on. To make it happen, he invited former slaves of his father's to move to San Benito County and work for him. Gilmore was reported to have paid the train ride west for more than 40 men, women, and children who arrived in Hollister in 1889.

So, where did the name Gilmore Colony come from? I have no idea.  But, perhaps, it will be clarified at the presentation this Friday evening, February 21, from 6:30 to 8 PM at the San Benito County Historical Museum Open House on 498 Fifth Street, next to the library.

For more about the Gilmore Colony, check out these links:

• The Gilmore Colony Story by Phil Reader, the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History Research Forum
• February is Black History Month | A Look at the History of African Americans in San Benito County, BenitoLink

Some of the original family members who worked
at the Gilmore Ranch are buried in the southeast corner
of the IOOF Cemetery.

Concrete Craftsmanship

Some of the concrete sidewalks in the residential neighborhood of historical downtown Hollister were made in 1910. That's amazing, I say. Today, experts say that concrete generally lasts 20 or more years, if taken care of properly. The O.C. Samuels, the contractor, ought to be proud that his work has lasted so long.

The Mission Bells

This week I've been posting about San Juan Bautista. I can't let the week go by without a stop at Mission San Juan Bautista, the 15th mission that the Franciscan friars established in California. Founded in 1797, the mission was built near the Popeloutchom, a Mutsun village.

The mission did not have a bell tower at first. The one we see today was built in 1976 when the mission was being reconstructed. Originally, the mission's two bells hung from a wooden bell rack. The bells rung in the early morning, noon, and evening, according to  Issac Mylar in Early Days at the Mission San Juan Bautista. He wrote,"They could be heard from six to seven miles away—yes, even over to the sheep ranch owned by Mr. Hollister, now the flourishing county seat of San Benito County."
 
Resources for Mission San Juan Bautista:
California Missions Resource Center: San Juan Bautista
Old Mission San Juan Bautista
Early Days at the Mission San Juan Bautista by Issac Mylar (originally published in 1929)s

Note: So that FCC won't get on my case, the link to Issac Mylar's book leads you to Amazon.com. And, if you happen to purchase it via that link, I may get a bit of change for my effort of referring you to the page.

Ferry-Morse Seed Company

Who else remembers the fields upon fields of beautiful flowers about halfway between Hollister and San Juan Bautista on the south side of San Juan-Hollister Road (aka Highway 156)? As a kid sitting in the back seat, I looked forward to that stretch of the drive. And, today, those brilliant splashes of color come to mind when I first see the buildings of the old Ferry-Morse Seed Company in the distance.

One of the old Ferry-Morse buildings

Ferry-Morse grew the flowers for seeds. I have no idea whether the seeds were directly sold in stores or if the horticulturists were experimenting to find the best seeds to eventually sell. Anyone know?

Originally, the C.C. Morse Company bought about 900 acres of the San Justo Ranch, in 1910. Twenty years later, it merged with D.M. Ferry Company to become the infamous Ferry-Morse Seed Company. I don't know when Ferry Morse sold its San Juan Bautista branch. Today, Ag-Biotech, a company that offers plant genetic analysis services, has facilities there.

My Sources:
Gilroy's Early Seed Companies
Ferry Morse Seed Company
Ag-Biotech 

FYI: Since this past Sunday, I've been blogging about San Juan Bautista and the San Juan Valley.