South San Francisco, CA    June 13, 2016    Submitted by City of South San Francisco 

Happy 100th Birthday Ray!
Photo: City of SSF

What’s the secret to a long, happy life? Just ask South San Francisco resident Raymond Bagley. Ray, as he is known among family and friends, celebrated his 100th birthday on Sunday, June 6th. It’s not every day that you meet someone that has seen life transform over the last century. The City had a chance to chat with Ray, his son Bill and his neighbor Pam. These are his reflections on South San Francisco.

Ray was born and raised in Minnesota in 1916. He worked on the family farm with his parents and siblings. Eventually, warm weather and job prospects called Ray away to Southern California where he joined the U.S. Navy. After an honorable discharge from the Navy, circa 1940, Ray made his way to San Francisco to start work on the development of the South San Francisco neighborhood we know today as Brentwood.

 
Ray was a master plumber, a trade he learned while in the Navy. He worked in just about every house, installing plumbing systems, pouring the foundations and even helping homeowners move in to their new Brentwood digs.

 
Ray put his plumbing skills to work for New Mission Plumbing and Heating on Hillside Boulevard and eventually went on to work for Atlas Heating and Ventilation on Cabot Road. “I was always a good worker,” says Ray. After years of commuting from San Francisco to South San Francisco for work, a house in the neighborhood he helped to build, caught his eye. The cost? A cool $10,000. He and his wife bought the house on Wildwood Drive in 1950 and raised their family there. Ray and his son Bill live there today.

What brought you to South San Francisco?
Parking! In San Francisco, even back then, parking was scarce. I was overjoyed to have a garage of my very own to park my car.

What is one of your favorite memories of South San Francisco?
Since I grew up on a farm, I always enjoyed being active in my backyard planting fruits and vegetables and such. But, I cut back quite a bit after getting a letter from the water department some years ago.

One thing I’ll always remember is how neighborly and kind everyone is here. Over the years, if you started a project or needed help, you’d look around and see about five people standing right there to pitch in and help out.

What is one piece of history that you think most people don’t know about when it comes to South San Francisco?

Everyone here has been kind over the years. The people here are different than other cities. I have a good neighbor in Pam Gradney right across the street.

What do you think is the “best kept secret” of South San Francisco?
In the old days we had to take our own stuff to the dumps, there was no garbage collection. I would take so much stuff! Nowadays there are limits on what you can and can’t take.

What is your favorite thing to do in South San Francisco?
“My wife and I would walk to Tanforan and catch the horse races, we loved to do that often.”

Today, Ray spends most of his time in his favorite seat in the house gazing out of the window in his living room, catching a ball game on TV or watching Karyl Matsumoto and Mark Addiego on the PEG channel. Saturday night is family dinner night at the Bagley house, with dinner made by his son, Bill. Spaghetti is often the meal of choice as it is Ray’s favorite. His grandson Robert, his favorite neighbor Pam and other friends like to gather for family dinner night and for barbecues and cookouts on warm days and on holidays to spend time with Ray. And, sometimes, Bill will fire up the organ and play Ray’s favorite songs.

What do you want other people to know about South San Francisco?

To stay here! Stay in South San Francisco!

“He is the epitome of his generation. Straight talking, hardworking and honesty are the foundation of his character. I’m proud to call him my neighbor,” Pam Gradney says of her neighbor Raymond “Ray” Bagley.
Thank you for helping to build and shape South San Francisco, Ray Bagley. We wish you the very best on your 100th birthday!

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To read more about our neighbor Ray Bagley CLICK HERE

The post A Resident’s Reflection on South San Francisco; Raymond Bagley’s one centesimal Birthday: appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

A detailed view of Levi’s Landing, the right field wall in Oracle Park, is clad in rainbow colors on San Francisco Pride Day, June 5, 2021. The landing that separates the park from San Francisco Bay has a splash hit counter to keep track of homers entering the water behind the wall. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — It took 23 seasons but the San Francisco Giants recorded their 100th “splash hit” home run on Friday.

Giants first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. hit a home run on the first pitch late in the first inning against the Baltimore Orioles and sent the ball over the right field wall straight into McCovey Cove on the San Francisco Bay. It was the 100th time a giant has scored a so-called “splash hit” in recent decades.

Despite the historic home run, the Giants lost 3-2 to the Orioles on Friday.

No charges against Rendon for altercation with A’s fan

Ever since Oracle Park opened in 2000, it’s been a tradition for fans and kayakers to hang out in McCovey Cove hoping to get lucky and go home with a ball. The lucky fan who snagged Friday’s splash hit was apparently on the broadcast and looked stunned as he sat in his kayak.

Boaters and fans gather in McCovey Cove during a game October 27, 2010 at what was then AT&T Park in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

According to the Giants’ website, Barry Bonds was the first Giant to bat a ball in the water on May 1, 2000. Bonds recorded 35 splash hits during his tenure with the team, the most of any Giants in history. Brandon Belt is second with 10.

A total of 28 different San Francisco players have hit home runs at McCovey Cove — and they’re all left-handed.

Barry Bonds leads bases after hitting his 69th home run of the season at McCovey Cove on September 29, 2001 at what was then Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)

If you include the opposing teams, there have actually been 155 splash hits in the history of the stadium. Two of the 55 splash hits by guest players came from Los Angeles Dodger Max Muncy. Bryce Harper, Carlos Gonzalez and today’s Giants DH Joc Pederson are among the other notable opponents who have racked up multiple splash hits.

The post Giants participant makes historical past with a hundredth Splash Hit at Oracle Park appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

100 years ago next month, San Francisco’s Nasser family opened the Castro Theatre: an event that came to define an era and a neighborhood. A century on, it is the longest continually family-owned movie palace in the US To mark the occasion, the Nasser Family in partnership with Another Planet Entertainment is scheduling a week of film screenings featuring iconic movies from each decade of the Castro’s history, June 3–12, some family and children’s programming, and a “Happy Birthday” special event on June 22—the actual date of the Castro’s opening day in 1922—with movies filmed in San Francisco. Concurrent with the centennial celebrations, the LGBTQ Frameline Film Festival will return after a two-year hiatus.

“It continues to be my family’s honor and privilege to own the Castro Theatre,” said Steve Nasser, of Bay Properties, Inc. “After two years of COVID-forced closures, it is such a joy and a pleasure to reopen and to work with the very best, and most sensitive local producers around, Another Planet Entertainment.” Steve and Elaine Nasser Padian are the third generation of this family to lead the company, founded by their grandfather Abraham and his sons having designed and constructed the Castro Theater in 1922.

“The Castro is much more than a theatre,” said Mary Conde, Senior Vice President for Another Planet who oversees the overall Castro Theater Project. “An LGBTQ touchstone, a film-lovers icon, a community landmark and an architectural gem, the Castro is unique. Another Planet is honored to restore, renovate, and revitalize the Castro as a home to everything we’ve come to love about the Castro, and expand its audience.”

Tickets for the special week of screenings are $16 weekdays and $18 weekend with the morning youth programming at $10/adult $6/youth up to age 12 and may be purchased online at https://tinyurl.com/3denv6uv

While there are no vaccine or masking requirements for entry, all attendees are encouraged to have been fully vaccinated and boosted. Masking and adherence to social distancing and proper hygiene protocols are strongly encouraged.

Another Planet Entertainment is partnering with Bay Properties, Inc., owners of the Castro Theater, on an evolution and preservation of San Francisco’s world-renowned entertainment and LGBTQ community landmark. With a long-standing history of working to preserve and improve historic buildings such as the Fox Theater in Oakland, the Greek Theater in Berkeley, and the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, Another Planet seeks to enhance the Castro Theater by implementing significant improvements to the sound, lighting, production, HVAC, ADA access, and the theatre’s trademark marquee, among other facets of the building.

The Nasser brothers got their start with a nickelodeon in 1908 in the Castro neighborhood. The Castro was designed by then-unknown architect Timothy Pflueger, who later designed the Paramount Theatre, the Pacific Cost Stock Exchange, the Pacific Telephone Building, and the Top of the Mark on Nob Hill. Pflueger chose an exterior design reminiscent of a Mexican cathedral. The large windows, the shape of the roof line of the front wall of the building, and the plaster wall decorations all combine to convey a look of grandeur in keeping with the large scale of many theaters built in the 1920s. Sound was installed in 1928. The marquee and the vertical neon sign are additions from the late 1930s, but the glazed tile street foyer, ornate tent-like box office, and the wooden doors are all from the early 1922.

The Castro’s interior is very diverse. One can sense Spanish, Asian, and Italian influences. The auditorium seats over 1400 in a fantasy setting that is both lavish and intimate. Both side walls of the auditorium are covered with classic motif murals that were created in a wet plaster process called scrafitto. This type of wall decoration is rare. On either side of the stage and screen (the small original screen has long ago been replaced with a large screen) are large organ grills. The Art Deco chandelier dates from 1937 when a small electrical fire destroyed the original parchment fixture. It is one of the few remaining movie palaces from the 1920s that has been in continuous operation under the same family ownership.

Below is the schedule of Castro Theater 100th Special Film Screenings

Friday, June 3: Decade of the 1920s

• Oh Doctor (2:45 pm) Reginald Denny & Mary Astor

• The Mark of Zoro (4:30 pm) Douglas Fairbanks, Noah Beery, Marguerite De La Motte, Robert McKim

• Across to Singapore (6 pm) Joan Crawford, Ramon Navarro, Ernst Torrence

• The Lodger (7:45 pm) Marie Ault, Arthur Chesney, June Tripp, Malcolm Keen, Ivor Novello

• Sunrise (9:45 pm) Janet Gaynor, George O’Brian, Margaret Livingston, Harold Schuster, Bodil Rosing

Saturday, June 4: Decade of the 1930s

• Bright Eyes (10:30 am) Shirley Temple

• Pardon Us (1 pm) Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy

• Thin Man (2:45 pm) William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O’Sullivan, Nat Pendleton

• The Adventures of Robinhood (4:45 pm) Errol Flynn; Olivia de Havilland; Basil Rathbone; Claude Rains; Una O’Connor

• The Women (7pm) Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Norma Shearer, Joan Fontaine, Paulette Goddard

• Night at the Opera (9:30 pm) Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, Kitty Carlisle

Sunday, June 5: Decade of the 1940s & Special Family Feature

• Lion King (10:30 am) The Disney children’s classic, not 1940s

• Philadelphia Story (2:30 pm) Cary Grant; Catherine Hepburn; James Stewart; Ruth Husey

• The Lady from Shanghai (5 pm) Orson Wells, Rita Hayworth, Everette Sloan, Glen Anders, Erskine Sanford

• Mildred Pierce (7pm) Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Eve Arden, Zachary Scott, Ann Blyth

• Casablanca (9:30 pm) Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Peter Lorrie, Paul Henreid, Madeleine LeBeau

Monday, June 6: Decade of the 1950s

• From Here to Eternity (4 pm) Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed, Frank Sinatra

• Some Like it Hot (6:30 pm) Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon

• All About Eve (9:15 pm) Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, Marilyn Monroe, George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Gary Merrill, Thelma Ritter, Hugh Marlow

Tuesday, June 7: Decade of the 1960s

• Butch Cassidy & Sundance Kid (2 pm) Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katherine Ross

• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (4:30 pm) John Wayne, James Stewart, Lee Marvin, Andy Devine, Vera Miles

• Breakfast at Tiffany’s (7 pm) Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen, Martin Balsam, Mickey Rooney

• The Magnificent 7 (9:30 pm) Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, Eli Wallach, Charles Bronson

Wednesday, June 8: Decade of the 1970s

• Star Wars: A New Hope (4 pm) Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing, Alec Guinness

• Chinatown (6:30 pm) Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Diane Ladd

• The Godfather (9:20 pm) Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard Castellano, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard Conte, Diane Keaton

Thursday, June 9: Decade of the 1980s

• Raiders of the Lost Ark (4 pm) Harrison Ford; Karen Allen; Paul Freeman; Ronald Lacey; John Rhys Davies; Denholm Elliot

• Amadeus (6:30 pm) F. Murray Abraham, Tom Huice, Elizabeth Berridge, Simon Callow, Ry Dotrice, Christine Ebersole, Jeffrey Jones, Charles Kay

• Blade Runner (9:20 pm) Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos

Friday, June 10: Decade of the 1990s

• Casino (1pm) Robert De Niro; Sharon Stone; Joe Pesci; Don Rickles; Kevin Pollak; James Woods

• Rush Hour (4:30 pm) Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker, Julia Hsu, Elizabeth Pena, Ken Leung, Clifton Powell

• American Beauty (6:45 pm) Kevin Spacey; Annette Benning; Thora Birch; Mena Suvari; Wes Bentley; Allison Janney; Peter Gallagher; Chris Cooper

• The Bird Cage (9:30 pm) Robin Williams, Gene Hackman, Nathan Lane, Dianne Wiest

Saturday, June 11: Decade of the 2000s

• Ironman (1 pm) Robert Downey Jr. Terrence Howard; Jeff Bridges; Shaun Toub; Gwyneth Paltrow

• The Royal Tenenbaums (4 pm) Owen Wilson, Gene Hackman, Luke Wilson, Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelica Huston

• No Country for Old Men (7pm) Tommy Lee Jones; Javier Bardem; Josh Brolin

Sunday, June 12: Decade of 2010s

• Black Panther (1 pm) Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman

• A Star is Born (3:50 pm) Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga, Sam Elliott, Anthony Ramos

• Bohemian Rhapsody (6:30 pm) Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, Joe Mazzello, Aidan Gillen, Tom Hollander, Mike Myers

• Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (9:15 pm) Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Emile Hirsch, Margaret Qualley

Wednesday June 22: Actual Opening Date in 1922, Movies Filmed in San Francisco

• San Francisco (10:30 am) Clark Gable, Janette McDonald, Spencer Tracy
• Mrs. Doubtfire (1 pm) Robin Williams, Sally Field, Pierce Brosnan, Harvey Fierstein
• Dirty Harry (3:30pm), Clint Eastwood, Harry Guardino
• Sudden Fear (6pm) Joan Crawford, Jack Palance, Gloria Graham
• Bullitt (8:15 pm) Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn

Castro Theatre

Published on May 19, 2022

The post Castro Theatre to Mark a hundredth Birthday with Week of Basic Movies June 3–12 Curated by Decade – San Francisco Bay Occasions appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.