San Francisco Refugee Cottages were built in San Francisco parks after the 1906 earthquake. Some were later moved to Santa Cruz as summer homes and guest cottages. (Contributed)

At 5:07 a.m. April 18, 1906, Santa Cruz County awoke to a slight tremble, then a deep rumble, soon joined by shaking that increased each second into a frightening melee, that cracked plaster and windows, cleared shelves, moved furniture, and toppled chimneys.

Every bell in the county rang spontaneously, from steeples, clock towers, schools and fire stations. In Soquel Village, the bell in the Congregational Church tower was broken from its armature. At the conclusion of the shaking, as quiet returned, people came outside in their night clothes to inspect the damage.

For Watsonville, the silence was short lived. The convent bell rang a new alarm, soon echoed by the Watsonville fire bell. The Moreland Notre Dame Academy was burning. Fire Chief George Tuttle led the response, only delayed because the back wall of City Hall had fallen on the engine house and buried their fire engine. As quick as possible, the firemen unearthed their engine, and turned their soaking hoses on the fire, a miracle in itself, as most water mains were broken and dry, and Corralitos Creek was cut-off by a landslide. While the wooden school was not saved, the fire company parked their engine in the middle of the street to prevent any further blockage.

In Santa Cruz, the high water table of the downtown flats resulted in several geysers erupting from the riverbank, shooting water 20-30 feet in the air. South of Barson Street, the Riverside Hotel’s orchard had eruptions of sand and mud squeezed out of the ground like toothpaste.

The troughs at Brookdale’s new fish hatchery produced small tidal waves that sloshed young trout onto the floor.  Workmen quickly swept them up in dust pans and returned them to the troughs.

J.J.C. Leonard was asleep at his Sea Beach Hotel on Beach Hill, when his little boy woke him.  The boy said he didn’t like the noise, and wanted to go back to the St. George Hotel. Leonard suddenly bolted up, realizing the chimney tops were falling, and rumbling off the roof. He called the St. George, and learned that hotel’s back wall had collapsed. So he telephoned for carpenters and masons. Failing to find all he wanted, he ordered a horse, and before 6 a.m. had men engaged to begin repairs. The kitchen chimney was quickly made functional enough to serve meals in the undamaged Sea Beach dining hall.

By 6 a.m., the Building Trades Council set up headquarters in the unharmed Santa Cruz Carnegie Library, suspending new projects in favor of residential repairs. Unreinforced masonry buildings were the bulk of the damage. Woodframe structures road out the quake with little problem, except when their chimneys crashed through the roof, or nearby brick walls dropped on them.

The electricity went off when Watsonville’s power plant boilers tipped over, and its well filled-up with sediment. In Santa Cruz, workmen risked electrocution to shut off a broken pipe gushing scalding hot steam onto a 2,500-volt generator. Yet Santa Cruz’s electric power was restored by 3 p.m.

Miss Snedecor worked tirelessly to give Santa Cruz uninterrupted phone service. Yet those trying to reach Santa Cruz from neighboring counties, didn’t know they had to bypass broken Bay Area infrastructure by relaying their calls through Los Angeles. As a result, Santa Cruz seemed unresponsive. Trains attempting to leave the county, had to return in reverse, finding tunnels collapsed, and bridges damaged. Even the highway bridges had offsets of 2-8 feet, with roads blocked by boulders, trees, fissures and landslides.

As a giant plumb of smoke arose to the north, fears grew that the disaster was not over. Henry Cowell wanted to reach his family in San Francisco, so he hired the electric speedboat of John Perez. But the sea was so rough, it threatened to swamp the boat, so they returned to Santa Cruz. This condition had even produced a tidal wave in San Francisco Bay that wiped out several East Bay wharves. Perez said he’d make another ocean attempt the next morning, and anyone else who wished to go should be on the wharf at 10 a.m. April 19.

Persistence

In San Jose, the Landon family home experienced $1,000 in damages. Destruction extended throughout San Jose, including a fire, along with choking smoke from the San Francisco inferno.  But the Landons were told they couldn’t reach their daughter in Santa Cruz because the county had been destroyed. So their teenage son Vernon got on his bicycle, hoping to cross the Santa Cruz Mountains and rescue his sister. He saw the shaking had been worse at the summit fault line, destroying the Hotel de Redwood, and many homes. Oakland Traction Co. president Ernest Heron and driver Morgan Miles attempted to reach Santa Cruz by auto, but were turned back at Patchen Pass when warned the road ahead was impassible. Vernon was undeterred, hiking and biking his way over or around all obstacle.

To his surprise, Vernon discovered Santa Cruz showed little of the hardships San Francisco and San Jose were experiencing. That evening, Heron and Miles arrived, having detoured through San Juan Bautista, entering Watsonville via the railroad bridge with planks for ramps to overcome the sunken bridge approaches. Likewise that evening, County Supervisor Linscott and his wife struggled into Santa Cruz by the mountain-route in a rented two-horse wagon. Linscott was relieved he could phone his daughter, Carrie, in Watsonville, and let her know her mother and father were safe.

Compared to the widespread destruction elsewhere, Santa Cruz had only five public use buildings damaged: the County Court House; the new Pilot Hose firehouse (with the Pilots relocating to Milo Hopkin’s barn-like “City Stables”), Chestnutwood’s Business College and Hihn Corner, both owned by F.A. Hihn; and the Farmers Union, which dropped walls on wooden structures housing the Electric Trolley offices on Soquel Aveenue and the Unique Theater on Pacific Avenue.  All were unreinforced brick buildings; and the County Court House builder was found to have charged for rebar that was never installed. Watsonville fared worse, with damage to about nine unreinforced masonry buildings: the City Hall, I.O.O.F. Building, Pajaro Valley Bank, Peck Building, Ford’s Department Store, Porter Building, Jefsen Block, Foresters Hall, and $15,000 in damage for St. Patrick’s Church.

Linscott rebuked Santa Cruzans who complained of their fate, which in comparison had been a blessing, if only an inconvenient one. Eye witnesses told their stories of horror in San Francisco and San Jose, yet the masses of refugees did not panic, but were orderly and helpful. It inspired locals on April 20, to start relief efforts and collect bedding, clothing and funds. Quilt-making machines were set up in the Sea Beach Ballroom, and the nearby Bay State Hotel produced free meals. Cottage City was expanded for refugee housing. Linscott spent the next day hard at work at the damaged County Court House on Cooper Street, removing important county records, and determining if the building should be demolished, or repaired.  It was rebuilt.

News

The Sentinel and Surf newspapers kept publishing, and the Pajaronian didn’t want Watsonville’s lack of electricity to cancel the news. So a small printing press with treadles was hooked up by a belt-drive to their linotype machine, and, powered by a couple of strong boys, they got the paper out. But co-owner George Radcliff was concerned about his wife and others last seen in San Francisco. Hammond Weeks wanted to find his brother, architect Wm. Weeks; Judge Hiram Tuttle had offices in San Francisco; other missing there were Graniterock co-founder Warren R. Porter; Frederick Hihn of lumber, realty and waterworks; Otto D. Stoesser visiting relatives; plus Dr. Peter Watters, and Dr. S.C. Rodgers.  So a search party was assembled April 20, to find 15 residents, with a letter signed and sealed by Watsonville mayor W.A. Trafton hoping to allow them through the military barricades.

Yet Carl Christensen left Watsonville alone in an automobile on April 18, transported people from San Jose to Oakland, then returned to San Jose to take people to San Francisco, which he entered at night by turning off his headlights, and coasting down a hill. He returned to Watsonville on April 19, with Dr. Watters, Wm. Weeks, and W.R. Benteen. Weeks recounted viewing the fire from the Flood Building, watching flames consume great structures, yet at the same time, marveled at the resilience of the steel-frame structures.

F.A. Hihn arrived in Watsonville at 5 p.m. on April 20. After the quake, Hihn had walked around San Francisco to check on his properties, which at first were safe, but when he returned the next day, had been completely destroyed. Around 1852, Hihn had already seen San Francisco burned down several times by warring gangs. Yet for a man with great losses, Hihn was upbeat and optimistic, meeting with Wm. Weeks to plan for rebuilding whatever had been ruined.  All insurance was canceled for Santa Cruz County, covering no damages  up to two days after the quake, to make sure no one was tempted to burn their properties for the insurance.

For several weeks, Postage was free, delivering letters written on anything at hand, including with chalk, and Mary Jane Hanly provided free medical assistance at her Sanitarium. Refugees came to Santa Cruz to stay in their summer homes, or rent tourist cottages. When a San Francisco orphanage was destroyed, 100 orphans were put in the care of nuns at the Santa Maria Del Mar resort in Live Oak. As refugee cabins were later removed from San Francisco parks, a number were sent to Santa Cruz as ready-made summer cottages, still found today.

San Francisco chose to rebuild in Santa Cruz concrete, lime and lumber, with improved construction methods foreseen by Wm. Weeks.

No one wants a disaster. But learning from our mistakes can make hardship an inconvenient blessing.

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The 1886 Dr. P.B. Fagan House at Mission & Union streets. it was designed by J.C. Matthews of Oakland in Eastlake/Qheen Anne style, and is a great example of a furniture-like finish, including on the chimney. (F.S. Harrison’s 1892 county brochure).

Brunswick native LeBaron R. Olive became a carpenter as a teen, moving at 19 first to Boston in 1868, then to Manhattan. In the Big Apple, Olive became superintendent of construction for a number of New York’s finest buildings. The 37-year-old Olive was attracted to Santa Cruz in 1886, loving its suburban setting and picturesque architecture. While LeBaron appeared quite formal with his lacquered hair and wax mustache, he had a gregarious side that underscored his free approach to architecture.

At first, he served as supervisor and contractor on other architect’s projects, becoming close friends with the “Stick King,” Daniel Damkroeger. Alpine Stick was one of the “Arts & Crafts” styles popular in Central California, while Olive preferred its later evolution of “Eastlake Style.” Charles Locke Eastlake was a beloved English furniture designer and his turned posts, carved brackets and fretwork panels were borrowed to use in “Stick-Eastlake” style cottages. Eastlake himself was not happy for his name to grace such a California travesty, which wasn’t even “a true revival style.” Wallpaper designer Christopher Dresser even created themed rooms of Greek, Gothic, Nouveau, Moorish and Japanese styles. The architecture even incorporated Astian-style “Botany Panels” depicting birds, flowers, foliage or vases. This lack of stylistic consistency may have been more pronounced on the West Coast, where many contractors without classical training, filled in as architects, mixing styles freely from the millwork yards. Some called it the “Free Classic Style,” and Olive preferred to have this freedom.

“Cherry Court” was the 1889 home of Santa Cruz Sentinel publisher Duncan McPherson, at the corner of Chestnut and Church streets. Architect J.H. Williams shows the evolution replacing plain Alpine Stick-style gingerbread with furniture-like Eastlake millwork. (F.S. Harrison’s 1892 county brochure)

The “Arts & Crafts Movement” was a progressive reaction against the industrial revolution’s pollution, poverty, degradation of nature, and disenfranchisement of craft professionals. It idealized simple country life, hoping to improve the countryside with picturesque architecture and inspire a folkcraft movement that would bring the arts to all walks of life. Eastlake sought to justify the practicality of his artistic simplicity. He wrote in his 1874 book “Hints on Household Taste,” that to depict a realistic rose, would be a tripping or crushing incident if real. Instead, it should be reduced to a geometric folk design. Yet the “Aesthetic Movement” discarded all justification, believing in “Art for Art’s Sake.” Beauty needs no excuse. It was said that Olive “endeavors to adapt his buildings to their surroundings. His style is light and airy, and his work as a whole has given this young man a desirable and enviable reputation.” (Harrison, 1892).

Santa Cruz work

Olive did some magnificent Eastlake Villas, although what looks like a mansion to modern eyes was actually the homes of the middle class. And indeed the structures were built like pieces of furniture. Damkroeger and Olive worked together on the Thomas J. Weeks House at 724 California St.; the Harriet M. Blackburn House at Pacific and Sycamore (near Olive’s own Sycamore St. house), the Wm. Kerr House on Old San Jose Road, and the Soquel School. In 1891, Olive designed the Capt. Wm. Gray House at 250 Ocean View Ave., which was considered so beautiful, that A.M. Johnston ordered an exact replica of it nearby at 317 Ocean View Ave. Other notable homes were the 1889 H.H. Clark House at 104 King St., the Barfield “Rio Vista House” at 611 Third St. and Rio Vista; and the Anson Litchfield Cottage at 311 Oceanview Ave.

Tiny homes

While his larger picturesque villas were real scene stealers, Olive was also known for producing small artistic cottages that felt like mansions. It was part of the progressive ethos of the Arts & Crafts Movement, siding with the living conditions of laborers, with beautiful worker housing intended to reinforce the notion that one’s home is one’s castle. Olive produced numerous Baycliff Model homes, usually one story on a half-basement, L-shaped, with a corner porch in the “L”, a front bay window, and front gable.  These are still quite desirable today.

Transcendentalists had helped settle the community of Seabright. But unlike the Puritan impulse to reject art as frivolous, sacrilegious, or useless excess; Transcendentalists believed beauty was the visible expression of God’s harmony, and nature was the return to God’s Eden. They created a community of tiny homes, often decorated with gingerbread, similar to the cottage retreat in Chautauqua, New York. There are several surviving versions of a Chautauqua Eastlake cottage in Seabright, each once included a second floor coved sleeping balcony (all now enclosed). They also believed in the Arts & Crafts Movement to bring art to all walks of life. Seabright widow Forbes opened the first arts and crafts gallery downtown to support her children, and when she closed it, F.A. Hihn opened the Santa Cruz Decorative Arts Society in 1885, bringing in commission items from mostly women artists.

Practical jokes

Once in 1890, Olive got a box in the mail, marked “From T.J. Clunie.” This was the popular Sacramento Democrat, an assemblyman in 1879, a state senator in 1887, and would become a congressman in 1891.  Clunie always mailed out his political advertisements with a packet of vegetable seeds, and he’d send what was left to select friends to pass out. Olive was delighted at the prospect, and took the package to Brazer’s bookstore in the Odd Fellows Building, to open in front of his friends. But instead of vegetable seeds, it was a box of moldy walnuts marked “Californiensis mildewensis.” The group speculated as to who the prankster was, and noticed Dr. Thompson Drullard the dentist, who had rooms just upstairs, was suspiciously absent.

The 1888 A.J. Hinds House at 529 Chestnut Street, was built by J.H. Williams with a furniture-like Eastlake finish, “China hutch” stacked balcony and gate-leg turned porch posts. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places. (F.S. Harrison’s 1892 county brochure)

Drullard was running for city councilman. The next day, people were popping into the California Market, which was displaying a rare Giant Devil Ray that had been brought in by a fisherman.  When Olive saw it with its wide mouth, he thought of his prankster friend Drullard. So he sent the stinking carcass to the dentist’s office with instructions to fit it up with a complete set of dentures!  The dentist suddenly found a large crowd of rubber-neckers filing through his office all day just to see the devil ray.

Olive’s 1886 Arlington Hotel stood at the head of Pacific Avenue (last known in the 1970s as the McHugh & Bianchi Grocers). It was built for the “Whiskey King” of San Francisco, A.P. Hotaling. It was one of the first two Santa Cruz landmarks placed on the National Register of Historic Places, was a designated theme building of the Pacific Avenue National Downtown Historic District, and was illegally demolished in 1973 by Golden West Savings Bank. Olive also designed the Laurel School, the Congregational Church (Boys & Girls Club site), across the street from Calvary Episcopal Church, The C.B. Pease Building at 1532 Pacific Ave., the Boulder Creek Hotel, and the Soquel Odd Fellows Lodge.

Bad luck

In February 1891, both LeBaron and his wife Sarah Anne came down with influenza, making it hard to care for their five children. Convalescing for a week, his wife suddenly died. After her burial, he was still sick with flu, came home, and two days later, warming himself beside the fireplace, some embers got loose and started a fire. Olive evacuated his children from the house, ran to the curbside firebox, but the key switch to turn on the alarm was missing. Someone else went running down the street yelling “Fire!” until the Alerts Hook & Ladder Company showed up. They attached their hose to the Hihn Company water hydrant, but the water pressure was too weak to reach the fire, and “would have been a discredit to a garden hose,” the Surf noted.  Then the Pilot Hose Company arrived and attached their hose to the city hydrant. The pressure was at last more than sufficient, to the point that it burst their canvas fire hose! The house burned for about an hour, while the fire companies battled the blaze with buckets. Volunteers managed to save LeBaron’s furniture, but not his Persian carpets.

One of the ironies of this story is that, only two years before, LeBaron became one of the first architects to design roof sprinklers into some of his home commissions, to guard against this very thing! The only good news about the fire, was that within 11 hours after his house burned, the Home Mutual Insurance Company paid LeBaron’s claim for damages. And within 15 days, his home was completely rebuilt, and ready to be roofed. (The speed was considered a record, even in those days).

The plunge

By 1893, the 1868 Dolphin baths and 1879 Neptune baths at the Main Beach were quite inadequate for the waterfront’s growing popularity. So Captain Fred Miller joined Johnnie and David Leibbrandt, to build a new plunge. With the financial backing of San Francisco’s A.P. Hotaling, they hired LeBaron R. Olive, who studied the best bathhouses on the coast and incorporated numerous features into his $25,000 creation. The Miller-Leibbrandt Bathhouse was state of the art, with an Eastlake beach veranda, the indoor hot salt water plunge had observation balconies, trapeze equipment, two glass-lined slides and diving boards.

This was the pinnacle of Olive’s success in Santa Cruz. In 1903, his office and residence were at 543 Bay St. and included a telephone. In 1904, he moved to Palo Alto to make architecture for the community around Stanford University, including “Professorville.” Olive continued to innovate with new styles. In 1909 he built the small Portola Valley School west of Palo Alto, in a wood-clad “Mission Revival Style.” The structure is now on the National Register for Historic Places. Olive died in 1942.

LeBaron R. Olive’s 1891 A.M. Johnston Villa, at 317 Ocean View Avenue. It was once the twin of the Capt. Gray Villa at 250 Ocean View Avenue. This Eastlake design has an octagonal tower under a “witches hat” cap with “pie-crust trim.” The porch has “birdhouse panels” with “bird-cage” beaded spandrels. (Ross Eric Gibson collection).

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May 17 – After losing three straight games to the Arizona Diamondbacks, the San Francisco Giants are now close to a three-game winning streak against the Philadelphia Phillies.

The teams will play the series finale in San Francisco on Wednesday afternoon.

After winning the opener of the series 6-3 on Monday, the Giants conceded three hits and an RBI from Michael Conforto in Tuesday’s 4-3 win. Conforto has a 5-7 record in his two wins against the Phillies and an 11-25 (.440) record with four home runs and eight RBIs in his last seven games.

LaMonte Wade Jr. also had two hits and an RBI for San Francisco on Tuesday, and Blake Sabol contributed two hits.

“Durable. We always recover strongly,” Wade said in a post-game interview on NBC Sports Bay Area. “Positive mood. Don’t climb too high. Don’t climb too deep. We’re just coming out of here and trying to play a clean game and clean baseball and do it one day at a time.”

Four Giants relievers — Taylor Rogers, John Brebbia, Tyler Rogers, and Camilo Doval — combined allowed just one run in 5 2/3 effective innings.

Doval has made saves in back-to-back games against the Phillies.

The Giants will hand the ball to Ross Stripling (0-2, 7.14 ERA) on Wednesday.

In Stripling’s last start, Friday against the Diamondbacks, he only lasted 3 1/3 innings and gave up five hits and four runs.

“The biggest challenge for Strip right now is leadership,” said Giants manager Gabe Kapler. “Balls are in the middle of the plate. … Strip is as hard as it gets. He’s a really, really tough guy and he’s going to get through this.”

Stripling is 2-0 with a 4.81 ERA in 10 career games (seven starts) against the Phillies.

The Phillies will be looking to avoid a fourth straight loss in the wake of a five-game winning streak.

Kyle Schwarber hit a solo home run in the ninth inning Tuesday, and JT Realmuto added two hits and two stolen bases. Kody Clemens also had two hits. Realmuto have scored 11 of 27 (.407) in their last eight games, taking their average to .299.

However, the Phillies went 1-11 with runners in goal, leaving them 1-33 in those situations in their last three games, all losses.

The Phillies left 12 runners on base Tuesday.

“We’re talking about it. We’re not insisting,” said Phillies manager Rob Thomson. “It can make it worse. The tide will turn. That always happens.”

The Phillies accumulated 10 hits and six walks but struggled with another frustrating loss.

“We talked to the guys about it,” Thomson said of the scuffle with runners in goal position. “Don’t try to do too much. Move the border. We are going through one of those times right now.”

Philadelphia hitter Bryce Harper finished the game 4-1 with a walk and two strikeouts. He called his strikeout early in the ninth inning “embarrassing.”

“You have to stay true to yourself and do your job,” Harper said of himself and his teammates.

Taijuan Walker (3-2, 5.75 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Phillies.

Walker, who signed a four-year, $72 million contract during the offseason, allowed seven hits and three runs in more than six innings in his last start on Friday against the Colorado Rockies.

In seven career starts against the Giants, Walker is 3-3 with a 3.70 ERA.

–Field level media

Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Serial entrepreneur and investor Stuart Moldaw’s Atherton estate recently sold for $13.85 million, or about $1,500 per square foot, according to property records.

Moldaw, who founded off-price clothing chains Pic-a-Dilly and Ross Stores and was a founding investor in children’s clothing chain Gymboree, died in 2008. His wife Phyllis followed in 2012, but their two daughters kept the 4-acre property until this year.

Michael Dreyfus of Golden Gate Sotheby’s International Realty represented the sellers at 80 Coghlan Lane but said he could not comment on the sale.

The buyer is Coghlan LLC, which lists San Francisco-based real estate and wealth management attorney Kenneth Raymond Hillier as its agent, state filings show. Lizi Tabet and Aimee Klarich of Compass represented the buyer and did not respond to a request for comment.

The almost 9,000 square foot home has five bedrooms, six bathrooms, a pool and a tennis court. It was released on March 13 for $14.5 million and was signed on April 5. The 1980-built home on a cul-de-sac was sold a week later, strongly suggesting a cash purchase.

The home is the eleventh sale to pass the $10 million mark in the country’s richest ZIP code so far this year, which had several high-end sales in January and February after slowing along with the rest of the luxury market in the latter half 2022.
Agents have suggested the recent uptick in luxury activity across the peninsula is due to several factors, including an ongoing lack of inventory, increased international interest and more realistic price expectations from sellers.

Continue reading

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The Santa Cruz Unique Theater was converted from a hay and feed store. But Charlie Alisky saw it as the core of his own vaudeville circuit. (City of Santa Cruz Directory of 1904).

Famed theater impresario Sid Grauman began founding the Unique Vaudeville & Film Circuit for his Unique Theater chain in San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Cruz and Watsonville. He ended up converting a hay and forage store into the hugely successful Santa Cruz Unique Theater. But it was soon taken over by a Hollister man who misjudged local entertainment tastes, and attendance plummeted.

Then, in mid-April 1905, a baby-faced man in a suit asked if it was possible to buy the theater rent. The man with the boyish grin looked like a child despite his 39 years. But his card identified him as Charlie Alisky, company president of the California Amusement Co. He was on his way to sign artists from the Louis & Clark International Exposition in Portland, Oregon. He had stopped to see if Unique wanted to book its performances, but was so impressed with the possibilities of a theater in a tourist town that he persuaded the tenant to enter into negotiations with theater owner Miss Mary Neary. Alisky bought the lease after extending it to nine years, providing her with a reliable income, and Alisky did not raise the price until 1914.

Alisky saw Santa Cruz as ideal for his vaudeville circle’s flagship theater. Charlie and his artist wife, Charlotte, found an apartment a block away in the three-story Alta Building above Chesnutwood’s business college. Alisky’s California Amusement Co. was advertised as “High Class Vaudeville,” and the quality was immediately remarkable. He banned smoking, spitting, hats in the theater, tipping, and crying children. He lengthened the shows to 90 minutes at the same prices as before (10¢) and mixed vaudeville performances with scenes from opera, plays and Shakespeare.

background

Alisky’s sense of culture goes back to his grandfather Wilhelm, who studied composition in Paris with friends Richard Wagner and Karl von Weber and then became musical director of one of the largest theaters in Germany. But when his patron died, Wilhelm’s career ended, and in 1844 he lost his life trying to build a canal through Panama. Alisky’s father was a candy maker in San Francisco when Charlie was born in 1866. The big confectionery operation was moved to Portland, Oregon, where young Charlie served in all branches of theater from opera to vaudeville. In 1883, the 17-year-old went to college in Europe, eventually leading several large pantomime and vaudeville companies that toured the continent.

Charlie returned to the United States with his own booking agency in 1893 to exhibit artists at Chicago’s great “Columbian Exposition” and ran the Casino Opera Co. In San Francisco he ran the old Stockwell Theater on Powell Street, then produced two Adelina Patti in 1904 Concerts at Walter Morosco’s Grand Opera House and broke theater records at the time, taking in $25,000 for just two shows. He then took over the management of the Casino Theater in Los Angeles. By 1905, Alisky’s firm controlled bookings for the Lyceum and Chutes theaters in San Francisco, Fischer’s Theater in Los Angeles, and other state vaudeville houses.

When Charlie W. Alisky booked acts for vaudeville stages in 1905, he saw potential in a modest Santa Cruz theater. (Ross Eric Gibson Collection).

In Santa Cruz, Alisky knew he needed rewarding performances and publicity. The Royal Hawaiian Quartet had a bill with scenes from the operas “Il Trovatore” and “Faust”. Another night trapeze artist, Leora, did amazing stunts, such as walking across the ceiling. Between evening shows, he appeared to fly out of a window across the street and land in front of the theater. This was dubbed “Slide for Life” and performed on a cable, a performance emulated by locals for the next half century. Amateur Night was a hit with the locals, one number was Googoo the Great, a milk drinker champion. Now the theater’s problem was standing room only, so Alisky began selling advance tickets at Howe’s Music Store and Model Drug Store. How do I find the theatre? “Follow the crowds and go to the Unique.” His nickname became “Popular Charlie” Alisky.

Alisky gained a chain of vaudeville houses beginning in Santa Cruz and including San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento and Stockton, bringing down the cost of touring shows. When San Francisco singer Madame Addington performed at the Santa Cruz Unique, she was so impressed by the enthusiastic local audience that she suggested building a 2,000-seat opera house there. Alisky feared competition, so he looked for a way to push his boundaries to build an elegant 1,200-seat hall and host Klaw & Erlanger’s larger shows. Unable to purchase adjacent land, he hoped to build on the combined site of the Unique Theater and the Unique Hotel for Actors.

Not ready

However, demolition began before it was finished. On April 18, 1906, the San Francisco earthquake struck the Central Coast at 5:07 am. Unreinforced brick structures suffered the most, destroying many chimneys, while flexible timber-frame buildings tended to survive the tremors. But standing next to you was just as bad as being in an unreinforced masonry building. The Farmer’s Union building at the corner of Pacific and Soquel Avenues dropped portions of the brick wall through the Unique Theater’s roof, and portions of the parapet for the trolley offices were dropped through the stage’s roof. It was a blessing that the theater was empty.

While the Unique Hotel was thrown out of whack, it was quickly repaired to accommodate the now-stranded artists without putting on shows. While some had to find friends and family, most realized they were better off where they were as refugees poured into Santa Cruz’s summer homes and campgrounds.

Not a single theater in San Francisco escaped destruction, and only the Bell Theater was scheduled to reopen in less than six months. San Jose theaters were badly damaged or, like the San Jose Unique, a total loss. But Alisky’s Sacramento Unique was still open, and to keep it operational as long as possible, the steel frame of the new building rose around the old. The first San Francisco theater to open after the quake was David Grauman’s Unique Theater on May 5 at King Solomon’s Hall in Filmore. With tight money, Grauman ran his Unique as a 10¢ Vaudeville. Fifteen days later, the Orphium reopened in temporary quarters at the Chutes Theatre. Other city theaters opened in tents with elaborately painted stage set facades.

Rare footage of a San Francisco variety and movie theater following a disaster. (Ross Eric Gibson Collection)

On May 6, the Farmer’s Union building, which sent bricks through the roof of the Unique theater, reopened its second-floor ballroom. And the business school was back in business 12 days after the quake. The Santa Cruz Opera House reopened May 9 with a slide and film presentation entitled “The Ruins of San Francisco.” It was narrated by a former deputy editor of the Chronicle who was brought to Santa Cruz by local journalist John P. Cooper.

Since all were rebuilt at the same time, labor was scarce. So Alisky hired his lazy actors, like comedy team Douthitt & Jones, to help rebuild the Santa Cruz Unique, adding a promise to feature them at the grand reopening. Alisky felt there were so many once-exclusive acts rarely seen outside of San Francisco that he had to open his theater quickly. But even with round-the-clock operation, he had to postpone the opening to June 18th, then to June 25th. He had raised the roof of the Unique on a steel frame clad in corrugated iron.

Santa Cruz booked a fraternal order downtown as well as the State Republican Convention at Boardwalk’s Casino. But then, three days before Unique reopened, the Boardwalk Casino burned down from a grease fire in the restaurant. A circus tent was put up for the Republicans, and Fred Swanton said he would rebuild his beach palace, but Santa Cruz residents feared the funds weren’t there to bring something so beautiful back.

The Unique finally reopened and mobs rushed in, smashing a ticket office window in the crowd. It was so packed that nobody noticed that the capacity had been expanded to 900 seats. White-clad ushers looked like angels, while set designer William Lemos redesigned the auditorium in a sea-green neoclassical sky and added a horseshoe-shaped balcony with boxes at either end. But there was breathing space as people saw the art on the asbestos curtain, which showed the Santa Cruz Mountains and coastline, including the recently destroyed Boardwalk Casino.

The program included a female impersonator, Steamboat Stewart the ventriloquist, a trapeze act, comedians Douthitt & Jones, singer Gene King and moving images of the San Francisco earthquake and fire with flickering red and yellow flame effects.

By December, thanks to funding from PG&E founder John Martin, the walls of a larger Boardwalk casino had been built on the beach. That month, Al Watson stopped writing 10-minute comedy skits, split a story into two 15-minute sections with an interlude (today’s sitcom format), and ended up with a film. Alisky opened his magnificent new theater in Sacramento and intended to build more in Oakland and Santa Cruz. He changed the name of the Santa Cruz Unique to the Alisky Theater. Ironically, however, this marked the beginning of Alisky making his Santa Cruz Theater famous for someone else entirely.

The 1906 disaster turned from a traumatic experience into an educational spectacle. (Ross Eric Gibson Collection)

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So let’s talk about David Ross as a manager, where the Chicago Cubs have been in his two-year presence and what to expect in the future.

2020 was a strange (to say the least) year for everyone. It was his first season at the top, but his return to the dugout felt anything but normal. Many players, coaches and staff were not in the best of mental health and the season was pretty tough for everyone. Amid all the chaos, Ross helped put together a successful ball club.

Although the Cubs finished 34-26 in a season shortened to 60 games and took their third division title in five years. They eventually lost the wild card streak to the Marlins and quickly ended the postseason.

Fast forward to 2021 and Chicago is in a downward spiral with 52-57, 13 games in first and fourth place in NL Central. This was largely due to the massive distress sale less than a week ago that moved the long-time core of the team of Kris Bryant, Javier Baez and Anthony Rizzo, breaking the hearts of fans around the world in the process.

Ross’ manager record now stands at 85-83 in his sophomore year at the top tier. How much to blame can we really blame him for the team’s underperformance? In my eyes there has always been a gray area in this regard. On the one hand, it’s up to the coaching staff and managers to produce all the little things that lead to a winning culture. On the other hand, it’s not up to the skipper to actually swing the club, hit the ball, and take a run. Sometimes when guys have problems, guys just fight. No matter how many adjustments you try to help them.

If you look at the starting line-up, which was the focus all season, you can’t ask Ross to turn a guy into an all-star talent. Some players are just better than others. You either have it or you don’t. It is up to the training of staff and pitching coaches to help pitchers and develop key strengths to adjust when something doesn’t work. Even then, a pitching coach can only go as far as the raw talent of their players will allow.

This is where the front office comes into play. If I have to point my finger at someone who has a poor pitching team, it’s the guy who signed those players in the first place. If you look at a player’s career numbers and sign a contract, you can’t very well blame the manager if they underperform.

Chicago Cubs: What Can We Expect From David Ross?

Personally, I believe that if you run a good ball club on Ross, he will succeed as a big league manager. Should Jed Hoyer be allowed to spend the off-season and hire some good free agents, I am confident that Ross will be the man for the future. Let’s just look at the core that was recently traded.

Anthony Rizzo is an exception on this list because he turned hot and only got hotter runs before the Cubs left, and was also six for his last 16 with Chicago before trading.

In three games with the San Francisco Giants, Kris Bryant only stands 2 for 12. His average is down four points despite making Homer in his first game on Bay.

Javier Baez has been up and down the New York Mets but comes from a big game where he showed off his famous swim stroke to score on the record and be at home. He hits .200 with the Mets, with four hits in 20 with bats to go with a pair of homers, HR, three RBI, a walk, and five strikeouts.

Looking at the overall seasons, many of the Cubs underperformed in Chicago this year. As mentioned above, you can give a player the tools to become a good ball player, but you cannot physically walk to the plate and swing the club for them. These break-ins are normal and happen to everyone.

The core battle with other teams, without Rizzo, solidifies my trust in Ross, who is moving forward. Give this man the right players to work with and this team can make it back into the postseason as early as next year. That part will remain in possession to open the checkbook and Jed Hoyer to make the right calls on his offseason goals.

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Primarily an out of numbers threat in three years with Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, wide receiver Justyn Ross will bring his fourth year skills closer to quarterback DJ Uiagalelei in the first year.

Ross’ move is an obvious indicator that Swinney and his coworkers believe their external arms with Ross, Joseph Ngata and Frank Ladson Jr. are moving forward in perfect health in 2021.

Contrary to the opinions of national players like ESPN’s Heather Dinich, Clemson is as strong as previous teams that earned the nickname “WRU” in the first place.

“Everyone (stands up),” Ross said during spring training. “Everyone from top to bottom is just an elite.”

When asked about the switch to the slot, Ross’ behavior indicated that the switch had already been thoroughly decided and even processed with Ross in contactless action.

“Yeah, that’s what it looks like right now,” said Ross. “I like it though. I played the slot a bit (before). A little bit in my first year, they moved me and got me into the slot. But I feel like it will be a huge advantage.” me.”

Ross stormed the stage in his freshman campaign, crowning his team-leading 1,000-yard maiden year with a national championship and returning in 2019 as runner-up with 66 receptions and 865 yards. With obvious pro talent as an outside receiver, Ross can add another level to his NFL scouting repertoire when he returns from his neck injury in the slot.

“Linebacker, slow collateral,” said Ross. “I only have this advantage to compete against slower opponents (in the slot) … I’ll probably be there in the fall.”

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