A new location of a health-conscious fast-casual salad chain mixture is opening a 2,800-square-foot store at 401 Santa Monica Boulevard in Santa Monica, according to property leasing documents.

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Cancellation possible at any time

The Santa Monica store will be Mixt's third location in Los Angeles, with others in Silver Lake and Miracle Mile. Since opening in downtown San Francisco in 2005, the chain has opened a total of 16 locations, most of them spread across several California cities and one each in Dallas and Scottsdale, Arizona.

Owned by a married couple David And Leslie Silverglide — who has an impressive background in environmental science and engineering — Mixt offers customers a selection of signature salads or lets them build their own from a wealth of fresh ingredients. The couple came up with the idea while bemoaning the lack of healthy fast-food options on a trip back to San Francisco from Lake Tahoe, Mixt's website says.

What now? Los Angeles has contacted Leslie Silverglide for comment.

The post Mixt Seems to Be Coming to Santa Monica appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Santa Cruz-popular Humble Sea Brewing Co. is making a big move to a new city. The brewery will open its first taproom in San Francisco, taking over a space in the tourist-popular Pier 39 development, SFGATE reports.

The brewery's new location is slated for Pier 39, room N-111-1A, and will open sometime in July, marketing director Lee DeGraw told the outlet. It will be a sprawling 80-seat taproom and plans to partner with a yet-to-be-determined restaurant for the food component. The brewery takes over the former Wines of California Wine Bar, which closed in 2019, and has its own patio.

This move to San Francisco is the latest in a series of expansions for the brewery, which most recently added its fourth taproom location in Alameda Point in May 2023. The brewery also has taprooms in Pacifica and Santa Cruz Wharf, as well as the brewery's flagship location in Santa Cruz. The brewery's Felton location closed in August 2023. The brewery has had its sights set on San Francisco for the past five years, they told SFGATE, and it's an ambitious move for a business that started in owner Nick Pavlina's grandmother's house.

The news comes at a time of turmoil in the San Francisco and Bay Area beer scenes. In July 2023, San Francisco's oldest brewery, Anchor Brewing, ceased production after more than a century of producing its legendary steam beer in the city. New Belgium also closed its massive San Francisco waterfront taproom in February 2023, while popular San Francisco brewery Cellarmaker moved production to the East Bay after acquiring Rare Barrel in 2022.

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The post Santa Cruz Brewery Humble Sea Is Opening a Taproom at San Francisco’s Pier 39 appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Every year for the past twenty-eight years, Tomáseen Foley’s A Celtic Christmas has crisscrossed the country, bringing to packed venues his authentic remembrance of a way of life that is, alas, no longer with us. A warm, welcoming, rousing and truly family-friendly event, A Celtic Christmas will perform Sunday, December 17 at 3:00 PM at Santa Cruz’s Rio Theatre. For tickets ($34—49) visit EventBrite at the link below; for more information, visit https://www.tomaseenfoley.com/a-celtic-christmas.html.

“When I was a child, it was around the fireplaces of my neighbors’ thatched cottages that I experienced the last remnants of the old communal way of life,” says Tomáseen. “The family was the center of the community then, and the community was the center of life itself, the shining axle around which the great wheel of the universe revolved. Stories, music, song and dance were the spokes of that slowly turning wheel.”

Now in its 28th season of touring nationally, Tomáseen Foley’s A Celtic Christmas recreates the joy and innocence of a night before Christmas in a remote farmhouse in his native parish of Teampall an Ghleanntáin in the west of Ireland in the 1950s — when the neighboring families would gather around the fire to grace the wintry night with traditional Irish Christmas carols, to raise the rafters with the joy of their music; to knock sparks off the flagstone floor with their traditional dances. And, of course, there were stories — they filled the night with the laughter of their stories.

Foley himself was raised in a home that had a thatch roof, stone walls, tiny windows and a flagstone floor … like all his neighbors’ homes, it had no ‘contraptions or installations’ — i.e., no plumbing, no running water, no electricity; and the sole source of heat, a treasured open turf fire. Battery-driven radios were a novelty and viewed by many with suspicion; no one in the parish owned a motor car, and traveled instead by pony-and-trap. Later, having travelled much of the world, Foley found himself returning to those comforting roots: those remembered evenings of song and story, that vanished sense of communal life, and sharing it with audiences through his stories and songs. As he puts it, “A Celtic Christmas seeks to be a window to that old world by attempting to recreate the joy and innocence of just such a night, and, when we succeed, its memory may linger — and even shimmer — long, long after the curtain comes down.”

This year’s show features some of the finest, most authentic exponents of the Celtic arts performing anywhere today, on either side of the Atlantic. U.S. Champion Irish dancer Morgan Martin joins the show this year, adding to a stellar cast of seasoned professionals who enchant with their song, dance, and stories.

Storyteller/Director Tomáseen Foley grew up cradled in a culture unique to the old communal way of life, and continues to share the joy of that upbringing. In conjunction with the Omaha Symphony and other orchestras, he performs in Celtic Journey as well as occasional performances with Apollo’s Fire, the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra. He has released two CDs: Parcel From America, and a live recording, The Priest and the Acrobat. Rego Irish Records said of Foley, “He is a master of the Irish narrative and a keeper of the flame for a priceless piece of Irish culture.” For further information, visit: www.tomaseenfoley.com.

Santa Cruz resident and Grammy Award winner William Coulter is the show’s longtime Music Director. An internationally recognized master of the steel-string guitar, he has been performing and recording traditional Celtic and American folk music for more than 30 years. Coulter studied classical guitar and earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of California Santa Cruz, a master’s degree in music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, an a second master’s degree from the University of California Santa Cruz in Ethnomusicology. He now teaches guitar at UC Santa Cruz as well as the National Guitar Summer Workshop, Alasdair Fraser’s Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddling School, and the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop. For further information, visit http://williamcoulterguitar.com.

Singer, dancer, and multi-instrumentalist Eimear Arkins hails from Ruan in County Clare, Ireland. She holds eleven solo All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil titles and has competed in all Ireland, European and World Dancing Championships. Arkins has toured and performed with numerous groups including Cherish The Ladies, Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, The Paul Brock Band, Trinity Irish Dance Ensemble and Téada. She is a regular teacher at St. Louis Irish Arts and has given workshops at various festivals throughout the world including New York, St. Louis, Canada, Estonia, and France. She released her debut album, What’s Next? in June 2018 to great acclaim, and was awarded Newcomer of the Year 2019 by liveIRELAND. To learn more, visit https://www.eimeararkins.com/.

Brian Bigley has studied the uilleann pipes for over thirty years, and has toured North America and Europe extensively as both a musician and a dancer, appearing in shows such as the Omaha Symphony’s Celtic Journey and Grammy-winning Apollo’s Fire production Christmas on Sugarloaf Mountain (the recording of which made it to number three on the Billboard Charts). He competed with great distinction at the World Irish Dance Championships and has placed second in the senior uilleann piping competition at the All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil. He produces and tours his show called An Irish Rambling House and has several recordings available on CD. Bigley lives near Cleveland, Ohio with his wife and children. For further information, visit https://www.brianbigleymusic.com/.

The post Tomáseen Foley’s A CELTIC CHRISTMAS Will Play Santa Cruz Subsequent Month appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Every year for the past twenty-eight years, Tomáseen Foley’s A Celtic Christmas has crisscrossed the country, bringing to packed venues his authentic remembrance of a way of life that is, alas, no longer with us. A warm, welcoming, rousing and truly family-friendly event, A Celtic Christmas will perform Sunday, December 17 at 3:00 PM at Santa Cruz’s Rio Theatre. For tickets ($34—49) visit EventBrite at the link below; for more information, visit https://www.tomaseenfoley.com/a-celtic-christmas.html.

“When I was a child, it was around the fireplaces of my neighbors’ thatched cottages that I experienced the last remnants of the old communal way of life,” says Tomáseen. “The family was the center of the community then, and the community was the center of life itself, the shining axle around which the great wheel of the universe revolved. Stories, music, song and dance were the spokes of that slowly turning wheel.”

Now in its 28th season of touring nationally, Tomáseen Foley’s A Celtic Christmas recreates the joy and innocence of a night before Christmas in a remote farmhouse in his native parish of Teampall an Ghleanntáin in the west of Ireland in the 1950s — when the neighboring families would gather around the fire to grace the wintry night with traditional Irish Christmas carols, to raise the rafters with the joy of their music; to knock sparks off the flagstone floor with their traditional dances. And, of course, there were stories — they filled the night with the laughter of their stories.

Foley himself was raised in a home that had a thatch roof, stone walls, tiny windows and a flagstone floor … like all his neighbors’ homes, it had no ‘contraptions or installations’ — i.e., no plumbing, no running water, no electricity; and the sole source of heat, a treasured open turf fire. Battery-driven radios were a novelty and viewed by many with suspicion; no one in the parish owned a motor car, and traveled instead by pony-and-trap. Later, having travelled much of the world, Foley found himself returning to those comforting roots: those remembered evenings of song and story, that vanished sense of communal life, and sharing it with audiences through his stories and songs. As he puts it, “A Celtic Christmas seeks to be a window to that old world by attempting to recreate the joy and innocence of just such a night, and, when we succeed, its memory may linger — and even shimmer — long, long after the curtain comes down.”

This year’s show features some of the finest, most authentic exponents of the Celtic arts performing anywhere today, on either side of the Atlantic. U.S. Champion Irish dancer Morgan Martin joins the show this year, adding to a stellar cast of seasoned professionals who enchant with their song, dance, and stories.

Storyteller/Director Tomáseen Foley grew up cradled in a culture unique to the old communal way of life, and continues to share the joy of that upbringing. In conjunction with the Omaha Symphony and other orchestras, he performs in Celtic Journey as well as occasional performances with Apollo’s Fire, the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra. He has released two CDs: Parcel From America, and a live recording, The Priest and the Acrobat. Rego Irish Records said of Foley, “He is a master of the Irish narrative and a keeper of the flame for a priceless piece of Irish culture.” For further information, visit: www.tomaseenfoley.com.

Santa Cruz resident and Grammy Award winner William Coulter is the show’s longtime Music Director. An internationally recognized master of the steel-string guitar, he has been performing and recording traditional Celtic and American folk music for more than 30 years. Coulter studied classical guitar and earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of California Santa Cruz, a master’s degree in music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, an a second master’s degree from the University of California Santa Cruz in Ethnomusicology. He now teaches guitar at UC Santa Cruz as well as the National Guitar Summer Workshop, Alasdair Fraser’s Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddling School, and the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop. For further information, visit http://williamcoulterguitar.com.

Singer, dancer, and multi-instrumentalist Eimear Arkins hails from Ruan in County Clare, Ireland. She holds eleven solo All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil titles and has competed in all Ireland, European and World Dancing Championships. Arkins has toured and performed with numerous groups including Cherish The Ladies, Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, The Paul Brock Band, Trinity Irish Dance Ensemble and Téada. She is a regular teacher at St. Louis Irish Arts and has given workshops at various festivals throughout the world including New York, St. Louis, Canada, Estonia, and France. She released her debut album, What’s Next? in June 2018 to great acclaim, and was awarded Newcomer of the Year 2019 by liveIRELAND. To learn more, visit https://www.eimeararkins.com/.

Brian Bigley has studied the uilleann pipes for over thirty years, and has toured North America and Europe extensively as both a musician and a dancer, appearing in shows such as the Omaha Symphony’s Celtic Journey and Grammy-winning Apollo’s Fire production Christmas on Sugarloaf Mountain (the recording of which made it to number three on the Billboard Charts). He competed with great distinction at the World Irish Dance Championships and has placed second in the senior uilleann piping competition at the All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil. He produces and tours his show called An Irish Rambling House and has several recordings available on CD. Bigley lives near Cleveland, Ohio with his wife and children. For further information, visit https://www.brianbigleymusic.com/.

The post Tomáseen Foley’s A CELTIC CHRISTMAS Involves Santa Cruz Subsequent Month appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

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.

The post 1906: An inconvenient blessing | Ross Eric Gibson, Native Historical past – Santa Cruz Sentinel appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

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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Zeke Fraser has a lot on his desk, both figuratively and literally. He briefly stepped away from his paperwork-lined desk at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds late Wednesday morning for a quick chat about the upcoming fair, which opens on Wednesday.

Vendors and performers were arriving, and workers were bustling about in equipment-laden golf carts as tents and food booths were being assembled. 

This frenetic bustle is typical in the lead-up to the event, which draws thousands of people to the Watsonville venue.

Fraser was hired as CEO in June, and says that everything is on track.

“The biggest thing we want people to know is that we are here and we are ready to do the fair,” he said.

Fraser says that visitors will see beloved favorites such as the All Alaskan Racing Pigs, the cinnamon roll booth and camel rides.

New this year is an exotic bird show featuring condors with 10-foot wingspans, colorful macaws, hornbills and cranes. Also new is “Cartoon Poodles,” a show featuring 11 pink-dyed poodles trained to jump, dance and otherwise clown around for their audience.

“It’s a complete 20-minute show,” says Isabel Abuhadba, whose family has been doing the performances for six generations, including casinos in Las Vegas and in numerous countries. “It’s wonderful when we present the show and hear the audience cheering.”

Throughout the fairgrounds, preparations are underway, with art being hung for display and people setting up their entries.

One of these was Jackie Cameron, who last year, after a lifetime of attending the fair—and telling herself she would enter the garden competition she loved to see—took the plunge, designing her own garden in the adult category.

“I thought, you know what? I’m 52 and I’m going to do a gosh darn garden,” she said. 

Her entry earned her a best-in-show ribbon, and now she is hoping to repeat that victory in this year’s fair.

On Wednesday, she was the first gardener working on this year’s entry, which she has titled “Color Wheel.”

Visitors to the Home Arts display in the J.J. Crosetti Hall can feast their eyes on dozens of different genres, from knotting to sewing to jewelry to quilts.

Two of the latter deserve a second glance: one is a quilt made by a 7-year-old girl—her first foray into the art. This just around the corner from a masterpiece by veteran quilter Thom Adkins. 

The complexity of the latter clearly sets it apart from that of the works surrounding it. But the work of the young girl and the experienced artist represents one of the overarching missions of the display: inspiring young people to take up and carry on a time-honored tradition, says volunteer Mary Travis.

“When you can get the youth interested, it’s amazing,” she said.  

In the Fine Arts Building, Donna Giubbini, who heads up the art exhibit for the fair, said a new category will highlight professional commercial illustration. Works include locally produced posters, business signs and banners.

“We wanted to make room for this category because there is so much talent in this kind of illustration,” Giubbini said.

Also in Fine Arts, metal sculptor Pierre Riche is showing a metal sculpture from his “Golden Possibilities” series. He says the five-foot-tall equine sculpture is a result of more than two decades of working his craft, which has included making miniature horses from recycled metal to towering outdoor pieces constructed from laser-cut plate steel. 

He says his work has been featured in venues in Chicago, New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles, as well as in Spain and France.

Moving forward 

Fraser took the reins as CEO in the wake of the termination of former CEO Dave Kegebein. The Fair Board alleged that many expenditures on a state-issued credit card were for unauthorized purchases, including gasoline for his truck.

Kegebein said that all his purchases were for work related to the fair, and paid back $30,000 to the Fairgrounds.

The move angered many community members, who criticized the board for, among other things, not giving Kegebein a chance to ameliorate the situation.

Fraser, who had no involvement in the termination or in the subsequent approval of three interim CEOs, says he wants to focus on this fair, and on those in the future.

“It’s in the past,” he said. “I’d love to leave it in the past and move forward. Everyone’s come together to get this fair done, and hopefully it will help us as a community to heal, that’s my hope.”

Santa Cruz County Fair Board Chair Michael Pruger agrees.

“It’s been a tough year for the fair,” he said. “However I think we’ve gotten past our roughest patch, we’ve hired a great new CEO and we believe we are going to be able to provide a great fair for years to come.”

Pruger also tipped his hat to the people who help out every year to help keep the fair going and the fairgrounds running. 

“If it wasn’t for the great volunteers that come out every single year we would be in trouble,” he said. “We appreciate their commitment to the fair. We have had nothing but great turnout again, the fairgrounds are in beautiful condition.”

The Santa Cruz County Fair runs from Sept. 13-17.

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James “Jim” Franklin Mulligan
February 12, 1943 – August 9, 2023
The world lost a beautiful soul on Wednesday, August 9, 2023.

James “Jim” Franklin Mulligan lost a courageous five-year battle with Leukemia. Jim was a supremely talented man and a jack-of-all-trades who taught himself construction, electrical, plumbing, and tile setting during his life He held a number of positions including long haul trucker (48 states), stagehand (San Francisco Opera), insurance adjuster, San Francisco muni driver, and property superintendent.

Jim was born on February 12, 1943, in Sacramento to Peter “Bart” Bartholomew Mulligan and Selma “Sally Jo” Josephine (Six) Mulligan.

These are just the facts of Jim’s life, but what is more important is the quality of his life. Jim was universally loved and respected by everyone who knew him. He was kind almost to a fault, always considering the feelings of others even over his own. A selfless man, Jim was kind and respectful of everyone he met, treating everyone equally and as if they were a friend. His spiritual values encouraged him to read deeply on, “The Higher Things to Which Man May Attain,” and lived his life in that fashion. Jim’s many self-taught skills were reflective of a modern Renaissance Man; it seems as if he could do anything, but he was eager to learn those things he had not yet mastered.

Donations in Jim’s memory can be made to Food For Thought Food Bank in Sonoma County that is dedicated to serving folks with serious medical condition. www.fftfoodbank.org or the Christian Brothers Order. This was Jim’s choice, and it goes to scholarships and care of retired Brothers. Jim was in the order from 1961 to 1965. lcbfoundation.org.

Jim will be sorely missed by his siblings, Rita (Frank) Perella, Pat (Julie) Mulligan and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins, his sisters-in-law Carol Fairchild, Donna Madeira, and Billie Zwolinski and brother-in-law Paul Zwolinski, but no more than by the love of his life for 55 years, Frank John Zwolinski, who will miss him more than anything.

Published by Press Democrat from Aug. 24 to Aug. 27, 2023.

34465541-95D0-45B0-BEEB-B9E0361A315ATo plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

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John S. “Jack” Mahall
August 14, 1939 – July 11, 2023
John Stephen Mahall passed away peacefully from Covid-related lung disease. His wife, Muriel; daughter, Meredith Ferino; son, Jon Mahall, and sister, Connie Hageman, were at his side. He is also survived by his brother Jeffrey Mahall (Susan); brother-in-law, Jim Hageman; daughter-in-law, Tracy Barton Mahall; former son-in-law, Randy Ferino; grandchildren: Kingsley Mahall, Harrison and Olive Ferino; a niece, several nephews and great nieces and nephews (in Texas, Colorado, and Ohio).

Almost 84 years ago, in Cleveland, OH, John (Jack) started his adventure-filled journey, the first of four children– Neal, Jeffrey and Connie. His parents were Cornelius and Adele Mahall. The children grew up bowling and working at Mahall’s 20 Lanes, Lakewood Ohio, founded by their grandfather almost 100 years ago. Besides bowling, Jack also enjoyed ice skating and later, skiing. His father was a private pilot, and became a flight trainer for the Navy during World War II, which may have stoked Jack’s passion for aviation.

As a teenager, Jack built and raced U-controlled model airplanes. In one competition in Cleveland, he was awarded ten hours of private flight instruction. This started his aviation career path.

In 1963, Jack graduated from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, and soon joined the United States Air Force. He graduated with honors from both Officer Training and Navigator schools. In a tactical troop carrier, Jack navigated all over the world. He spent twelve months in Vietnam and his “best vacation ever” was three weeks in Australia,” where he snow skied and attended a sports car race.

The ultimate goal was to be a pilot, so after six years, he left the Air Force where he felt “stuck” as a navigator. Jack moved to Sacramento and the Bay area to begin logging hours as a flight instructor.

In 1972, he settled in Sonoma County, becoming chief pilot of a start-up commuter airline, STOL Air Commuter, with routes from Santa Rosa to San Francisco. In Santa Rosa he met Muriel Ferrell. They married in 1975 and had two children, Meredith and Jon. The family moved to Cotati in 1986.

After STOL Air, Jack was chief pilot for a small freight airline, Western Star, which flew to Reno and Fresno. Then an opportunity to fly jet aircraft came with the freight company, IASCO, flying from San Francisco to Denver CO, and Columbus, OH. The next big break came with Evergreen International Airlines. He began flying the Falcon and six months later was in the captain’s seat of a Boeing 727. This position morphed into a career with United Parcel Service where he also flew the 757 and 767. He was a UPS captain for ten years then, after aging out of the captain’s seat, spent another ten years as a flight engineer on the Boeing 747.

In his spare time, Jack loved designing and building, so he transformed the Cotati home, a 1,700 square foot ranch, into a 2,700 square foot contemporary. A “Jack of all trades,” he did 90% of the work himself–sheet rock, plumbing, tile, hardwood floors, and electrical. Later, he landscaped the yard and built an 11,000 gallon koi pond. One neighbor used to call him “Mr. Winchester,” and would ask about how the “Cotati Mystery House” was coming along.

Jack also completed an 840 sq. foot garage and shop–a noisy, busy, happy place where he could hone his automotive skills.

He not only liked “fixing up” cars, but also loved making them go fast. In the mid-1960’s he started amateur sports car racing in an MGA. In 1973, in his 1960 Austin Healy Bug Eye Sprite he qualified for the Sports Car Club of America’s national finals at Road Atlanta, Georgia.

During the past 20 years he enjoyed Vintage Racing in his 1962 Lotus 7, in San Diego;

Monterey (Laguna Seca); Portland, Oregon; and Kent, Washington, to name a few.

For over 20 years, Jack, an avid snow skier, was active in the Santa Rosa Ski Club, where he and Muriel met many friends, and enjoyed ski trips to Alaska, Canada, Utah, Colorado and beyond. A high point was in February, 2020, at the age of 80, when he qualified to ski free at Alta Ski Area, Utah. Ski Club members were, of course, there to celebrate. His last trip to the Tahoe area was December 2022, where he skied and watched his grandchildren learning to ski.

Claiming to not be a “joiner,” Jack also joined the Petaluma Valley Athletic Club to play tennis and meet another wonderful group of friends. After the closure of PVAC, tennis moved to Magnolia Park, Rohnert Park, where, until this past March, he and “the guys” met up for weekly matches and camaraderie.

Among his many skills, was that of making wonderful travel plans–his very own travel agent. During retirement he and Muriel traveled to Canada, Mexico, much of the U.S., as well as Europe. Possibly his favorite trip , was a cruise from Athens, through the Greek Isles to Malta on a 5-masted windjammer.

Jack will be missed by friends, family and his wife of almost 48 years. It was an amazing, challenging and fun journey.

A Remembrance Celebration will be held in mid-October. Please contact a family member for details.

Published by Press Democrat on Aug. 13, 2023.

34465541-95D0-45B0-BEEB-B9E0361A315ATo plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

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Ray Tilton was doing some tidying up in his 400-square-foot downtown Santa Rosa apartment last spring when he realized he had an inordinate amount of socks.

It was more than a collection. He was hoarding.

And he knew why.

Tilton, now 59, had spent about two years in his mid-20s living on the streets in San Francisco.

Sometimes he’d crash with someone, anyone. Sometimes he’d rent a room by the night. Sometimes he slept on the street.

If he couldn’t find an alternative, he “showered” in a car wash.

He came to understand the value of a decent pair of clean socks.

And he knew that once socks get wet, there’s no way to dry them. Conditions like trench foot and infections can take hold.

Foot care is a serious health issue on the street.

“Just having clean, dry socks for your feet was always such a struggle. I think most people take it for granted,” he said.

He never really got over that feeling, so he found himself hoarding socks until very recently, even though he’s been housed for decades.

“I had probably a good couple hundred pairs,” he said.

But last spring, something changed.

“I don’t even know what prompted it but something just told me, you know what, I should just take a bag when I go out and give out these socks,” he said.

Tilton, who lives in downtown Santa Rosa, is a regular walker. He can walk for miles. He decided to use his walks as a way to distribute all of his new socks.

“People were so grateful, and it was just this epiphany — ‘Oh my god, of course, I know how that felt,’” he said.

It didn’t take long for Tilton to give away almost every pair from his own collection, so he started asking friends to chip in.

He posted his plan on a Facebook page. He described his regular walks before which he’d load up a reusable grocery bag with bundled socks.

He’d change routes, walking for miles, greeting people through closed tent doors or behind zipped up sleeping bags.

“The Joe Rodota Trail is heartbreaking,” he said. “I go all of the way out to FoodMaxx. I walk that far when I’m well enough.”

Sonoma County officials on Tuesday removed an encampment on the Joe Rodota Trail that had grown to approximately 30 unhoused people between Hampton Way and Dutton Avenue.

Those sweeps, Tilton said, are heartbreaking and can make it hard for him to find his “regulars.”

But he walks on.

Tilton, who was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS four decades ago, is six years removed from having throat cancer. And two bouts of COVID-19 have lately left him more tired than usual.

The bright green reusable grocery bags he uses to carry the sock bundles around can feel heavier as he walks. He sits to rest often.

But he hasn’t stopped, and by his tally, has handed out about 2,000 pairs of socks since June.

“I’m doing it, weather permitting, three or four days a week now,” he said. “So I’m reaching over 100 people a week now, which is pretty amazing when you think about it.”

When this project began, Tilton, a prodigious lifelong fundraiser and networker for all manner of charities and nonprofits, sent out the call to his contacts. Might anyone support his latest gig?

He was overwhelmed by the response.

Boxes of socks, sealed with Amazon packing tape, showed up outside of his sixth-floor apartment.

Gift cards arrived. Venmo donations showed up on his account.

“In less than two months, I had enough socks to last the year,” he said.

He’s mapped out the number of socks he needs to distribute weekly to cover the maximum number of folks on the street but also not wear out his generous supporters.

A friend has started a similar effort in the East Bay.

Tilton keeps donors and backers updated on a Facebook page he created under the moniker “Life Socks/Socks = Life.”

It’s the second iteration. He said he lost the first one in some kind of glitch.

But make no mistake, Ray Tilton knows what he’s doing.

Behind the chest-high stacks of boxes in his hallway hang frame after frame of certificates and awards and commendations.

From the California Assembly. From the California Senate. And also “The 40th Royal House & the Majestic Dove Court of Peace, Love, & Integration.”

There is a certificate from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors declaring Sept. 22, 2002, “Ray Tilton Day in San Francisco”:

“Whereas Ray Tilton has contributed more than 15 years of community service and activism … Whereas Ray Tilton has served on numerous boards and committees including SMMILE, Castro Street Fair, AIDS Emergency Fund … Whereas Ray Tilton is a prodigious fundraiser, raising money for such charities as … Positive Resource Center, Camp Sunburst, LYRIC, Human Rights Campaign Fund and Gay Softball Teams …”

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