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Granada (3)

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

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

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

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

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

….to be continued…

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On Gordon’s Chute….

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

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

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

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

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

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Granada (2)

Photo: After lunch on the beach, a look at available lots]

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[Note: I wrote this story about El Granada in 1977.]

Snuggled against the mountains and facing a bay of incomparable beauty, the isolated hamlet [Granada] offered the best of two worlds: a desirable place to build a home and raise a family while fast commuter trains promised to deliver residents to their jobs in San Francisco.

A real estate agent from the Charles Kendrick Co. told his audience that the Ocean Shore Railroad planned to build a large casino, hotel and bathing pavillion overlooking the gray-blue Pacific.

“And any one you,” he said, “can buy a lot now, at low, low prices, and still enjoy the wonders of Granada while you watch your investment double.”

After listening to such a convincing sales pitch, followed by an unforgettable afternoon bag lunch on Granada’s sheltered, picturesque beach, people were ready to buy building lots.

And by the time these picnickers and lot speculators returned home on the train, they were bubbling with excitement. Before long as many as 1727 lots were sold, a total of $976,779. From that moment on, promoters stepped up publicity of the Coastside paradise on a grand scale.

…….to be continued………

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(1)”Granada–the magnificent Burnham City which will be to San Francisco

what Atlantic City is to Philadelphia–what Coney Island is to New York–what Long Beach is to Los Angeles.”

[From 1900s advertisement, Chas. H. Kendrick Co., as it appeared in “The Last Whistle” by Jack Wagner–My story was written in 1977.]

AS the conductor announced the last call for Granada, a family of Sunday picnickers elbowed their way through the noisy crowd. After stepping off the train, the foursome followed other passengers walking toward the lovely new North Granada train station, with its graceful architectural touches– the arches– reminiscent of Stanford University’s Quad– finished off with a fine Spanish red tiled roof.

Many regular train-takers described the North Granada station as the most attractive on the entire Ocean Shore line–there were pretty ones in Moss Beach and Montara, too.

In the middle of the colorful scene at the train station, all heads looked up as a balloonist, suspended high above the ground, scattered a paper shower of pamphlets. One woman wearing a beribboned hat and full, long dress bent down to pick up the booklet which promised to reveal the bright future of Granada: the jewel of the coast.

Sales reps from Charles H. Kendrick Co., who identified themselves as the sole agents for Granada, attracted a swarm of interested home buyers. The men from Kendrick followed a script, warmly welcoming everyone to Granada–quickly advising that few had seen this spectacular part of the coast before. One real estate agent emphasized that the Ocean Shore Railway had chosen Granada as the centerpiece of an ambitious plan including a seaside resort, unlike any seen before.

…..to be continued…

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Meet Alexander Gordon, the man who built Intricate Gordon’s Chute (and was a coastside supervisor)

From Alexander Gordon’s obit, Feb. 1912, Times-Gazette

“The deceased was twice a member of the State Legislature as assemblyman–in 1861 from Marin county and during the 1880s in this county [San Mateo]. He served the county as a supervisor from the coastside, and while a resident of this city was for several years a city councilman. His last years were quietly spent in his home on Phelps street at which his wife passed away in 1909.

“During the stirring Vigilante days the deceased was in San Francisco and saw many of the exciting events that were enacted at that time. He was present at the funeral of Senator Broderick who was shot by Judge Terry in a duel in 1856 and stood closer to Colonel Baker when he delivered his grand eulogy over the dead statesman. Mr. Gordon recalled vividly those memorable happenings and his stories of the old days, graphically told, were intensely interesting………”

….End….

[Note: Gordon’s Chute– an elaborate engineering feat that may have some evidence of its short life on one of the Coastside outstanding landmark cliffs– it is said the intricately woven structure was blown away in a wild storm with heavy winds. Whenever we drive north from San Gregorio along Hwy 1, and that perfect example of nature comes into view, I am, frankly, in awe. And with familiarity, the feeling intensifies.

The sculptress Sybil Easterday and her family lived at lonely Tunitas Creek with views of whatever was left of Gordon’s Chute in the 1890s into the 1900s. About 1916 Sybil married Louis Paulsen, who was related to the J.F. Wienke family, early hotel pioneers at Moss Beach, north of Half Moon Bay.

The Wienkes were anxious that the Ocean Shore Railroad build its iron road along the San Mateo County Coastside–with a train station near the hotel, of course. Louis Paulsen probably rode the train from San Francisco to Moss Beach (where the owners organized illegal cockfights) and then on to Tunitas Creek where he was invited to a dinner party hosted by Sybil. As an artist, Sybil loved to design her own menu place cards.

What was called “Long Bridge” crossed the creek and Sybil’s home stood near the bridge.

Tunitas Creek became the end-of-the-line for the soon-to-be-bankrupt railroad, an unpopulated, moody, rural landscape with a few buildings that belonged to the Ocean Shore company, as well as the saloon that Louis and Sybil operated. }

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Meet Alexander Gordon, the man who built Gordon’s Chute (3)

From Alexander Gordon’s obit, Feb. 1912, Times-Gazette

“In 1863 Mr. Gordon moved to this county [San Mateo County] and located on the coast where he lived for many years. He acquired large land holdings and farmed on an extensive scale. He owned great warehouses on the ocean shore near San Gregorio and here he built what was known as Gordon’s Chute, a contrivance used in loading deep-water vessels by which the product of his farms and that of his neighbors was carried off to market.

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“Mr. Gordon accumulated his wealth while a resident of this county, and when he made his home in this city twenty-five years ago, he ranked among the rich men of this state. Unfortunate investments, however, swept a large portion [including his contraption called Gordon’s Chute] of this away in later years.”

…………to be continued……….