June Morrall – Page 95 – Half Moon Bay Memories

July 11, 2006

Elaine Stritch: My Favorite Broadway Performer

Long before I visited New York City a few months ago I admired the great Broadway actress Elaine Stritch. Most recently she did a one-woman show for HBO and she’s over 80 years-old. She was wearing an oversized white shirt and stockings and heels. The only prop was a bar stool type chair, and in her smoky voice she told stories of dating young, gorgeous Marlon Brando, of wild nights drinking, (she doesn’t drink anymore) and dashing from one fabulous Broadway show to another, both of which she was starring in at the same time.

Elaine Stritch’s voice is so much her own that I knew I’d recognize it anywhere.

I loved her as Joanne in Stephen Sondheim’s musical comedy, “Company” (1970) and “her” song, “Ladies Who Lunch”–

Especially these lines:
….

“And here’s to the girls who just watch–
Aren’t they the best?
When they get depressed,
It’s a bottle of Scotch,
Plus a little jest.
Another chance to disapprove,
Another brilliant zinger,
Another reason not to move,
Another vodka stinger.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!
I’ll drink to that.

….”

Miss Stritch appeared in San Francisco a few years ago and how I regret not seeing the show. I heard it was marvelous. But something much better was in store for me!

While in New York, I stayed with Burt at the sexy Carlyle, famous for John F. Kennedy’s rendezvous with beautiful women. I knew that Elaine Stritch performed in the hotel’s club (and that she lived at the famous hotel, too).

One afternoon I was walking into the hotel when walking in front of me I heard a voice I recognized.

“Elaine Stritch!” I said loudly and boldly. If I have to say so myself I sounded like an old friend of the actress.

Wearing a scarf and a coat on a mild spring day she turned to see who it was.

What to do, what to do, I thought. I didn’t feel so bold anymore.

“Can I hug you?” I said.

“Yes,” she answered and I hugged her.

A younger woman, a daughter? a business manager? was with Miss Stritch, watching the scene unfold with an approving smile.

“What’s your name?” the actress asked me.

“June”.

At that point we parted but moments later ended up getting into the same elevator. We didn’t talk but when she got off and walked away, her back to me, she had a final scene to play. In a loud, clear Broadway voice she said to me:

“GOODbye June.” (said in “that” voice).

Like the great entertainer she is, Elaine Stritch made the most out of those two words (that I will remember forever).

July 10, 2006

Horrible Mishap When Vehicle Collides With Two Motorcyles on Highway 92

Commuters heading home to Half Moon Bay on Monday afternoon, the 10th of July, were stopped in their tracks near Half Moon Bay Nursery. Burt and I were two of those commuters, some 300 yards away from what–at a distance– looked like debris on the road. I wasn’t able to see what was in the road nor were any of the other drivers in front of me.

All of us were baffled. If it was an accident, where were the cars?

As we waited emergency vehicles arrived, including two ambulances. We waited, straining to see.

All we could see was something lying on the road. Something dark. Radio news didn’t know yet. I called 511* for traffic info but the man on the recording said there was a “delay between Skyline and Skyline” on Highway 92, but cars were moving at 35-40 mph. No way! And, where’s Skyline & Skyline?

I decided to find out the old-fashioned way: I called Half Moon Bay Nursery, and asked Brad, who answered, if he knew what had happened.

“Two motorcycles were struck by a vehicle,” he told me.

“Thank you, Brad.”

(Meanwhile two ambulances left the scene, heading east.)

I called KCBS and the story was aired seconds later. “Avoid 92,” the traffic reporter said “92 is a parking lot…”

We were near the front of the line and passed the endless line of cars, standing still, stretching from the scene of the horrible accident west to Highway 1–It’ll take at least a couple of hours to clear this up, I thought.

I didn’t want to imagine how far the line stretched, all those cars at a standstill, in the opposite direciton–and, there are very very few places to turn around on Highway 92.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r4-gjwVdbQ]

July 3, 2006

The Coastside’s Other Ghost

The Blue Lady has been moving chairs and tables late at night in Moss Beach for decades earning her the reputation as the Coastsideâs top ghost.

But there is another ghost, the one we donât hear anything about, the one who also, in the end, raises many perplexing questions.

Iâm talking about the ghost at Miramar.

No sightings of this lesser known ghost had ever been reported until Albert and wife Eva Schmidt moved their restaurant business from Burlingame to Miramar.

It was after WWII, and the building they bought was the old Palace Miramar Hotel. During the war, U.S. soldiers used the Palace Miramar as a headquarters and they were pretty lax on maintenance. Albert had a lot of clean-up and restoration on his hands.

First, he renamed the place âAlbertâsâ?. Then, he found the ornate bar, gleaming chandeliers and other heavy dark furniture at the Spreckels estate sale.

Not only was the hotel worn out, but the historic wooden pier that once jutted 200 feet into the sea, had been left to rot. When Albert arrived, the pier had been reduced to stumps. While sipping at the bar, the Miramar locals guessed when the pilings would vanish forever.

I donât know what Albert was like in Burlingame, but he was a quirky figure in Miramar, an eclectic cook who whipped up chateaubriand for breakfast and ham and eggs at midnight. Albert and Eva Schmidt also built up a loyal following ranging from the locals to important politicos who loved their crab cioppino.

It was about this time that the âSecond Level Apparitionâ? that haunted Albertâs made its presence known. With an eerie shiver, the help reported sightings.

The chandeliers swung and tinkled as if agitated by a strong wind– but the windows were closed. Far more unsettling was the hooded, caped transparent face that peered through windows, there one second, gone the next.

And finally, what was going on in rooms six and seven?

When the pair of connecting rooms was unoccupied, lights could be seen beneath the doors. And when the doors were opened to see what the source of the light was, candles were found burning brightly.

Who lit the candles in rooms six and seven? Nobody knew.

Who lit the candles? Who swung the chandeliers? What was the hooded, caped thing at the windows?

Who was this âSecond Level Apparitionâ?? Man or woman? What is its story and why was it haunting Albertâs?

The only explanations seemed otherworldly. Remember, it is said that a ghost is a tortured soul searching for peace.

There are many theories: Was it one of the soldiers, a guest at the hotel, a fisherman on the pier, a passenger on the train, or someone who suffered an agonizing death during prohibition?

Most perplexing of al, what happened to the âSecond Level Apparitionâ? ghost when Albertâs burned in the 1960s?

Did the ghost find peace when the Albertâs hotel was destroyed by fire or did it move elsewhere?

Attention folks in Miramar: If you have any unexplained, strange activities in your home or business, please let me know.

Top photo: Albert’s, courtesy Joe Clement

July 1, 2006

I Tunes Music Store Person: Please Let Me Recommend Driving Music for Highway 92

I see the I Tunes Music Store is showing off a series of “Driving Music”–one is for the Autobahn in Germany, another for New England, another for the ride to the Napa-Sonoma Wine Country–all soothing, classical music.

The copy said (something like) nothing can ruffle feathers more than a wonderful day spoiled by unexpected traffic delays….turning an otherwise “normal” man or woman into a shrieking mimi within 30 seconds….

I Tunes Music Store Person: Please let me recommend “Driving Music For Highway 92”. Let it be modern music that goes off the dee end, music to accompany a nervous breakdown–spastic, antonal and cacophonous…

June 28, 2006

Blue Lady: The (In) Famous Moss Beach Ghost

In 1980 Dave Andrews (above, left), one of the owners of the Moss Beach Distillery, stood behind the bar of his restaurant overlooking the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve and told me about the roadhouse’s past. The interview with Andrews was for “The Mystery of Half Moon Bay”.

The Distillery was built in 1928 by Frank Torres, built originally, we think, as a residence, eventually a booming restaurant and bar.

There was a garage underneath that was used during Prohibition. Officials came from San Francisco and people who didn’t want to be seen in a bootleg restaurant. They would drive into the restaurant and then come up the back stairs.

We supposed it was used as a bordello. Of course, who knows what was going on.

This bay called Seal Cove was used quite actively during Prohibition. Boats from Canada would arrive outside and drop the booze off the side and float into the channel. There was a lookout on the hill to signal the boats. The signal warned whether there were any federal people here.

The Distillery was used as a hangout for a lot of movie stars, silent film stars that would come down from the City, such as Fatty Arbuckle. A lot of city officials from San Francisco would come down.

(David mentions that there were houses overlooking the ocean, houses that were part of the bordello and burned in the 1930s and 40s).

Story goes there was a triangle going on between the piano player and the jealous husband and so-called Lady in Blue was here in the evenings. Somehow a fight started between them. We think the murder [of the Lady in Blue] was a stabbing on the beach.

The Lady in Blue returned to the restaurant and she’s been here ever since, quite active late at night, moving chairs and walking around the place, slamming doors whenever she feels like she needs attention.

There’s a second story that the so-called “Blue Lady” was involved with silent film star Fatty Arbuckle.

I, myself, have heard her but never seen her.

Our maintenance man [who lives on the property] wakes up feeling somebody in the room, gets the feeling somebody’s always looking, staring at you and so when you wake up and there’s nobody there.

You hear noise and the chairs moving, tables moving and somebody in high heels walking across the floor.

I had people stay here that have heard the piano playing but there’s nobody here. And the piano’s been gone for several years.

One of our cocktail waitresses had her five-year-old daughter in the building. We were closing and the waitress and the bartender were talking to a couple of other people. The child came wandering in here, into the dining room and then she came running out screaming and saying, “There’s somebody in there. There’s a lady in blue.

Everybody walked back into the dining room and nobody was there. But the child obviously saw her.

June 28, 2006

Azevedo’s Saloon: The Place To Be On The Fourth In Half Moon Bay

Note: The Place To Be More Than A 100 Years Ago…

Note: In the late 1970s I was honored to be named the Grand Marshall of the 4th of July Parade in Half Moon Bay. Here’s the article:

And here’s me:

June 26, 2006

Ken LaJoie: The Coastside Cliffs Were His Beat In 1980, Part I

Geologist Ken LaJoie, the cameraman and I were standing on the cliffs near Surferâs Beach in 1980. Surferâs Beach is located across Highway 1 from El Granada, the town founded by the Ocean Shore Railroad. I was interviewing Lajoie as we shot footage for âThe Mystery of Half Moon Bayâ?.

Ken worked for the USGS in Menlo Park and had been measuring cliff erosion on the Coastside for years. These are his comments more than 20 years agoâit would be fascinating to hear what an expert says todayâsince 1980 there has been a lot of work done in and around the breakwater.

Ken LaJoieâs comments (1980)

âHalf Moon Bay is a unique geographical formation where the potential for erosion is very high due to soft material exposed in sea cliff.

âNatural erosion is due to dynamic equilibrium.. After the breakwater was built that very delicate dynamic equilibrium was upset. The waves were refocused on the south side of the breakwater.

âThe sand that was supplied by the cliff erosion north of the breakwater was denied to the beaches to the south.

âTwo factors together caused accelerated erosion rate south of the breakwater. Rate cliff is receding between 1957 when breakwater was built and 1971. The highest rates were in order of eight feet per year. From 1971 to present highest rate we measured are around 12 feet were year. As rate continue to erode in area south of the breakwater eventually theyâll be into the highway.

âThe erosion will jeopardize the highway.

âNow either the cliff is cemented up or a series of jetties (or groins) will have to be built. No matter what the solution it will probably be a temporary solution. Whatever method used to arrest erosion south of the breakwater itself will refocus the erosion farther south and even today concern that depletion of sand in this region will eventually affect the beaches to the south and that this depletion of sand as it progresses will affect the state beaches, Dunes Beach to the south.

âWhen the breakwater was built, the Corps of Engineers recognized that there would be a slight increase in erosion south of the breakwater. Small amount of rip rap was placed south of the breakwater to prevent a rapid rate of erosion in that area.

âWe can see from where the rip rap is today that it didnât stop the erosion.

âThe photos we took in 1971 show large masses of rip rap which is nothing more than large boulders, large pieces of cement.

âIn many instances, here in Half Moon Bay, car bodies placed were placed at the baes of the cliff to try to slow the erosion down.

âIn 1971 this rip rap was at the base of the cliff and we can see today that itâs sitting out in the middle of the beach. Very ineffective.

âThe waves have attacked the cliff and theyâve eroded back at least 80-100 feet beyond the rip rapâ¦â?

â¦To be continuedâ¦

June 26, 2006

What I’m Doing

When I started blogging for the “Half Moon Bay Memories” & El Granada Observer”, I wanted to put all of the writing and research I had done on the Coastside out there. My work goes back to the 1970s, when I arrived.

I feel really good being able to do this, to share the stories.

Some of my readers were here in the 1970s, and much earlier, and they understand, because they were here, what a unique place the Coastside was then–some may say it was more “bohemian”, others may describe the Coastside as having been “wide open”. The Coastside was certainly an isolated rural landscape filled with fiction book-size characters who just wanted to be themselves–without restraint.

What I’m saying is that the Coastside today, unique in its own way, should not be confused with the writing I do about the 1970s and 80s.

June 26, 2006

Beneath The Tarp: “Save The Strip”?

Oh, Lordy! Is the “Build-Up-The-Strip” plan back….?

Just imagine, passenger and commuter cars and work trucks on Highway 1, some of them veering off an already busy, clogged road to build a strip mall? Is this a vision for the Coastside’s future?