A while ago I received this email from Millie Muller, who lives on the East Coast:
This is Millie:
Good morning June,
I’ve been doing some family research and I’ve just discovered that my Aunt was married to a Frank Torres of Moss Beach, CA. Her name was Fanny Lea Torres. Two days ago I was given a copy of her obituary; she died in 1976. It states that her husband Frank Torres was the owner of the Frank Torres Beach Hotel on the Coastside.
When I did a search for the hotel it brought up a page that has the Moss Beach Distillary, and there was a mention of a Frank Torres.
Here’s the Distillery
——————–
Millie is a genealogist, an intrepid one, who has been doing her sleuthing on the Internet. She’s come up with all kinds of new information about Frank & Fanny Torres, who, in 1927, built the restaurant we know as The Distillery in Moss Beach. That was during prohibition on the isolated Coastside, and, believe me, there are many colorful stories from that era waiting to be found and revealed. To read her original story, click here
Here is the latest from Millie, and I applaud and admire her tenaciousness.
Good Morning, June
I have found someone that has a picture of Frank and Fanny Torres!
Seems that Fanny and her mother Martha weren’t the only relatives of mine to live in San Mateo. The younger sister Maude lived there too. I had found information that the younger sister Maude had died in Santa Cruz back in 1947. I sent away for a copy of her death certificate and come to find out she had only been in Santa Cruz for 3 weeks before her death. She had been placed in a nursing home for those 3 weeks. Her cause of death was a brain tumor. She had been treated for that for 3 years. Her death certificate states that her usual residence was Moss Beach.
There are several typographical errors on her death certificate. It says the informant was Fawney Torres, which should have been spelled Fanny. And it states that her late husband’s name was Loewis Forde, which could be Louis or Lewis Forde or Ford.
Then come to find out the older sister Alice, her daughter Bernice lived in Moss Beach too. Bernice had an older son from a first marriage named Gordon Hickman; he married Violet Cima.. Bernice was married twice, the second husband was Gottlieb Huber. Now the two of them had several children: Theodor (Teddy), Gertrude (Trudy), Steven and Martha all with the last name Huber. I think that’s all.
Steven (1947) and Martha (1948) were both born in San Mateo.
Right now I’m in contact with a daughter of Gordon and Violet’s. She scanned the picture of Frank and Fanny but it is very tiny. The great thing is that I use this web site for archived newspapers and I’ve found the same picture used in an article about Frank and Fanny at Christmas. I’m hoping I can get a better scan or even a copy of this picture. I think the picture you spoke of, that you had seen, when you interviewed Frank, that had that Devils Slide as the background, is in the background of the picture of Frank and Fanny.
{This is Frank Torre’s 2nd Hotel near Montara Mtn:
In the email that Celest sent me that had the scan she says “LAST PIC IS FANNIE AND FRANK TORRES TAKEN AT FRANK TORRES BEACH HOTEL SEE THE PORTRAIT OF FRANK BEHIND THEM.” Quoted from her email to me. I’ve posted the article here for you to see. Along with the tiny scanned picture I was sent in email.
(Photo: Looks like early Moss Beach. Courtesy Millie Muller. Email Millie: [email protected])
A few days ago, I got an email from Millicent Muller, who lives in Farmville, North Carolina. Millie is a devoted genealogist who began researching her family roots in 1980, âback when,â? she explains, âyou actually had to handwrite a letter to the clerk of the court, asking for information. Of course, that included sending a check to pay for a copy, if there was a record.â?
Today Millie uses the Internet, including ancestry.com, with pouring in faster than before.
She began âsearching for a connection to Cherokee Indians on my motherâs side. Then I switched to my fatherâs side. Through him is the Frank Torres connection.â?
In the 1920s Frank Torres built and ran the popular roadhouse called âFrankâs,â? (today known as the Moss Beach Distillery.) He married Fanny Lea, who died on the Coastside in 1976.
Why does Millie want to know more about Fanny and Frank Torres?
Fanny Torres was Millieâs aunt, one of her father Howard Leaâs three sisters. Millie never met Frank or Fanny but âwould love to contact someone related to Frank Torres. That would probably have to be a grandchild of Frankâs who might have a photo of him with Fanny, someone who could pass along family stories. Iâd love either one!â?
HalfMoonBayMemories (HMBM)
Tell me a little about you. (Photo: Millie Muller)
Millie Muller (MM):
I was born in 1954 when HH ( my father Howard) was 64 years old. Everyone either called him HH or Old Man Lea. I had an older sister and yes a younger one. We were called The Lea Girls. HH married my mom when she was 20. She is still alive and remembers some things about what he talked about. To the best of my knowledge he never spoke with any of his family. HH died in 1966. He was 75 years old.
HMBM:
So you began your search.
Millie Muller (MM)
The first real information I got about Fanny came from a copy of my grandmotherâs death certificate. Her name was Martha Lea and she died in 1941. Grandmother Martha and Aunt Fanny lived on the East Coast and then suddenly moved to Moss Beach. But I donât know why.
HMBM:
What else did you learn?
MM:
It was my Aunt Fanny who provided the information on her motherâs death certificate. That was the first time I knew for sure that Fanny had been married, and what her married name was. And that was the first time I heard of Moss Beach.
HMBM:
What about Frank Torres?
MM:
It says that Fannyâs husband, Frank Torres, was the owner of the Frank Torres Beach Hotel on the Coastside. When I did an Internet search on the hotel, it brought up a page that shows the Moss Beach Distillery, and there was mention of Frank Torres.
Three years before my grandmotherâs death, she drew up a document for my father. It was dated Sept 13, 1938, giving his place of birth and birth date. The notary was R. Guy Smith. I searched Amazon.com for books about the Coastside and found his name in association with some pictures in a book. That was very exciting for me!
HMBM:
And you also got Fannyâs obit, right? How did you get that?
MM:
I posted a query on rootsweb asking for information about Fannieâs obituary and burial. Within nine days, a lady called Colleen copied and posted Fannieâs obituary for me.
There was so much information in the obituary. Her funeral service was held at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park in Colma; her street address, Ocean Blvd. in Moss Beach.
Her husband, Frank Torres, was the owner of Frank Torres Hotel on the Coastside. She was a 47-year resident of the Coastside, a native of Verona Mills, New York. She was survived by her husband and four step-children: Frank Jr., Jacinto, Margaret and Nellie.
My goal is to learn as much as I can about these people. Why the move from New York to California? That would have been a huge move for a widow (her husband, Edwin Charles Lea, died in 1906) and her three grown daughters, Fanny, Alice and Maude.
HMBM:
Did you know Frankâs restaurant was a prohibition-era roadhouse?
MM:
I first learned about the prohibition roadhouse when I did a search on the Frank Torres Beach Hotel in Moss Beach. That search brought me to your website, and thatâs where I read about that.
HMBM:
Did you know there were rumors about Fannie working as a âmadam,â? running a bordello in the bungalows (now gone) next door to the roadhouse?
MM:
I had no idea about the rumors, and it doesnât bother me at all. Matter of fact, I got a chuckle out of it. My oldest sister, Wanda, her mother-in-law, ran a house in Norfolk, VA back in the day. Wanda passed in â96.
HMBM:
What else did you learn from Fannyâs obit?
MM:
In Fannyâs obituary, it says she was survived by Frank and four step-children: Frank, Jr. of Hillsborough; Jacino of South San Francisco; Margaret Rossi of Pacifica and Nellie Tooring of San Francisco.
If anyone has pictures of Frank and Fanny together, Iâm guessing it would be them or their children. So far I havenât found any information about themâbut I just learned about them.
HMBM:
Hereâs some background info about Frank Torres gleaned from food critic Ruth Thompsonâs 1930s book (âEating Around San Francisco.â?)
Born in Peru, Frank Torres left his home at the age of 14, and traveled the globe, trekking through Central and South America, Europe and the Philippines. As a steward on vessels that called at ports of the world, he âlearned to cook in every language.â?
He also rubbed elbows with the rich and famous, such as Alice Roosevelt, a cousin of Eleanor Roosevelt, the future First Lady. In 1905 Torres was present when Alice met and fell in love with Nicholas Longworth, a freshman congressman from Ohio. Their wedding, later held in the East Room of the White House, was to be the social event of the season.
About 1920 Frank came to Moss Beach. At first he had an âattractive rambling place,â? but in 1928 he built the new âbungalow restaurant.â?
The kitchen was commandeered by members of the Torres family, including Mrs. Torres, â a charming hostess,â? Frank, Jr., the chef, and Victor, who not only worked as a waiter but also played the piano.
In the eyes of food critic Ruth Thompson, Frank Torres âled a life of romance and adventure which makes the live of us ordinary stay-at-homes quite pale beside it.â?
MM:
I just found Frankâs name on the 1930 census report. Heâs number 185. And on the 1920 report, he is number 1418.
I think all this exciting!
HMBM:
Letâs talk about the photos a bit. The one of the lady with the white catâcould that be taken at the Distillery? I know youâve never been there, and the restaurant doesnât look like that today, but, to me, it feels familiar.
MM:
I was thinking the same thing about the picture of Martha (my grandmother) and the white cat. Two things: the color of the building and the archway shadow appear to be the same as in the photo.
According to the dates on the snap shots, the time frame is right for all the photos to have been taken in Moss Beach.
HMBM:
We all hope youâll solve the mysteryâand that someone from the Lea or Torres family will contact you soon.
MM:
Iâve been doing genealogy research on the family for several years now. I like to know the where for and what if about things. And I enjoy putting puzzles together. This is like one giant puzzle to me. I want to know things like, Fanny had a middle name and the initial was “P” but I donât have a clue what the “P” stood for. For Martha there was “A,” but I donât know what the “A” was for.
I would love to contact someone who was related to Frank Torres.
