Created by June Morrall
Until you barely recognize it.
Here’s the Ocean Shore Railroad’s El Granada Train Station, built circa 1908. It still stands (well, sort of). On your next walk, try to find it!
Hint 1: It’s in use as a commercial building.
Hint 2: Don’t bother looking for the fields of artichokes.
WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THE PRICE OF GOLD?
By Burton S. Blumert*
December 15, 2005
Paul is our regular UPS man and he has been telling his wife that they should own some gold. Finally, with gold in the headlines, they made their decision and bought 5 ounces.
He picked up his order yesterday;
âSure, the minute I buy something, you can bet the price goes down,â? poor Paul mumbled as he wrote his check.
Iâd like to have an ounce of gold, or even a gram, for how many times Iâve heard that
wail from clients throughout the decades.
The corollary, that the price immediately spikes higher as soon as we sell something, is the other side of the coin (if youâll excuse the expression).
Few investors have escaped the agony of these experiences. Itâs as if there are little gods
who monitor such matters and they whack us every time we decide to buy or sell something.
The dramatic ups and downs of the price of gold in recent days has tested everybody.
Some new gold buyers are disheartened; others are in a state of shock. Even gold professionals have been emotionally wrung out by the schizophrenic price gyrations of the ancient yellow metal.
In case you missed it, hereâs a summary of the gold market over the past 2 weeks using prices from the London Metals Exchange as our source;
On Dec. 2, the price of gold punctured $500 per ounce price for the first time in about 20 years.
For the next 10 days the gold price spiked higher almost every trading day and
the inter-day price edged close to $540 per ounce.
Over the last few days gold has dropped sharply, and tomorrow, Thursday, Dec 15, the price could very well drop below $500. *
*This article was written on Wednesday night, December 14. The price touched $500.80 early Thursday morning in London.
Letâs consider these numbers in some prospective;
From its highs of 2 weeks ago gold plunged about 6½%.
I suspect that when we examine the history of gold prices in the years ahead, this recent spasm will register as a mere blip on the chart.
The following figures tell us the real story. Iâm using the price of gold for each January since the year 2000 to make my point:
January, 2000 $310 per ounce
January, 2001 275
January, 2002 295
January, 2003 375
January, 2004 425
January, 2005 431
January, 2006 ?? (I predict the price next month will be $500 +)
If you purchased gold recently and youâre worried, phone me and Iâll hold your hand.
If Iâm more worried than you, you can hold mine.
I can assure you of this;
When all other monies crumble into dust, the value of gold will endure.
Burt Blumert is a leading gold dealer (almost 50 years) in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is also my longtime companion. You can send him email at [email protected].
Coastside Caves: You can imagine that during the 1920s, the Prohibition Era, illegal whiskey was hidden or moved through this Moss Beach cave, where the lady in the first image is posing. Or, maybe this tunnel-like cave was a connection between the sea where the booze was sometimes dropped off and one of the roadhouse restaurants in Moss Beach. I was once told that the fellow in the “bird flying” position, center photo, was Fred Simmons, former constable of Half Moon Bay in the 1940s, and, I mention Simmons in my ongoing Montara murder story (“Babes in the Woods”case). I actually met Constable Simmons when he was in old age and quite a character. After his death, Simmon’s home in historic downtown Half Moon Bay was used as an art gallery.
I always enjoyed interviewing Miramar Beach’s impresario, Pete Douglas, because he’s a one-of-a-kind, accessible, and always more than honest. You WOULD NOT believe the big names that have played at Douglas’s Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society.
Some of you will read Pete’s words and “hear” exactly what he sounded like, talking with the ubiquitious pipe in his mouth, then pausing to laugh at what he said, then perhaps musing on some other internal revelation causing him to laugh again and conclude, “so that’s what that was all about”. Maybe he was solving the puzzles of his life while he talked. And Pete, who came from southern to northern California, loves to talk.
We were upstairs in Pete’s office at the Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Miramar. His office, a desk and chair, was located in the big, spacious upstairs next door to the room where the jazz and classical concerts take place.
Here’s the beginning of the 1979 interview.
Pete: I was a bohemian of the 1950s, in college and after, anti-establishment, yetthere was the other straight side of me. I had a family and I had to get a job and I took a job in this county as an adult probation officer….It’s not like a regular job but it’s an official police sort of job which me very suspect with the hardcore beats that used to come through here.
June: What did being beatnik mean in the 50s?
Pete: A lot of good stuff out on that. The beatniks were a real extension of the American bohemia right on from the turn of the century, the 20s, the 30s, 40s and 50s. It was just another twist or continuation –however, the style it took was anti-establishment, anti-materialistic America. They had intellectual leaders like Sarte, the French writer, and the San Francisco poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
We are interrupted as the phone rings.
Pete: Douglas speaking. Yeah. Every Sunday. This Sunday is the guitarist Charlie Byrd. And then following that is Coke Escovido 13-piece Latin Jazz Orchestra. Yeah, we’re hardcore jazz, although we do a greater variety of it, like traditional, swing, bop, mainstream, progressive, spacey, funk, Latin. Yeah, I’ll mail you something right now, and if you want ot remain on the mailing list it’s $3.00 a year. What’s your name? Carder? Oakland? Tremendous this fall. We’ve got a blues thing, Sunnyland Slim and Eddie Clean Head Vincent on the 9th, David Fathead Newman on the 16th, Zoots Sims….We’ve been doing this for 14 years. Every Sunday. That’s the only time we do it. Right on the beach. Beautiful small roomm for jazz. Bring your own juice. Okay.
Pete hangs up the phone and he’s back into the interview with me.
June: Would you say the Bach has some of the finest jazz music in the world?
Pete: Now I could say yes. We have the best instrumentalists in non-classical music, which tends to be jazz oriented but not all of it is hardcore jazz.
June: Is it the only jazz house of its kind in northern California?
Pete: Kummbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz –they incorporated as a non-profit music organization and they do primarily jazz once or twice a week. And they followed our pattern. That’s the only other non-profit I know of.
June: And you’ve always had a fascination with the beach ever since you were down at Hermosa and the Lighthouse? Where does that fascination come from?
Pete: Some people like the beach, the whole space. Beach communities are liberal, live and let live, more tolerant, and, of course in Southern California there’s a lot of action on the beach whether it be jazz or other things. Going back to the 20s and 30s big dance halls were all on the beach, amusement parks, that kind of thing. That’s the only place I felt a sense of freedom, on the beach as opposed to the conventional residental setting.
June: You say you lived like a beatnik. What does that mean?
Pete: Well, the beatnik style of dress was merely any odd collection of clothing that you pick up for very little money. …In other words to exist without the conventional jobs, to exist without the 9-5 jobs–the freedom to deal with your interest in arts and crafts….Jazz has always been associated with and still is the minority music, a protest music, an unconventional music as opposed to our European musical traditions.
June: I’ve noticed that you’ve changed your attire from what you used to wear.
Pete: The only thing that’s changed is that I used to wear sneakers, ratty old sneakers….I’ve been wearing Levis since I was 11-years-old. And in Los Angeles on the beach it was Levis and Levis have only changed to the extent that they’re slightly flared with a belt. Prior to the Mod scene of the 60s, it was not cool to wear a belt. In my case I’ve had these old captain’s hats and I also wear a turtleneck because they’re comfortable when it’s cool.
June: Didn’t you want to run your own espresso house?
Pete: Oh, yeah. Even in Santa Barbara, before I got out of college. Oh, by the way, being a graduate of college was not exactly in the beat tradition. They were drop-outs. But I was a dual person coming from–and this was not unlike the freaks of the 60’s–a lot of ’em were upper middle class kids who revolted against everything, and a lot of the beats were upper middle class kids. Some of em were just bums. Took on the appearances because it was fashionable. The beats had to survive with some kind of economic ‘mom and pop’ store. If they could figure out how to do it, live off the crumbs of society….
June: This little building downstairs–was it originally built in the 1940s?
Pete: I think it was built around 1947.
June: So before that there was nothing here?
Pete: No.
June: (Regarding the ‘little building’ downstairs) I remember you looked through the Police ‘blue sheets’. What did you find?
Pete: Felonious assault, burglary. See, it was run by Gladys Klingenberger and her husband, Carroll.
June: Do you think they’re still alive?
Pete: I think Carroll died and I just don’t think Gladys is around. I last saw her over ten years ago at the Miramar Hotel, (burned in the 1960s) at the bar, juiced, bad mouthing everybody as usual.
….To Be Continued
Nice day at the breakwater.
all photos by June
Murder in Montara: The Babes in the Woods Case 1946; Part V
There was a lot of back-and-forth over where Vorhes Newtonâs arraignment would take place in the summer of 1946. Who knows how they finally worked it out but those officials who pushed the Redwood City County Courthouse venue, lost, and it was decided the 24-year-old Newton would be arraigned on the Coastside where his horrific crime had been committed.
Half Moon Bay was a rural country village, and Judge Manuel Bettencourt, who presided over the court there, was the kind of man you either liked or hated, He was called âThe Judgeâ? and depending on who was saying it, âThe Judgeâ? sounded warm and friendly or tainted with a smoldering ire.
One thing nobody could deny, âThe Judgeâ? had broken social barriers by marrying the pert, outgoing Irene Debenedetti, the daughter of one of the most prominent families in town. She was Italian; he was Portuguese; theirs may have been the first such important marital union in Spanishtown, as the ârealâ? locals called Half Moon Bay.
It was only an arraignment, a legal procedure measured in minutes, but no matter how small his role âthe Judgeâ? would be a presence.
Judge Bettencourtâs office/courtroom stood on Main Street, across the way from today’s âOriginal Johnnyâsâ? coffee shop. Bettencourtâs courtroom was a space big enough to hold a maximum of 25 spectators.
Dubbed the âBabes in the Woodsâ? case by the press, Vorhes Newton had attracted national attention putting Redwood City, where the heavy legal business was conducted, on the map. This case could make reputations.
Due to all the attention, Judge Bettencourtâs Half Moon Bay courtroom couldn’t comfortably accommodate all the photographers, reporters, the curious, the locals and the participants. Sheriffâs deputies, with their prisoner, had to push through the crowd before a decision was made to move the whole show to the nearby high schoolâs gymnasium, accommodating 150 spectators. When the bleachers were full, chairs were quickly brought in and a courtroom improvised with tables from the classrooms.
Sheriff Walter Moore, member of a prominent Pescadero family, acted as bailiff. County District Attorney Gilbert Ferrell arrived with Fred Wyckoff, Ferrellâs second-in-command who had done most of the early case work.
The noise of onlookers didnât drown out official voices in the makeshift courtroom in the school gym– rather there was a stunned quiet– and, besides the normal curiosity associated with people wanting to see the kind of man who would murder his own children–there was pity for young Vorhes Newton.
Wearing a checkered sports jacket and brown tie, Vorhes had a scrubby brown beard, his face was bruised, his black eye colored a purplish hue now. His own personal trial had caused his shoulders to droop. When his eyes searched the school gym, he recognized half a dozen members of his family but Vorhes didn’t smile or nod at them. He still couldn’t believe he committed the murders.
Judge Bettencourt asked the defendant if Vorhes Newton was his name and he softly answered, âYesâ?.
Then followed a series of damning witnesses First was Fred Simmons, Half Moon Bayâs deputy sheriff. He spoke of bringing a bloodied Lorraine Newton to the Community Hospital. He told of finding the bodies of the two little ones.
John Kyne testified to finding the bodies of the two babies at the Montara flower ranch which was also confirmed by Kyneâs employees James Fiedler and Steve Torre,.
Mrs. Dodd, the Newtonâs Alameda neighbor, told the court that she accompanied the Newton family on the first part of the murder ride. She was dropped off at the Alameda navy base. Later that day she saw Vorhes return home alone.
Of interest to defense attorney Leo Friedman was Mrs. Doddâs statement that she often heard Vorhes call his wife, âBossâ?. In her opinion Lorraine Newton was the quarrelsome type, not her husband.
Witness Anthelmo Quaves said he saw an auto containing a man and woman drive slowly into the lonely canyon and heard yelling and the sounds of someone being beaten. He said he saw the auto come back speeding out of the canyon.
Lorraineâs mother, Mrs.Tuttle, said her daughter was improving and identified her engagement and wedding rings
Defense attorney Leo Friedman revealed that Mrs. Newton knew she was pregnant, wanted to confirm it with a doctor and left open an abortion.
Newton sat solemnly at a studentâs desk in the makeshift courtroom, obviously relieved when Deputy Sheriff Jack OâBrien escorted from out of the courtroom and back to the car that would return him to the Redwood City County Jail.
Outside the courtroom in Half Moon Bay, defense attorney Leo Friedman joked with reporters and photographers. They knew him from for his role in two sensational trials, that of Mrs. Frances Andrews and David Lamson.
Lorraine Newton did not make an appearance. So far she had remained in the background.
To be continued….
Leon Kunke, artist and landscaper, sits on a rock wall near my veggie garden. Note “the desert” in the background–everybody says it’s amazing that cacti and succulents grow to such amazing size in El Granada!
Center: More Garden, rock walkway near the tropical part of the garden (there’s an unseen pond to the left) 
Bottom: Leon created these textiles for me 
If you like Leon’s work, call him at 650.599.9978
all photos by June
I do. And this new book is delicious, illustrated with lots of (in color) fabrics and textiles that inspired the great painter Matisse–and how he worked the fabrics into his art, the lusciously detailed paintings that cause you to linger and enjoy his visions. If you love Matisse, this book will make you swoon.
There isn’t just one author listed on the spine or the front of the book–in fact, there’s none. But inside it becomes clear that this was a collaborative effort by Kathleen Brunner and Ann Dumas, independent art historians, Jack Flam, Art History Professor at the Graduate School of NYU, Remi Labrusse, Contemporary Art History Professor, Universite de Picardie, Amiens, Hilary Spurling, Author of “The Unknown Matisse” and Dominique Szmusiak, Chief Curator of the Musee Matisse, Le Cateau-Cambresis.
I’m not one who favors collaborations, because they usually turn out to be an ugly mess. Many art experts worked on this new book about Matisse, his art and his textiles, and I must congratulate all of the authors because they have created a thing of beauty and I am grateful.
photo by June
Deb Kessler writes “When we moved into the house, a neighbor told us a rumor she had heard that the house was built as a beach cottage for a silent film actress who lived in SF. I do not have any information to prove or disprove this rumor. The house is 1200 sq ft with 2 bedrooms and 1 bath. It is clearly boat-like in appearance and the upstairs room is very evocative of a room on a boat. Knotty pine walls and ceiling, a low ceiling–very warm and cozy.”
You can’t miss this unique house, built in 1929, on Carmel Avenue in El Granada.
Miss Kessler did a search of tax records at the County Government Center “and was able to work backward only to 1937 then got stymied.” She spent hours searching through “microfiche and huge leather-bound title records books”
She purchased the house from the Lelia Gilly family in 2001. “There were 9 or 10 kids in the family who grew up here, “Deb Kessler emailed me. ” I occassionally see Penny Gilly, one of the kids who grew up here, but she does not have old photos or historical information.”
Please email [email protected] if you have historical information about this unusual home.