Created by June Morrall
(Photo: J.C. Williamson) From the “Half Moon Bay Review,” 1945 “Principal loss was counted by F.G. Williamson, successor to his father, J.C. Williamson, as operator of the general store. He counted the loss to the building insured at $10,500 and to the stock, not insured, at $17,500. “Some $2000 damage was done to the …
Continue reading “1945: Destructive Fire Hit Pescadero, (II) Conclusion”
Blonde movie star Doris Day saw Merv Griffin in Las Vegas, and, impressed, arranged a screen test for him at Warner Bros. Merv got a contract and co-starred with Kathryn Grayson in the 1953 film, “So This Is Love.” Although Griffin’s career as a movie star was short-lived, San Mateans were proud when the …
Three years later the nationally known big band leader Freddy Martin came north from the famous Coconut Grove in Los Angeles to play at the St. Francis in San Francisco. Martin was urged to listen to Merv Griffin’s radio show–and he liked what he heard–proposing that the younger singer join the band for a U.S. …
The November 22, 1963 JFK Assassination is always with us, never seems to go away, the terrible act itself and the suspicions that grew out of the information we were fed, that never did feel right. After the murder, I was attending Lincoln High School in San Francisco, and wrote a paper for my history …
A brief-lived port at Pigeon Point terminated in a gun duel and bloodshed sharp and ugly as western literature can provide. Power on land was generally horses. The plowing, hauling, stages and buggies all needed them. Hay growing turned the fields sweet with harvest. In logging, however, it was the powerful and calm ox that …
Continue reading “St. Matthew’s Land by Coastside artist Galen Wolf (Part VIII)”
(Photo: Galen Wolf works on the family car in Half Moon Bay, circa 1912). For a century, the Spanish century, little changed along El Camino Real. Nothing could be called a town. Horsemen sauntered or gaily, wildly raced. Under the oaks the poppies bloomed, the “cup of gold” of the Spaniard. Cattle lazily grazed. Elk …
Continue reading “St. Matthew’s Land by Coastside artist Galen Wolf (Part III)”
“St. Matthew’s Land,” Part II by Coastside Artist Galen Wolf On the riders’ left hand rose the blue and misty ridge of a wooded range. Beyond the ridge lay the sea. The salt smell of marshes and the glint of a great bay was to their right. Brown frocked Franciscan brothers rode the mules. Ragged …
Continue reading “St. Matthew’s Land by Coastside artist Galen Wolf (Part II)”
(Photo: The artist and beatnik Michael McCracken is as handsome as he was described by the famous San Francisco attorney Marvin Lewis. This is the first photo I’ve seen of McCracken). Then a few days ago I get this mysterious sounding email from one Michael Rothenberg: “Imagine my surprise when I did a casual Google …
Continue reading “Drama on the Internet: My Search For The Beatniks of Princeton Part II”
(The artist Michael McCracken, courtesy Michael Rothenberg). One of the most adventurous stories I pursued in the late 1970s was my search for the beatniks that lived in the old Abalone Factory in Princeton. I was especially searching for the artist Michael McCracken. Where was he? Who was he? What had happened to him? It …
Continue reading “Drama On The Internet: My Search For the Beatniks of Princeton, Part II”
By 1930 Arthur Samish exerted more influence than did any member of the state legislature. As the self-annointed “Governor of the Legislature,” he was the man to see in Sacramento about legislation regarding liquor, horse racing, banking, cigarettes, trucking and—-daylight saving time. Over the years, Samish said, he performed many services for Hollywood folks concerned …