MAY 2014Vol. 33, No.5

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..TH£ l'A rrumJOURNAL OF THE HISTORY GUILD OF DALY CITY· COLMA

GREETINGS FROM PRESIDENT MARK

WEDNESDAY, May 21st at 7 PM

HISTORY EVENING

As we always do, we had a fantastic time at our Marchmeeting. Rob Keil and Monique Lombardelli's film"Little Boxes" was a sellout! This has to have been oneof the best attended meetings in the history of the Guild.Hardly an empty seat in the place. We completely soldout of Rob's books of a similar title. Those of you whostill want to obtain a copy, Rob suggests that you checkAmazon.com, but a word of caution: that site is sellingfor very expensive prices, which tend to fluctuate a greatdeal. Having already printed a limited supply, Rob hasno plans to undertake an additional printing at this time.The good news is that the film is now available forpurchase exclusively at littleboxesfilm.com. This is alsoon Amazon.com, and the price is $17.95. A great bigthank you, Rob, for donating a copy to our archives!

Presents

NEILFAHYLecturing ~n

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The Guild recently received a treasure chest of sorts.Our most sincere thanks to Guilder Greg Kennedy, whorecently discovered a stash of extremely rare and veryold photographs in the attic of his Mission Streetbusiness and donated them to us. Most of these photosare from early in the last century, and some go back topre-incorporation days. Many are of the Daly CityVolunteer Fire Dept. and its official successor. [Greg isthe grandson of the late former Daly City Fire ChiefElmer Kennedy.] . We will attempt to scan as many aswe can and post them on our Facebook page. Twoalready are up. The first is a view from Westmoor HighSchool hill covered in cabbages, 1912, looking towardColma. The other is a classic photograph of the 1905Jimmy Britt and Battling Nelson lightweight fight,taking place at the corner of Mission and Schoolstreets. Some of the photos are duplicates of photos inour collection, with several being in better condition.Others are images that we have never seen before, suchas a print of an Ocean Shore Railroad excursion car;

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Early 1900s photograph before the O'Shaughnessy Dam wasconstructed, shows the Hetch Hetchy Valley and the TuolumneRiver, looking east. The valley was renowned for its naturalbeauty, often compared to that of Yosemite.

THE CONSTRUCTION OF

HETCH HETCHY DAM

101 Lake Merced Blvd. Daly CityDoelger Center Cafe

REFRESHMENTS - FREE ADMITTANCE

Longtime Guilder and former Board Member Neil Fahywill present his PowerPoint lecture on the history of thedevelopment of the Hetch Hetchy water system. We arein for a treat; Neil's is a professional lecturer and hispast lively lectures have been Guild favorites.

THANK You MAY REFRESHMENT DONORS:

Amy Moore, Celeste DeMartini, Mark Caserta, MelMargolis, Marcus and Grace Gonzalez andHospitality Chair Elinor Charleston.

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Presidenfs Message, confd

M. Scoortis & Co. grocery store; a 1910 photo of thevolunteer Fire Department in front of Smacks Cafe; andmany more. More historical treasures are hidden ill otherattics waiting to be discovered and hopefully donated toour museum for future generations to enjoy.

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1910 photo of SMACKS CAFE, with Volunteer Fire Departmentdisplaying hand pulled cart with youngsters observinq.Can anyone provide more information about SMACKS?Photo donated by Greg Kennedy.

Our longtime Hospitality Chair Elin~ Charleston _h~snotified me that our next May meeting will be her [malmeeting serving as our always efficient and graciousrefreshment hostess. We can't thank her enough for hergenerosity (she had made her own contribution of foodto each meeting) and her friendliness to one and aU thathas set a positive tone at all our meetings. As you enjoythe refreshments at our May meeting, thank Elinor for allher hard work for the Guild. We will continue yourtradition of hospitality, Elinor, but all would agree yourshoes will be hard to fill.

Finally, we're presently at 360 fans on Facebook, so besure to become a fan if you haven't already. Simply typein 'Daly City History Museum' on Facebook and thenclick 'like.'

Rob Keil and Monique Lombardelli presenting their film "LittleBoxes" to a full house at the March History Guild meeting.Refreshment table in foreground. Photo by Michael Rocchetta.

A BELATED THANK You - Thank you to fooddonors who brought this bounty to our March meeting:Don Grant, Paul Grosshans, Judy Bnilo, Marcus andGrace Gonzalez, and Mark Weiaberger.

RAFFLE DONATIONS arewelcomed at member meetingsby Raffle Chair Rich Rocchetta.Your new or like-new whiteelephants become treasures for

our raffle winners and raise funds for the Guild.

HISTORICAL HAPPENINGS

Merced Library presents a lecture on May 14thbyhistorian Woody LaBounty on the 1894 San FranciscoMidwinter Fair on its 120thanniversary. The Cafe BabarJug Band, which includes History Guild board memberAlgis Ratnikas, will perform from 6-7 pm, followed byLaBounty's lecture from 7-8 pm. 155 Winston Drive,San Francisco.

Colma Historical Association - Mark your calendarsfor the July 26th Quarterly Meeting and 21 st BirthdayCelebration at 2 pm. Colma Historical Association, 1500Hillside Blvd., Colma.

Free Cypress Lawn Lectures and Walking Tours:Information: 650.550-8810 or send an email tolenipanopio@cypresslawn.comSunday Lectures: 2nd Floor, Administration Building,1370 El Camino Real, Colma, 2 PM - 4 PM. May 18th

"Risky Business - The Perils of Being Royal" byMichael Svanevik. Saturday Walking Tours, starting at1:30 PM: May 17th"The Streets of San Francisco atCypress Lawn," June 21st "Cypress Lawn's MagnificentAngels," and July 12th "Women Who Made aDifference," all presented by Terry Hamburg.

Pacifica Historical Society's fundraising Castle ToursMay 24th, 25th, and 31"t. For information and tickets call650/359-5462 or visit http://pacificahistory.org/events-2/castle-tour/. The 90 minute tour requires advancedpurchased tickets (adults $25, children 12 and under$10). Shuttle vans provided from the Oceana HighSchool upper parking lot.

San Mateo County History Museum, 2200 BroadwayRedwood City - Mark your calendars for the annual freeVictorian Day on Sunday, August 10 from 11 am to 3pm. The History Guild will be sharing a booth in theCourthouse "History Lane" with our friends from theColma Historical Association.

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THE GUILD REMEMBERS ELSIE LOUISESCHENONE

Elsie Schenone, a sibling of John Olcese and MaryBeroldo, former Guild member and lifelong resident ofColma, died at the age of91 in March. Our condolencesgo out to the Olcese family members, a pioneer family inthe area and longtime supporters of the History Guild.

DONATIONS AND GUILD NEWS

The Guild receives questions through our website anddirect calls to the museum on a regular basis. If docentscan't fmd the answers in our archives, we go the extramile and contact our network of history experts. Thequestion below is an example:

Dear Daly City History Museum:You've probably heard this before: Whenever I visitThornton State Beach, I wonder what those pilings downat the water's edge used to be. Do you have anyinformation or pictures about them?- Neil Bachers, San Francisco

Guild .researcher Russ Brabec answered:They are located at the northerly end of Thornton Beachand we assume that they marked the southerly end ofFort Funston during World War II and were meant as adeterrent to trespassers.

Photo provided by Neil Bachers

Be sure to note Bunny Gillespie's ongoing historycontributions to the city newsletter, The Fogcutter, nowtitled "Threads of Yesterday." The column recentlyfeatured the history of the Beatles at the Cow Palace.

Len Ohlendorf, son of former Daly City Clerk AnnaOhlendorf, who now lives in Sacramento dropped by themuseum on April 15th

• He wanted to know if we had anypictures or articles on his mother and we were happy toprovide him with a copy of a photograph of his mom and

dad together and some newspaper articles that were in ourfiles. He was very impressed with the museum andpurchased a copy of the Daly City centennial DVD.

A while back we noted in the Tattler a gift of a Jeffersonletterman's sweater and wrestling team photo from the60's donated by Tom Salvador. On April 22nd his sistersEmma and Antoinette stopped by the museum to bringanother donation from Tom, a manikin to display thesweater.

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Photo by Dana Smith

We were thrilled with the donation of a used doublestacking flat file in excellent condition by Bruce Moore,Robert Wadell and Charles Kavanaugh of Burlingame.The museum previously purchased a flat file with partialfunds donated by the Carl Gellert and Celia Berta GellertFoundation. We immediately filled the first flat fileswith our collection of oversized photos and documents.This second set of files will be well utilized for futurestorage needs and is a very valuable donation. New largeflat files can cost several thousand dollars.

We also thank Frank Risso for a recent donation of aDaly City Fire Department hat and Elinor Charleston forsix photos of Daly City's 75th Anniversary Parade. Aspecial thank you to Mark Weinberger for taking on theadditional task of designing and ordering our newmuseum sign. The sign is a wind-proof standing signthat serves double-duty as an outdoor sign announcingon the street that the museum is open, and when storedwith the opposite side showing through the glass doors,gives all pertinent information including museum hours,contact information and internet site. We have struggledin the past to keep a sign from bLowing over with theCont'd pg. 4

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Donations and Guild News, Cont'd

·t)a\y City History Museum{History Guild of Daly City-Colma)

6351 Mission StreetDaly City, CA 94014

Phone: 650-757-7177Emai\: info@dalycityhistorymuseum.orgWebsite: dalycityhistorymuseum.orgFacebook: Daly City History Museum

Museum is open Tuesdays andSaturdays, Noon to 3:00 PM.

Closed on legal holidays.

New museum sign as seenthrough the glass door whenmuseum is closed and belowfacing the street when themuseum is open to thepublic inviting visitors to"Discover your local history!"

Photos by JudithChristensen.

TALES FROM THE TJMELINE

by Dana Smith

One of the most difficult and rewarding tasks inresearching the content for my timeline exhibit at themuseum was sifting through all the files in our HistoryGuild archive. It was tedious, but there was gold to befound in those file cabinets in the form of previouslyunknown or unreported history. To me, one of the mostinteresting aspects of history is uncovering the

controversies and differences of opinion which revealthe interesting story of how things came to be. The"truth" from the past is often somewhere between twoextremes of opinion and involves weighing differentfacts and perspectives. Often we only hear the finalchapter ofthe story, but lose the lessons that could belearned from history. One story in the early history ofDaly City has all the elements of a lively drama.

Our tale begins in 1913 when the voters of Daly Cityapproved a bond issue of$100,000 for the firstmunicipal project, a city-owned and operated watersystem. The bond funds would purchase the existingCrocker system and wells and build a pump house and areservoir of a million gallon capacity. The area servedwould be bound by Citrus Ave. on the south, theSouthern Pacific Railroad on the west, Hillside Blvd. onthe east and the city limits on the north.

In early January The Good Governance League wasorganized in Daly City, in competition with The CivicBetterment League, which was organized six yearsearlier before incorporation of Daly City. The newLeague with Charles Shoup as President, Raymond JessSecretary, S. R. Emmons Treasurer and an ExecutiveCommittee consisting ofE.N. Kingsland, GusSonderblom, L. W. Pettingwell, S.R. Emmons, FredOakes, E.J. Ford, H.F. Secor, Dennis Quillinan, SamuelCerf and R. R. Castle caused a political uproar duringthe early months of 1915. The League distributed acircular house-to-house signed "The VigilanceCommittee" charging incompetence of City Trustees inadministrating the water works. The circular claimedthat inferior water pipes had been substituted, pipe waslaid before the street grades were established resulting inwork having to be replaced, financial advantages hadbeen given to the Crocker Estates Company, costoverruns occurred, and local unemployed residents werenot employed for the project. Five men were accused oflibel by the city Trustees: Samuel Cerf, Postmaster,Raymond Jess, telephone agent and brother of formerDaly City Recorder Clara Jess, Fritz Hansen, graniteworker, Charles Shoup, contractor, and L. B. Pettingell,printer. Cont'd pg. 5

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On Jan. 30th The SanFrancisco Call reportedthat Raymond Jess, oneof five accused of libel,was arrested andaccused of assault anddisturbing the peace.Jess charged he waslured to the jail underfalse pretenses and thenbeaten. When TrusteeLandini visited the jail,an argument ensued andJess tore apart a bar ofhis cell with his bare

TROUBLE OVER POLITICS·. hands throwing it atLandini in response to"bad language." Landiniclaimed there wasmurderous intent. Jessreportedly mocked"This is a fine jail, isn't

it? Why don't you spend some of the city's money andbuild a decent one?" Jess admitted wrecking the jail andLandini admitted using language "not adaptable toparlors."

DAns Of CEllDHOKENWll~

. HARE~ANDSRaymond Jess Damages JaB

in Daly City While inPrison Under Arrest.

Criminal Libel and Peace Dis-turbance Charged Against

Five Citizens.

In February The San Francisco Call reported that theDaly City Clerk George N. Smith (brother ofH.H. Smithof the Smith Lumber Company) had been mysteriouslymissing for two weeks. He was the chief witness in thecriminal libel action as the City Clerk in charge of thefinancial books of the municipal water works. The SanFrancisco Examiner reported on February zo" "VillageBeauties Flock to San Bruno courtroom ... Twelve ofDaly City's fairest maids and matrons motored to SanBruno to attend the court proceedings."An unidentified news clipping reported that petitions forthe recall of Mayor B. C. Ross and Trustees CharlesBiebel and S. A. Landini were placed in circulation byThe Good Government League. A public meeting wascalled to discuss recall at Bracken Hall. .

Another unidentified news clipping carried the headline"Daly City Hopes to Bury Hatchet," reporting thatprominent businessmen have formed a peace movementto reconcile factions that have recently "resulted in thedisruption of the political and social life of thecommunity" and that Daly City dropped the libelprosecutions. District Attorney Frank Swart requestedJohn F. Davis, justice ofthe peace, to dismiss libelcharges against the five citizens for criticizing themunicipal water administration. A March 12 Daly CityRecord editorial by J. L. Brown calls the GoodGovernment League a "hell inspired conspiracy." OnMarch 22nd the League began publishing a newsletterThe Truth, with the motto "Hew to the line; let the chipsfall where they may." The first of 11 editions of thenewsletter announced plans for a "Recall Ball" and aGrand Jury investigation if the recall should fail.

Additional research is required to determine if the GoodGovernance League charges against the City Trusteeswere warranted or "hell inspired," as characterized bythe editor of the Daly City Record. Were the "Daly CityFive" men of good character and courageous examplesof democracy in action or troublemakers? Were the cityTrustees guilty of abuse of power? Was there a recallelection and if so, what transpired? Further research mayuncover more facts, but one thing is certain, we haveuncovered one hell of a good story!

!JESS TEARS BARSIAPART IN DALY

CITY JAILPolitical Feud Culminates in

Double Arrest of aCitizen.

The rakishly handsome Raymond Jess drew a bevyof Daly City women to view his libel proceedings.

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~THE HISTORY GUILD OF DALY CITYICOLMA

DALY CITY HISTORY MUSEUM6351 Mission Street, Daly City, CA 940146S0nS7-7177Current Hours: Tuesdays and Saturdays from noon to 3 p.m.

,-=- Find us onII.J FacebookPlease visit us on Facebook at "Daly City History Museum"

www.dalycityhistorymuseum.org

FIRST CLASS MAIL

The Guild has a summer break in July and resumes witha September Tattler and Program.

Mark your calendars for our September 17th meetingwhen filmmaker Monique Lombardelli will show herdocumentary film People in Glass Houses: The Legacyof Joseph Eichler. Monique was a co-presenter with RobKeil at our March meeting and she is our newest Guildmember. This 45-minute documentary is the first filmabout the Eichler homes. The largest contiguous EichlerHomes development is in San Mateo, built between1956 and 1964. Eichler, unlike most builders at the time,established a non-discrimination policy and offeredhomes for sale to anyone of any religion or race.

Q. -,Q~nvite a friend~ ,

GUILD OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS

Mark Weinberger, Presidentpresident@dalycityhistorymuseum.org

650/757-7177

Richard Rocchetta, Vice-PresidentDana Smith, 2nd Vice-PresidentfMuseum DirectorJudith Christensen, TreasurerAlgis Ratnikas, Secretary

Directors: Michael Rocchetta, Marcus Gonzalez

Ken Gillespie (1924-2011), President-EmeritusBunny Gillespie, Secretary-EmeritaElinor Charleston, Hospitality Chair

Board meetings are held as necessary and are open to themembership. Please contact Markfor further information.

History Guild of Daly City/Colma is a501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization

Memberships begin at $25 per year.

Tattler Editor & production: Dana Smith