Email  Print

Remember When Week of January 25

Tidbits from yesteryear

94 YEARS AGO

(From the I-T of Jan. 25, 1919)

The Grape Growers of Sonoma County announced a monster mass meeting at Santa Rosa yesterday to consider the present conditions which beset their valuable industry. Feeling is running high among everyone identified with the wine and grape business in this section of the state and every effort will be made to preserve the industry which has so long been fostered and has added so much to the fame and wealth if imperial Sonoma County. … Ray Gottenberg is mustered out of the service and arrived home Thursday much to the joy of his parents and many friends. Dan Kennell is another Sonoma soldier who is back home. He was at Ft. Roseneranz and was honorably discharged Dec. 18. … The annual meeting of the directors of the Sonoma Valley Bank was held on Tuesday last and former directors and officers reelected to continue at the helm of this solid financial institution. It is through the figures by a comparison of the bank reports of this bank from year-to-year that Sonoma’s prosperous condition is made apparent and the bank itself is doing five times the business it did some years ago. … Articles of incorporation of the Frank P. Grace Company were filed with the county clerk Monday. The company which is incorporated for $50,000 for a term of 50 years, is to deal in goods, wares and merchandise of every kind and character, realty, personal and mixed property, notes, bills and other paper.

 

88 YEARS AGO

(From the I-T of Jan. 24, 1925)

The Sonoma State Home’s total appropriation is set at #1,187,780, of which $1,077,280 is for maintenance for the two years, $537,320 one year and $539,960 the other, and $116,500 for permanent improvements. The increase in the staff is from 252 to 264. Under salaries and wages, $237,760 is allowed for the first year of the biennium and $240,340 the second. … A Maffei has returned from a trip to Del Norte county and spent a week on the cattle ranges of the Oregon line. He encountered a fine snow storm which was a real novelty to him. Mr. Maffei states the cattle men of the north were very hard hit by last year’s water shortage. … The first gathering at the new Boyes Springs clubhouse will be on Saturday, Feb. 28, when a gala time is planned by the club members and their friends. … On last Saturday evening, representatives of the three Sonoma bakeries met at the house of M. Weiler, proprietor of the Old City Bakery, to discuss the bread problem. During the past six months, the price of baker’s flour has advanced 60 percent, flour now retailing at $11 a barrel, more than the price of flour during the war. Shortage of wheat is the explanation given by the stock exchange for the advance in price. … The Hippodrome Theatre of Napa, the largest and most successful nearby play house, has been trying out a weekly program mailed to patrons, and also newspaper advertising and has come to the conclusion that the newspapers reach the greatest number of people. Watch for Hippodrome announcements on page two.

 

81 YEARS AGO

(From the I-T of Jan. 22, 1932)

R. D. Roberts, manager of the local Safeway store, the first of the week completed the task of moving his merchandise and fixtures into the new location in the Union Hotel block. The store now presents a most modern appearance, and the additional space allows a larger stock to be carried, with convenient shelving and floor space for displaying goods to advantage. … Carl J. Poppe, merchants of Glen Ellen, and Helen Foster of San Francisco, were married Sunday, Jan. 17, at Santa Rosa. Following the ceremonies, a luncheon was served at John Cambeau’s resort for the bridal party and friends. … Crews employed by the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph company in this district have been busy for the past week replacing wires and poles in the Sonoma Mountain district. During the snow storm of last Thursday and the one a few days previous, considerable damage was done to the lines in that section of the county. … What happens when an irrestable force meets an immovable obstacle will be demonstrated in the local high school gym tonight when Trutta, the alleged unstoppable forward from Calistoga High will encounter the defense set for him by Coach Pfeiffer in the second league basketball game of the season. Trutta has been  going great guns this season, scoring more than 35 points against Tomales last week when the cowpunchers were defeated 67-12.

 

73 YEARS AGO

(From the I-T of Jan. 19, 1940)

For the account of Harry Baines the old Italian-American Hotel property on the highway at Agua Caliente has been sold by R. R. and J. T. Emparan, to Mr. and Mrs. Umberto Peracca. They will wreck the old buildings, including the hotel once conducted by the late Mrs. Eva Garoni, and will build a new residents there. … All aboard, Sonoma snowball fans, ski enthusiasts and let ’er slide lads and lassies, there will be a special Southern Pacific train leave Schellville at 2 a.m. Feb. 11, for Norden and the Sugar Bowl where excursionists can spend all day in the snow country and return Sunday night by 10 o’clock. … Fred D. Weider, of Sonoma, arrived in Glendale Jan. 16, to become a student of sheet metal at Curtiss-Wright technical institute. … Just 50 years ago this month, on Jan. 18, 1890, Gen. M. G. Vallejo passed away at his home here in Sonoma, aged 82 years. … Mrs. Charmian London, of Glen Ellen, was guest speaker at a club luncheon in San Francisco at the Palace Hotel this week. Mrs. Laura Grant was also on the club program. … A report on the Christmas toys repairs and distribution was given out at the Valley of the Moon firemen’s meeting this week. Much to the surprise of even the firemen themselves there were 150 toys given out. … Sam Sebastiani, who built the modern and beautiful bus depot for Sonoma and the Greyhound Lines which serve this community is further improvement the driveways and northwest entrance for busses by erecting an ornamental gateway and arch with the lettering “Sebastiani Depot.”

 

72 YEARS AGO

(From the I-T of Jan. 24, 1941)

Hands across the Golden Gate! They joined Sonoma in ceremonies last Sunday when the city and county of San Francisco presented Sonoma County and Mrs. L. V. Emparan the NYA replica of the big adobe ranch house Gen. Vallejo built near Petaluma. Alfred J. Cleary, administrative officer and member of its regional service committee came to Lachyma Montis to personally greet Mrs. Emparan, and their gesture of friendship and honor to her father was greatly appreciated by the señora and her family and the people of Sonoma Valley. … Highlighted by the revelation of facts revealing the critical housing shortage now confronting the Sonoma Valley, and by the suggestion of practical remedies for easing the evident situation, a well attended housing conference was held at the Sonoma City Hall last Monday evening. By means of cards signed by those attending, it was revealed that construction is now started or will shortly be started on 20 homes in the Valley, with a total value exceeding $50,000. It was also brought out that a San Francisco firm was now negotiating for the purchase of a tract of land her eon which to begin construction this spring of several dozen five-room houses. … Mr. and Mrs. W. L. Murphy of the Sonoma Index-Tribune, attended the California Newspaper Publishers’ annual convention at lovely Del Monte over the last week. They were among 500 or more journalists who attended.

 

71 YEARS AGO

(From the I-T of Jan. 23, 1942)

Mickey Catino, son of Mr. and Mrs. James Catino, is in Missouri where he is training with Uncle Sam’s forces on snow covered ground. His parents received a snapshot of him recently. … Barrett and Hulp have completed their wok in constructing roads and buildings for the powerful new U.S.A. Naval radio station at Skaggs Island, five miles south of Sonoma. More than a dozen family dwellings of the duplex type have been built near the main building of concrete where the government’s powerful receiving apparatus will being and decipher the news of the world, for this will be a listening post able to pick up information from every corner of the earth. … Admitted to citizenship Wednesday were Frank Zihlman, Anna Zologa and Ethel C. Wolfe. … Mrs. Rose McIntosh received a letter from her husband, Don McIntosh, who arrived safely in Pearl Harbor and is now employed there as a carpenter for the U.S.A. … Look over your book shelves and see if you have any modern fiction and technical books which you can donate for your local collection committee and which will be sent to the various camps of the men in the service. Books may be left at the local library, the local chamber of commerce, the Safeway store and the office of the Emparan real estate firm.