C’mon, you side-saddle yuppies and grizzled cowpunchers and all you in-between. Urge those mounts and don’t spill your lattes. The trail leads up and northeast a bit. That’s where I last spotted the time warp continuum.
(CAPTION — Folks at the 1931 Newhall Fourth of July celebration did something for the first time — they sung the national anthem. The “Star Spangled Banner,” by act of Congress, was created as America’s national anthem on March 3, 1931.)
WAY, WAY BACK WHEN —
— It stood over 10-feet-tall on its hind legs, weighed as much as 17 people and could run almost twice as fast as the planet’s fastest human. On July 7, 1873, John Lang shot the world’s largest grizzly bear in Soledad Canyon. The beast tipped the scale at 2,350 pounds. That was before dinner. Story is, this creature would later be stuffed, mounted and sent to Sacramento where it would be used as a model for the new California state flag.
— On this date in 1876, D.G. Scofield formed the California Star Oil Works and hires Frenchman “Alex” Mentry to run his company. They would eventually name the western portion of Pico Canyon after the oilman — Mentryville.
JULY 7, 1921 —
— Cowboy Bob Anderson, who unsuccessfully tried to build Southern California’s first major thoroughbred race track in Saugus, was also an accomplished rider himself. At the big Burbank rodeo, he and his horses took eight awards. Bob would later build his own rodeo arena at the present-day Saugus Speedway site.
— During the Fourth of July celebration in town, little Bailey Haskell took second place in the Boys’ Foot Race. Bailey won five boxes of Crackerjacks.
— Charlie Taylor, one of Judge John Powell’s best friends, passed away on this date. He had been editor of The Boston Globe for 48 years.
— Speaking of editors, Thornton Doelle would later become editor of The Mighty Signal. But, on this date, he penned his first column — “With The Men Who Guard Our Mountains.” Sure would be nice if the City of Santa Clarita would get around to dedicated a well-deserved spot on the Western Walk of Stars to Thornton Doelle.
JULY 7, 1931 —
— The heat wave continued. For the third week, the mercury topped the 110 mark in the shade, hotter in some spots up to a reported 118. Celebration of Independence Day was rather subdued. Reports were, those who could, disappeared to the beach. Mrs. Lucien Rowan wasn’t so lucky. The 52-year-old woman died from heat exhaustion.
— Trinidad Gonzales was sent to jail by Judge Jones on this date for cruelty to animals. He was found guilty of dragging a dog tied to his bumper north of Castaic.
— Newhall telephone operator Mrs. Margaret Sharp had an alter-ego. She was also owner of a gold mine. When she took some vacation time to work her Castaic claim, she found some claimjumpers were camping out in her cabin and helping themselves to her ore. Mrs. Sharp drove them off with a trusty revolver.
JULY 7, 1941 —
— Cowboy Bill Van Hoesen celebrated his last Fourth of July on the Williams Ranch in Canyon Country. Van Hoesen had reportedly been drinking, got into an altercation with two visiting cowhands and had been subdued. He broke free, ran to the bunkhouse and came back with a big Winchester 25/35. The other cowboys got into another wrestling match with Van Hoesen and the gun went off, killing Billy quite dead.
— The Newhall Court system was $540 richer after the Fourth of July. Fourteen men were arrested and fined $10 each for being drunk and disorderly. Four men arrested in a crap game in Val Verde paid $100 each. Do you have ANY idea what a fortune $100 was in 1941?
— We’ve long been a haven for movie people. Melder Briggs of Sand Canyon had worked in the motion picture business since the days of the silents. He worked as a scene shifter — a kind euphemism for someone who helped move those enormously heavy sets. Briggs liked moving things in the modern 1940s much better, with all the machines to help. He recalled working on the classic, “Birth of a Nation,” in which primarily muscle was used to lug those heavy sets. Briggs said his co-workers came up their own name for the flick — “Girth of a Nation.”
— On this date, the brand new American Theatre added a new-fangled contraption to their roof just in time for the Newhall summer movie rush — an air conditioner.
JULY 7, 1951 —
— Despite local roars of protest, Los Angeles County bull-headed its way into Newhall, changing the name of Pico Canyon from Highway 99 to the Newhall Avenue intersection to Lyons Avenue. Citizens of the SCV cried foul and that if L.A. was going to change the street name, they should at least spell it correctly — “Lyon” Avenue, not “Lyons.” No “s.” It’s the valley’s longest typographical error.
JULY 7, 1961 —
— On this date, Wall Street’s famed Lehman Brothers bought part of the Golden Valley Triangle Industrial Park (where Home Depot is today) from Bernie Swartz. They had plans to build a monumental business park, but even in the 21st century, that dream has yet to be realized.
— The U.S. Postal Service bought the corner lot of 8th and Walnut. They would soon build a new, modern post office there (that today has been abandoned for decades). Oldtimers lamented the movement of the old post office, noting how it was a nice way to break up the morning by showing up between 9 and 10 and seeing your friends and neighbors. The P.O. had a few homes over the years in Newhall. Some of the locales for the old P.O. were: Campton’s General Store (George Campton opened the Newhall Post Office in his general store on January 16, 1877 and stored the mail in a box under the front counter).
JULY 7, 1971 —
— This almost could be one of those Updike “Run Rabbit Run” stories. A Bouquet Canyon man found his neighbor’s dog had killed two of his pet rabbits. The man produced a .38 revolver and began chasing the dog around his back yard, firing shots. He missed. He cornered the dog and fired again, twice, hitting it. The dog shooter’s wife, awakened by the gunfire and shouts, ran out, begging her husband not to kill the dog in front of their four children. Despite the two bullet wounds, the dog didn’t die. No charges were filed.
JULY 7, 1981 —
— “Raiders of the Lost Ark” was one of the biggest movies of all time. But in Saugus, it came up a bit short — 13 minutes, to be exact. Owners of the Mustang Drive-In were rather embarrassed when folks started honking. Seems the film copy the Mustang received had a Nixonian section cut out right in the middle.
— This one still makes me scratch my head, saddlepals. On this date, Downtown Newhall was given a $420,000 federal grant to spruce the place up. There were a couple of paver crosswalks put in, and a weekend project of a couple of concrete “Welcome to Newhall” signs installed. And some flowers. If that’s where ALL the $420,000 went, we’re into some serious armed forces $800 toilet seats territory…
— We have had much monkey business over the years in Santa Clarita over the topic of garbage, garbage companies and garbage dumps. On this date, the Save-On Disposal Company opened its doors. Briefly. Save-On was advertising they’d pick up trash for $3 a month — with no starter fee. A few folks called to ask questions and the dispatcher was rather surly, noting she didn’t have to answer any “!¡#%*!! questions” if she didn’t want to. Those few who did order the service noted they got a rather old garbage can, freshly painted. Underneath many was the logo of Blue Barrel. Seems one of the owners of Save-On happened to be the collections manager of Blue Barrel at the time — AND — general manager of Chiquita Landfill. Other disposal companies around the valley were rather curious how Save-On could charge just $3 a month when the lowest rate in town was $6. The D.A. was called in to investigate if Blue Barrel was running Save-On as a scam or for “predatory pricing” to drive the other haulers in the valley out of business.
— — —
Well that surely was an enlightening ride through time and local monkey business. Enjoyed myself this Thursday and hope you can enjoy me again for another trek through yesteryear. Until then, keep liquefying yourselves, stay cool, be nice to one another and make an attempt to shop local. Vayan con Dios, amigos!