C’mon, amigos. Hop up in the saddle and we’ll mosey into a fine Santa Clarita yesteryear…
WAY, WAY BACK WHEN —
• Well. Sorry. Guess it wasn’t so fine for outlaw Tiburcio Vasquez. He saw his last sunlight on March 18, 1875. The Tibster was hanged in San Jose at 1:35 p.m. for murder. The legendary womanizing bandit, for after whom Vasquez Rocks was named, uttered his last word before visiting the hereafter. It was, “Pronto.” He was pronounced dead at 1:47 p.m. and cut down 25 minutes after that. Interesting, Tibby was buried up north in a Catholic cemetery in Santa Clara. Interestingly again, we used to be confused with Santa Clara, what with being called the Little Santa Clara River Valley back then.
MARCH 18, 1920 —
• Local cowboy Tom Mix released his latest flick, “The Feud” at the Cody Theatre in San Fernando. This was before Mix really established himself as a Western star and he played a hillbilly. Today, it costs about a ten-dollar-bill to go to the flicks. Back in 1920, it was 18-cents for an adult admission, with a few pennies for the war tax.
MARCH 18, 1930 —
• Frank LaSalle was not exactly the hero of the town on this date. LaSalle said he had been bothered by trespassers of late and fired off a revolver to chase some riders off his land. Problem was, they were teen-aged girls and one of them, Edith Harris, was thrown when her horse spooked from the gunshot. Edith suffered several broken ribs and a cracked skull.
• The movie, “Abraham Lincoln” was shot in Hasley Canyon. Someone should have inspected the guns because one of them carried a live round, wounding one of the extras. I know there’s not exactly a good place to be shot — and I don’t mean Hasley Canyon — but this poor chap took one in the groin. “Other than that, Mr. Extra, how did you enjoy the movie?”
MARCH 18, 1940 —
• On this date, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors voted to change the name of the Clifton Union School District back to its original title — Saugus. Saugus Elementary was called Clifton for about two years.
• Cowboy star Tex Ritter was in Placerita Canyon at Monogram Studios (today, Melody Ranch) to shoot “Riders of Sundown.” Check out the billing of his co-star: “In the supporting cast is Roscoe Ates, the celebrated stutterer…”
• Signal editor Fred Trueblood was scratching his head, trying to figure out whether publisher or newspaper buyer got swindled. Seems someone bought a copy, for a nickel, of The Signal and handed Fred an old dime. After the lady left, Fred inspected the coin and it was a silver 3-cent piece minted during the Civil War, worthy, in 1940 money, at $4.
• Here is, perhaps, one of the most succinct police reports ever filed: “Dog examined by Deputies Keeler and McIntyre. Has worms. No further report.”
• Best telephone number in Newhall in 1940? Has to go to Newhall Lumber and it’s pretty easy to remember: 1. That’s it. Dial One.
MARCH 18, 1950 —
• How’s this for small town. This is the complete page one story from the March 23, 1950 issue of the former swashbuckling local newspaper. The headline read: “DON’T GIVE UP!” and the text was: “That mean old Signal front door is sticking again — but it isn’t locked. Put your thumb on the latch, push down and pull the door toward you. Then while holding the latch down, push the door inward. It ought to open. If not, give it a couple of kicks.”
• Local bounty hunter Herman Keene treed and shot a 130-pound mountain lion on this date. Got $50 for the pelt, then went back up into the Newhall hills to find the big cat’s family. Keene, at 70, had been a hunter all his adult life and said he had shot 40 cougars while living here.
• The trial for the estate of William S. Hart continued. His former secretary, Frances Nelson, said the aging actor was despondent in his later years that his son and ex-wife never came to visit, and when they did, it was for money or favors. Gossip columnist Hedda Hopper was the star witness on this date, testifying that Hart was of sound mind when she visited him in his later years. They had talked about a barn dance they had held here in Newhall in 1916 with Douglas Fairbanks Sr.
• On this date, the first ever Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints held their first local service. It was in the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Don’t have first names for them, but Elders Blake and Bowles worked with the San Fernando Stake to set up a Mormon congregation in the SCV and eventually build the first church. There were 61 local Mormons at that first meeting 60 years ago. I suspect barrister Rick Patterson wasn’t even born then…
MARCH 18, 1960 —
• The Newhall Sheriff’s sub-station had a rather unusual prisoner behind bars on this date. A rather large pelican had been walking up and down the tracks, stopping trains, and the locals were called to arrest the bird. They kept it in a holding cell until the L.A. Zoo arrived to claim it.
MARCH 18, 1970 —
• We weren’t such a talky bunch as we are today with faxes, e-mails, cell phones and regular phone calls. Pacific Bell upped their rates on this date for regular service from $5.85 to $6.60. I’d bet most people in the SCV sneak up on the $100 per month rate for all the various phone services. If anyone has any hard data, we’d sure like to peruse it…
• Stan Dyer was sworn in as the SCV’s first unofficial mayor on this date. The title was strictly honorary and given to the person who raised the most money for the Boys & Girls Club.
• Val Verde woman Ida Edwards came home last week from visiting relatives in Oklahoma only to find the county had bulldozed her home. Undaunted, the 74-year-old widow pitched a small pup tent a Boy Scout had given her.
• A local newspaper photographer snapped a classic picture of then-governor Ronald Reagan giving some student protesters the, ahem, “bird” during a Board of Regents meeting in Berkeley. Because of the photo, attorney Robert Treuhaft subpoenaed Gov. Reagan in a separate case for his client, David Cronin. Cronin was arrested for giving the, ahem, “bird,” to police officers in Berkeley and lawyer Treuhaft wanted to use the governor to establish community decency standards.
• Some skinny kid named Pete Calzia struck out 17 batters in Hart’s 2-2 called-on-darkness tie with Newbury Park.
• Fred Aldrich was named head football coach at Canyon High. Fred earned local fame losing a bet on a televised UCLA basketball game in the 1970s. Aldrich didn’t know the game was tape delayed and lost $20 to Jerry Thon, who correctly predicted an upset Bruin loss.
MARCH 18, 1980 —
• Interesting albeit tragic week at Indian Dunes, the old motorcycle race park off Highway 126. Local child actor Ronnie Densford was filming an episode of the hit TV show, “CHiPs” there. Same day, in an unrelated incident, a dirt bike racer died after crashing his bike at high speeds.
Thanks again for the cheerful companionship, fellow Santa Claritans. See you next week with a brand new Time Ranger adventure and until then, vayan con Dios, amigos!
John Boston is the valley’s historian. Look for his book, “Images of America — the Santa Clarita Valley” and catch his radio show, “The Former Friends of John Boston” on KHTS, AM 1220 on Mondays at 2 p.m.