carmel valley historian€¦ · carmel valley historical society volume 30, issue 4 * december 2016...

CARMEL VALLEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY VOLUME 30, ISSUE 4 * DECEMBER 2016

CARMEL VALLEY HISTORIAN

In the early 1950s Carmel Valley Village was a small collection of shops and restaurants clustered alongside Carmel Valley Road. At its center, a little convenience store called The Hitching Post sat smack next to a popular café called The Chatterbox. The Mom and Pop enterprise, operated by Leon and Lillian Shappell from 1952-1964, was a hub for locals and drop-ins who came by for a snack, a copy of the daily newspaper, or a leisurely chat. The Hitching Post was located at 8 W. Carmel Valley Road on the eastern half of today’s M.J. Murphy parking lot.

Owner Leon Shappell was born in 1898 and raised in Oak Park, Illinois. He served in the U.S. Army during World War I, later graduated from college and moved to Southern California. His wife, Lillian White Herrick, was born in 1897 in Bergen, New Jersey. Her father, Albert Bledsoe Herrick, had worked with Thomas Edison to invent the electric light

bulb. As a teenager, Lillian moved to Carmel with her mother and sisters. She studied drama under Herbert

Heron and acted in several plays at The Forest Theater.

Leon and Lillian married in 1924 and lived in Inglewood, California where Leon worked as a civil engineer for a gas company. By the early 1950s they had moved to Monterey and in 1952 opened The Hitching Post in Carmel Valley Village.

The store offered sundries such as cigarettes, candy bars, soft drinks and beer. A large blackboard behind the counter kept chalked-in columns listing popular magazine titles, each bearing a list of regular patrons who came in for their weekly

issues. Trendy publications of the day included Colliers, The New Yorker, T.V. Guide, Life, True, and Look. The longest column listed names of Valleyites subscrib-ing to the Saturday Evening Post. The Shappells were active in the community (see Hitching page 6)

The Hitching Post: Once A Village Fixture

By Elizabeth Barratt, CVHS Historian

You are cordially invited to our annual

Christmas Party

Saturday, December 3, 2016, from 3:00 to 5:00

at the CV History Center, 77 W. Carmel Valley Road.

Come visit with old friends, meet some new friends, greet

your Board Members, and see our newest exhibits.

If you can, please plan to bring a finger-food hors d'oeuvre

or dessert, or a bottle of white wine.

Call the History Center (659-5715) for more information.

The Hitching Post and its neighbor the Chatterbox shown

here in 1962. CVHS Collection.

A Message from the President, Kim Williams

December 2016 CARMEL VALLEY HISTORIAN

Volunteer Activities

It is hard to believe that fall is upon us and winter is coming. And soon, the end of the year. Please consider making an end-of-the-year donation to CVHS. Included in this edi-tion of the Historian is a list of items that are needed at the History Center, if you would like to target your donation to a specific project. Please take a look at the list and send in a check, or go to carmelvalleyhistoricalsociety.org to make a donation by credit card.

On October 29th we had a wonderful time at our annual fundraiser The Party in the Vil-lage! A large load of thanks goes to all the volunteers from CVHS and CVVIC who made this night a great success.

Hope to see you all at the annual Christmas party on December 3. And for those of you who like to plan ahead: We will be celebrating our 3oth anniversary on April 29 with a reception at the History Center. Save the date now for a very special celebration to recog-nize this milestone.

A group of geologists gathered to help us in developing our upcoming

exhibit on the geology of Carmel Valley. Pictured above, left to right, are:

Donna Zahn, Curator; Krissy Huston, CVHS Volunteer; Marty Laporte,

M.A., (Stanford, Geology, Water Resources), Dr. Robert Garrison

(Professor Emeritus, UCSC, Sedimentary Geology), Dr. Leo Laporte

(Professor Emeritus, UCSC, Paleontology), Seth Williams (Senior,

UCSC Geology), Dr. Hilde Schwartz (Professor, UCSC, Vertebrate Pale-

ontology), Dr. Casey Moore (Professor Emeritus, UCSC, Structural Geol-

ogy). If you have local unusual rocks or fossils from Carmel Valley let us

know—they may become part of the exhibit! Contact Donna Zahn with

questions.

This group did a lot of valuable work in helping the Collections Committee

identify people and locations in historic photos - they also had a lot of fun!

Pictured left to right are Joan & Gene Vandervort (seated), Bill & Linda Conlan

(seated), Larry & Harriet Busich, Donna Dormody (standing)

On October 10, progress was made in cataloging the Howard Archeological

Collection. Pictured (left to right) are: Rae Schwaderer, California State Parks

Archaeologist, Monterey District; Louis Trevino (Rumsen Ohlone), Graduate

Student in Linguistics , UC Berkeley, Linda Yamane (Rumsen Ohlone), basket

maker, writer, Ohlone cultural consultant.


Sundays, Visitors, Members & Docents

-Added Sundays from 11:00-2:00 to the opening schedule, which has been highly successful.

-Number of visitors to date: 1680

-Increased membership by 42

-Two new docents, Patty Armstrong and Maggie Van Ess, joined our team.

Exhibits

- Opened Cub Scout Pack 127 exhibit that moved to the Carmel Valley Library for the month of August. Cub Lead-er and chief collaborator was Aga Simpson. The Cubs were Adam Angel, Nathan Campbell, Tasuku Nagasima, Mi-chael Rogers, Aleksander Simpson, Zachary Speakman, Phil Thomas.

- Under development: A History of Robles del Rio with team members Tom Augustitus, Skip Marquard, Patricia & Nancy Porter, and Jeff Ohlson.

- Under development: Geology exhibit with team mem-bers Dean Forzani, Alan Masaoka, Kim Pisor, Andy Case and Donna Zahn.

- For the second year in a row, we were one of six muse-ums/history centers asked to participate in a year-long exhibit at the Monterey Regional Airport. Our exhibit was titled “Rusticating at the Resorts.”

-Installed small exhibit on the CV Library’s fireplace man-tle about the California Cowboy Shows, that over 15 years generated significant funds for the building of the History Center.

- Introduced a new photographic history wall with views of the Valley from the early 20th Century.

- Continued to refresh or add to the existing exhibits.

Written and Oral Histories and Newsletters

-Published ranching histories that shaped Carmel Valley: A History of Ranching in Carmel Valley, A History of Car-mel Valley’s Piazzoni Ranches, and A History of Carmel Valley’s Berta Ranch.

-Published four newsletters (March, June, September and December).

-Recorded an oral history of long time Valley residents Sally Swanson & Betty Wilson to capture memories of their early days of ranching, raising their families and contributions to the Valley.

Groups & Presentations

-Hosted Gary Breschini, noted archeologist, for the third year. Eighty attended, the highest number to date, with lively participation.

-Hosted over 100 school children and the Colonial Dames among others.

-Local rancher, Jim Dorrance, and CVHS Volunteer, Jeff Ohlson, presented “Cattle Branding in Carmel Valley” at the CV Library’s First Saturday Series in September.

Fundraising/Grants

-Co-sponsored a successful fifth annual Party in the Vil-lage! fundraising event with the CV Village Improvement

Committee.

-Received Grants from Carmel Valley Women’s Club, CV Kiwanis Foundation, Malcom & Joanne Millard Fund, Barney Siegal Foundation, Yellow Brick Road Foundation

Accessions

-Accessed over 500 documents, photos, artifacts and Li-brary materials into the History Center’s specialized mu-seum software program. The Collections Committee also continued to catalog all the materials collected over the past 30 years by Carmel Valley Historical Society mem-bers - it’s a huge job, but we are making progress!

Operations

-In a joint effort with Kiwanis volunteers Mike Thatcher, Fernando Morgandinho, Jeff Markow, Chuck McKay and Gary Tate, and CVHS Volunteer Jeff Ohlson enclosed back deck for future uses.

-In a joint effort with the Parks & Recreation Department, tree branches and bushes in the retention pond behind the building were trimmed for fire safety.

-Continued participation in the Roundtable, a group of Monterey County archivists, curators, historians, regis-trars, museum professionals, special collections librarians, and staff & volunteers who meet monthly to exchange ide-as and showcase the collections of their museums & histo-ry centers.

-Formed a Marketing committee with members Julie Ca-son, Dave Terdy and Cherie Ohlson. Initial project was to survey members & community about their opinion of the History Center and what is important going forward. Longer term objective is to promote the History Center and its unique contribution to Carmel Valley.

-Joined the Carmel Valley Road Company website to ex-pand our visibility.

-Made the History Center available to several non-profit groups for meetings.

-Staffed the CVHS booth at the CV Garden Show.

MYSTERY PHOTO This photo is thought to have been taken of an uni-

dentified ranch in the upper (eastern) Carmel Valley. Please contact Jeff Ohlson at (831) 659-2986 if you have any information regarding the ranch.

CVHS Accomplishments in 2016

By Cherie Ohlson

Major Sponsors Hidden Valley Music Seminars Kathy's Little Kitchen Los Laureles Lodge Martin Electric & Solar Maxine Callinan Sponsors and Donors Animal Hospital at Mid Valley Avant Garden and Home Barry R. Harrow, Attorney At Law Bernardus Winery Big Sur Vineyards Boekenoogen Winery Busick’s Custom Woodworking

Carmel Valley Business Service Carmel Valley Chamber of Commerce Carmel Valley Computer and Phone Repair CV-CPR Carmel Valley Garage Carmel Valley Historical Society Carmel Valley Kiwanis Carmel Valley Ranch Carmel Valley Veterinary Hospital Carmel Valley Village Chiropractic Catherine Zahm Tutoring Chesebro Wines

Cima Collina Winery Country Garden Inns Doris Senger Ellsworth & Trudy Gregory Ellsworth Gregory Piano Services

Harber Barrel Lights J. N. Swanson, Art Jeff & Cherie Ohlson Jennifer Smith Jim's Window Cleaning Joie and Lew Goodkin Joullian Vineyards Joyce Vineyards Julie Cason & Lisa Crawley Kasey's Los Laureles Lodge Restaurant M. J. Murphy’s Lumber Maxine Callinan Mission Ranch Restaurant Monterey Regional Fire District

P.S.T.S. Inc. Parsonage Winery Pebble Beach Company - STICKS Quail & Olive Quail Lodge and Golf Club Roux Running Iron Restaurant & Saloon Sue Pius Taqueria del Valle Trailside Cafe Valerie Lassiter Venice in the Valley Village Market Wild Goose Café Yellow Brick Road

Special Thanks to: California Cowboys & Bobby Black Cow Bop: Bruce and Pamela Forman Kiki Wow Monterey Bay Sound Monterey Bay Design Carmel Valley Kiwanis Jerome’s Carmel Valley Market: Jerome Viel Hidden Valley Music Seminars: Peter Meckel


5th Annual Party in the Village!

The Carmel Valley Historical Society and the Carmel Valley Village Improvement Committee wish to ex-

press our thanks to all of our sponsors and donors for the 5th Annual PARTY IN THE VILLAGE!


5th Annual Party in the Village!

Phots by

Jeff Ohlson

(Hitching from page 1) Leon was a popular member of the local Kiwanis Club, Lillian volunteered in Carmel Valley Women’s Club projects. She was an enthusiastic gardener. The plant-filled Hitching Post patio became a branch of the Valley Nursery, offering shrubs, flowering plants, fertilizers and garden supplies for sale.

Lillian was an aspiring writer. She made notes and kept albums filled with news clippings and personal jottings on life in the Village. Her scrapbooks from the 1950s and 1960s note the start of local ambulance service, weddings, fashion shows, dances, Chamber of Com-merce and Kiwanis activities, theatre productions, sporting events, art gallery openings, and horse stories, all showing the activities of the thriving small community.

A guest book was maintained on the counter for patrons to leave autographs and caricatures. Entries include cartoons by Robles del Rio resident Frank O’Neal, creator of the “Short Ribs” comic strips, and drawings by artist and gallery owner Russell Swan, known for his paintings of deserts and the Monterey harbor. A couple from Salinas, who regularly flew over to Carmel Valley in their private plane, entered pencil drawings of their plane delivering heads of premium lettuce to The Hitching Post.

Lillian’s personal journal was filled with notations on The Hitching Post’s regular customers. A typical entry on Wednesday January 14, 1953 reads, “In the M.P. Herald, Julie Risdon gave us a feature write-up regarding the Blue Roses I had planted in the Hitching Post yard. About 50 people read the article and asked

me questions, besides ringing me up on the phone.” Another entry read, “Mr. Hannah of ‘So Help Me Hannah’” poison oak remedies was in. They had moved into the red schoolhouse property they bought. He said it was an excellent location for them as it was surround-ed by poison oak and he and his wife both got it. He showed his arms with the welts on them and I assume the white stuff [on his arms] was his ‘So Help Me Hannah’ preparation.” Lillian also described an illegal flashlight boar hunt expedition near the Village that went horribly wrong. Late one night, hidden state troopers chased the guilty culprit through dark Village streets. Confused and intoxicated, he took refuge inside a nearby coffee shop, where he hid all the next day. The law impounded his car and his son had to drive over from Salinas to retrieve him.

In 1964, after turning age 65, Leon and Lillian sold The Hitching Post to Howard Gross. From their retirement home in Robles del Rio, it must have been a sad affair to learn that, on Christmas Eve, 1966, the popular fixture had caught fire and burned down. An article and

photo in the Carmel Valley Outlook described the scene, “Throngs of spectators hampered fire fighting operations when the Hitching Post, a Valley landmark, was gutted. Onlookers, attempting to be helpful, tried to man hoses from the pumpers, spilling gallons of water. Looting also took place under the nose of persons investigating the fire. A fireman trying to control the interior fire kept being drenched when an inexperienced bystander kept shooting water into the building.”

The event marked the loss of yet another charming piece of our rural history. Thank goodness for Lillian’s journals, which left us such vivid memories of the Valley’s many “old timers.”


Owner Leon Shappell behind the counter at The Hitching Post, 1955.

CVHS Collection

Owner Lillian Shappell behind the counter at The

Hitching Post, 1955. CVHS Collection

Robert Bennett, left, and Patrick Fitzpatrick, right, stop by The Hitching Post for a chat, 1955. CVHS Collection

Stephanie Culbert: Personal collection of w rit-ten Carmel Valley history, photos, etc. Donna Dormody: Various local geologic speci-mens: Serpentinite, Cinnabar Steve Dorrance: 1929 "Tim e Book" used by I.J. "Iver" Cornett, manager 1927 - 1930 (Dorrance family relation), as record of time worked by & payment made to employees of Tassajara Hot Springs; Panorama pho-to of the Rancho Tularcitos, circa 1924; Written histo-ries of Tassajara Hot Springs & The Caves Ranch; Local geologic specimen: Schist Aaron Eppler: Vertebrae & Epiphysis from small whale, unfused David Fairhurst: 2 photos of the rock sculpture that was once located at the Sid Ormsby fire lookout tower, showing the side with woman's figure, steer's head and human face; 1 photo of the view from lookout tower toward CV Village including airstrip; 3 photos (taken by donor) of the Wright Cabin, circa 1990 Ann Flood: Collection of docum ents from her time on CVHS board Steve Hinck: 41" x 30" sign from Prince's Cam p "Our Specialty HOT PORK SANDWICH Cole Slaw. Po-tatoes, Coffee - 50cents; Vintage 11" x 14" cardboard sign: "Bar-B-Que - Prince's Camp, Cachagua, Los Pa-dres Dam, Upper Carmel Valley - This Sunday - Bring your own Silverware, Free Hot Dogs for the Kids - Phone OL 9-2678"

Reggie Jones: Book: “An American Genocide - The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe”; DVD: “The Dish” Lorin Letendre: Mastodon Tooth Fossil found in the Bishop Ranch area of Danville, CA. To be used in connection with our Mammoth Exhibit Jeff Ohlson: Book: “ Man Made Mobile - Early Sad-dles of Western North America” Sharon Miller: 4.5" x 3.25" fossil of unknow n origin, found in the 1990's at Holman Ranch (up at top, where fossilized clam shells were), suspected to be a vertebrae; Vertebrae (lower "back") from small (15’) whale Susan Pius: 1 framed 15.5 x 16.25 B&W photo of Tom Dorrance, Ray Hunt and Bill Dorrance on horse-back, circa 1992 (?); Photo used in Ranching book. Sally Swanson: 3 VHS tapes: "Longtim ers - Sen-ior Artists of the Monterey Peninsula - Part I& II" and "Fine Art Bronze Casting" Santa Lucia Preserve: Pecten - arnoldi June Taylor: 3 vintage postcards from Holm an Ranch; 2 vintage “The Etude” musical magazines dated Dec 1903 & May 1915; Book: “Old Monterey County – A Pictorial History” Donna Zahn: 23 local geologic specimens: rocks, minerals, fossils and a replica of a projectile point

General Fund: Helen Breck, Bever ly Brownell, M.J. Murphy Lum ber, Sue Pius, Reid & Karen Woodward, Donna Zahn Tiles: K reg Baker Grants: Barnet Segal Charitable Trust, Malcom & Joanne Millard Fund, The Yellow Brick Road Foundation


Donations: Documents, Photos, Artifacts, Library Materials

Financial Contributions

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR GENEROUS SUPPORT

Your generous donation will help with the ongoing operation of the His-tory Center. Or, if you would like to direct your gift toward something specific, here are some needed items.

Ultra Violet Light Protection Window Film: $1,865 Office Mail Sorter: $175 Shelving for Storage: $300 Lateral Filing Cabinet: $1000 Materials for a Storage Cabinet on the Back Deck: $1500 Geology Exhibit

Cedar Woodwork: $1500 Plexiglas Case: $850 Digital Display: $1800

Survey Results

Thank you to everyone who com-pleted the Society's online survey this fall. Your input is greatly appre-ciated! Congratulations to Frank Keith, the w inner of the book raffle.

There were a few folks who ex-pressed interest in volunteering but who did not provide contact info. Please call 659-5715 or email us at [email protected], or stop by the His-tory Center and we'll be glad to ac-cept your generous offer to help!

Help Your Society with an End-of-the-year Gift.


NON-PROFIT ORG.

U.S. POSTAGE PAID

PERMIT # 10

CARMEL VALLEY, CA 93924

CARMEL VALLEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

PO BOX 1612

CARMEL VALLEY, CA 93924-1612

Carmel Valley Historical Society

WEB carmelvalleyhistoricalsociety.org

EMAIL [email protected]

CALL (831) 659-5715

WRITE PO Box 1612

Carmel Valley, CA 93924-1612

VISIT 77 West Carmel Valley Road

History Center Hours: Fridays and Saturdays: 12:00-4:00 Sundays: 11:00-2:00 Library: By Appointment

Board of Directors

Kim Williams President Gary Tate Vice President Dave Terdy Treasurer Cherie Ohlson Secretary Maxine Callinan Member Andy Case Member Julie Cason Member Ellsworth Gregory Member Emeritus

Saturday, December 3, 2016 CVHS CHRISTMAS PARTY 3:00-5:00 pm at the History Center

Saturday, March 11, 2017 ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING 4:00-6:00 PM at the History Center

Saturday, April 29, 2016 30th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION 2:00-4:00 pm at the History Center

Upcoming Events

Do you recognize this clock?

This clock has been in our collec-tion for some time, but not much is known about it. If you recog-nize it, give us a call.

A History of Ranching

Now Available A new publication is now available for

purchase in the History Center. "A

History of Ranching in Carmel Valley"

features over 100 rare photographs

from cowhands to branding to ranch

histories and much more. Come take

a look the next time you are in the

area. On sale for only $20.

Holiday Schedule We will be open after Thanksgiving,

November 25, 26, 27.

We will be closed Christmas & New Years weekends.

But if you have visiting family members who would like to visit the CVHC, you can call Maxine Callinan at 659-4925 or Cherie Ohlson 659-2986 for an appointment. However not on Christ-mas or New Years Day.

CVHS is a contributor to

this exhibition.