Mike Reed/Pages From The Past
100 Years Ago
April 1923
– Novato Champions. The Novato and San Rafael grammar school baseball- teams crossed bats at the county seat on March 21. The San Rafael team had defeated all the important grammar schools of the county, and another victory was confidently expected, but our friends reckoned without their host and were doomed to disappointment. After the first flurry of excitement had subsided, our boys played ball like veterans, and the game ended 9 to 3 in favor of Novato. The following was Novato’s lineup: Leon Hiribarren, 1st base. Emilo Renati, catcher. Walter Kilborn, pitcher. Frank Manzoni, shortstop. Robert Trumbull, 2nd base. Joseph Pronzoni, 3rd base. George Nunes, right field. George Wise, left field. Alfred Lafranchi, center field. Substitute—George Gnoss. Mascot—Bernard Keena. Coach—R. S. Teachout.
– The fixtures and goodwill of the Novato American Lunch Restaurant for sale. Good business in a growing town. JOHN RIEGEL, Novato.
– A gang of men and teams are scheduled to meet to-day and grade the street to the new Community House. Larger the force less the work. Lend a hand.
75 Years Ago
April 1948
– Novato Horsemen Inc., met at their club house and made plans to make the club’s fourth annual horse show, June 20, at the club arena, more outstanding than ever before.
– Annual installation of officers of Novato Grove, U.A.O.D., was held in Druids hall Thursday night when C. L. Ely of San Rafael installed the following: Noble arch, C. D. Reece; vice arch, Manuel (Babe) Silva; conductor, Frank Valim; inside guard, Henry Bormolini; outside guard, Julius Zunino; secretary, Frank Baccaglio; financial secretary, Peter Magetti; treasurer, Joe Gnoss; noble ovate, Joe Azevedo; noble bard, Aurelio Rebato; past noble arch, John Olsepn.
50 Years Ago
April 1973
– The city planning commission and the city council bestowed their joint blessings on both the Renaissance Center and World College West last night with their fingers crossed. “I hope this works,” summed up Mayor Fred Ruegg. “Too many college students are flunking reality these days.” Proponents of both the permanent Renaissance Center and the college, to be located adjacent to each other north of Novato near San Antonio Creek, painted lovely bucolic pictures of their projects. Attorney Douglas Ferguson described the Renaissance Center as a “brave, noble concept” that would provide a creative outlet for artisans as well as preserve the environment. Attorney Al Bianchi called World College West a “unique work / study complex” and promised its administrators would be the first to fight any urbanization of the area.
– The city council flirted with a motel atop reservoir Hill during the general plan session Monday night but was leery of having the top lopped off the hill to accommodate it. Realtor Al Bellucci told the council a buyer was interested in the 13-acre site located on the northwest corner of the future DeLong interchange but only if the city gave a clear go-ahead for motel use. Senior planner Mark Westfall said staff was opposed to that use because it would necessitate removing at least the upper 56-feet of Reservoir Hill.
– It was Spirit Week at Sinaloa Junior High School last week. Tricycle races were held, students competed in forming human pyramids, and grease and grub day was held Friday. Boys and girls “slave days” were held in which boys and girls bid for the services of a student to carry books and perform other special chores.
25 Years Ago
April 1998
– Domingo Grossi of Petaluma, a native of Novato and a member of a pioneering Swiss-Italian family in West Marin, died March 13,1998, at the age of 90. Mr. Grossi was born into a ranching family. His parents, Teresa and Domenico Grossi, ranched in Hicks Valley. They had come to Marin County from the Ticino region of Switzerland in 1891. He was one of 10 children, and everyone pitched in to help with the operation, including milking the 150 cows by hand twice a day. The Grossi youngsters took up ranching themselves as adults. Mr. Grossi got the Point Reyes M Ranch, then in pretty sad shape, in 1939. A few years later, at a dance in Cotati, he met Edith Poma. They were married in 1945. They reared their two children on M Ranch and took care of 250 Holstein cows. They made improvements to the ranch, bringing in electricity and otherwise modernizing the operation. In 1971, Mr. Grossi retired and sold his ranch to the Point Reyes National Seashore. Retiring, however, didn’t mean he no longer pulled his weight. He continued to work, performing countless chores. Mr. Grossi and his wife moved to Petaluma several years ago. Their son, Richard, now runs beef cattle on the ranch. Mr. Grossi also was instrumental in the restoration of the old Olema Cemetery and served on its board of directors for many years. He also was a director of the Marin Resource Conservation District. He was a member of the West Marin Chamber of Commerce and a parishioner at Sacred Heart Church in Olema.
– Funeral services for Herman Solomon Horowitz, a retired Novato department store owner who had lived in Tiburon for the last 14-years. He was 76. He was an entrepreneur who ran various businesses before opening Todd’s Department Store in Novato, which he operated with his wife from 1960 to 1971. The family’s three children’ also helped out in the business. His wife died in 1981.
– Today we will look at the opening of a new restaurant in town, Chevy’s. It must have been three months ago when you could not help but notice that something was finally going to happen at the old Red Lobster restaurant location. After months of nothing going on at the site, there was activity buzzing at the vacant facility. It was not long thereafter that a banner went up announcing that Chevy’s was corning. Since restaurants normally mean jobs in a town, that was the first question I asked of Cary Patterson, manager of Chevy’s. “We opened the restaurant with 140 employees, we currently have 120 employees, and we will ultimately settle in with 100 permanent workers at this facility,” was the response of Patterson. I was curious about the hiring of 140 workers when they were only going to need a full complement of 100. Patterson told me that the restaurant business is not for everyone. Sometimes people have to try it before they realize the business is not for them. He also said, “There is a one month learning curve for everyone to get fully settled into their jobs.” That process also tends to weed out people that were not cut out for the business.
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