Mike Read/Pages From The Past
(Editor’s Note: Pages from the Past is compiled for Marinscope Community Newspapers by the Novato History Guild.)
100 Years Ago
December 1923
– J.A. Jarvis, foreman of the Marin Meadows ranch, was a welcome caller at this office. There has been planted over 600 acres of peas and next spring 400 acres more will be put in. There will also be between five and six hundred acres of sugar beats, besides other crops on the splendid ranch.
– Night prowlers robbed L. H. Potter recently of 60 chickens. This thieving is becoming too frequent, and something must be done to protect our honest citizens. A liberal reward for the arrest of the thieves might bear fruit before a K. K. K. is formed.
– J. C. Green, the businessman of Grandview, is having substantial additions made to his place of business. An up-to-date ice cream parlor is being added to his store. This will be a delightful spot in summer, overlooking the Petaluma creek.
– A contract has been awarded the Dutton Dredging Company to cut a drainage canal through the properties of the DeBorba estate, Herman Schultze and Frank DeVoto, from the Black Point cut off to the railroad track. This will reclaim valuable land and do much in abating the mosquito pest.
– W. C. Miller, a highly respected resident of Grand View, passed away on Wednesday of last week in San Francisco, where he underwent an operation for appendicitis. Deceased was postmaster at Grand View and also conducted a general merchandise store. He leaves a widow and a daughter, Mrs. Brown, of New York.
75 Years Ago
December 1948
– Mr. and Mrs. Frank Perachiotti (Yvonne Rodoni) are receiving congratulations on the birth of a son born last Saturday. The young man weighed 6 lbs. at birth, and has been named Frank, Jr. Dr H. Hammond was attending physician.
– Riley Wingate who has been night man at the Novato fire department has resigned. Riley is employed by Henry Hess Co. in San Rafael during the day.
– Ten million Californians are reminded to turn their clocks back an hour at 2 a. m. Saturday and return their state to the Pacific standard time zone. The early morning switch will end daylight time—invoked by the legislature last March 14 as a power-saving measure after a winter-long drought. At that time the electrical shortage was so acute the signs along the streets of cities in the northern part of the state were blacked out. New Year’s Eve revelers will get an extra hour for toasting 1949. State law requires liquor establishments to close by 2 a.m. Since that is also the hour of the time change management and customers will then be permitted to set their time pieces back 60 minutes and continue to hall the New Year.
– Bids on the Novato fire house remodeling was taken under advisement but not awarded. Walter L. Olson, a Santa Rosa contractor, reportedly turned in the lowest bid among three competing bidders. His estimate for enlarging the fire house to include a meeting room, additional kitchen, and extra dormitory space was $6,209.90.
– Mr. and Mrs. Wing Lee are now the new proprietors of the Novato French Laundry, now called the Novato Laundry and Cleaning. The Lees, who are former San Francisco residents, where he was employed in a laundry there, took over active ownership on December 1st.
50 Years Ago
December 1973
–City Manager Charles A. Brown announced that he would be resigning “as soon as possible after the first of the year.” The announcement came at the end of the city council’s last regular meeting of 1973 before an audience of two. After outlining his “goals for 1974” Brown, in a slightly shaky voice, read from a prepared statement. “This decision is hardly the most pleasant for me and my family since we have thoroughly enjoyed the past five years in Novato,” it said in part. There was no indication that the city council had pressured him into resigning (because of the events of last summer when the city lost three department heads amid much controversy.
– Richard Hanna. president of the Novato Center, Inc., of Burlingame, has submitted plans (again) for development of the 319-acre site north of Highway 37 and east of Highway 101 The new plans reflect the recent rezoning of the property to include 35 acres of “highway oriented commercial use at the 101 Rowland Boulevard interchange and 92 acres for planned industrial use between the highway and the railroad tracks The balance of the property, located in the flood, plain, would be devoted to an 18-hole golf course and lake Construction of the golf course is proposed simultaneously with the first two phases of the project, subject to the use of secondary treated effluent for sprinkling. During the rezoning hearings, some city councilmen expressed fears that the commercial use would conflict with the Downtown Plan and negate the shopping center proposed for the Pinheiro property.
– Mike Silva has been reelected president of the Novato Volunteer Firemen’s Association for another term and will be installed at a dinner meeting of the association Jan. 5 at Sportsman Lodge. Other officers to be installed include Tony Bacon, vice president; Ray Dwelly, secretary; George Gnoss, treasurer; Kirl Smart, sergeant-at -arms, and Tom Tharsing, property clerk.
25 Years Ago
December 1998
– In an era when most office supply retailers have taken to selling by the ton, Ideal Stationers has pushed the envelope by selling some things by the … each. San Rafael-based Ideal Office Product Center will open its fourth North Bay store this coming spring in Novato. Ideal is scheduled to move into the Downtown Novato Center in March. The store will occupy half of the building vacated earlier this year by Ross Dress For Less, which moved to Vintage Oaks.
– Like many Novatans, Kathy Brower tries to leave town before filling her tank. She usually fuels up near her job in San Francisco, where gas can be found for 10 cents a gallon cheaper than in Novato. Last week, she filled up in Berkeley for $1.12 a gallon. In Novato, the cheapest gas is $1.19 at the VIA station on Redwood Boulevard and Olive Avenue. At $1.31 a gallon, the most expensive gas in town is at the Enfrente Shell Station in Ignacio. When it comes to buying fuel, Novato is among the most expensive cities in the Bay Area.
– A project once accused of destroying wetlands began last week by creating lakes. The Black Point Partnership started work on its championship golf course and luxury home project by beginning construction of the six new lakes that will be spotted around the Johnny Miller-designed public course on the 238.5-acre site.
– The Novato Planning Commission will again hold a scoping session for an Environmental Impact Report for a 165-home residential project planned for the city’s northern entrance. The Atherton Ranch development is proposed for 47 acres of what is commonly known as the Pinheiro Ranch property on Redwood Boulevard near the San Marin overpass. The project will include 46 single-family homes, 55 cluster homes, 23 two story townhomes and 40 senior apartments.
– Pius Schwahn, who operated a body and fender shop in Novato for many years, died at his home in Novato at the age of 71. Mr. Schwahn was the son of Anton and Mary Griffre Schwahn and graduated from high school in Eagle Butte, S.D. in 1942. He served in the Army infantry in Italy in World War II. After being discharged in 1946, he returned to South Dakota and settled in Aberdeen. He came to Novato in 1957 and owned and operated Schwahn Auto downtown for many years.
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