Mike Reed/Pages From The Past
100 Years Ago
July 1921
— Fire burned over the A. B. Hill ranch near Novato Saturday afternoon for several hours. More than 200 acres were burned over, but the damage was not heavy as there are no buildings of consequence on the part of the property burned over, it being devoted entirely to hay and pasture. The flames sent up huge columns of dense smoke which attracted much attention from the highway and railroad trains crowded with travelers bound for the holiday weekend.
— The Masonic club of Novato is laying extensive plans for a picnic and dance to be given Thursday, July 21. Members of neighboring Masonic lodges, together with their families have been invited to attend and from all indications a large number expect to participate in the festivities of the occasion. The inhabitants of the thriving little town of Novato have not lost any of their “good old fashioned” hospitality, and a lot of the neighbors around know that the Masonic Club there shares this spirit, and are going to go there if they have to walk.
75 Years Ago
July 1946
— Jack Ashbaugh, scoutmaster, has closed his radio shop on Grant Avenue owing to inability to receive supplies and is living at his home on Center Road.
— Novato, Marin county’s fastest growing community has taken another step forward. A new modern 488 seat theatre has been added. The theatre was built by Mr. A. W. Bowman and is equipped with the very latest sound, projection, seating and air conditioning. It is leased and is to be operated by Mr. Manuel Levin, San Francisco theatre man. It will be under the management of Mr. Guy R. Judd who has just returned from 3 years overseas. Mr. Judd has managed theatres in San Francisco and Fresno. He will move his wife and son here as soon as housing is available. The policy of the theatre will be to bring you the finest of entertainment at all times. The theatre will be open Monday through Friday at 6:45 p.m. There will be special matinees on Saturdays starting at 1:45 p.m. and will operate continuously on Sundays and holidays from 1:45 p.m. It is expected that the theatre will open within the next two weeks.
— Robert Busher and his bride, the former Martha Pierce, arrived home from their honeymoon trip over the north Redwood Highway and are now at home in the apartment owned by his mother, Mrs. W.H. Busher, on Sherman Avenue.
— The Marin County Planning Commission has approved the application of L. Booth for the rezoning of the property Machin and Melvin (Vallejo) Streets to light industrial, where he plans to establish a plant for the making of cement blocks.
— Bill Combling, owner of the Tri-Angle Sheet Metal Co., has leased the DeBorba building on Grant Avenue, between the print shop and the utilities offices, where he will be associated with Everett Howell in the sheet metal and plumbing business.
50 Years Ago
July 1971
— Ron Schenck was elected unanimously Monday night as president of the Novato school board. Also elected at the annual organizational meeting were Marett Boissevain, vice president; Carolyn Crabtree and Liz Mertel, Trustee Association representative. The three new members of the board — Mrs. Mertel, Jan Murray, and Bill Eckhoff — were seated along with the reelected member, Schenck. In other action the board: Set the first and third Tuesday of the month as new meeting dates.
— Goodbye mom’s apple pie, hello pizza. Or so it seems, now that Novato has four, count them four pizza eating emporiums – Tower of Pizza, Round Table Pizza, Pinky’s Pizza and the Pizza Hut (under construction across from the Community House). What’s more, Straw Hat Pizza will begin construction soon of a restaurant next to Copper Penny on the west side of Redwood Highway south of Schuman Chevrolet and seems to be planning a second Straw Hat Pizza location in Novak Square. Will Novato become the pizza capital of America today and tomorrow the world?
— Drug Giant, with stores in Ignacio and Petaluma, has been sold by William Jonas and George Reese to Kenneth Byrom of Petaluma. Byrom heads the newly formed La Helenic, Inc., which bought the Ignacio store, and Mr. Drugs, Inc., which bought the Petaluma store. He says he has added $27,000 in inventory to the Ignacio store and is adding an automotive department and expanding other departments, such as hardware.
— Sgt Sacto of the Captain San Francisco show on TV, channel 44, will be at the Northgate Shopping Mall in San Rafael, Sgt. Sacto will be signing autographs and giving out carnival kits free to help promote “Carnivals Against Dystrophy,” a special project of the Muscular Dystrophy Associations of America.
— A proposal to create a 27,000-acre national park for the Bay Area has been introduced for the first time in the Senate by Senator Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) who added a special provision that would block any future effort to develop the Presidio commercially. The Cranston bill calls for immediate inclusion of 546 of the Presidio’s 1,588 acres in a Golden Gate National Recreation Area that would extend along 50 miles of private, state, city and federal coastal lands, from Pt. Reyes through Ocean Beach.
25 Years Ago
July 1996
— The fourth annual Novato Hometown Fourth of July Parade will highlight the community’s celebration of Independence Day. Novato’s Hometown Parade, this year built on the theme “Hamilton Field, Then and Now,” happens Thursday, July 4 at 10 a.m. It will begin on Grant Avenue at Reichert and march west to Seventh Street. This year’s parade will be Novato’s biggest ever and one of the largest Fourth of July parades in Northern California with 143 entries.
— Pulling no punches and using about as strong a wording as civility allows, Marin Superior Court Judge Lynn Duryee Tuesday morning threw out a deal crafted behind closed doors between the City of Novato and Black Point developers, citing “fraud” and “collusion” in the backroom negotiations. Duryee, in a tentative ruling released Monday, acknowledged the Brown Act allows a city to meet in closed sessions to discuss litigation settlements. But she found the Black Point Partnership developers and the city used “extrinsic fraud, mistake and/or collusion” in getting visiting judge Gerald Regan to sign the agreement which “exceeded this court’s jurisdiction. The Black Point development project calls for the construction of 53 homes, an 18-hole golf course and a 64-acre wildlife preserve on 238 acres of land used to host the popular Renaissance Pleasure Faire.
— California 11th Air Force Jr. ROTC squadron at Novato High School ranks with the best in the world, according to Headquarters Air Force ROTC which has awarded it “Honor Unit” accolades. The local squadron is well known and respected in the community for its many accomplishments and community services but has not received the coveted “Honor Unit” designation since 1982.
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