Mike Read/Pages From The Past
100 Years Ago
December 1922
– A strong gust of wind Tuesday night of last week blew down part of the forms of the new Midway Garage. Not expecting such an emergency, the bracings were not made as secure as they might have been. The accident is to be regretted, as it delayed to some extent the pouring of cement for the fine structure that will ornament that part of town, besides adding to the cost of the building.
– The Novato Chamber of Commerce met in the Community House. Bridging the Golden Gate, as proposed by San Francisco, was favorably considered. It was agreed to petition the State Highway Commission to broaden the highway through Novato, something that is greatly needed.
– Broken candy 25c. a pound at Samuels’. Gasoline 21 cents a gallon, at Samuels’.
– The Novato French Cheese Factory is putting up different size boxes with assorted cheese, ready to be shipped anywhere within the United States. Only the very best variety of cheese packed. This also will advertise home industry. The prices vary from 75 cents to $2 per box, postage added. Good holiday gift.
75 Years Ago
December 1947
– Miss Kathleen Willette, daughter of the. James Willettes, owners of the Black Point Inn and Grocery, and Lt. Col.-Sterling Richey were married at a charming military ceremony in the chapel of the Presidio, San Francisco.
– Fire Chief Fred W. Miller of the Novato volunteer fire department, died at 9 o’clock on Christmas eve in the Mare Island Naval hospital where he had been receiving treatment for some time. In Novato where he had been identified with the volunteer fire department for many years, his death brought sorrow to the citizens of the town which he had so loyally and faithfully served for more than twelve years. Surviving are his widow, Mrs. Ella Miller, and his daughter, Marlene. Born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, he had served in the U. S navy for 16 years and was a veteran of World War 1, serving in the North Sea and Europe. Alter, retiring from the navy he was married to the former Ella Halawell of Oakland. The couple began their wedded life on a poultry ranch in Indian Valley, near here. Later they gave up the business and moved to Novato where for twelve years Miller was connected with the Novato fire department and serving as chief for the past ten years. Charles Petersen, assistant fire chief, has been filling the duties since the chief was taken ill.
50 Years Ago
December 1972
– Sinaloa Junior High held its third annual turkey trot Friday afternoon. With the entire student body watching, 50 boys raced around the campus, crossing the creek and struggling up and slipping down a rain-slickened hill along the route. They were running for prizes of frozen turkeys and chickens. Ninth grader Scott Powell was the overall winner, taking five minutes and 32 seconds to travel the course which was about a mile long.
– Novato’s newest movie house, Cinema II, is to open Friday. It will be the third movie theater here. It is located at 5300 Redwood Highway, near Marin Valley Drive. It is near the Nave Drive off-ramp, south of the main gate of Hamilton Air Force Bate.
– John E. Kenney, well known contractor who was planning on building a huge complex of townhouses and apartments at Black Point, died yesterday in an Oakland Hospital. The Novato Planning Commission had scheduled a special one-item meeting for January to review the Kenney plan which had previously been presented earlier this year to a joint session of the commission and city council. In recent months he had taken out membership in the Black Point Improvement Club which had taken a dim view of the project he proposed for the former Sartori ranch in Black Point which for the past two years has been the site of the annual Renaissance Pleasure Faire.
25 Years Ago
December 1997
– Where the lights are -The Rombiero home, 34 Devonshire Drive, has attracted media attention from all over the Bay Area. The outside Is just the beginning of a wonderful adventure Into Christmas provided by Edmundo Rombiero and his family.
– When Al and Clara Bowman built the Novato Theatre in 1945, it became the biggest attraction on Grant Avenue. Throughout the 1950s and well into the 1960s, it played host to droves of Baby Boomers, their parents and grandparents. But when multiplexes began dotting the landscape in the 1970s, the humble movie house seemed doomed. Closed as often as it was open, the theater seemingly breathed its last in 1990. But good things come to those who wait. Main Street movie houses all across America are gaining new audiences—and are exposing those audiences to celluloid entertainment from around the world. The Novato Theatre will join their ranks—and then some— with the help of its friends. The Committee, headed by President Jean Price Lewis and a board of directors made up of Denis Carade, William Kelly, Phyllis Cope, Emily Gates and Dean Moser, has already laid the groundwork for the restoration project.
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