100 years ago – March 12, 1925
FRUIT CONCERN LEASES WAREHOUSE
The Tracy-Waldron Fruit Co. Saturday completed arrangements for leasing the Cerri warehouse on the railroad near North street, for a term of years, and will use the entire building as their headquarters for shipping fruit. Herman Wolfe of this section is the resident manager of the fruit concern, and announces that his company will handle and ship apples, grapes and pears, mainly, and that there will be a force of workers employed most of the time, all of them to be local workers. During the harvest season they expect to employ about fifty people.
75 years ago – March 10, 1950
VILLA CHANTECLER OPENING PROMISED
The Villa Chantecler [sic], famous resort on the north side of Fitch Mountain, will re-open within 90 days. This information was released yesterday by Mark Lee Megladdery, of Kenmar Industries, which will open the “lush” resort with a grand rodeo. Kenmar Industries, operator of the resort, is a partnership composed of Megladdery and Jack V. Kent, the latter the builder of the new Villa Chantecler after the original structure burned to the ground about four years ago.
All departments at Villa Chantecler will be open by summer, including the dining room, cocktail lounge, cabins, stables, and rodeo grounds. A staff of 25 people of this community will be employed in the operation of the resort, it was learned. “Although we are concerned with people in this community approving our plans,” the new owners detailed, “we will also plan our resort to bring people from San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Chicago to this area.”
A rustic theme featuring redwood will be used to carry out the general plan of the resort that is to take shape. “Stagecoach” service to and from all airports in the area will be a definite part of the operating plans. The new clubhouse built on the site was designed by Kent, and was heralded as the “plushiest” establishment in California. The Villa Chantecler is, “an expression of Redwood Empire hospitality at the gracious top level . . . with accommodations for a very select clientele,” Kent stated in an advertising folder. Copywriters wrote, “Here is a hidden hinterland for quiet, secluded pleasure…whether it be a vacation or only a week-end.” Swimming, of course, will be in the Russian River.
50 years ago – March 13, 1975
LIBRARY MERGER PROMISES GREATER SERVICE FOR CITY
The changes may be subtle, but they are by no means insignificant now that the Carnegie building that has graced the corner of Matheson and Fitch Streets since 1910 has officially become the Healdsburg Branch of the Sonoma County Public Library. But if patrons take notice they will observe that bringing the former city library into the new county system will mean many benefits – a greater selection of books and reference materials, longer hours, and the services of a trained children’s library consultant.
Certainly the first thing to strike patrons will be a new face, that of librarian Linda Phillips, who comes to Healdsburg from the Sebastopol branch library. The Healdsburg branch has some 18,000 books on its shelves and Miss Phillips will make weekly trips to the main branch to keep fiction selections current. The 3,618 Healdsburg card holders will now become part of the central system. She hopes the library will be able to expand the library’s hours.
The building remains in city ownership under the new county system and major repairs must be undertaken by the city. The county would like to see a one-story library built for Healdsburg. The long steps at the front of the Carnegie building are difficult for many to climb and impossible for those in wheelchairs. It is felt by many that the Carnegie building could make an excellent city museum.
The Flashbackers are docents for the Healdsburg Museum and Historical Society, 221 Matheson St., healdsburgmuseum.org.
My wife and I have done over 20 caterings at Villa Chanticleer. Almost all of them were weddings. The diversity of the married couples and guests was amazing. Russians, Chinese, Filipinos, Mexicans, Irish, Germans, and, of course, Americans (well, we’re all Americans, but the usual Catholic/Protestant variety.)
The Russian wedding stood out. On every table, we put a bottle of vodka on ice with shot glasses around it. All the weddings had DJs. Every DJ played “YMCA,” “We Are Family,” and “Celebrate” without fail. The Russian dancing was exciting to watch.
Villa Chanticleer has a nice big kitchen to work in and a loading dock. That made our job easier. The VFW ran the bar.
Camp Rose was the first popular destination for Bay Area tourist once the road was cut into Fitch Mountain to Camp Rose Resort in 1925. That’s right, the road ended at Camp Rose and at the time did not completely go around the mountain. Healdsburg was the San Francisco’s area retreat and escape from the hectic pace of the big city. In the 70’s Dad loved his hot mulled wine at Camp Rose in the cold winter as steelhead fisherman lined up along the river with hopes of hooking into a big one.