You know, saddlepals, our trailride through Santa Clarita Valley history may prove to be positively Shakespearean.
I know the sun hasn’t quite peeked through yet, but you might want to climb out of those bunks and into the saddle. We’ve got the darndest heart-attack-faking con man to inspect up the road.
Add to that, we’ll be saying howdy to the likes of Groucho Marks, serious pistol fighters, Billy the Kid and a whole passel of new suspects.
C’mon. Mount up. And don’t spill your lattes on the horses. It attracts flies. Like we don’t have enough around us already …
WAY, WAY BACK WHEN
HOW DO YOU SAY, ‘HIGHWAY 126,’ IN TATAVIAM? — For thousands of years, the present-day Highway 126 was a thin Indian trail leading 50 miles to the Pacific Ocean. In 1839, it appeared on a Mexican land grant map. The same game trail was paved around 1928 and, over the years, gained fame as one of the state’s most dangerous byways. Today, Highway 126 getting to be a pretty big thick piece of asphalt cake.
AN EVENT WITNESSED BY DOZENS? — Back on Oct. 8, 1858, the Butterfield Overland stagecoach rode through Newhall, Saugus and San Francisquito Canyon. They were reportedly greeted in Newhall by a 100-gun salute by the local cowboys and yahoos, although, I’m not sure if there were 50 sets of hands from here to Malibu to fire off 100 guns.
SHIRLEY, uh, SURELY, I mean, SURREY YOU JEST! — Then Oct. 12, 1915, rolls around. The Surrey post office officially changed its name to Saugus. It was a fairly odd comedy that went on over the years. Surrey and Saugus were literally separated by a thin line of paint on the sidewalk. Here’s a coincidence: William S. Hart’s middle name was Surrey.
RHYMES WITH DIRT, BUT DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT SAYING THAT TO HIS FACE — Happy birthday to Wurt — aka, W.W. Jenkins. Mr. Jenkins looked innocent enough — he was a dead ringer for a smaller version of Gabby Hayes. But Jenkins was one of the deadliest pistol fighters in Southern California. He was also embroiled in one of the West’s bloodiest and longest range wars — in Castaic. Wurt was born on Oct. 12, 1833, in Circleville, Ohio. He was one of the captains in the infamous California Rangers brigade, the local version of the Texas Rangers created to clean up the lawlessness problem in Los Angeles. Wurt did a pretty good job. He and his fellow lawmen pretty much drove every bad guy out of El Pueblo. Not only did he carry two pistols and a rifle or shotgun with him everywhere, Jenkins also had a brace of throwing knives over his vest. This is editorializing, but I think we could use the likes of Wurt and the California Rangers today …
A NICKEL FOR YOUR THOUGHTS? — Rudolph Eugene Nickel, aka “The Father of Acton,” arrived in the area on Oct. 11, 1887. Nickel was the editor of the second newspaper in the SCV, The Acton Rooster. He also built the world-famous resort, the Acton Hotel — where several United States presidents and millionaires stayed.
THEIR FAMILY GOES, WAY, WAY, WAY BACK — The Tapia Brothers used to run farmland here and were famous for their big fruit and vegetable stand near Castaic. The Tapia family homesteaded land starting in the 1880s. It would later be called Tapia Canyon. A little trivia: Their family traces their California roots back some 230 years.
OCTOBER 11, 1925
OUR FIRST GULLY WUMPER A CENTURY AGO — Ah, the weather in Santa Clarita. We were just coming off the drought of 1924 in which about 6 inches fell the entire year. An early autumn storm washed away the dust with 1.58 inches of rain in a day.
THE FIRST YUPPIE — Now we know who to blame for the population explosion in the SCV — us. The Mighty Signal launched a contest for the first person to bring a family to live in the valley. Charles Lercher was the winner. Of course, ol’ Charlie cheated a smidge. He was marrying a widow with four children.
AND THE FRENCH STILL HAVEN’T PAID US — The Signal used to run sometimes as many as six editorials in the same issue. Of course, they were shorter than our current ones (RUMOR: Editor gets paid by the word). And, we only came out once a week. On this date, this newspaper noted that the French better come up with the $4 billion they owed us from World War I. Then, we suggested that the impending war between Japan and China would draw America into an armed conflict.
EAT PIE. TALK ON PHONE. — C.M. MacDougall had his finger in many pies, including his own. He operated the old Motor Stage Cafe in downtown Newhall. Another attraction to his eatery was that he had a pay phone where you could make long-distance calls.
GO TO SCHOOL. SEE A MOVIE. — Before it burned down, the Newhall Elementary School original auditorium was contracted to show silent movies. (There weren’t any talkies yet.) On this date, Franklyn Farnum starred in the Western, “Billy the Kid.” Farnum was noted for being similar in style to our own William S. Hart. He was NOT related to the acting brothers of Dustin and William Farnum. Franklyn would later be president of the Screen Extras Guild and would be an extra and actor in many Westerns shot locally, including a bevy of Hopalong Cassidy oaters.
OCTOBER 11, 1935
SECURED DEPOSITS — Our branch of Bank of America (corner of Main & 8th today; it’s a church) got a brand new safe, one with time locks, automatic alarm and a flashing light outside to show if anyone was in there who wasn’t supposed to be.
HOPE HIS MURDERER SERVED SERIOUS TIME — We lost an entertainment personality. On this date, Karl Brandenburg, known as the “Whispering Tenor,” passed away at the LaSalle Ranch, near present-day Calgrove Boulevard. He started out as “Uncle John” on KHJ radio, then went to work for KFI and KNX. A small man, Brandenburg’s death was rather odd. At a local barbecue, he had been picked up in the air by a large bully and thrown to the ground. It aggravated an old injury and he died a week later. Poor guy was just 43.
AND IF GAS GOES TO $8 A GALLON TODAY, IT PROBABLY WON’T HAVE AS MANY CARS AS FRAZIER PARK — This isn’t Santa Claritan, but it’s Californian. The Golden State had more autos in 1935 than all the rest of the western states combined.
BIG ECONOMIC BOON — The now-defunct Saugus Elementary School was a boon to local laborers. They added a new building. Construction workers were making between $30-$50 a week. That wasn’t bad money back during the Depression. Cripes. My darn daughter is making that now — an hour. Briefly, The Signal was considering buying the Saugus campus and moving its entire operation there in the 1970s.
RHYMES WITH DINOTYPE — Here’s a funny little tidbit buried way in the back of The Mighty Signal 90 years ago: “The linotype took time off this week for a general balk, and The Signal was gotten out under difficulties. If you see an abundance of picture propaganda and other filling, you can either be thankful the editor got shot out or mad because he used so much filling.”
OCTOBER 11, 1945
CONTACTS IN LOUD PLACES — Mildred Hornsby, noted as a “Los Angeles midget racer fan,” lost her coat on this date at the Saugus Speedway, former historic rodeo grounds and future-day home of more unimaginative buildings. In the pocket were her newfangled invention: contact lenses. They were valued at $150. That’s almost $2,000 in today’s money. Someone clip out this item, circle the price in red and mail it to Dr. Mike Corben.
OCTOBER 11, 1955
BLUE COLLAR DUDS — Arnold Samuel Weiss, better known as “Al,” died 70 years back. He started the first Army/Navy surplus store in town in the 1920s. The Hungarian-born immigrant pretty much kept to himself for the next 30 years, living in a tiny Arch Street bungalow.
WE ALMOST HAD THE AUTRY MUSEUM HERE — The estate for William S. Hart was still being settled when cowboy legend Gene Autry made a stunning announcement. He had bought the old Placeritos movie colony three years earlier and on this date in 1955, announced that he was going to turn his Melody Ranch into a major Western museum. Word is, his wife sold off much of the property because she wanted the future Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum to be constructed a few miles south right next to the L.A. Zoo.
A VALUABLE TIP(’s) — Groundbreaking started on a brand new Tip’s restaurant, a mile south of the Solemint Junction on old Highway 6. There were already two Tip’s operating on Highway 99 (The Old Road today).
OCTOBER 11, 1965
LONG BEFORE THERE WAS HARRY POTTER, THERE WAS HARRY POTTER — On this date, the 69-year-old postman covered his last route. Potter began delivering the mail here in San Fernando in 1923, then switched to Saugus Rural Route 2 in 1943. He recalled delivering mail during floods and blizzards. His happiest recollection was bringing a surprise Social Security check for $900 to an aged hermit up one of the canyons. In 42 years, he covered 1.7 million miles during his daily 110-mile route and went through 21 Chevys, two Fords, two Studebakers, one Hudson and one Terriplane. He was once on Groucho Marx’s game show, “You Bet Your Life.” The running gag on the show was that when a contestant said the secret word, a duck came down. The secret word for Potter was, “Chevy.” The sponsor of the show was Chrysler and they edited out any mention of “Chevy.” After retiring from the U.S. Postal Service, Potter started a new career: selling Chevys.
AND THUS IT BEGAN — Big surprise: on this date, the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission rubber-stamped a new housing tract encompassing more than 5,000 acres. It was called, “Valencia.”
OCTOBER 11, 1975
MAY I PUT YOU ON HOLD? ALL DAY? — An entire Valencia neighborhood was without phone service for an entire Sunday. One of the customers of Ma Bell was a doctor on emergency call at home. He had to go in to the hospital (where there was a working phone) and wait. Another customer was fuming about the phone company’s lack of caring about sending out repair people. He was Dick Millar — manager of the local phone company.
AS AN OLD HART HIGH INDIAN, WHAT CAN I SAY. ‘HOW ABOUT THEM COWBOYS …’ — Lawmen were looking for a half-dozen Canyon High students. Seems there was a brush fire close to the school and when an L.A. County Fire Department helicopter tried to land, the kids sprinted to run under his landing spots.
THE PROMISE OF YOUR CHECK IS IN THE MAIL — One of the valley’s most capable administrators, Hamilton Clyde Smyth, stepped up to the plate in a big way 50 years back. The No. 2 man in the William S. Hart Union High School District took over for superintendent Vernon Carter. Poor Vernon was forced to resign after Hart switched over to a countywide computerized accounting program. The computer sort of ate part of the Hart district’s budget — about $200,000. This nearly bankrupted the district and caused teachers to not receive a small raise they had been promised.
OCTOBER 11, 1985
LLOYD OF SAUGUS — Veteran actor Lloyd Nolan died 40 years ago in Brentwood. He was known locally for helping create the Jay Nolan Center in Saugus. Jay was Lloyd’s autistic son. The center would later move and change its name.
HEY! DON’T HAVE A HEART ATTACK OVER IT! AGAIN!! — On this date, 40 years back, the mess and tragedy that was Sutter’s Pointe ended. Dozens of people sued George Phillips, the owner and mastermind of the posh, unfinished Saugus housing development. Phillips was charged with 50 felony counts of forgery and one of grand theft. It wasn’t just homeowners who were trying to get their money from the financier: construction workers, government agencies and banks were all suing the 59-year-old Phillips. One of the con man’s favorite ploys was to fake a heart attack when confronted by angry victims. Guess you better be careful acting out. Phillips died of leukemia and with him went any chance of settlement.
• • •
Sure enjoy riding with you saddlepals on these treks into Santa Clarita yesteryear. You surely keep the bounce in my step. Looking forward to seeing you all next week with a exciting Time Ranger adventure, and, until then — vayan con Dios, amigos!
Local historian and the world’s most prolific satirist/humorist John Boston will be soon launching a new eclectic bookstore and multimedia/commentary website on writing — johnboston-books.com. You can pick up his various local history books online. Look for “Naked Came the Novelist,” his long-awaited sequel to “Naked Came the Novelist” coming this fall.
