Way Back When in February 1918

By Betsy J. Green

We certainly never lacked for interesting news here in Santa Barbara a century ago. Every year, the population grew, and the papers had more and more interesting stories. This month, the El Encanto Hotel and the Montecito Country Club opened, the Elks celebrated on State Street, the Chinese celebrated on Cañon Perdido, and a boatload of Santa Cruz Island wine arrived. (All quotes are from Santa Barbara’s “Morning Press” or “Daily News & Independent” unless otherwise noted.)

More Cars, More Noise

The official figures were in and revealed that the number of cars in our fair city had nearly doubled in just a year! There were now 2,230 cars on our streets. In the previous count, we had had only 1,222. The local paper commented, “The motor car, particularly here in Southern California, is an essential.” I’m sure the gas station owners were pumped about that.

Don’t try this at home! A stuntman does his thing in an ad for the 1917 Hudson Super Six. Image: Hudson Triangle magazine, October 20, 1917

But the good folks in Carpinteria wanted to put the brakes on the noisy vehicles in their community. An editorial in “The Carpinteria Valley News,” wrote, “Complaints are daily being made by residents of Carpinteria regarding the ‘popping off’ of certain motorcycles and ‘Tin Lizzies’ on the streets of our town. A certain few riders and drivers seem to take especial delight in opening their mufflers when operating their machines, much to the discomfort of our citizens.” The paper’s editor warned, “Legal steps will be taken to pass a county ordinance which will surely put a stop to this new nuisance.” 

Motorcyclists were warned not to “pop off” in the streets of Carpinteria. Image: Motorcycle & Bicycle magazine, February 14, 1918

Happy Birthday, Abe!

Abraham Lincoln’s birthday was celebrated in the public schools here with programs about Lincoln’s life, and the school chorus sang patriotic songs. Image: Library of Congress

The local paper noted, “One of the most striking numbers on the program was not listed on the program at all. … All the students in the room were knitting. ‘What are you doing it for?’ a visitor inquired of one of the boys. ‘For the Red Cross to send to a soldier,’ was the answer. And that was the spirit of the day — to serve while listening to the story of how one of the greatest served.”

The Elks Kick Up Their Heels

Lincoln was not the only one marking a birthday this month. The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was 50 years old on February 1918, and the local lodge members were celebrating the milestone with an event for past exalted rulers and old timers. “It is expected that a very large gathering of members of the local lodge will fill the hall, members coming from … this county and Ventura.”

The Elks’ lodge is the white building in the back of this 1890’s photo taken from West Figueroa looking east. Notice the elk’s head in the center of the building that was located at 1034 State Street. (The building is no longer there.) The corrugated metal building in the foreground housed several shops. The men lined up are members of the G.A.R., a Civil War Union veterans’ organization. Image: courtesy of John Woodward

Castor Beans Arrive in the County

“Eight hundred bushels of castor beans, a large part of which will be planted in Santa Barbara County, is expected to reach this city within 10 days. … As soon as the seed arrives, it will be available for those who have entered into contracts with the association to grow the castor beans for the government.” Yes, these are the same beans (they are seeds, actually) that are used to make castor oil, a popular over-the-counter medicine that was used to keep people, ahem, “regular.” But these beans were destined to be used to keep airplane engines running smoothly. (You can see some similarities in the two uses, eh?) The lubricant Castrol gets its name from that fact that it contains castor oil

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Castor bean plants (Ricinus communis) grow wild in a number of locations in and around Santa Barbara. The beans are poisonous, and should never be eaten — especially by children. Image: Köhler’s Medizinal-Pflanzen, Franz Eugen Köhler, 1896

The New & Improved Montecito Country Club

Back in 1918, when the Montecito Country Club was still called the Santa Barbara Country Club, they were celebrating the opening the new [present] clubhouse. “The Santa Barbara Country Club will hold a house warming in its new home, south of Eucalyptus Hill in Montecito … when the new building will be opened with a dinner dance.” Guests were promised that there would be “lights and music, the hum of many voices, and the whirr of dancing feet” of some 250 members and their friends.

Club members enjoyed their first meal in the clubhouse designed by Bertram Goodhue, the architect responsible for the buildings in San Diego’s Balboa Park. Image: courtesy of Pete Jordano

Fireworks in February

At about the same time that the schools were celebrating Lincoln’s birthday, the Chinese population in Santa Barbara was celebrating the lunar new year — the year of the horse. “For the next three days and nights, the celebration will continue, and fireworks may be shot off in the Chinese quarter, a permit to this effect having been issued.” The festivities would be marked with, “elaborate displays of fireworks every evening in the Chinese quarters on East Cañon Perdido Street.” The general public was invited as well. Cañon Perdido between State Street and Santa Barbara Street used to be Santa Barbara’s Asian neighborhood.

The horse is one of 12 animals in the Chinese calendar. Image: New York Public Library

[Spoiler alert] There was no partying at Jimmy’s Oriental Gardens back in 1918 — that building was not constructed until 1947. You can read more about Santa Barbara’s Chinatown here: http://www.sbthp.org/a-history-of-chinatown.  In 2018, Chinese New Year will fall on February 16, and will begin the year of the dog.

El Encanto — the Bungalow Hotel on the Hill Opens

The ad in the local paper wrote, “El Encanto overlooks the city and commands a superb view of the Santa Ynez mountains, the Montecito and Goleta valleys, the Channel Islands, and the ocean.” Image: courtesy of John Fritsche

According to the local paper, “The hotel, whose euphonious Spanish title signifies ‘The Enchantment,’ has a site that fully justifies the florid appellation, for a more beautiful location would be hard to find, even in Santa Barbara. … The hotel group consists of one large new main building and 10 cozy bungalows. … The spacious verandahs are also a delightful feature, and it is evident that a main idea was to give the occupants of the hotel very generous dividends in ‘the glorious climate of California.’”

The interior decorations of the hotel were described as luxurious and tasty. Tasty? That sounds odd to us today, but a century ago, “tasty” did not mean “yummy.” According to my “Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary” of 1913, “tasty” meant, “Having or exhibiting good taste.” So now you know!

He Liked Santa Barbara — Mostly

The travel writer Major E. Alexander Powell stopped here for a week’s visit this month. “Maj. and Mrs. Powell are both well known in Santa Barbara and Montecito,” wrote the local paper. And they were probably well liked — mostly — since in “The End of the Trail,” one of his travel books, he had called Santa Barbara, “the Newport of the West.” So far, so good. But read what he wrote about the building then known as St. Anthony’s Seminary [now called the Garden Street Academy]. “Within a stone’s throw of their beautiful old mission, they have erected a college which looks for all the world like a shoe factory surmounted by a cupola and a cross.” Ouch!

Image: Santa Barbara and Montecito, Past and Present, by John R. Southworth, 1920

Movie Filmed on San Marcos Pass

Scenes of a log cabin in the wilderness were shot up on San Marcos Pass for the “Flying A” film titled “Primitive Woman.” A 1918 movie magazine described the leading lady’s costume as consisting of talcum powder and seaweed. (Seen any seaweed on San Marcos Pass lately?)

Anybody recognize this tree in a scene from the movie? Image: Motography magazine, April 20, 1918

In other movie news, a “young and romantic Goleta rancher” asked the local paper, “if Theda Bara [the hot actress of the day] is to be shown at the Potter Theatre in ‘Cleopatra’ soon?” The newspaper replied, “Yes — almost all of her.”

Some movies were fairly racy before 1930 when the Motion Picture Production Code was put into effect. (These earlier movies are often referred to as “pre-code.”) Before the code, conservative cities and towns sometimes banned risqué movies or insisted on cutting objectionable scenes.

Kids’ Homework Was Banned a Century Ago!

Hard to believe today, but back in 1918, teachers in California’s grade schools were not allowed to assign homework. Okay, I can hear all the kids cheering when they read this, but — there was a catch. (You knew there had to be a catch, right?) In February 1918, in order for students to be able to complete their schoolwork during the school day, Santa Barbara’s Board of Education added 40 minutes to the classroom time in the school day by shortening the lunch periods and recess. Booo!

The local paper wrote, “Under a state law, no teacher is allowed to suggest that a student study elsewhere than in the school. Ample time must be allowed for study during the day … Students may study all they want to anywhere, but the teacher is not allowed to suggest it away from the school.”

The students and teacher pose for a photo in front of the one-room schoolhouse on the Mesa in November 1919. The school building, formerly located on Mesa School Lane, was later moved to Mohawk Road. Image: courtesy of Gerry Turner

In other school news, the SB Junior High began serving lunch for the first time. “It has been found by careful investigation, that many children now go without lunch, while others have just a cold bite,” the local paper reported. “Fifty or more pupils are daily enjoying a cup of hot soup, chocolate, or chowder with their noon lunches.” The hot lunch cost three cents.

And speaking of schools, how’s this for a headline? “School Board to Have Unimportant Meeting.” Those meetings may not be a thrill-a-minute, but really! The article continued, “Little of importance is scheduled to come before the Board of Education when it holds its regular meeting.”

The Gophers Were Right

Seen any gophers lately? If so, were they headed for the hills? Image: Four-footed Americans and Their Kin, Mabel Osgood Wright, 1898

This time of year, whatever year we are in, rain — or lack of rain — is a popular topic. Will it ever stop? Or, will it ever start? Back before we had weather satellites and sophisticated weather forecasting, we had (drumroll here) — gophers! Yessiree, today we call them ground squirrels, but maybe we should call them and ask when it will rain.

Apparently, that’s what they did a century ago. When we finally got some well-needed moisture in the third week of February 1918, a reporter at the local paper remembered hearing an earlier prediction about precipitation. “The Carpinteria rancher, who some months ago, prophesied an unusual heavy rainfall from the fact that the gophers were leaving the lowlands for the foothills, this being the Indian sign of a deluge, has had his prophesy abundantly vindicated by the recent rain, which was one of the heaviest in the history of the valley.”

“Greatest February Rain Recorded in 38 Years,” was the headline. “The storm has so far been one of the greatest in history, with a precipitation of 8.58 inches … The optimist, the ring around the moon, and the frog that sang of the coming rain, all have been vindicated by the events of the present week. Who but an optimist, or the mythical man in the crescent, or the frog from his puddle nest could have believed such wetness would come within so short a space of time?”

Channel Islands Chablis?

A small article in the local paper about a wine shipment from Santa Cruz Island caught my eye this month. I knew that the island had sheep and cattle in the past, as well as those cute little foxes, but wine was a new one for me. According to Islapedia.com, wine grapes were grown and made into wine on Santa Cruz Island starting in the 1880s, and continued until Prohibition in 1919.

Marla Daily, President of the Santa Cruz Island Foundation, told me, “Both the Upper Winery (the crushing cellar), and the Lower Winery (the fermenting cellar) on Santa Cruz Island exist today. … Today the Upper Winery is used for storage by The Nature Conservancy, and the Santa Cruz Island Foundation has a nascent winery museum in the Lower Winery.” Image: Islapedia.com

Artist, Spiritual Medium, or Fraudster?

He was not the first, nor the last, eccentric artist to settle in Santa Barbara. In fact, there might even be some of them around now, eh? Eighty-two-year-old Scottish-American Charles Orchardson arrived in February and announced his intention to live here. The local papers called him a portrait painter and historical artist, but those were the more innocuous titles he had.

When Orchardson lived in Chicago in the 1890s, he called himself an anarchist, and ran for mayor. Huh? Why would an anarchist run for office? And that was not the only odd chapter in his life. He was also a spiritualist who called himself “the 41st Messiah,” and he claimed that the spirits he schmoozed with addressed him as “The Son of Wisdom” who was “destined to be the savior of the human race.” And they ought to know, right?

But some of what he said did make some sense — especially in today’s world. “No man is allowed to make an assertion without being called upon to demonstrate the truth of what he says. If he cannot, he is expelled.” Good idea!

[Spoiler alert — Orchardson didn’t have much time to save Santa Barbara sinners or plant the seeds of anarchy here. On July 15, 1918, he left this world for another.]

Voicing a “New Thought”

An early self-help guru stopped by to speak here this month. “A rare treat in store for Santa Barbara is the lecture … at the Recreation Center, by Dr. Julia Seton. … Dr. Seaton is one of the clearest and most magnetic speakers on the platform today, and Santa Barbara is most fortunate in securing her even for one lecture. … Local people who know of her power, have persuaded her to stop over for one night in Santa Barbara.” Surprisingly, the titles of Seaton’s century-old books don’t sound all that different from the current crop of self-help books: “The Short Cut: Regeneration Through Fasting,” “The Key to Health, Wealth & Love,” “Concentration, the Secret of Success,” and “Man and His Mind.”

Seton also wrote a novel. One reviewer for the book wrote, “A young woman has a series of occult experiences when she delves into New Thought.”

“Where Have You Gone, Miss Columbia?”

The local paper announced that the Arlington Hotel, one of the premiere hotels here way back when, was selling copies of a patriotic sketch in order to raise money for French children orphaned in the war. The drawing portrayed “two feminine figures, Columbia and France, clasping hands.”

Today, we are all familiar with the figure of Uncle Sam, but before he came on the scene, the United States was often represented by the figure of a young woman dressed in a flowing Grecian-style white robe or draped in the stars and stripes. She was called Miss Columbia or Miss Liberty. (Columbia comes from Christopher Columbus.) In an article titled, “Where Have You Gone, Miss Columbia?,” the Voice of America website describes her as softer and more nurturing than Uncle Sam, and explains that Miss Columbia was “a goddess of freedom whose regal bearing projected America’s positive ideals and poetic nature.” Miss Columbia was commonly portrayed in patriotic parades. (The Statue of Liberty was based on Miss Columbia.)

Miss Columbia and a World War I soldier. Image: Cartoons magazine, May 1918

Miss Columbia is not often seen these days — unless you go to a movie theater to see a film produced by Columbia Pictures.

Columbia Pictures began using Miss Columbia as their logo in 1924. Image: Wikipedia

War News of Note

“Flying A” starlet Mary Miles Minter delivered prizes to the schoolchildren who had sold the most Thrift Stamps.

Some 2,500 people marched down State Street this month in a Thrift Stamp parade. Buying thrift stamps was one way the U.S. Government asked its citizens to help fund the costs incurred in World War I. Thrift stamps cost 25 cents each. (The more expensive Liberty Bonds cost a minimum of $50.)

In other news, the women of Santa Barbara were asked to look in their sewing baskets for scraps of fabric. “If you find any odd lengths or scraps of flannel … diaper cloth … won’t you bring or send it to the Recreation Center to be used in the refugee baby kits which are now being assembled? … By the cooperation of all lovers of little children … the Red Cross of Santa Barbara will be able to continue its humane offices in this very important field.” The baby kits were destined for the babies in Europe.

Down on the beach, there was an announcement that only people with the proper documentation would be allowed on Stearns Wharf. I’m guessing that Santa Barbara residents who had been born in Germany would not be allowed on the wharf at all. People in this category were classified as “alien enemies.” Alien enemies were not allowed to own weapons or telegraph sets. And one SB resident fell afoul of this law.

“A general clean-up of pacifists, spreaders of pro-German propaganda and enemy aliens is to follow the arrest of H.F. Sexauer, former city tree warden, here last night by government agents. Sexauer was arrested on the technical charge of having in his possession a gun which he refused to turn over to the authorities when requested to do so. … Agents of the Department of Justice took their prisoner to Los Angeles today, where he will be given a formal hearing.” German-born Sexauer had attracted attention because of his “un-American … pacifist activities.”

That’s all the news that’s fit to print in my column for this month. Watch for my future columns on the first Saturday of each month. And there are still copies of “Way Back When” for 1917 and earlier years in local bookstores.

Learn more about me at my website: betsyjgreen.com