March 18, 1961 - The Mendocino Volunteer Fire Department burned one of the last remaining lumber company structures to the ground to practice their fire-fighting skills. The Freundt house sat on the Mendocino bluffs, on the south side of Main Street, overlooking Mendocino Bay. This house was built around 1855-56 by the Mendocino Lumber Company, and John Freundt, an early partner, lived there while keeping the [...]
Studio portrait of C. Coyle, likely Catherine Coyle, who owned the boarding house on the northwest corner of Kasten and Ukiah. (Gift of Emery Escola) In celebration of Women’s History Month, here is an excerpt from the Kelley House publication From Maidens to Mavericks: Mendocino’s Women, Mendocino Historical Review Volume XXIX, written by local author, Molly Dwyer. The book can be purchased in the [...]
March 14, 1909 - Former Woods Superintendent Byron Clark passed away from kidney disease at his home in Mendocino. Born in Ellsworth, Maine, in 1855, Byron arrived in Mendocino in 1874. The following year, his brother John joined him. According to the Beacon, Byron “went to work at once on Big River, and showed such vigor and intelligence in his work that two years later, when [...]
March 11, 1982 - A Fictitious Business Name notice appeared in the Mendocino Beacon for the Blue Heron Inn and The Chocolate Moosse. Robert Heron and Linda Friedman operated these businesses in the Old Bank House, located on the southwest corner of Albion and Kasten Streets. The Chocolate Moosse, located downstairs, offered an attractive community coffee shop. Specialties of the house included espresso, cafe latte or [...]
Originally printed in the Mendocino Art Center’s Fall 2003 Arts & Entertainment magazine Every March the annual Mendocino Coast Whale Festival celebrates the migration of the Pacific Gray Whales with their newborn calves from western Baja to the Bering Sea. But this celebration would not be possible without the 1976 Mendocino Whale Wars that helped to save the then-endangered species. The following is an excerpt spotlighting [...]
Rudy Hanson, c. 1917. March 7, 1920 - A tragic accident occurred near the Boom when twenty-year-old Rudy Hanson was killed by the accidental discharge of a shotgun. Rudy, his younger brother Arthur, and Joe Rossi had left Boyle’s camp early on a hand car heading to a point on the river below the Boom to find clams. After securing their clams, they returned to [...]
Studio portrait of William Perry Zerbone, and his son, William Perry Zerbone, Jr., c. 1902. (Gift of Marc and Maurene Catto) March 4, 1897 - William Zerbone, Jr. was born in Mendocino, the only son of William and Mary Almelda (Alves) Zerbone. William, Sr. immigrated from Flores in the Azores Islands in 1884, and Mary was a Mendocino native, the daughter of Portuguese immigrants, [...]
Starting on Thursday, March 9th , we invite you to chuckle at the humor and admire the creativity of the napkin art on display at the Kelley House Museum’s new napkin art exhibit. During the 1970s-1980s, the Sea Gull Bar & Restaurant was a community hub and the birthplace of Sunday afternoon Napkin Art gatherings. These sessions brought together local illustrators and sketchers, creating a true [...]
February 27, 1931 - The steamer Sea Foam broke into two pieces on the south reef of the harbor at Point Arena. Most of the cargo washed out to sea, and the ship was a total loss. She had wrecked six days before, while battling a heavy sea. The Wreck of the Sea Foam at Point Arena, 1931. People identified in the photograph are: Eiler [...]
February 25, 1915 - Mendocino Grammar School principal James “Jim” C. Hurley returned from a trip to San Francisco where he had taken the bar examination. The Beacon reported that, “Mr. Hurley’s friends here will be pleased to hear that he was successful in the examination and was admitted to the bar.” Jim was the second of 9 sons born to Richard and Katherine Hurley of [...]