John Mendosa standing in front of his Highway 1 sign advertising Mendosa’s General Merchandise. This charming billboard was painted and signed by Elmer D. Woodworth, a local house, auto, and sign painter by trade, but known to all as “an artist in reality and spirit.”
The sign was located on Highway 1 (Shoreline Highway) at Little River. Billboard copy: “Mendosa’s General Merchandise. First Stop Over the Hill. A General Stock of Sporting Goods.” (Gift of Jeanette Hansen)
This photo is included in the book, A Mendocino Remembrance, c. 1942, published by the Kelley House. When Alvin Mendosa’s long-time friend Buddy Fraser passed away in 2018, Alvin received a copy of Buddy’s memoir of town life during World War II. Curated by former Kelley House director-curator Karen McGrath, this charming memoir brings to life the unique place that was the town of Mendocino, California before it became the artist colony and tourist destination for which it is well known today. During the 1940s, Mendocino was a quiet community of unpaved roads and Victorian-era architecture perched on bluffs above the Pacific Ocean. Fraser’s reminiscences are accompanied by vintage photographs from the Kelley House Museum archives paired with contemporary color images taken by photographer Jamie Armstrong, offering readers an enjoyable “Then and Now” view of Mendocino. $25