Sunday, January 17, 2016

The Owl - 1906

I have a few editions of The Owl from 1906.  Unfortunately, none of them have photos but there is still some fun stuff.

Here's March, 1906.


And a nice list of the advertisers.  I should check and see if any of these businesses are still around today.  Looks like the most common advertisers were Gents' Furnishers and Barber Shops.


I found this interesting - what a nice description of a suit in 1906.  And $10.00 to $25.00! I'm sure that was a fair amount of money in those days but sure seems like a bargain now. I'm glad Kutner, Goldstein Co. never saw the attire of the 21st century - I'm sure they would be appalled at the clothes kids wear today.


And on to May, 1906 with the same owl sitting on the fence.


This was fun to see the results of the annual field meet.  I wish I knew the first name of Martin, who placed second in the 100 yard dash, as my mother's maiden name was Martin and her family was also in Fresno.  Pretty common name, though.


And a couple of fun advertisements.  This one sure catches your eye!


Glad to know there was lots of new "dope" at the San Joaquin Drug Co.


And finally, November, 1906.  No owl this time.



Of course I have a special interest in the Tennis team since my grandfather, Sig Levy, played tennis and was captain of the team in 1905.  But no mention of him here.  


Oh no!  Another reference to "dope"!  Hope they were successful with their cup chasing.


I like how they listed each officer of the First National Bank.  Again, no recognizable names but I'm sure my great grandfather, Herman Levy, knew at least one of these gents.


This isn't all that memorable from a Fresno standpoint.  But, my grandmother, Mildred Loraine Gunzendorfer, grew up in Monterey and then moved to Oakland for a few years and graduated from Heald's College.  She wrote a lot about her studies and work in her correspondence with my grandfather during their courtship.


Wanna buy some skates?  I'd love to know what made these "the good kind".


I've heard about the Palace Hotel in San Francisco.  I wonder how The Hughes Hotel compared.  I did a quick search and found that at the time of completion (1887), it was the largest hotel between San Francisco and Los Angeles.  It was the first building in Fresno to have an elevator and the first Fresno hotel to have electric lights, a telephone in each room, and a neon sign in front.  Pretty swanky!  It was destroyed by an arson fire in 1953.


The Hughes Hotel
courtesy of San Joaquin Valley Library System

This is sad.  I'm sure most, if not all, of us experienced some sort of tragedy with a classmate during our high school years.  I remember for me, it was a horrible car accident which took the life of a friend and critically injured his girlfriend.  It's something we never forget.


Sounds like Henry Walter Tupper was a well liked boy in Fresno.  I haven't seen any pictures of Henry but I did find his brother, Tullius, in the June, 1905 Fresno High School Owl.


On to the next edition of The Owl.


8 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Hughes Hotel burned down when I was very young. I didn't know it, but have read about it extensively. It was so far more luxurious than ANYTHING that currently passes for first class in Fresno.

    Even after the Hughes burned down, there remained a first-class luxury resort west of the 99, the Hacienda resort. A sister resort to the Las Vegas Hacienda, it remained until the 1980s.

    Sorry, but the closest thing to "luxury" in Fresno might be the Ramada Inn. Pathetic...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have a faint memory of the Hacienda. I'll bet I went there with my grandparents.

      Delete
  3. You know I had to look up "dope" to find its various meanings. I doubt the drug store meant the mixture applied to the bottom of shoes. The best definition I can come up with is "anything good not specifically named." Maybe that's like saying "miscellaneous" but with a definite positive spin.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I like that definition, Wendy. Dope was probably one of the fancy schmancy words of that time period.

      Delete
  4. Fresno Agricultural Works became Fresno Ag and is still in business as a large hardware store. Heald's College had many reincarnations and just recently completely closed up. Very sad. Sperry Flour was the flour mill next to the water tower. No longer there.

    As for The Owl, it was actually the "newspaper" for Fresno High and the the graduation editions were what we would call a yearbook as they had the pictures for the year in them. The school newspaper is now The Owlet and the yearbook is still The Owl.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I really enjoyed this! I have a group on Facebook called "Historically Fresno" and I shared your photo of the Hughes Hotel and a link to your blog as well. We'd love to have you in the group as we are all lovers of Fresno's history :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I really enjoyed this! I have a group on Facebook called "Historically Fresno" and I shared your photo of the Hughes Hotel and a link to your blog as well. We'd love to have you in the group as we are all lovers of Fresno's history :)

    ReplyDelete