July 30, 1976
A few days after the nation’s Bicentennial they decided that carpeting would be a good thing to have at the former Telegram-Tribune building at 1321 Johnson Ave. Built in 1958, reporter Dan Stephens called the building “The Pillbox” because the concrete block walls reminded him of an Army bunker. Note the pleasing lack of windows and the soothing direct fluorescent lights. There was a coffee maker in the corner, gone when I arrived on the scene as an intern about 6 years later. Reporters would sign out on the chalkboard with a return time. At the far right corner is the pneumatic tube that would wisk typewritten stories and photographic prints downstairs to the composing room where the pages were created and plates were made. On the wall of the darkroom you can see the closest thing to a Google Map in mid-1970′s technology.
The paper had made the change from the restrictive hot lead process to the more flexible photo offset process less than two years earlier December 30, 1974. This allowed greater page design flexibility which was good news for photographers.
The flat roof and a retrofit of air conditioning meant that the roof leaked in the darkroom, rains would create a sprinkler effect that could ruin a print if you were not careful.
In the photo you see the furniture pushed over to editorial side while advertising department was carpeted.
What is missing?
See any computers? Any electric typewriters? Any fancy phones with voice mail and polite electronic chirps?
Do I have any nostalgia for the old building? None.
The Scolari’s market that replaced it was a huge improvement. The South Higuera building the Tribune has called home since April 1993 another huge step forward. Ask anyone who worked there, they may have fond memories for their friends and the stories they worked on. I have yet to meet someone who loved the Johnson Ave. building.
The ad is from Hills Office supply, where folks went before Staples or Office Max.
Photo by Wayne Nicholls
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Not a lot of people in that newsroom. Must’ve been after 5 p.m. (Back when the T-T was an afternoon paper.)
Picked up my two stacks on the back dock. Rolled them and stuffed them in my bag, tied it to the handlebars of my bike, and rode off to deliver the news of the day.
One could hazard that us paperboys, were the most important workers at the TT
I swear I have that bag somewhere. I wonder if I can find it.
Hi Pat,
Without any windows it was hard to tell what time of day it was. The photo was made on a Saturday, a full 48 hours before the next edition rolled off the presses. (No Sunday paper back then.)
Hi SSG David,
The paper’s content improved when it went to mornings. Stories could be pursued over the course of a full day and be made more complete. One of the losses of that change was the transfer to adult carriers. It was a good first job for kids. Papers now have to be picked up in the early hours of the morning by folks who can drive. My first connection to the journalism and business worlds was as a carrier for the Washington Star. The lessons I learned from that job and the enjoyment of a good day’s paper are with me still. Wish I still had the pen I won for 6 months of complaint free delivery.
That appears to be the late Jeff Fairbanks, back then a reporter, before he became managing editor and then editor. Would that be copy editor Kathy Campbell he’s talking to? Or his wife, reporter Ann Fairbanks?
I would have thought that was me, too, especially because of the fashionable scarf. But I didn’t arrive at the T-T until well after computers were installed–late 1980s.
Although….if that is Wayne’s photo and it was a Saturday, I suppose it could be me on a visit to the newsroom. We were married in 1977…
I don’t think it’s Ann–she was much tinier than I! And more fashionable!
FYI, Jeff & Ann didn’t arrive at T-T until late 1978 or, more likely, early 1979.
I still own one of those manual typewriters. George Brand gave it to me as my going-away-present in July 1980. He could afford it; the paper was about to get its first computers. (The typewriter doesn’t work anymore, but it looks good. It’s an old Royal.)
Wrote a lot of 2 a.m. stories on that typewriter after the usual marathon city council meetings and after too much Kona coffee from the downtown Sunshine Donuts shop, which (in a boost to Central Coast journalism and a lot of tired architecture students), remained open all night.
Hi to everyone. Never forget Jeff, Ann and the girls. (BTW, I don’t believe Jeff was ever a reporter at T-T. He arrived as assistant city editor and, I think, moved up through the chairs.)
Unless I miss my guess that is Steve Swenson in the picture before he departed for the bright lights of Bakersfield. I can see the old darkroom in the back, what memories. – this must have been after we broke a bottle of developer and it leaked through the floor destroying all the galley type for that day’s paper. A good way to get the darkroom remodeled. What a blast from the past. thanks