Apr 16
A cowardly man with large ambition, weak ability and a large pile of explosives — stop me if you have heard this story before. It is almost always a man responsible. The story is more common than we care to admit. They slither out from under rocks every few decades, from anarchists in the 19th …
Feb 27
In our present era of GPS location finding, a lighthouse is a relic of man’s attempt to impose order on the chaos of nature. By the 1970s the remaining manned lighthouses were converted to automated stations ending what had been a century old occupation in some locations. Light keepers would faithfully clean lenses and light …
Dec 07
Technology changes and the job you thought you had is gone. I hear that one all the time. How about a job that only lasts one year? Elliot Curry told the story in the Telegram-Tribune March 22, 1968: Auto killed San Simeon run Pettenger’s short-lived stage line Two young fellows from Iowa stopped at the …
Aug 24
Whales were once used to make oil used for lubrication and illumination in the days before petroleum and electricity. Women’s corsets were also made from whale bone. Actually the material was baleen, the hard material in the mouths of filter feeding whales. It was tough and flexible, the plastic of the era. Collar stays, buggy …
Dec 23
In retrospect the original skipper was right. The captain of the Union Oil tanker Montebello did not want to leave Port San Luis. Sixteen days after the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor rumors were running wild. Blackout drills were being held up and down the coast and false reports of enemy aircraft were not uncommon. …
Jan 13
Sometimes you can pre-visualize a photograph and then happens. I wanted to get a photo of Hearst Ranch zebras lined up with the castle in the background. I’m sure it happens a lot, but to be honest it does not happen that often for me. In 25 years of shooting photos on the Central Coast …
Jan 04
John Sarber, reporter and later city editor at the then Telegram-Tribune, had a column that regularly ran on the front page called “Chance Glances”. The first part of this column from March 15, 1958 covers a diary of guests transported to Hearst Castle by a local cab driver. ECHOES OF THE ENCHANTED PAST A DOCUMENT …
May 22
June 6, 1968 Here we are near graduation season and the 50-year anniversary of public tours at Hearst Castle. Hearst San Simeon State Historical Monument was dedicated June 2, 1958. Ten years later the Cambria area high school needed help. Coast Union High School’s auditorium and old gym were demolished to meet Field Act standards …
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