Betsy J. Green

The Olivers of Oliver Road - part 2

The Olivers spent several years in northern California before settling in Santa Barbara. They worked hard, saved their money, and looked around for a good spot to settle down. They liked the Mesa. On October 28, 1868, L.G. handed $2,035 in gold coins to Jonathan Mayhew, a Mesa farmer, in exchange for 101+ acres of land west of the Mesa lighthouse. (The lighthouse, which stood near La Mesa Park, was destroyed in the 1925 earthquake.) L.G. and his family lived and farmed on the Mesa for the next 32 years.

Over the years, the Olivers grew hay and corn (1500 bushels one year). The 1880 farm census showed that they owned six oxen (probably to pull the plow), and were raising 90 chickens and 90 pigs. The pigs were used for producing lard and hams. The family also had a windmill, probably to draw water from a well. In 1869, records show that the family (probably Kate) produced 500 pounds of butter. Their home was most likely on or near the ocean side of Mesa Road, now called Cliff Drive, west of Meigs Road.

When L.G. died in 1900, he was described as "one of the best known of the older residents of Santa Barbara." After his death, Kate moved to Chico to live with her son. She died in 1905. Both of the Oliver brothers died in 1940. But the name of the Olivers' Mesa farm lives on in Oliver Road, which was named in the mid-1920s and is still here today.

(The Olivers, and other early Mesa families, are covered in MESApedia - the early years of Santa Barbara's Mesa.)

Great Guns!

Back in October 1919, some of the soldiers returning from the war in Europe brought back souvenirs from the battlefield such as German helmets or other items. But no one in Santa Barbara had anything quite as spectacular as the German cannon that was gifted to the city for raising money to help pay off the war debt in record time. "The first week of the campaign, Santa Barbara had secured over half of her quota of the loan which showed a fine spirit of patriotism."

It was described as a 108-millimeter 1918 German cannon. "The cannon will be mounted in front of the Federal Building [the Post Office; now the Santa Barbara Museum of Art].

The cannon is visible at the left of the building. (Image: courtesy of John Woodward)

All the "Way Back When" Wednesday posts from this year are part of the many items in my latest book Way Back When: Santa Barbara in 1919. Available in Santa Barbara bookstores and at Amazon.com beginning in November 2019.

The Olivers of Oliver Road - part 1

Lately, I've posted about street names on the Mesa that come from Spanish. Here's one street that is named for an American family.

They loaded up their covered wagon, gathered their cattle and children, said good-by to Iowa, and headed to California with a prayer on their lips and hope in their hearts. It was April 10, 1861. The Oliver family was headed by L.G. Oliver and his wife Kate. L.G., whose full name was Ludwell Gains, was 35. Kate (Catherine) was 30. They had two children — daughter Lydia E. was eight; son C.A. (Cassius Adolphus) was six. (Their son John Blair would be born later in California in 1864.)

They spent more than five months on the trail before they arrived in San Francisco on September 24. Along the way, they traversed mud holes, ferried across rivers, and endured windstorms and encounters with Native Americans. Once, while crossing a primitive bridge, their wagon fell into a stream. Kate feared her children would perish. "My pencil fails to portray my feeling during the moments of suspense and agony," she wrote in her diary. Fortunately, the children survived, but the family's possessions were soaked.

Next week, in part 2, I'll post about their arrival in Santa Barbara.

LA Company Filming in Santa Barbara

A group of actors and a film crew from Los Angeles were in SB in October 1919 making a movie called "Peddler of Lies." The film starred Dagmar Godowsky, an actress known for playing a temptress on screen.

Apparently, her off-screen life was not much different. Later in her life when she was asked about the number of husbands she had had, she answered, "Two of my own, my dear, and several of my friends." (Image: Photoplay Journal, June, 1920)

All the "Way Back When" Wednesday posts from this year are part of the many items in my latest book Way Back When: Santa Barbara in 1919. Available in Santa Barbara bookstores and at Amazon.com beginning in November 2019.

Spanish Street Names - Part 5

Miramesa Drive – (MEER-ah-MAY-sah) Similar to Miracañón Lane mentioned in last week's post, but this street has a view of the Mesa, not the canyon.

Miramonte Drive – (MEER-ah-MUN-tay) And the third one in the Mira- series, Miramonte means view of the mountain. It is also a surname. Miramonte Drive did not connect to Carrillo Street until the 1970s when the Santa Barbara Highlands Condominium complex was built.

Océano Avenue – (oh-SAY-ah-no) Using the Spanish pronunciation for this street will get you a lot of confused looks.

Payeras Street – (pie-YEAH-ruhs) Payeras is a surname and doesn't have any other usage. There is some evidence that a Padre Payeras is buried at the Mission in Santa Barbara, so that may explain the origin of this street name.

Ricardo Avenue – (ree-CAR-doe) a man's name.

Salida del Sol – (sah-LEE-duh-dell-SOLE) The name means sunrise.

San Clemente Street – (SAHN-CLAY-men-tay) Clemente means mild, and is a popular name. There are several cities around the world named San Clemente, and San Clemente Island is the southernmost of the Channel Islands of California. Saint Clement lived in Rome in the first century A.D., and is the patron saint of metalworkers and blacksmiths. This is one of many streets on the Mesa that are named for saints.

That's all the info I have on the Spanish street names of the Mesa. Next week's post will cover the story behind Oliver Road.

"The Frog Has Spoken" - Animal weirdness goes way back in Santa Barbara. When it comes to forecasting rain, some people watched to see if the ground squirrels were heading for the hills. But one judge in Santa Barbara in October 1919 listened for frog sounds.

It wasn't just any frog, mind you. He had a tame bullfrog which he claimed to have trained to be a weather prophet. "For several years past, this educated frog has given the judge warning of approaching storms. For some reason, the frog has been conspicuous by his silence, and indeed by his absence from the judge's doorstep during the past summer; but he has come out of his retreat, and yesterday gave the judge his usual signal of an approaching storm."

The paper didn't elaborate on what exactly this signal was. (Perhaps the frog showed up holding a mushroom as an umbrella?)

The article continued, "So ye who have ears to hear, hear and be warned. Clean out your rain barrels, mend that leaking roof, for lo, the frog has spoken; the oracle has oracled, and it will surely storm." (Image: New York Public Library)

All the "Way Back When" Wednesday posts from this year are part of the many items in my latest book Way Back When: Santa Barbara in 1919. Available in Santa Barbara bookstores and at Amazon.com beginning in November 2019.

Spanish Street Names - Part 4
Linda Road – (LEAN-dah) In addition to being a woman's name (like Dolores Avenue), linda means pretty, cute, or nice.
Loma Alta Drive – (LOW-mah AL-tah) Loma means hill, and alta means high. Before Meigs Road and Carillo Road were connected, this was one of the main routes into Santa Barbara for Mesa residents.
Los Álamos Avenue – (lows AH-lah-mose) I bet most people don't know that álamos means poplar trees or poplar wood. Of course, many people are familiar with the Battle of the Alamo in 1836, made popular by Disney's 1955 movie with Fess Parker. Former Mesa resident artist Edward Borein lived in a pueblo-style home that local kids called "The Alamo." Borein, however, called his home "Barranca," and today's street by that name honors the memory of the Borein's home, which no longer stands, but a lintel from the home is now in the Borein section of the Santa Barbara Historical Museum.
Loyola Drive – (loy-OH-lah) This can be a surname, and is also the name of Saint Ignatius of Loyola who founded the Jesuit order of priests in the 1500s.
Luneta Plaza – (loo-NAY-tah) Luneta can mean window or the lens in eyeglasses. Before M&Ms arrived in Mexico, this type of candy was called lunetas.
Mesa Lane – Mesa means table or desk, or a tableland. In geographic terms, a tableland or mesa is elevated flat land surrounded by ravines or barrancas. In the 1800s, the present Cliff Drive was called Mesa Road.
Miracañón Lane – (MEER-ah-cahn-YUN) Here's a street name that accurately describes the street, off Miramonte Drive, which has a view of the canyon in Honda Valley Park. This park is an undeveloped park owned by the city of Santa Barbara.
(If you missed the previous parts of this post, you can find them further down on this page.)

"Way Back When" Wednesday - A Visit from Royalty

This was definitely the highlight of the year for Santa Barbara in October 1919. King Albert and Queen Elizabeth of Belgium were on a goodwill tour of the United States to give their thanks for our support during the World War in Europe, and Santa Barbara was one of their stops.

The royal visitors had a busy schedule during their stay here. When they visited the Santa Barbara Mission, the king planted a cypress tree and an orange tree. They also visited the gardens of the Piranhurst estate in Montecito, belonging to Henry E. Bothin, where the queen was intrigued by his outdoor theater.

The garden theater was used as a location for several films. This is a scene from "The Quest," a 1915 film produced by Santa Barbara's "Flying A" film studio that I discovered while working on a book about silent movies made in Montecito. (Image: Reel Life, March 13, 1915)

Spanish Street Names - Part 3
Welcome back! This is the third part of a post about Mesa street names that come from Spanish. If you missed the first two parts, you can find them further down on this page. 
El Monte Drive — (MUN-tay) Monte means mountain, a man's first name, or the name of another gambling game.
Flora Vista Drive — (FLOR-uh VEES-tuh) The name means "view of flowers". Mesa oldtimers remember that freesia used to be grown here, so perhaps this name accurately reflected what was once seen in this area.
Isleta Avenue — (ees-LAY-tuh) An isleta is a small island or traffic island. Perhaps the name refers to the fact that the street forms a loop and meets Miramonte Drive in two places.
Juanita Avenue — (hwah-KNEE-tah) is a woman's name that is the diminutive of Juana.La Coronilla Drive — (core-oh-NEE-yuh) Coronilla is a word with a wide-range of meanings. It can be a small crown, the crown of the head, a bald patch on the head, a South American tree, or a type of bean. Here on the Mesa, it probably refers to its location on the top of the hill. Back in the Sixties, it was a popular lovers' lane.
La Cresta Circle — (CRES-tuh) Similar to the word "crest" in English, cresta can mean the crest of a hill or the comb of a rooster. Like La Coronilla Drive, the name probably refers to its location on top of a hill.
La Jolla Drive — (HOY-yuh) A name that means jewelry. It may be named for the city of La Jolla in southern California.
La Marina — (mah-REE-nah) The Spanish word marina generally relates to the sea. It can mean navy, a fleet (of ships), or a village on the coast of Spain. Marina is also a woman's name. This is one of several street names on the Mesa that is not followed by word street, avenue, calle, etc.
La Plata — (PLAH-tuh) Another street name probably inspired by wishful thinking like Calle de Oro and Del Oro Street. Plata means silver, silverware, or slang for money. There is a city named La Plata in Argentina.
La Vista del Océano – The Spanish pronunciation of océano is oh-SAY-ah-no, but you'll definitely get some strange looks if you say it this way. As is obvious, océano means ocean, so the street name means "ocean view." But back in the heyday of the Mesa oil boom, the name of this street could have been La Vista del Petroleo, because this street and Santa Cruz Boulevard were thickly forested with oil derricks.
Las Ondas – (OWN-dahs) Ondas are waves or ripples in the water.
This series of posts will continue with part 4 next Monday.
(For more information about Santa Barbara's Mesa, pick up a copy of "MESApedia - a history of the Mesa's early years" by yours truly.)

On the Cutting Edge of Technology
In September 1919, the Santa Barbara paper printed its first photo that was transmitted by telegraph. (Don't ask me how it works. I read the explanation and I still don't understand it.) But, they did it. Who had the honor of being the subject of the first photo sent by wire? George Washington? President Woodrow Wilson? World War I hero General Jack Pershing? Nope.
It was a guy who wore an army uniform and was traveling around the West cashing bogus checks. There was no mention of him in future articles, so BOLO [that's cop code for "be on the lookout."] He might still be out there passing bad checks. (Image: Santa Barbara Morning Press, September 25, 1919)