WAY BACK WHEN, 100 years ago today, on October 26 1918, the local paper reminded people to turn back their clocks. Daylight Saving Time had begun in the United States in March 1918 for the first time when folks set their clocks ahead. Now people were being reminded that it was time to change their clocks again. Although this was the first year for "spring ahead; fall back," there were no more disruptions than we experience today.
WAY BACK WHEN, 100 years ago today, on October 20, 1918, the Lockheed/Loughead brothers of Santa Barbara announced their plans to fly their F-1A plane from Santa Barbara to Washington, D.C. They had set a record in April when they flew their seaplane from here to San Diego, and had high hopes for this next trip. [Spoiler alert - this new venture did not end well. More info will be coming in "Way Back When: Santa Barbara in 1918."]
Way Back When, 100 years ago today on October 14, 1918, the dreaded Spanish Influenza pandemic hit Santa Barbara. As if the telegrams arriving with news of local boys dying in the war in Europe were not bad enough, now we were battling the flu here at home. I'll be giving a talk about the flu and WWI called "Countdown to Armistice" at the Goleta Historical Society on Sunday, Nov. 4 at 3 p.m., and at the SB Central Library on Sunday, Nov. 11 at 2 p.m. (Both the flu and the war will be part of my "Way Back When: Santa Barbara in 1918" book to be released soon.)
WAY BACK WHEN, 100 years ago today, on October 4, 1918, boys at Santa Barbara High School who had signed up for the quasi-military cadet corps were being taught how to throw hand grenades! Fortunately, they were not practicing with live ammo. The cadets were told to gather "rocks about the size of large goose eggs. As soon as the cadets bring enough of these rocks … [they will learn] the principles of hand grenade work." Yikes!
WAY BACK WHEN, 100 years ago today, on October 1, 1918, the local paper in Santa Barbara had the headline: "You Can't Build Without Uncle Sam's O.K." The subhead explained, "War Industries Board's Permit Required Before Any House Can be Erected." Folks in Santa Barbara and around the country could look at plans and dream about building a home, but they had to wait until the war was over to build their dream home.
WAY BACK WHEN: 100 YEARS AGO TODAY – On September 24, 1918, the city of Santa Barbara was in an uproar. The local paper called it, "The Handiwork of a Fiend … Flag is Torn and Tied into Knots … An American flag has been perversely and fiendishly desecrated … The flag was flying on the roof of the Veronica Water bottling plant on Montecito Street Saturday night … The flag, in its mutilated condition, was discovered this morning and hauled down … the pole was on the roof of a two-story building, and it must have caused the flag's enemy considerable difficulty to reach it."
WAY BACK WHEN: 100 YEARS AGO TODAY – On September 14, 1918, Santa Barbara was recovering from an unseasonable storm. The local paper reported, "The storm has been threatening several days, and broke in a fury of wind, strong from the southeast late Thursday night. This morning, the seafront is strewn with wreckage." A yacht and a fishing boat were driven onto the beach. "A score of small skiffs were driven ashore and pounded to pieces … last night, hundreds of citizens gathering along the [Cabrillo] boulevard to watch the swells pounding against the sea wall, or break far out from shore, throwing tons of white spray high in the air."
WAY BACK WHEN: 100 YEARS AGO TODAY – On September 7, 1918, the local paper reported on a "first" on the streets of Santa Barbara. If she could drive halfway across the country without a male companion (Gosh, oh golly!), she could certainly drive a taxi around Santa Barbara.
The local paper marveled, "Just a year ago today, Santa Barbara acquired a resident such as few California cities can boast of – a woman taxi driver … Bess Laskey, transcontinental motorist, [was] tire changer, and general mechanic for the party of three which consisted of herself, a college chum, and … Laskey's daughter of seven years. Throughout the trip, the party camped out as two pioneer women would."
WAY BACK WHEN - 100 Years Ago Today - On August 16, 1918, the local paper noted that the artist Carl Oscar Borg had obtained a marriage license in Los Angeles. In January of 1918, Swedish-American artist Borg began to build his home on the Mesa. Now in August, the home was ready to receive his new bride – Madeline Carriel of Los Angeles.
"Between 1918 and 1924, the Borgs lived in Santa Barbara at the center of a circle which radiated out from Alexander Harmer and the bearded patriarchal Thomas Moran, the good gray painter of Santa Barbara, and included other Santa Barbaran artists such as Fernand Lungren, a Thomas Eakins-trained painter of Southwest subjects, the cowboy artist Ed Borein, Borg's next-door neighbor Albert Falvy, a like-minded antique collector and Indian aficionado, and other assorted intelligentsia." – Material Dreams, Southern California Through the 1920s by Kevin Starr, Oxford University Press, 1990
WAY BACK WHEN - 100 Years Ago Today - On August 27, 1918, the local paper ran the headline, "Fined for Leaving Campfire Burning." Smokey the Bear was not around yet, but the widespread forest fires of 1917 in Ojai and Carpinteria had made the Forest Service more cautious. The culprit left a campfire burning and was fined $50. It was the first conviction under the new rule requiring all fires to be extinguished when the campers leave. The paper warned, "The forest service and the county fire warden intend to prosecute all cases that come under their observation." (There's more about those fires in Way Back When: Santa Barbara in 1917.)
On Tuesday, December 11, I'll be presenting a slideshow about the 1917 fires in Ojai and Carpinteria and comparing them to the Thomas Fire. At the Ventura History Museum, 1 p.m.