Boyes Hot Springs, El Verano, Fetters Hot Springs, nature, Photographs, Resorts, Springs Historic Photo Database

Photographers of the Springs

This is not meant to be an exhaustive survey of everybody who ever photographed in Sonoma Valley. (Here I’m focusing on the resort towns of Boyes Hot Springs, Fetters Hot Springs, Agua Caliente, and El Verano.) That will have to come when we mount an exhibition on the topic at the Sonoma Valley History Museum in Depot Park.

“Grand Credit Auction Sale, 500 Town Lots!, 700 Acres Colony Lots and Villa Sites” says the sign.

Carleton Watkins

Probably the most noted photographer to document a part of the Valley was Carleton Watkins (1829-1916), who was engaged in 1887 by George Maxwell to make a portfolio of images as a tool to help sell land in El Verano. A great deal of hubbub was created touting this tract. Free trains excursions from San Francisco were offered to potential buyers. Streets were platted and an elaborate map was issued. The land boom collapsed, however; money was lost, and only a few streets remained, until El Verano pulled itself up by its bootstraps again. There was almost nothing there but fields, oak trees and a few farms when Watkins visited El Verano. The railroad was the most important thing happening. See the El Verano Historical Society for more images.

Postcard Photographers

Agua Caliente, Boyes Hot Springs, and El Verano, sometimes known as The Springs, in the unincorporated part of the Valley of the Moon, California ( adjacent to Sonoma), has been a resort destination since the 1880s. People went there (and still do) on vacation, to take the waters and bath in the sun. Tourists like to have photographic memories of their joyous time, so many photographers published postcards of the resorts and people enjoying them.

The names of the photographers are mostly known. The stories behind the names are known for some and some are obscure (as of this writing.)

The production of resort postcards got going in earnest in the early 20^th century. The prominent photographers were Charles Weidner, C. A. Payne (also publishing as Art-Ray), Peck, Topete, and Alexander (Zan) Stark. We have a lot of biographical information on Weidner and Stark, thanks to Frank Sternad of the San Francisco Bay Area Post Card Club. The others are more mysterious.

Charles Weidner was born in Germany in 1867, came to the United States in 1888. By 1891 he had made his way to California. Around then he took up photography in earnest, establishing his postcard company in San Francisco in 1902. He was well known for his photos of San Francisco after the earthquake and fire of 1906, and those of Yosemite Valley. He traveled widely in Northern California, spending time in The Springs in the years before WW1. One of his main subject was the Harmonie Ausflug, a group of Germans in the Bay Area who made tourist excursions together, and had a jolly time from the looks of it!

Weidner retired in the mid 1930s, having produced hundreds of postcards covering many locations and subjects in the Bay Area and beyond.

Alexander (Zan) Stark came to San Francisco from Ohio in 1914, investing in a small photo studio on Market Street. After serving in WW1, he came back to the City to resume operation of the Alta Slide and Photo Company. Alta was notable for producing photo booklets of nudes of young women, for “artistic” purposes. Several of his models were well-known silent film stars. Despite the Depression, Stark was doing well enough that in 1929 he could buy a house in Mill Valley. Inspired by his daily ferry commute to SF, he began photographing the wonders of the Bay Area, and being business man, realized he could print these as post cards and make some money. He soon began traveling farther afield, eventually making cards in most of Northern California, southern Oregon, and parts of Nevada.

He moved to Boyes Hot Springs in 1952, to which we owe the outstanding documentation of the resorts, businesses, and landscape of The Springs, numbering at least 65 postcards.

Stark’s archive is housed at Stanford University Library Special Collections.

Charles and Frank Payne published under the names Art-Ray and C.A. Payne. Their home base was Crescent City, California and they covered mainly that part of the state, venturing as far south as Boyes Hot Springs, producing cards from circa 1915 to 1921.

Peck: circa 1940’s-no information

Topete-circa 1906-1912

Anonymous Snapshots

There is something precious about the random snapshots of “just folks”. The professional photographer composes, frames, and considerer the information he wants to convey. Your average person just picks up the camera and shoots, or poses family in front of interesting backgrounds. Even out of focus and out of level, these photographs are charming and are important documents.

Don Meachum was a commercial photographer in Santa Rosa between 1943 and 1984. His archive is at the Sonoma County Library

Rancho Vista Mobile Home Park, Fetters Springs, 1971

Newspaper Photographers

The area has, of course, been photographed thousands of times for stories in the Index Tribune.

Fetters Hotel during the tenure of Juanita Musson.

At the corner of Hwy 12 and Vallejo Ave, 1992. The lot became employee parking for the Sonoma Mission Inn. Everybody knows Robbi!

Big Three Market, 1980. Corner of Boyes Blvd. and Hwy 12.

Miscellaneous Sources

Pine Ave. County Redevelopment, circa 1986.

Still from the film “Account of the No Account Count,” directed by Josh Binney, 1923, showing the Fetters Springs Hotel.

You just have to imagine Storer poking around down by the creek in El Verano. In his notes he tells of coming upon two young boys selling frogs along the roadside. Biologist T. I. Storer, 1922

MIchael Acker

When I started looking for historic photos I also started photographing the same locations. What with the pace of change, it soon became apparent to me that my photos were also historic documents. And so are yours!

My book of photo history: https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/products/9781467124300

Bill’s Drive In. Arnold Drive near Grove, circa 2000.

Please consider looking at my photo-based art work at @ackermichael6 on Instagram and https://mca-studios.com/

References

Stenard, Frank, Zan of Tamalpais, San Francisco Bay Area Post Card Club, vol. 32, #5, December 2016http://www.postcard.org/sfbapcc2016-12-s.pdf

Stenard, Frank, Charles Weidner, Photographer, and Post Card Publisher, San Francisco Bay Area Post Card Club, January 2020http://www.postcard.org/charles-weidner-postcard-publisher.pdf

Bogdan, Robert and Weseloh, Todd, Real Photo Postcard Guide, Syracuse University Press, 2006

Thanks to Jeff Gilbert, the Sonoma County Library, Don Parsons, Bruce Griewe, Dave Chiotti, Nancy
West, and the Sonoma Valley Historical Society.

Boyes Hot Springs, Entertainment, History, mid-century, Photographs, Resorts

The Boyes Hot Springs Bathhouse, Its History and “Prehistory”(?)

According to the Native California Guide (Dolan H. Eargle, Jr., Trees Company Press, San Francisco, 2000.) the peoples who occupied the land that included what we now know as Boyes Hot Springs could have been of the Coast Miwok, Pomo and Patwin language groups.

Many sources claim that Native peoples used the geothermal water for bathing, ritual, and possibly cooking. It’s logical to assume this, but I know of no archeological evidence, or oral history to support it. (This is an admission of ignorance!) However, the authors of We Are the Land, A History of Native California (Damon B. Akins and William J Bauer Jr., University of California Press, 2021) inform us, “To make acorns palatable, women placed the acorn flour into a shallow pit and poured water over it to leach the bitter tannic acid. The process took less time if the water was hot, making hot springs ideal places to process acorns,” acorns being a staple of the diet for many California Native peoples. (Professor. Bauer is an enrolled member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes.)

The first European to exploit the hot waters for commercial use was Andreas Hoeppner, the music teacher to General Vallejo’s children. In exchange for his lessons, Vallejo gave Hoeppner some acreage that included the hot springs. In 1847 Hoeppner advertised his Annenthal “resort” in the San Francisco Call, assuring the public that “this spring has been inspected by medical gentlemen…” Hoeppner’s enterprise was short lived. Real estate transactions were often shady, and records are sparse or confusing. At any rate, Thaddeus Leaventworth was the next owner of the springs land (which he received from Vallejo). He had come to California with Steveson’s Regiment in 1847 to engage in the war with Mexico. He also made an attempt to commercialize the hot water, again short lived. In 1885 Leaventworth sold the part of his land with the springs to Henry Boyes, a world jaunting ex-Indian Navy captain.

Construction on the Bath House started in the 1890s, under the ownership of Boyes and partners, and continued for decades under subsequent owners. The conglomeration of buildings eventually covered more than twenty thousand square feet, situated along Sonoma Creek at Pine Avenue.

The entrance to the sprawling Bath House complex was very near where Pine Avenue and Locust Avenue meet, a short distance from Boyes Blvd.

The entrance seen at the center of the photograph.

The complex included a garage, livery stables, tents, a movie theater, a dance hall, and a casino. The main pool measured seventy-five by one hundred feet and was fed with geothermal water. At various times athletes from the Oakland Oaks, San Francisco Seals, and Oakland Raiders trained and relaxed at the resort. Generations of Sonoma Valley folks learned to swim there, and people from all over the world enjoyed the waters.

The baseball field is seen at the right.

The Bath House burned down in 1969, essentially ending the resort era in Sonoma Valley.

The Bath House is gone, but it was well documented. Here is a slideshow sampling.

Index Tribune and many photographs courtesy of the Sonoma Valley Historical Society.

Architecture, Boyes Hot Springs, History, mid-century, People, Photographs

The Sonoma Valley Grange

2024 is the Centennial Year of Sonoma Valley Grange #407

The Grange was founded in Washington D.C. in 1867 to advocate for farmers. America became less rural, and the Grange evolved into a general community service organization.

On May 6, 1924, some residents of Sonoma Valley met with the Master of the Sebastopol Grange in the Sonoma High School auditorium to organize a Grange for the Valley. The event was important enough to be reported on the front page of the Index Tribune. The IT devoted several paragraphs to the historic accomplishments of the Grange nation-wide, ending by pointing out “one of its grandest achievements is the establishment of rural mail delivery and parcel post in all sections of the country…to publicly proclaim that if it was right for the government to carry mail to the homes of people in the cities, it would be right for it to carry mail the homes of people in the country…” It’s important to notice that things we take for granted had to be advocated for in the past. This kind of advocacy is at the heart of the purpose of the Grange.

One of the main functions of the Grange is to lobby elected representatives on issues relevant to farmers (and community wellbeing in general.) This is done by issuing resolutions. In 1926, Grange #407 resolved, “Whereas: Country banks, through mergers with city banks chains have largely degenerated into agencies for the collecting country deposits to be loaned to city people for riotous living(!) Resolved: ” that “ the California State Grange urge its delegates to consider with an open mind any plan…” to create, “a chain of purely rural banks controlled by farmers.” This shows how radical the Grange was in those days.

By 1928 the membership put forth a “Proposal for a new Grange Hall,” stating, in part, “Whereas, the Sonoma Valley Grange, Number 407, has prospects of increasing their membership, and, Whereas, the Sonoma Valley Grange is paying quite a sum of rent, Be it Resolved, that we the Sonoma Valley Grange, begin laying plans for creating a fund whereby in the near future we may own our own building….”

It took a while. It wasn’t until 1934 that the Grange was able to buy the building on Sonoma Highway from Selig Rosenthal. The IT reported on the front page, on April 6, 1934, that Grange #407 had “purchased the social hall on the highway near Verano from S. Rosenthal…The hall, built originally in connection with the resort (Rosenthal’s), is to be the new home of the Grangers, and they plan to add a dining room and in time make other nice improvements” which they proceeded to do during the next few years.

A few other notable events occurred in 1934.

1930s, showing the front addition to the building.

1934 was the middle of the Great Depression. In that year Grange #407 wrote a letter to the Secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickes, protesting a National Recovery Administration regulation requiring farmers to buy a minimum of one hundred gallons of gasoline to receive a lower price. “The financial statements of the oil companies show large earnings,” they stated, and they resolved that they “they protest(ed) vehemently” against the regulations.

Beginning with its founding in 1867, women were prominent in Grange leadership, serving as presidents (masters), secretaries, and treasurers. Eunice Peterson , a charter member and past master (president) of the Sonoma Valley Grange, was the first woman to serve on the Sonoma-Marin Fair board in 1940 and 1941 and ran for state assembly in 1938.

During the 1940s Grange 407 remained active, and progressive, in political matters. In that year, at a Six County conference held at the Rutherford Grange Hall, the members resolved,

“Whereas: the present war hysteria has encouraged reactionary groups to violate the civil rights of religious and political minorities. And Whereas: unlawful action of this sort was the first step toward the complete loss of freedom in the countries now ruled by dictators. Therefore, Be It Resolved: that the Grange members here assembled, go on record as strongly opposed to these extra-legal practices, and we demand that our law enforcement officers give to theses minorities the full protection guaranteed to them under the Bill of Rights in Constitution of the United State of America.”

This sounds eerily relevant today.

Appropriate to the Grange radical tradition, in 1952 the California State Employees Union Local 14 met at the Hall. Executive Secretary Richard L. Rumage “lashed out at the use of what he termed “labor spies” in state hospitals…” but the Grange was always also about family and tradition. In May of 1950 the Home Economics Club of the Grange held, at its monthly luncheon, a special Mother’s Day program honoring the oldest mothers present, Mrs. Susy Musanti, 84, and Mrs. Aline Lourdeaux, 85.

In 1948 Grange #407 incorporated as a “general nonprofit corporation.”

In 1975 Grange #407 celebrated its 50^th anniversary at the hall. “Arnold Griewe was master of ceremonies for the evening. Singing and gymnastics (!) by Lisa Lanning and Julie Griewe were performed for the 120 in attendance,” the Index Tribune tells us. Past masters Florence Sullivan, Ernie Semino, John Spraks Myrtle Bowie and Clarence Jenkins were honored.

The organization prospered into the 1980s, putting on pancake breakfasts, flea markets, and serving as a polling place, among many other events and functions. However, like Granges all over the country, the membership began to dwindle and age. In 2005 the Index Tribune published an article under the headline, “The Graying of the Grange,” interviewing older members Edith Lanning, Arvilla MacAllister, and Marianne Erickson. Just a few years later,some younger folks, with interests in wine and food and community building, joined and revitalized the organization, much to the delight of the old timers.

A major building project, partially funded by generous donors and the local Rotary Club, produced new ADA compliant restrooms, and a new commercial kitchen, vastly improving the usefulness of the Hall. The hall continued to be a popular rental venue, especially for the Hispanic community, as it hosted many a quinceañera and baby shower.

2015, demolition for the restroom project. Jim Callahan at right.

Fun at the Grange!

Your humble correspondent has been a member since 2008, and served a president for a number of years. He also designed the mural (seen in the very first photo), which was painted in 2010 by Randy Sue Johnson, with funds provided by a County Redevelopment Façade Improvement grant.

Some other things needed updating:

Index Tribune, documents and photos courtesy of the Sonoma Valley Historical Society. Other photos by author.

Boyes Hot Springs, El Verano, History, Sports, Springs Historic Photo Database

New to the Springs Historic Photo Database

Relatively speaking, the photo archive of the Springs is small. My database currently has 957 photographs, brochures, maps, and other ephemeral. I realize that this is not anywhere near all that exists, but I envy historians like Amy O’Hair who produces the wonderful Sunnyside History Project because she has access to the archives of San Francisco, which are profound. (Also see and the Western Neighborhoods Project).

Occasionally someone will contact me with photos such as Mr. Chiotti’s. I’m deeply grateful to him and other donors.

Unidentified swimmers, probably 1920s. source: ebay

The old Lanning Resort Club/Melody club sign, 1980s. Lanning Structures used the building for offices at that time. It was located on the east side of the Highway, across from the Boyes Springs Plaza, at Boyes Blvd. It’s now a perpetual construction site. The photo is from the Redevelopment Design Guidelines handbook from 1989.

Louise, Ernie, and David Chiotti, 1944. I’m not sure where the sign was, possibly at the Boyes Springs ball field, adjacent to the Bath House. Note the sign indicating the Oakland Oaks Springs training camp.

The Oak Grove Resort was “at Verano,” according to the brochure published by the Northwest Pacific Railroad in the 1920s. This could be the site of the later Paul’s Resort near the corner of Verano Blvd. and Highway 12.

Paradise Grove, near the corner of Riverside and Boyes Blvd, 1950s. Obviously, they sold beer. I know I have readers who have memories of this place, which I would love to hear.

Photos courtesy of the Sonoma Valley Historical Society, Dave Chiotti, and author’s collection

Boyes Hot Springs, History, Holidays, People

Christmas 1923

A sampler of Christmas from the Index Tribune, one hundred years ago.

Sonoma was in the grip of movie fever. Actor/producer/director/swindler Harold Binney had arrived to set up his studio. Local were recruited to be extras in the “Account of the No Account Count.” Alas, Binney absconded having written bad checks, and Sonoma as Hollywood North never materialized.

See you at the Union Hotel for Christmas dinner? Oh, that’s right. They tore it down and built an unlovely Bank of America! However, they were considerate enough to erect a bronze plaque commemorating what they had destroyed.

Directors included Sam Sebastiani, and Frank Wedekind.

Sweet!

I wonder how Mr. Abbott came by the molds. Spoils of war?

In 1923 it did not take much to produce contentment, apparently!

“Bring along your rifle!”

By 1923 the railroads had significant competition from bus lines. The egg laying contest had thirty six entries, eleven of them from outside California! The IOOF building is still there and in great shape.

Sonoma Index Tribune courtesy of the Sonoma Valley Historical Society

Boyes Hot Springs, History, mid-century, People, people

Pine Wagner, Pharmacist

Along with Marion Greene, Emma Fetters, and Mary Fazio, Pine Wagner was one of the important 20^th century entrepreneurs in The Springs who happened to be women. Although the California Board of Pharmacy does not keep old records (shamefully!) Pine Wagner must have been one of the first women to be licensed as a pharmacist in the state.

She graduated from the University of Creighton school of pharmacy, in Omaha, Nebraska in 1917, eventually making her way to Bakersfield, then Sonoma Valley around 1944.

She established Valley Drug in 1946, originally in a building on the highway owned by L.E. “Bud” Castner. Castner, once a chicken farmer, had opted to join the less fragrant and more profitable insurance business of a Mr. Mouyer, in the 1940s. After acquiring the building from Mouyer, according to an article in the Index Tribune in 1977, “Some of the space in the building Castner leased out. In this way he brought the first doctor, the first dentist and the first drugstore to Boyes Springs. They were Dr. Michael Mikita, the medico, Dr. Holly Christensen and Miss Pine Wagner.” Judge William Downey also held court in the building.

In 1951, Wagner moved her pharmacy to the new Plaza Center building, which had just been enlarged. It was built on the site of the old Boyes Springs Plaza and railroad depot. It now houses the Boyes Hot Springs post office. (Below)

Wagner owned a duplex on 4^th Avenue in Boyes Springs. We know this because the Index Tribune published notices of building permits and noted hers, for $1200 worth of termite repairs, in 1966.

4th avenue house once owned by Pine Wagner, in 2023.

She sold the business in 1962. Valley Drug stayed in business into the 1980s.

She died in 1975 at the age of 80. She had been a pharmacist for 58 years.

Index Tribune and photographs courtesy of the Sonoma Valley Historical Society.

Thanks also to the Sonoma County Library and to the California Board of Pharmacy (not)

Boyes Hot Springs, Photographs, Resorts, Springs Historic Photo Database

New To The Springs Historic Photo Database, October 2023

18495 Hwy 12 is located at Thomson. Currently the home of La Michoacana and Plain Jane’s

The “Old Hotel” was located on the site of the current Sonoma Mission Inn, which was opened in 1927.

Riverside near Boyes Blvd. 1960s. Paradise Grove.

Riverside near Boyes Blvd. 1960s. Shady Grove.

1920s, perhaps.

The pond at the Old Hotel.

“Across the bridge turn left:” On Riverside? From the Index Tribune, 1949.

1872 map showing land owners in the Rancho Agua Caliente: Vallejo, Stone, Hooker, and Leavenworth.

Images courtesy of the Sonoma Valley Historical Society, which always appreciates your support and membership!

Boyes Hot Springs, History, mid-century, Place Names/Street Names, Uncategorized

Jim’s Lunch

In 1923 a huge fire destroyed much of Boyes Hot Springs. Community spirit was strong, however, and rebuilding began immediately. One property owner, Bob Liaros, rebuilt on the highway.

The Liaros building at left. Next to it is the ice house. Across Vallejo St. we can see Sam Agnew’s service station. Agnew was an ex-major leaguer who was famous for catching Babe Ruth in the 1918 World Series.

According to the Index Tribune, “Bob Liaros owns one of the finest and most substantial buildings on the highway in Boyes Springs. After the fire, Mr. Liaros took the slogan, “a bigger and better Boyes Springs” at its full value and proceeded to show that he, for one, meant to build bigger and better than before. In place of the frame building and barber shop which was located next to the original post office at Boyes, the enterprising business man let the contract for a handsome hollow tile type building, with concrete floors and fireproof throughout. The exterior is most attractive with its tile trim and plate glass front. The building is divided into two stores, in one of which Mr. Liaros has his beautifully appointed barber shop with its mirrors, three chairs and finest plumbing. He does bobbing for the ladies and has a competent assistant barber. Liaros has leased the store and living rooms in his building for an ice cream parlor and refreshment stand.” IT 1925.

Jim Nichols opened his Jim’s Lunch restaurant on Napa St. in Sonoma, “at the entrance of the ball park,” in 1933. In 1937 Jim sold to Marie Tarrens and moved to Oregon. But, in 1938, “Jim Nicholas, who sold out and left Sonoma for Oregon, only to return convinced that there is no place like the Valley of the Moon, is opening up a coffee shop and café at Boyes Springs in the Bob Liaros building. In 1939, Evelyn Frank and Alice Jones applied for a liquor license under the name of Jim’s Lucnh Room. Not sure where Frank and Jones went but in 1941 Alice Norrbom bought the establishment from Katherine Ewert Jorgensen. I believe the two photographs of Jim’s date from Mrs. Norrbom’s ownership. In 1944 she sold to Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Reynolds and I think they were the last owners of Jim’s.

In the 1950s the Liaros building housed the Boyes Variety Store and Polidori’s store. Kelly’s Deli was there in the 1980s’90s. The building was torn down in 1992. The site now houses the Sonoma Mission Inn employee parking lot, alas.

ADDENDUM

In 1931 Bob Liaros bought “Lot Number 1, Woodleaf Park, being a part of Rancho Agua Caliente, T. 5 N., R. 6 W, M.D.M.,” (The letter-number combinations are Township and Range. MDM stands for Mount Diablo Meridian, a baseline used by the Public Land Survey System.)

The sign at the left of the arch advertises “J.W. Minges desirable summer and winter cottages.”

First Avenue became Vallejo Avenue, so this would be the corner of Vallejo and Hwy 12 (“Santa Rosa and Sonoma Road”.)

Thanks to the Sonoma Valley Historical Society for the Index Tribune and many photographs, Lloyd Cripps for the arch photo, Phil Danskin for the map, and Stanford University Library, Special Collections for the Zan Stark photo.

Art, Boyes Hot Springs, El Verano, Entertainment, Fetters Hot Springs, History, Jewish History, mid-century, nature, Personal History, Resorts, Valley of the Moon Main Stem Project

An Announcement and Some Summer Reruns

The art of yours truly on display, including a few from the Main Stem Project. Please come to the opening if you can!

Here are some posts from the past that I thought were worth looking at again. New content in September, I promise.

Since starting in July 2014, the Springs Museum has launched 145 posts!

Leavenworth’s House

Rosenthal’s Resort

Our Resort

Fairmount Employee Parking Lot

Music at the Resorts

The Sierra Dr. Oak

Newts

Boyes Hot Springs, Collection/Obsession, History, Photographs, Place Names/Street Names

The Boyes Hot Springs Street Corner Database

In 2020 I photographed every street sign in my immediate neighborhood with the intention of creating a database of intersections. Why? Obsessiveness. Completeness. The desire to record and collect (see website introduction.) Future use. It’s history. Because it might all burn down, and no one would remember what it looked like. (And, I really like databases and consider them an art medium.) I have also included photographs of the Neighborhood Phenomena in the vicinity of the intersections, such as, the tree growing through the fence above.

In addition to my photographs, I have included older (“historic”) ones, where they exist, newspaper clippings, and other ephemera. I know of no older photographs of intersections other than the ones at Highway 12, which were made primarily for commercial purposes.

There are 107 records in the database (I probably missed some), one for each intersection in the Boyes Springs A and B subdivisions. The fields include “Generation of Sign” because three distinct styles of sign exist. Time permitting, the database would be expanded to include the surrounding subdivisions (more here) Sonoma Highlands, Woodleaf Park, etc.

The corner of Maldonado, 4th, and Vallejo had three of the oldest style signs on one pole until recently. I realize I misspelled Maldonado in the db.

The Thomson and Highway 12 entry features a photo from 1958 and a matchbook cover.

Las Lomas and Arroyo shows the stonework built by the Larson family, in 2020 and the 1940s, with family members.

The map is still under development (ie, my Filemaker skills need improving.)

springs museum

History, Art, Community

Category Archives: Boyes Hot Springs