Bob Wills Swings Through Vallejo

On this day in 1945 Western Swing great Bob Wills, accompanied by his Texas Playboys, played two shows in Vallejo. During the afternoon the band played for more than 15,000 people at a huge Oklahoma-Texas-Arkansas picnic at Blue Rock Springs park. Many of the southwestern transplants attending the picnic had come to Vallejo at the outset of World War Two to work at the Mare Island Shipyard. The Texas Playboys performed a second show that evening at the Casino Ballroom in Vallejo.

Although dozens of different musicians passed through Wills' band over the years, the line-up in the mid '40s included Wills on fiddle, Everett Stover (trumpet), Less Anderson (steel guitar), Tiny Mott (saxophone), Louis Tierney (fiddle), Monte Mountjoy (drums), Rip Ramsey (bass), Jimmy Wyble (guitar), Tommy Duncan (vocals), Cameron Hill (guitar), Millard Kelso (piano), and Laura Lee Owens (vocals). That is the line-up pictured above, in a photograph taken in Los Angeles in 1944.

Buried Treasure in Vallejo?

   At the peak of World War Two nearly 50,000 people worked at the busy Mare Island Naval Shipyard. To accom- modate all of these wartime workers, the federal government built numerous defense housing projects throughout the city of Vallejo. The largest of those projects (pictured here) was Chabot Terrace, located in north Vallejo on land formerly owned by the Mini family. In late 1944 several boys who lived in the area found what they hoped would be a buried treasure. This is how the Vallejo Times Herald reported the story:

Treasure Hunt On At Chabot; Three $10 Gold Pieces Found

    "There's a treasure hunt on for buried gold pieces at Chabot Terrace.
    "It all started when four 10-year old boys, residents of the community, uncovered three gold pieces of the $10 denomination.
   "Now others in the community scratch about the excavation for the new athletic field in the hope that additional gold will be found.
   "Francis Kephart was the first to find treasure, a $10 gold piece dated 1853. Then Norman Chambers and William Parkerfound a coin dated 1881. A third $10 gold piece was recovered by a fourth boy whose name has not been obtained.
   "Encrusted with mud, the boys at first believed they were only metal slugs, but when the Kephart boy scratched the metal with a pocket knife and found "ten dollars" engraved on it, he knew it was more than a slug.
   "Then when the Chambers and Parker boys, together, found the second coin, others began to join in the search in the belief that the coins had been buried in an old tin can that had rusted and became scattered when the steam shovel struck it during excavation work.
   "The three boys named reported their find to the Vallejo Police Department and were advised to turn in the gold, which they did at the Mechanics and Merchants National Bank, receiving the equivalent monetary value in currency. The third coin, according to reports, is being kept as a souvenir.
   "But the hunt for buried gold continues at Chabot Terrace, with speculation rife as to who and when buried the treasure and how much there was when it was hidden."

The paper never followed up on whether more "treasure" was found, and the source of the coins was apparently never discovered.

Blue Star Museums

This summer the Museum is once again participating in Blue Star Museums, a partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, and more than 1,000 museums across America, to offer free admission to all active duty military personnel and their families from Memorial Day through Labor Day 2011.  We are proud to offer this program to the men and women who serve our nation, along with their families who often have a loved one deployed overseas. The free admission program is available to any bearer of a Geneva Convention Common Access Card (CAC), A DD Form 1173 ID Card, or a DD Form 1173-1 ID Card, which includes active duty military and their immediate family members, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, National Guard, and Reserves.    

"America's museums are proud to join the rest of the country in thanking our military personnel and their families for their service and sacrifice," said NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman, who announced the program on May 23. "I cannot imagine a better way to do that than welcoming them in to explore and enjoy the extraordinary cultural heritage our museums present. The works of art on view this summer will certainly inspire and challenge viewers – and sometimes they will just be a great deal of fun."   

"There have always been wonderful examples of partnerships between museums and military installations, but the scale of this gift from the museum community to military families is thrilling," said Blue Star Families Chairman Kathy Roth-Douquet. "Military families work hard for this country, and it is gratifying for us to be recognized for that. We anticipate that thousands of military families will participate in the program and visit museums this summer – many of them for the first time. Blue Star Families will work hard to help our military families make the most of these opportunities."

Louis Armstrong Plays Vallejo

On this day in 1942 jazz legend Louis Armstrong played at the ballroom of the Casa de Vallejo. That swank hotel, along with the Veteran's Memorial Hall, Farragut Hall, and other local venues, were popular stops for touring jazz and big band acts in the 1930s and 40s. The day before Armstrong's show, the Vallejo Times Herald promoted the concert with the following:

"Onward continues the parade of 'musical giants' in Vallejo as Frank Smith presents America's leaders on the Name Band horizon. Last week it was Paul Whiteman, "King of Jazz." This week it will be Louie [sic] Armstrong "World's Greatest Trumpeter." Armstrong appears in the Casa de Vallejo ballroom Friday evening with his celebrated orchestra. He is not only considered the world's greatest trumpeter but is also the world's highest paid colored musician. He brings with him his entire musical aggregation intact, with a galaxy of "swing" stars including his two famous and sensational vocalists Sonny Woods and Velma Middleton. Other stars with the band are Luis Russell, Paul Barbarin, Jay C. Higginbotham, "Pop" Foster, and Joe Garland. While Armstrong and his troupe have appeared here before, it will be the first appearance locally of his singing star, Velma Middleton. Those who have heard her singing with the band in engagements in Oakland and San Francisco rave about the excellent voice of this singer."

8th Annual Vallejo Garden Tour

"A Community of Gardens" is the theme for the 8th annual Vallejo Garden Tour, set for Sunday, May 15 from 10:00 to 3:00. The tour will feature eight local gardens, featuring beautifully landscaped private homes and two Community Gardens - the Loma Vista Farm and the Vallejo Community Garden at Mare Island. The Tour also features a delicious buffet luncheon served at the Museum from noon to 3:00. Tickets for the tour are $30 general public and $25 for Museum members. All tickets are $35 on the day of the Tour. Tickets are available at the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum, 734 Marin Street, and at Zoey June Gift & Garden, 1426 Tennessee Street in Vallejo. All proceeds benefit the Museum.

Whether growing vegetables to feed the family or flowers to feed the soul, gardens enrich our lives and promote community through sharing. With the choice of this year's theme, the Garden Tour Committee hopes to inspire Vallejo citizens  to become more involved in their environment and community through their gardens.

Vallejo's Flour Industry

In 1860 Vallejo's founder, John B. Frisbie, chartered a ship to export wheat grown near Vallejo to Liverpool - the first shipment of wheat overseas from California. Captain A.D. Starr established Vallejo's first flour mill in South Vallejo in 1869. Flour shipped from the port of Vallejo would eventually travel to Asia, South America, and Europe as Vallejo became the largest flour-shipping port in California. The mill was purchased by the Sperry Flour Company in 1910 and later became the General Mills Sperry Division.

During WWI the Sperry Mills shipped tons of flour to Europe as part of the wartime relief effort. Employment at the mill increased from 125 workers in 1915 to 363 in 1919.

On August 30, 1934 a spectacular fire destroyed a large portion of the mill. Two marine elevators, 21 bins of grain, and 500,000 grain bags were consumed by the flames. Vallejo Fire Department crews were aided  by floating fire equipment from Mare Island. Explosions of grain dust blew huge sheets of corrugated metal off the roof of the mill and 6,000 tons of grain was destroyed before the blaze was finally brought under control.

The General Mills Sperry Division mill in Vallejo closed in 2004.

A Romantic Affair: An Afternoon with Cole Porter and the Gershwins

Please join us at the Museum on Sunday, February 13 at 2:00 for "A Romantic Affair: An Afternoon with the Gershwins and Cole Porter" presented by SonomaSong with the John Simon Trio. The concert promises to be a special treat for the Valentine’s Day weekend. 

 

There's a special quality to a song by Cole Porter or brothers George and Ira Gershwin - a freshness, a personal melodic and rhythmic style, and certainly a lasting quality.  Porter and the Gershwins are known and loved throughout the world as the personification of the American popular song. They truly are American classics.

 

SonomaSong and the music of Porter and the Gershwins will fill the room with romance and send the audience away with smiles on their faces and love in their hearts.  Embraceable You, They Can't Take That Away from Me, Somebody Loves Me, I've Got You Under My Skin, I Get A Kick Out of You, The Man I Love, In the Still of the Night, and I Love Paris, are only a sampling of the dynamic 90 minute concert. 

 

“A Romantic Affair” is being presented by Kiwanis of Vallejo and the Vallejo Suburban Kiwanis with all proceeds benefiting the Museum. Tickets for “A Romantic Affair” are $35 (which includes wine, light hors d’ oeuvres, and sweets) and are available at the Museum or from Kiwanis Club members. Wine and hors d ‘oeuvres will be served at 2:00 with the concert starting promptly at 3:00.