A Little Bit of History
Earlier this month I attended a Carmel Chamber of Commerce membership luncheon which celebrated significant milestone anniversaries for various chamber members. Four of them were in the category of 103 years. Those four joined in 1922—the year the Carmel Chamber of Commerce was founded. Those four businesses are the Carmel Pine Cone, Carmel Realty Company, The Highlands Inn (now Hyatt Carmel Highlands) and the Pine Inn.
Paul Miller, publisher of the Carmel Pine Cone, was the guest speaker at the luncheon. He presented some fascinating visuals, including a slide of the first Pine Cone from 1915, some memorable headlines and stories that ran over the years, and some of the idiosyncrasies of this crazy business which I know all too well.
He shared that there are archived editions of the Pine Cone dating back to 1915 available to read on the Carmel Pine Cone website, and I’m glad he did—it’s a fun read!
The first newspaper in Monterey, California, was called The Californian which began publishing in 1846, the same year the United States took Monterey in the battle of Monterey in the Mexican-American War. It is fascinating to read some of these amazing newspapers, which are available on the Monterey Public Library website. There were more than 30 papers available here over the years. Typos included, the content is incredible to look back at. The ads are cool, too. Well worth spending some highly educational and entertaining time visiting. I, for one, am a huge fan of newspapers and still think some of them provide a great value. The Monterey County Weekly and Carmel Pine Cone come to mind for local papers. I grew up in the newspaper business and my dad was in it for many years. I started working at weekly newspapers in the 1970s. I was at the Santa Cruz Sentinel for 10 years then at the Monterey Herald for about 10 years, but half of that was spent working on their dining magazine. The Monterey Herald is where I met my wife and some of my best friends to this day. It is sad to see what has become of the Herald, but it’s been the same fate of most daily newspapers in our Nation.
Here on the Monterey Peninsula we have a vast collection of art and history, which is preserved through the work of various nonprofit organizations, local cities and the State of California, with exhibits in museums and public buildings scattered throughout the area.
I recently enjoyed a Mother’s Day lunch with my family down on the Old Fisherman’s Wharf and it’s like a time capsule. I hadn’t been there in years but was so glad to explore and casually stroll around, ending up in the Custom House which was built by the Mexicans in the 1820s and used as offices to collect taxes on goods brought in. A very nice volunteer did a great job of educating us.
I am excited to be adding a new history component to the magazine that will run in every issue. Our area has such rich and important history, with so many worthy possibilities for content, that it will now be a consistent part of the mix. In this issue you can read a great story on Carmel artist Donald Teague. The article is written by Scott Gale who is Donald Teague’s grandson. Gale is the foremost authority on Teague, who was a great artist and illustrator.
This leads me to another artist featured in this issue: Joaquin Turner, a modern-day master who draws influence from those who inspired him, but who truly has his own style. He is a humble and talented man whom I have gotten to know. He never has a bad thing to say to me about any other artist or gallery, and in fact is a champion of local artists, running the Carmel Art Walk and serving as vice president of the Carmel Art Association. He truly has his own thing going, which has proven to be worthy as he is now in his 10th year. Just this May he took home four ribbons from the Carmel Art Festival, including First Place and the coveted People’s Choice Award.
There are many great galleries to explore in Carmel and our surrounding areas. Some are like museums, as they have some really incredible art. Please support our art community as it is an amazing and a vital part of our history here in Carmel.
As someone who did not live here until 1990, I’m constantly learning about the area and that is a good thing. So much yet to discover. Any direction you go, there is much to be found. So much to do and so little time.
Happy Summer!