Monterey,
just as most any other city or town in the U.S.A had its share of
drinking establishments/saloons in the mid 19th century on up to the 1st
quarter of the 20th century. As it was, the "Gay Nineties" in Monterey
saw a nice total of 33 of these saloons just on Alvarado St, all within a
2 block area. Some of the creative marque signs were Lyons Ale Den,
Bohemia Saloon, The Snug, Gilt Edge, Blue & Gold, The Grand, The
Dash, Saddle Rock, The Opera, The Majestic,The Landmark, The Art, The
Kremlin, The Senate and the Reception and others.
The Volstead
Act of 1919 and the passing of the 18th amendment put barkeeps out of
business until prohibition was repealed in 1933. Not to mention tossing
in the Depression in the mix, just when a fellow needed a drink, he
couldn't get one, legally.
I listed one of my favorite whiskeys from Max
Schmidt's "The Landmark" Saloon,
Max Schmidt was born in 1872 in Germany, and operated the
Landmark Saloon from about 1903 to 1914 with his partner William H.
Tauffkerchen with Manuel Dutra as barkeep.
Lewis A. Schaufele and
partner Harry, his brother, operated the Opera Saloon,
as well as the
Souvenir Jewelry Store.
The Bohemia
Saloon was owned and operated by the Sanchez Bros, Adolpho and Alex from
about 1882 to 1891 when they sold it to Manuel Diaz and Thomas Watson.
Finding any items from any of these saloons is almost impossible, but I'm
sure they are out there. Its just they have not surfaced. Im staying
optimistic about this thought, mainly for my own collecting bug. Anyway
items such as bill-heads, letterheads, bottle, signs and so on for the
most part went into the landfill or used as fire starter for the wood
stoves.
One of my very long time, very elderly friends, all of
whom have passed, all told me stories of the 1940s up to the later
1960s when urban renewal came in and old buildings on the lower end of
Alvarado being torn down and or cleaned out saw tons of furnishings,
signs, paper, bottles,lamps etc etc being totted down to what is now El
Estero Lake area and dumped as fill in to enable that area to be used
for future development . My wifes cousins, the Works or T.A. Work was
the owner of all that property and behind all that 'renewal', thats
progress.
A few of my old time friends, all born and raised in
Monterey and all from old Monterey families did in fact try and save
some things from time to time. Ive been fortunate to now be the
caretaker for some of these pieces. Its fun and anyone from so many
other areas from around our state and all over the other parts of the
U.S. feel the same about the 'local' stuff. As always am all ears for
others knowledge of anything Monterey in particular. The one Opera pic
has been in a fire at the old Hotel del Monte,
and was dug in that dump
site on Del Monte Beach many years ago, if you can see how it started to
melt a little and is almost concave.
T
The second Opera pic shows the
same style being a little stained but not burnt.
Trade cards from the
Bohemia Saloon and a photo of the same.
