<div dir="ltr">Fascinating.<div>Matson Lines had a passenger ship "Lurline".</div><div>I suspect this is not a coincidence.</div><div><br></div><div>I recall that "Sunset Magazine" was published by "Lathan Lane Publishing"</div><div>Now I know why.</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, Feb 18, 2019 at 7:50 PM Rick Moen <<a href="mailto:rick@linuxmafia.com">rick@linuxmafia.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">Quoting Paul Zander (<a href="mailto:paulz@ieee.org" target="_blank">paulz@ieee.org</a>):<br>
<br>
> Two books about the Bay Area mentioned other manors built in the same<br>
> era. One was Ralston, now part of College of Notre Dame in Belmont.<br>
> What I hadn't realized before was that there was more than just people<br>
> with lots of money from gold mines, banks or rail roads. The 1915<br>
> Panama-Pacific International Exposition was a catalyst. The 1% of the<br>
> 1% of San Francisco needed to have appropriate places to host private<br>
> parties for the visiting royalty from Europe or the old-money from the<br>
> East Coast.<br>
<br>
Yes, it was. My favourite example fo that is Hakone Gardens in the<br>
hills just west of Saratoga. Isabel Stine was the surviving spouse of<br>
Oliver C. Stine, who was a lawyer who made his fortune in post-Gold Rush<br>
real estate and was an early Bohemian Club member. He was the most<br>
important backer/planner of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition,<br>
and just barely survived to see it happen, leaving Isabel with a pile of<br>
money and some passionate hobbies -- one of which was all matters<br>
Japanese. Ms. Stine adored the Japanese exhibits at the Exposition, <br>
so during the Exposition, she decided to have perment a permanent-class<br>
traditional Japanese garden of her own, buying those 15 hilly acres in<br>
1915 and sailing with her son to Japan in 1918, where they commissioned<br>
one of the imperial gardeners to replicate a famous garden at what is<br>
now a national park near Mt. Fuji<br>
(<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuji-Hakone-Izu_National_Park" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuji-Hakone-Izu_National_Park</a>), and buiit<br>
up _her_ Hakone (and hosted Japanese cultural events there) util she<br>
sold it to another real etate baron, Charles Lee Tilden, first president<br>
of the East Bay Regional Parks (and namesake of Tilden Park). Tilden<br>
continued to improve Stine's idea. His family eventually (1961) sold<br>
the site to a consortium of six Chinese-American couples, who kept it<br>
going as long as they could, and passed it in 1966 to the City of<br>
Saratoga, who (like the six families) found the maintenance costs<br>
difficult, and passed it to private non-profit Hakone Foundation, set up<br>
for that purpose.<br>
<br>
Hakone Gardens is a gorgeous and inspiring place, that I recommend<br>
highly for visits. And yes, they do the tea ceremony.<br>
<a href="http://www.hakone.com/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.hakone.com/</a><br>
<br>
<br>
My own high school's (Menlo School's) main building, Douglass Hall, was<br>
constructed in 1909, in a wdding-cake Renaissance Italian style, by<br>
minng heiress Mary Payne, who'd inherited part of the Comstock Lode<br>
silver fortune, and her husband Theodore Payne, who'd made a fortune as<br>
owner of Payne Bolt Works in San Francisco. After the 1906 earthquake,<br>
they decided to move down to their 55 acres in Atherton next to Menlo<br>
Park, and thus commissioned the 52-room mansion -- - which, notably, was<br>
one of the very first reinforced-concrete buildings in California,<br>
something it shared with Filoli.<br>
<a href="https://www.pastheritage.org/Articles/PayneDouglass1.html" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.pastheritage.org/Articles/PayneDouglass1.html</a><br>
<br>
Mary Payne lived there for seven years (Theodore died before it was<br>
finished), and sold it to inventor Leon Forrest Douglass in 1921.<br>
Douglass was among other things inventor of colour film and an improved<br>
photograph, and co-founder of the Victor Talking Machine Company (later<br>
renamed RCA Victor), which business made him very rich and was<br>
supposedly named for his wife Victoria. The mansion he called Victoria<br>
Manor. He and his wife sold the property to Menlo School and College in<br>
1945.<br>
<br>
<a href="https://www.pastheritage.org/Articles/PayneDouglass2.html" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.pastheritage.org/Articles/PayneDouglass2.html</a><br>
<a href="http://www.gracyk.com/leon.shtml" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.gracyk.com/leon.shtml</a><br>
<a href="https://intertique.com/Who%20was%20Leon%20Douglass.htm" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://intertique.com/Who%20was%20Leon%20Douglass.htm</a><br>
<br>
(Last link claims that Menlo Park, CA was named for Thomas Edison's<br>
research site in New Jersey. That is a common misconception: The Menlo<br>
Park town considerably predated Edison's lab, and was named in the early<br>
1860s by a pair of immigrants from Ireland after Menlough, County<br>
Galway, Ireland.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
There were _many_ other notable estates / mansions on the Penisula,<br>
some of them still standing:<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
1. Frederick Sharon's house. When I was very young, the western half<br>
of what is now Menlo Park ('Sharon Heights') was called the Sharon<br>
Estate. It was unfenced forest and wild lands that I used to enjoy<br>
exploring on foot, and in the middle of it was an old, large building<br>
that *I* thought of as a mansion. This was a temporary house where<br>
Frederick Sharon, son of Nevada Sen. William Sharon and heir to _his_<br>
silver fortune. The 32-room Craftsman-style _cottage_ I remember was<br>
the place where Fred and Louise Sharon lived<br>
(<a href="https://stdenisparish.org/pictures/site%20images/OldMansion.jpg" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://stdenisparish.org/pictures/site%20images/OldMansion.jpg</a>) while<br>
planning a truly stupendous mansion -- which was never built, because<br>
Fred was a cocaine-head and died at age 56. <br>
<br>
<br>
2. 'Belmont', now named Ralston Hall Mansion and part of Notre Dame de<br>
Namur University, built by William Chapman Ralston, yet another<br>
Comstock Lode bandit and founder of Bank of California. This is the one<br>
you mention. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralston_Hall" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralston_Hall</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
3. Carolands Chateau, Hillsborough, built ca. 1912 in Beaux Arts style<br>
by Harriett Pullman Carolan, of the Pullman Company family. It was<br>
derelict for quite a while during the 70s and 80s, but is now run by a<br>
foundation and used for various special events.<br>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolands" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolands</a><br>
<br>
<br>
4. Uplands, banker Charles Templeton Crocker's estate in Hillsborough<br>
-- grandson of railroad robber-baron Charles Crocker. Now houses<br>
Crystal Springs Uplands Schuol.<br>
<br>
<br>
5. El Cerrito, Hillsbourough, the oldest mansion on the Pensula,<br>
started in the 1850s, and owned starting in 1906 by PG&E founder Eugene<br>
de Sabla. Razed and subdivided in 1930, but its iconic Japanese garden<br>
remains and is sometimes open to the public during charitable events.<br>
<br>
<br>
6. Filoli, built based on a country home in Ireland by William Bourn,<br>
owner of the Spring Valley Water Company, early supplier of water to San<br>
Francisco, and named from Bourn's motto: 'Fight, love, live'. Bourn<br>
was a nasty piece of work who regularly required Spring Valley employees<br>
to work for free on his estate. After his 1936 death, it was bought be<br>
William and Lurline Roth, part-owners of the Matson-Roth cruise-ship and<br>
shipping company.<br>
<br>
The mansion and its incredible gardens survive thanks to the<br>
stubbornness and foresight of Lurline Roth, who worked tirelessly to<br>
find an arrangement to keep the grounds open to the public and not just<br>
disappear into private ownership or be broken up for subdivision.<br>
<br>
<br>
7. Linden Towers, Menlo Park, built by silver magnate James Flood, 43<br>
roooms and the largest house west of the Rockies, completed 1880.<br>
Demolished in 1934.<br>
<a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/09/12/matters-historical-the-gigantic-mansion-james-flood-built-in-menlo-park/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/09/12/matters-historical-the-gigantic-mansion-james-flood-built-in-menlo-park/</a><br>
<br>
<br>
8. Thurlow Lodge, Menlo Park, built/renovated by California governor, <br>
U.S. Representative, and U.S. Senator Milton Latham, in 1872. 50 rooms.<br>
(Originally built in 1864 by early robber baron William Eustace Barron.)<br>
<a href="https://district.mpcsd.org/Page/143" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://district.mpcsd.org/Page/143</a><br>
<br>
A huge fraction of Menlo Park from the current civic centre to the<br>
Sunset Publishing buildings was Latham's estate. After passing through<br>
a couple of hands, the US government built Dibble General Hospital on<br>
the grounds (in 1943) to handle casualtiies from the expected American<br>
invasion of the Japanese Home Islands. After the war (1946), 29 of the<br>
_280 total acres_ (the part exactly where Dibble had been) became Menlo<br>
Park Civic Center, some became SRI International, and some was carved up<br>
for subdivisions. One of Latham's buildings, the Gatehouse, and its<br>
elaborate outdoor fountain, still survive as part of MP Civic Center,<br>
facing Ravenswood Road, plus some now-aged oak and monkey puzzle trees.<br>
<br>
<br>
There are actually many others I'm not bothering to include.<br>
<br>
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</blockquote></div><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"><br>R "Texx" Woodworth<br>Sysadmin, E-Postmaster, IT Molewhacker<br>"Face down, 9 edge 1st, roadkill on the information superdata highway..."<br></div>