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July 23, 2003

Broncho Billy and the Ocean Shore RR

A former Pacifican is deeply involved in honoring the history of film from the early days of Niles. Rena Azevedo Dein, a supervisor in the City of Fremont's Recreation Department, (she's in charge of teen and community programs) now lives in the Niles district of Fremont with her husband Phil and Corgi Emmy. She's dived headfirst into that area's local history, perhaps taking a cue from the way her parents are involved with Pacifica's history.

If the name sounds vaguely familiar, Rena spent her early days as a member of Laguna Salada's Alternative Class (now the Ocean Shore school) and graduated from Terra Nova in 1982 before majoring in Recreation at San Francisco State University. She also spent a bit of time hanging around the Tribune, where she earned some spending money and perhaps had a little printers ink rub off as well.

In Niles about all that's left of the pioneer Essanay movie studios is a plaque embedded in a sidewalk in front of a vacant lot.

If you happen to follow these columns from time to time, you know my interest in the early days of the Coastside, when the Little Brown Church was new and steam engines of the Ocean Shore Railway traversed the colorful ocean cliffs of San Mateo County.

All that's left of the old railroad are some clouded land titles, some road cuts, and a bit of colorful history. At least we still have the Little Brown Church, probably the most conspicuous remaining building that was always dedicated to public use in what is now Pacifica. The Castle and Sanchez Adobe were private homes. Anderson's Store and County Road Market were private businesses. Of course we also have Vallemar Station as a reminder of the railroad, but that has spent most of its career as a private residence or as a restaurant.

One reason why Karl Baldwin and the rest of our committee tries so hard to save the Little Brown Church is that we don't want to have the only record of the LBC a bronze plaque embedded in a sidewalk. That need not be the fate of our beloved landmark. The church should continue to remain where it has been serving Salada Beach, Sharp Park and Pacifica for 93 years, first as a house of worship, then as Pacifica's police station. Of course to accomplish that goal the committee needs the full cooperation of the city of Pacifica, and the church needs a new roof and a complete paint job, complicated by the need for professional removal of lead based paint. The Little Brown Church committee hopes to find the funds for those goals, but before that can happen we need the full cooperation of the city of Pacifica. In the little town I mentioned across the bay, now a part of the city of Fremont, they also have a long history. Before there was a Hollywood there was Niles. Even as the Ocean Shore RR did its thing on the coast, the Essanay film studios in Niles were making some of the earliest movies, starting about 1912.

In fact, the folks in Niles, including daughter Rena, recently put on a silent film festival celebrating the 100th anniversary of "The Great Train Robbery."

While that particular film was made in the midwest, Niles was where Charlie Chaplin, Broncho Billy Anderson and Ben Turpin filmed many early masterpieces. Charlie Chaplin's trademark little tramp was shown walking away down Niles Canyon. Broncho Billy established the genre of the western serial, an idea which made Gene Autry and Roy Rogers famous. Broncho Billy did it first, and he did it in Niles. Hollywood was a johnny-come-lately.

Paul Azevedo can be e mailed at Paul@thereactor.net.
Check The Reactor's website at www.thereactor.net.

 
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