December 23, 1998

Historical errata and such

As we close out 1998, it's time to correct a few historical errors which continue to flow out over the Internet via the Pacifica Internet Cafe. I have tried to have some of these corrected in the past, but that hasn't worked. Please correct your records, so that future historians, young and old, will not be misled.

The statue of Don Gaspar de Portolá, which was sculpted by the Catalan sculptors Subirachs and Carulla, was a gift from the state or region of Catalonia in northeast Spain, (not the city of Catalonia) to the state of California (not the city of Pacifica). Don Gaspar de Portolá was a Catalan, from an area of Spain which speaks a language as separate from Spanish as Portuguese and French. He was from the city of Balaguer, now Pacifica's sister city. Pacifica was greatly honored to be the site chosen for this fine statue.

The Portolá expedition probably didn't camp on the beach, next to a lake or swamp, but would have picked a drier area nearer to what is now the Sanchez Adobe.

The limestone quarried in the Calera Valley by the Spanish in 1776 would have been used to make whitewash for the walls of the new construction in what became San Francisco.

The County Road Market did not open in 1900. The sign above the door says 1930, but since it was built with the help of Matthias Anderson, who also worked on Anderson's store and the McCloskey Castle, it seems more likely it would have been 1906 or later that same decade.

The San Francisco earthquake was rated 8.25 or 8.3 on the Richter scale, not 8.1. If that doesn't sound like much of a difference, remember earthquakes are rated on a logarmithmic scale.

The Dollaradio station was built on the hillsides near Mussel Rock(not "on Mussel Rock"). The headquarters building is now a private home at 100 Palmetto Ave. The huge antenna field covered what is now most of Fairmont.

Delete the following in its entirety from your records: "1935 Mrs. Honora Sharp gives 450 acres of land to San Francisco for recreational purposes."

In its place, put the following: Sharp Park golf course and archery range lands were given to the city of San Francisco by Adolph Spreckels in 1916 and Samuel Murphey in 1917. The property had belonged to Honora Sharp, a widow who died in 1905 and who had given most of her property to her lawyer Rueben Lloyd and a friend, Adolph Spreckels, with the hope that a memorial gate be built at the entrance to Golden Gate Park to honor her late husband.

The gate, for a variety of reasons, could not be built. Spreckels and Lloyd were millionaires and San Francisco Park Commissioners. Murphey was a banker who inherited his share from Lloyd. Murphey was the source of the restriction that what is now Sharp Park Golf Course be used only for park and recreational purposes.

Mistakes have a way of persisting and proliferating, something like weeds and pampas grass. They are not easy to get rid of, once they start spreading.

Paul Azevedo has been fascinated by the history of Pacifica since he first came to town. If you have any historical tidbits, you can pass them on via e-mail to Paul@thereactor.net