entertainment

BROKE DOWN CIRCUS

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

Every April, “our” circus returned to Santa Rosa for one glorious day. Then came the year we wish it hadn’t.

In the first decade of the Twentieth Century, there were other circuses that also played here; the bigger and more famous Barnum & Bailey’s Greatest Show on Earth blew into town every couple of years or so, and once Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show raised its tents. Six months after the great 1906 earthquake, the Forepaugh-Sells Brothers’ Circus provided much-welcomed distraction from the long slog of rebuilding the downtown. But it was the Greater Norris & Rowe Circus that kids in Santa Rosa and Petaluma counted on to roll into town every spring. “When the long circus train unloaded at the depot, Norris & Rowe received their annual demonstration of welcome,” the Santa Rosa Republican reported in 1909. “The small boy was much in evidence, as were also big boys, and they worked with unflagging interest.”

The Republican article was undoubtedly written by Tom Gregory in his finest bathetic dry humor (“It is hard to follow all the daring things they do and say in a circus, but the excitement of trying makes life worth living”) and named some acts, which gives a feel of what the show was like (hint: lots of horse riding and trapeze swinging). Thanks to the wonderful archives of the Circus Historical Society we also know the sideshow included four hootchy-kootchy dancers, “the Musical Smiths, South Sea Island Joe and wife Beno, Montana Jack and Maritana, Liza Davis and her pickininnies,” plus a mind reader, a magician, and “La Belle Carmen.”

The Norris & Rowe circus always played the town for one day only, visiting Petaluma the day before or after (the circus additionally went to Healdsburg in 1908).  Like every tent show that came to Santa Rosa, they set up on the large empty lot on College Avenue that’s now Santa Rosa Middle School. It was an ideal location, close to the Southern Pacific railroad tracks, with Fourth street just a few blocks further away for the traditional morning parade.

But this visit by Norris & Rowe was like none before. Girlie shows “for men only” were touted on the midway and children were invited to try their luck at gambling. When they left, the lot was strewn with garbage. It was as if they didn’t care if they would be in Santa Rosa ever again. And indeed, they never were.

What no one in town knew was that the circus had declared bankruptcy a few months earlier, with liabilities of about $1.5 million in today’s money. They owed workers back pay, the printing company for their posters, even the candy company that provided popcorn and peanuts and Cracker Jack. Everything was auctioned off in January, 1909; the winning bid and new sole owner was Hutton S. Rowe, one of the original co-owners.

The comments in the Santa Rosa Republican show the revived circus was a lot rougher along the seams, probably because the creditless touring company needed the cash boost from lowlife acts and barely-legal game booths. As the summer of 1909 passed, the Norris & Rowe circus found itself performing in small crossroad towns and villages on the high plains and across the Canada border, places that were tiny then, and sometimes nonexistent today. It was like the route of someone seeking to hide.

Catastrophe struck on October 22, when a storm suddenly blew up near the end of a show in Princeton, Indiana. Without warning, the big top collapsed on a thousand people. “For a few minutes the wildest excitement reigned and the cries of the people could be heard for blocks away,” the Indianapolis Star reported. Then apparently all the men and boys in the audience remembered that they were wont to always carry folding pocket knives, and the canvas was slashed in hundreds of places. No one was seriously injured, but the circus couldn’t proceed with a shredded tent. It was decided that they would winter in Indiana, far from their Santa Cruz home.

According to a memoir by one of the musicians with the circus, bad luck crushed the circus in 1910. Pockets were empty; they couldn’t even afford a splash of new paint on the wagons or signs, and train cars were “very much run-down condition.” On opening day, the wardrobe lady was jailed after she shot and killed a man peeking into the dressing tent. Over the next three weeks, the situation deteriorated rapidly. The weather was terrible, with cold, hard April rain keeping audiences away, and some days there were no performances at all. The railroad insisted on being paid in advance in cash. Performers began fielding offers from other shows. When they crossed the Kentucky state line, the circus was hit with a lawsuit from another unpaid printer. And that was that. A benefit performance was given for the stranded performers.

None of that was was mentioned when the next circus arrived in Santa Rosa. In May of 1910 came the Campbell Brothers Circus, with twenty “happy jolly funny clowns”, a lady in a cage with a bunch of snakes, and The Marvelous Renello, who could flip a complete somersault on a bicycle. It was a good, clean show, which had even more railroad cars that urgently needed unloading under the close supervision of our local kids.

CIRCUS SHOW IS IN TOWN
Good Story About Norris & Rowe Exhibition

“Shrieking his rollicking roundelay, a monster marched through the town; he woke the echoes, disturbed the peace, and shouted defiance at the police; he frightened the horses, annoyed the dogs, and even the autos trembled; but the youngsters rejoiced at the din he made and followed his way with glee, as youngsters have done since in Hamlin town, another piper of high renown created havoc across the sea. So latter day children are wont to be entranced by the singing cal-i-o-pe.”

Again the painted wagons rolled through the streets and everybody, young and old, who could gain a vantage point, feasted their eyes on the classic spectacle of the circus parade that Norris & Rowe brought to us Monday morning. When a man or woman becomes so old as to lose all interest in circus day it is time for them to call in Dr. Osler. When the long circus train unloaded at the depot, Norris & Rowe received their annual demonstration of welcome. The small boy was much in evidence, as were also big boys, and they worked with unflagging interest in assisting men and horses to the circus lot. The big tent is filled this afternoon and for the convenience of those unable to attend the matinee, the whole thing will be repeated again tonight, when a number of attractive special features will be added. There is a set formula for modern circuses and one which departed from it would fail for want of patronage. They may vary somewhat in form and quantity, but in spirit they must follow the traditions. The Norris & Rowe enterprise is properly conducted and it offers all the ecstatic thrills and aesthetic delights demanded of a circus. It begins in the good old way. Three bands are united and march around the ring to a most inspiring air. Elephants come lumbering after, holding each other’s trail. After that it is the camels, dromedaries, and then delight of delights, shades of chivalry, the Knights and Princesses ride in graceful ranks, garbed in such glory as to outshine the pomp of power. Then come the clowns, humble Yoricks of the saw-dust and the pageant melts away, and in the two rings upon the elevated stage and high aloft toward the billowing tent-top this is a riot of daring deeds. It is hard to follow all the daring things they do and say in a circus, but the excitement of trying makes life worth living. From the shrieking of the calliope to the spieling of the concert and sideshow, Norris & Rowe’s is a real big circus, just as good as any other, and maybe better. Young or old, you cannot miss it, and if you did not go this afternoon, go tonight, and if you went this afternoon, go again. It will make your big troubles little ones and your little ones disappear altogether.

The afternoon performance was a good one and many attended and were entertained by the various acts. The principal riding acts included George Holland, the somersault bareback rider; Edw. Hocum, also a somersault and principal rider; Frank Miller, principal jockey and hurdle rider; Herbert Rumley, trick, fancy and rough riding; Frank O’Brien in a mule hurdle act; Rose Dockrill, the dainty equestrianne; Dolly Miller in a four horse carrying act; Maude Hocum and her well educated high school horse; Edna Maretta, principal lady somersault bareback rider; Mlle. Julienne and her trick horse Banaldo. The Melnotte troupe on the high silver wire; the flying Banvard troupe of aerial performers; the Leffe troupe of mid-air bar performers; the Sisters Sillbon on the flying trapeze; the famous Avalon troupe of seven daring trick and fancy bicyclists; the Montrose and Keno troupe of acrobats and other things.

– Santa Rosa Republican, April 12, 1909
COMPLAINT REGARDING SOME CIRCUS FEATURES

There is heard considerable complaint and criticism regarding several of the features of Norris & Rowe’s circus, which showed in this city yesterday, and those who witnessed the vulgar actions of certain of the noisy spielers connected with the affair are wondering why the police did not take notice. In front of one of the side tents near the entrance to the park several men and women, employees of the circus, were “barking” for an exhibition within “for men only,” and their work in that public place was suggestive of positive indecency. Ladies passing would hurry away, but boys and little girls were standing around witnessing the talk and actions. So vulgar was the language that it could not be printed and it is a shame that such was permitted.

There were also several gambling schemes running and it is stated that several young men lost money in the skin games. The park which the show occupied was left littered with straw, scraps from the kitchen tents, waste paper and other rubbish, causing the whole to be an eyesore to the public and a general nuisance.

 

– Santa Rosa Republican, April 13, 1909

 

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carnival1

A LOVELY DAY, A MONSTROUS SWAN

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

If your town must have a reputation, it’s not bad being known as the place that throws the best parties. From before the Civil War to beyond WWI, the festivals at Healdsburg were frequent and famous, drawing crowds of thousands even in horse and buggy days.

The Santa Rosa papers treated these events like hometown affairs, showering the preparations and celebration itself with the kind of laudatory attention given the town’s own Rose Festival. Who would be named queen, and who would be her attendants? Was a marching band coming from San Francisco? Santa Rosans wanted to know these details because they were sure to attend in force. Despite being the largest town in the area, there wasn’t much to do in Santa Rosa; the town didn’t even have a single public park. Yes, there was the Grace Brother’s beer garden at the corner of Fourth St. and McDonald Ave. but that was privately owned so it wasn’t always open, and worse, suffered from decades of neglect; the 1908 fire map reported structures were “old and dilapidated.” If you liked roller skating or swimming the skating pavilion and pool were open most of the year, but such options fell far short of a true park, where kids could frolic as the rest of the family stretched out and picnicked on grass or shore. For those primal Victorian-era pleasures, Santa Rosans took the electric trolley to places like Graton, where thousands waved the stars and stripes at the 1906 Fourth of July. Or they rode the train to fruit or gardening celebrations held at Cloverdale or Healdsburg. it was a bit like Sonoma County was burdened with a wealthy uncle who just expected he could drop by unannounced upon his poor relations to mooch a holiday dinner.

Healdsburg’s festive traditions began in 1857 with the “May Day Festival and Knighthood Tournament,” which was quite Renaissance Faire-ish, complete with jousting and other competitions from days of yore. (“Healdsburg’s Festivals and Parades” by Hannah Clayborn is the primary source for much of my information on the background of these events, along with “Splash from the Past” by Holly Hoods.) The year following Santa Rosa’s first Rose Festival in 1894, Healdsburg shifted likewise to a floral fest; while there were still men in armor clanking about the sidelines, the local paper reported that 5,000 were drawn to the town to witness the mile-long pageant of elaborate floats.

The last street flower parade was held in 1904, and was followed by an incident that might have gotten dangerously out of hand. The Windsor Herald published an anonymous poem titled, “In Healdsburg” that poked fun at the town in a most unfunny way. Besides calling the residents “an anarchistic bunch” – a potent insult for the day – there was a racial slur against the queen of the festival, Isabel Simi, the 18 year-old daughter of an Italian immigrant. (That same year, this young woman found herself the manager of the Simi Winery when her father and uncle unexpectedly died.) Healdsburg was outraged, and an effigy of Ande Nowlin, editor of the Windsor paper, was burned in front of the Union Hotel. In fact, they were so outraged that they saved part of the effigy to burn again the following day, when a crowd that stretched beyond two blocks participated in a mock funeral for the editor. “There was no doubt as to the excitement and feeling of resentment the lines had caused in Healdsburg,” the Press Democrat understated.

Perhaps fearing that festival mania had become a bit too manic, it was four years before there was another Healdsburg extravaganza. The 1908 Water Carnival was worth the wait.

The concept of an event centered upon the Russian River was not new; Gaye LeBaron wrote there were earlier “Logger’s Picnics” in 19th century summers, with lotsa log rollin’ and wood choppin’ fun. Monte Rio held a “Venetian Water Carnival” in 1907, complete with a parade of decorated boats. But the Healdsburg Water Carnival raised high the bar; with more than a generation of experience hosting such blowout events, the Healdsburgers put on quite a show. A brass band greeted arriving trains and led visitors to “Lake Sotoyome” (now Memorial Beach, but with a higher water level set by the dam). San Francisco’s Olympic Club performed a high diving exhibition from the railroad bridge, there was a firemen’s tournament with competing departments from Marin and Sonoma Counties, and a concert by the San Francisco firemen’s band. After dark there was a grand ball on a dance floor by the beach, fireworks, and a midnight farewell as the orchestra played “Home, Sweet Home.”

(RIGHT: The lost Van Gogh, “Carnival on the Water at Healdsburg”)

But ah, the centerpiece. The grand water parade was truly grand; the floats – now literally floating – were larger and more stately than anything that could have been pulled by horse or motorcar down Main street. On one float Dr. Morse’s wife, Bertha, posed as Cleopatra; on another the festival’s queen and maids of honor – check out the elegant feathered hats – were surrounded by giant artificial water lilies. The Rosenberg and Bush department store presented a float with “Swastika good luck emblems.” And then there was the “Monstrous Swan” entry from banker E. B. Snook, the secrets of ifs artful construction sadly now lost.

The water carnival made the old street parades seem rather flat, and gone were poor sightlines from the crowded sidewalks. Spectators could watch the water parade from the riverbank, from the railroad bridge above, or even from a boat, making themselves a bit of background in the show. The many surviving photographs of the 1908 and 1909 water carnivals also differ in being unposed. In every picture are seen people in motion – boats being pulled or rowed into position; a man in derby leaning forward from the prow of a rowboat for a closer look; a dozen or more kids packed tightly together on the edge of a dock, their toes dangling barely above the river. These are scenes that suggest paintings by great impressionists such as Monet or Van Gogh, and there are some photos that make one ponder what Seurat’s “La Grande Jatte” might have looked like if viewed from the riverside, while riding in a rowboat garlanded deep with California poppies.

Healdsburgers revived the water carnival in 2011, and are planning an even greater event on July 14, 2012. Float applications are now being accepted, although the first guideline is a notice that one particular design is reserved: “The Swan is taken. (we have a series of engineers and very brilliant people creating a replica – sorry).” Ed Snook would be so proud.

(Photos courtesy Sonoma County Library)

 

THOUSANDS OF LOYAL SUBJECT PAY HOMAGE TO FAIR QUEEN WINIFRED
Success Smiles on the Healdsburg Carnival
Day and Night of Pleasure for Everybody–Beautiful Illuminations of City and Lake–The Prize Winners–Fireworks Display–Queen Opens Ball

Fine weather, the presence of thousands of merry people, a firemen’s tournament, coronation of a gracious sovereign, grand pageant on Lake Sotoyome, aquatic sports and dancing in the day time, and magnificent illuminations up town, and on the lake, a splendid display of fireworks on the water, and a grand ball at night, with plenty of band music and entertainment at all times, made the first annual water carnival which was the glory of Healdsburg on Saturday a triumphant success.

The Ladies’ Improvement Club, the Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce and all those who contributed to make the water carnival a success must have felt happy and well repaid for their effort by the crowds that congregated within the gates of the ever loyal city to the north. People came from far and near to attend the pageant. They were all pleased and compliments were bestowed on all hands. It was a proud day for Healdsburg, one long to be remembered.

At early morning the people began to flock into the city. Hundreds of people arrived from Mendocino county and northern Sonoma on the special train from points north. From the south two big trains carried hundreds more. Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Cloverdale, Ukiah, Geyserville, Sebastopol, and all way points contributed well to swell the crowd. All roads led to Healdsburg, and from ten o’clock in the morning when the parade formed at the depot and marched up town until the last strains of “Home, Sweet Home,” had been played by the orchestra at the close of the grand ball at midnight in the city and lake rang with merriment.

In the firemen’s tournament in which the Petaluma, Healdsburg, and Mill Valley teams competed, the first prize was won by the Petaluma department, under Chief Meyers. Healdsburg was second and Mill Valley, third. Petaluma captured another prize, her float being awarded first premium.

Of course the main feature of the afternoon was the coronation of Queen Winifred, which took place on the royal barge on the lake. It was a pretty coronation scene. The band played, the people cheered, and Queen Winifred’s joyous reign was auspiciously inaugurated.

Queen Winifred’s maid of honor were…

[…]

Following the coronation came the parade of gaily decorated flats, rowboats, canoes, etc. The floats were of striking design. The Healdsburg Woman’s Improvement Club Float, “Cleopatra,” met with hearty recognition at the hands of the assembled throngs. On the float Mrs. Edgar Morse represented Cleopatra…

The Petaluma float, representing “California,” garlanded with a wealth of California poppies, won first prize. The float representing a large white swan, in which the Misses Snook were seated, entered by E. B. Snook, won second prize. Other notable floats were entered by the Woodmen of the World, the Odd Fellows and Rebekahs of Healdsburg. In the row boat division in which there were many entries, the one representing “Water Lilies,” in which the Misses Tully rowed, won first prize, and the boat entered by Joe Miller took second prize. The Healdsburg Red Men, in true Indian costume, paddled canoes and were given much attention. The water parade was a big success…

[…]

At night–and Healdsburg people can justly feel proud of this feature–the plaza and business center of the town was brilliantly illuminated with strings of vari-colored electric globes. The City Hall was outlined by clusters of lights. In addition the business establishments were prettily decorated. In the plaza, the firemen’s band from San Francisco gave a concert in the first part of the evening. Thousands of people witnessed the fireworks and illuminations on Lake Sotoyome. The Healdsburg band played for the concert and dancing on the platform on the lake. The grand ball was opened by Queen Winifred.

Here’s to continued success and progress for Healdsburg. And here’s a prediction that the second water carnival next year will be an even greater success than the first.

– Press Democrat, August 16, 1908

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SKATE CRAZY

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

By midsummer 1906, post-earthquake life in Santa Rosa was less about coping with crisis than it was enduring a hundred annoyances. Piles of construction materials had replaced the piles of rubble downtown, making 4th Street shopping difficult, and even dangerous, not to mention the inconvenience for farmers probably being unable to hitch their horse and buggy near the makeshift stores. Other merchants were dispersed to temporary locations on side streets, working from home, or at the business district shantytown thrown together on an empty lot near the corner of 5th and Mendocino.

The greatest disruption was probably social, however. Life before the earthquake was punctuated by endless get-togethers, dances, and card parties hosted by the fraternal lodges and ladies’ social clubs, and almost all of these gatherings were on hold since the disaster. The Athenaeum theatre and the Novelty vaudeville hall were both gone, so there was little to do at night, either. So after you’ve told your how-I-survived-the- disaster story to everyone you knew and tsk’d over their disaster stories, there was precious little to do in Santa Rosa. Maybe that’s why the town went crazy as a betsy bug over roller skating that summer.

But Santa Rosa’s roller mania wasn’t created by the quake. Roller skating was quite a fad that year nationwide, and the San Francisco Bay Area was a hotspot with the famed Idora Amusement Park in Oakland, said to have the largest and best rink in the world. Two downtown skating rinks were opened in Santa Rosa in the weeks before the quake to great success, and the Press Democrat noted that a popular salutation around town was, “Have you had a skate on?”

Then came the earthquake. The urge to put on wheeled shoes was quelled but not extinguished. Three weeks past the disaster, a rink was opened at the old Grace Brothers Park near the Macdonald Ave. and 4th street intersection. Frank Leppo, who had operated one of the pre-quake rinks announced that he was going to build a new one on Humboldt Street. And with no fanfare, Mr. Green and Bowers asked City Council for permission to build a pavilion that would cost about $15,000.

The Pavilion Skating Rink opened three months after the quake. Located in the middle of the A Street block between 4th and 5th (think of their front door as the menswear department at Macy’s), it was about 15,000 square feet of no-frill steel and wood construction – a standard warehouse, more or less. The owners instead spent a chunk of money on installing a quality maple skating floor, with two layers of felt underneath to muffle the roar of hundreds of skaters and to make it more springy. Every afternoon they polished the floor using a large slab of marble attached to the back of an automobile, which then “ran around the room at a lively clip.”

(RIGHT: “Professor” Franks and his 7 year-old daughter, “Baby Lillian.” The Franks toured California roller rinks in 1906, visiting Santa Rosa in late September. Other newspapers described their act including dad skating on 30-inch stilts. The finale of the act had him skating up a special 70-foot ramp and jumping thirty feet, landing with a pirouette. His daughter followed with a similar leap into her father’s arms)

It was immediately a terrific success. Santa Rosans packed the place; even if you didn’t skate, there was enough seating for a thousand to watch. Within days, the Santa Rosa Republican began running a “Skating Rink News” section on the front page to keep everyone up-to-date on the latest doings at the Pavilion, and the Press Democrat followed with its own front page column soon after. Here was news you really needed to know; that evening there might be a match between Santa Rosa’s “polo team” (roller skate hockey) and competitors from Healdsburg or Petaluma, or there could be a grand march where all comers would be given a red, white, or blue Japanese lantern to carry, or there might be an hour reserved for couples near closing. Professionals also came through regularly with “fancy skating” exhibitions. Every day there was something new to see, and you or someone you knew probably saw it.

But skating was just part of the fun. Two months later, Bowers and his partner opened Santa Rosa’s first swimming pool next door. At 40 x 100 feet it wasn’t modern Olympic size, but then again, competition pools usually don’t have a slide, trapeze swing, rings, or an attached skating rink. This likewise was a great success, and come November, they closed the swimming baths for the winter and placed a dance floor over the pool. Now it became “Bowers’ Hall,” Santa Rosa’s ballroom.

Together, the Pavilion and Bowers’ Hall became the town center that Santa Rosa never before had. The buildings even functioned as a convention hall for large gatherings, somewhat like the grand auditorium that architect William Willcox had recently hoped to build. in January 1907, more than 3,000 packed into the skating rink on a Saturday afternoon to hear William Jennings Bryan pontificate about America’s greatness and its destiny to lead the world.

Ideally Santa Rosa should have offered these venues at a public park, where admission would be free or nearly so (and which Willcox also tried to create here). Bowers charged up to 50¢ a person for some events, the equivalent of something around twelve dollars today. It was an expensive night out in a farm town. Still, gratitude was owed to Bowers and Green for providing a service that probably helped many escape their woes and mourning, at least for a bit.

And as the annus horribilis of 1906 came to an end, two dances at Bowers’ Hall helped close the year on a pleasant note. The week before Christmas there was a dignified “Grand Masque Ball,” and then on New Year’s Eve, a decidedly UNdignified “Sheet and Pillowcase Masquerade.” There dancers wrapped their bodies in a bedsheet and covered their head with a pillowcase with two holes cut for the eyes. “The amusing feature is that often it is hard to tell whether your partner is a gentleman or a lady, and times have been when men have had men for their partners, much to the amusement of all,” promised a blurb in the Republican. It’s another of those moments that make me yearn for a time machine; how fun it must have been to watch everyone in their boiled sheets struggling to dance like clumsy ghosts, while next door, others dressed in their Sunday best glided gracefully around and around until at last the new year came.

RINKS ARE MERRY
Large Crowds Patronizing Roller Skating Here

“Have you had a skate on?” is a popular salutation these days in Santa Rosa.

The skating rinks which opened Saturday evening at Ridgeway hall and Red Men’s hall are doing a land office business every night and in the afternoons many take the opportunity to become acquainted with the fascinating pastime.

– Press Democrat, March 28, 1906
“Billy” Cowan Shows Skaters How to Skate

Attorney Willaim Finley Cowan is nursing some strained ligaments of the arm and wearing one of these member is splints as he result of an attempt to use roller skates at a local rink Friday morning. He was formerly one of the best skaters in Santa Rosa… [when] he was something like twenty-three years younger and over a hundred pounds lighter…Those in the vicinity declare that an earthquake had occurred when “Billy” hit the floor, but their fears were soon dispelled.

– Santa Rosa Republican, March 31, 1906
FINE SKATING RINK SOON TO BE OPENED

The new skating rink which is being erected on A street in this city is one of the most pretentious affairs of the kind to be found in this part of the state. Messrs. H. A. Bowers and I. L. Green, who are financing the rink, state that they expect to have the place completed by the last of next week and will be ready then for their opening.

The rink is a splendid building, 74×200 feet, and is being constructed of rustic, [sic] with a pressed steel front in imitation of bricks. There will be room for some four hundred skaters on the floor, and seats will be provided for one thousand spectators, while the hall will be large enough for convention purposes and will hold fully 3500 people on such occasions. Already there is some talk of having the coming lecture of William Jennings Bryan in this building next fall.

One of the most interesting features of the ring is the manner in which the floor will be laid. Mr. Bowers stated this morning that he will have each of the floor joists covered with a thickness of felt before the roof floor is laid, and on top of this first floor there will be a complete covering of felt before the maple floor is placed in position. This will make the floor flexible, and also overcome the disagreeable noise of the skating.

Adjoining the rink Mr. Bowers is having his large public bath house erected. The excavation for the swimming tank is being rushed to completion at the present, and when completed will be 40×100 feet, while the building itself will be 60×120 feet. The baths will be fitted up in the latest manner, being equipped with slide trapese, rings, and the like and will be connected with the skating rink so that there will be an opportunity to pass from one to the other.

The feature of the swimming tank will be the incline floor that is to be laid, giving the bathers any depth of water they may desire. When completed the rink and baths will be the best to be found anywhere and no expense is being spared to fith them up right.

– Santa Rosa Republican, July 12, 1906
UNIQUE MANNER OF DRESSING DOWN FLOOR

At the New Pavilion Skating rink in this city, the manager, H. A. Bowers, has contrived a very unique way to dress down the floor for the skaters. He secured a large piece of marble nearly two feet square and about four inches thick, and every afternoon just after the rink has been closed to visitors, an automobile is run into the building and hitched to the stone. Then the fun begins. The auto is ran around the room at a lively clip, dragging the stone, and giving the hardwood floor a splendid satin surface.

The marble grinds off all the rough and uneven places on the wood and gives the surface a smooth and pleasing finish. After the marble has been used, then there is a large pad, arranged nearly four feet square, which is faced behind the machine, and in a short time there is absolutely no dust to be found on the floor. Another advantage in the method is the doing away of all chalk and other applications. This makes it especially pleasing for the ladies, as there is no danger of soiling the white clothes while skating. Mr. Bowers’ plans is certainly a very unique one, and by test has been found to do its work to perfection.

– Santa Rosa Republican, July 26, 1906

AUSPICIOUS OPENING OF SKATING RINK

The new skating rink of Bowers & Green opened as scheduled Saturday evening, and there was a perfect crush of visitors to the new place of amusement. The large pavilion was crowded, many visitors going into the galleries to witness the animated scene on the floor below. The management had provided generously for the opening night, but the attendance exceeded their expectations, and the number of skaters was greater than there were skates on hand. Many had to be turned away because all the skates were in use. More than two thousand persons were in the pavilion, and a more auspicious opening could not have been desired…

– Santa Rosa Republican, July 23, 1906
SKATING RINK NEWS

The attraction at the Pavilion Skating Rink this evening will be the presence of Joe Waldstein, the world’s champion skater…Waldstein will be present Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings, and for these three evenings the management has decided to charge an admission of 25 cents. On each of the evenings mentioned there will be a grand skating march led by Mrs. Bender and Mr. Waldstein and much interest is being taken in the event.

This afternoon there was a practice by the ladies preparatory to the march this evening.

[..]

– Santa Rosa Republican, July 31, 1906

SKATING RINK NEWS

Tonight a potatoe [sic] race will be the chief amusement. The one who gathers the most potatoes and covers the distance in the shortest time will be given a new pair of skates.

On Thursday night the rink will be run by the polo team, at which time there will be a polo game and possibly a ladies’ tournament. The entire management will be turned over to the polo boys, and Captain Burris will act as floor manager. The time for closing will be extended a half hour longer than the usual time for closing, and one and a half hours will be devoted to ladies and escorts only. The boys are desirous of making a good showing on that occasion, and have planned to make the evening a very interesting one for the spectators.

– Press Democrat, August 21, 1906

BATHS ARE OPENED WITH LARGE CROWDS

The opening of the baths at the Pavilion Rink yesterday afforded a large number of people no little amusement and pleasure in bathing. The night was filled with good water and just nicely warmed and long before the noon hour there was a large crowd in the water. Early in the afternoon every bathing suit was taken and many of the patrons of the place remained in the water for a long time. They seemed loath to leave the sport.

[..]

– Santa Rosa Republican, September 4, 1906

SKATING RINK NEWS

Last night at the Pavillion Rink, the grand march was presented in a very pleasing manner by a large number of the best skaters of the vicinity. There were many new and very pretty figures introduced, among which was a lantern march in which each skater carried a Japanese lantern of red, white, or blue, and as the march progressed they produced a very pleasing effect. Tonight there will be another grand march, and after the march plain skating will be the order of the evening.

Monday night will be mens and boys night and there will be many games played. The main feature of the evening will be a two-mile race for a purse of $25…

The new floor that has been laid over the big tank has been completed and there will be a first class dance given tonight. Butler’s orchestra will furnish the music for the occasion,

– Press Democrat, November 10, 1906

SHEET AND PILLOWCASE MASQUERADE BALL

Considerable interest is centering in the Sheet and Pillowcase Masquerade which is announced to take place at Bower’s hall next Monday night. The idea is something novel and there will be a large attendance. The reason the plan is proving so popular is that it is no easy to secure the costume for the event. All that is necessary to make it complete is to have a sheet wrapped around the body up to the arm-pits, and a pillowcase over the head, having cut two holes for the eyes.

The amusing feature is that often it is hard to tell whether your partner is a gentleman or a lady, and times have been when men have had men for their partners, much to the amusement of all.

Butler’s orchestra will furnish the music for the event, and the admission will be twenty-five cents for spectators and fifty cents for maskers.

– Santa Rosa Republican, December 26, 1906

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