Plaza History Association Newsletter

July 28 San Benito Parks Celebration 11am-2pm San Benito County Historical Park
Need volunteers to help with the San Juan Bautista SHP "booth"
Movies on the Plaza "Hook" At Sunset, bring blankets and chairs.
Need volunteers to sell "goodies"

Volunteer BBQ (The date has been changed to October, because too many people are going to be absent in August.)  First Saturday in October.

Highlights in the Spring: First Donation of compost, Carol Verbeeck noted the piano needs tuning,
"Movies onthe Plaza" started in June, painting on the adobe wall, and the "Bennie Benitoite Campaign (call 831-636-2068) to volunteer.

Early Days (feedback) Its went well, setting a new record for 194 "paid" admissions on Fathers Day.
The LULAC raised money for scholarships. More volunteers are asked to participate on this weekend.

Awesome Pictorials and Video of the Saloon

Flickr "Loving the Light, Plaza Hotel, San Juan State Historic Park" and Vimeo: Bettina and Uwe Steinmueller "San Juan Bautisa Plaza Hotel"

Both these sites (which are on Goggle) are awesome sites to see the Plaza Hotel and our "Saloon".

The Flickr site is incredible along with pictures of Mission along the Central Coast and Sacramento.

2012 Early Days

Early Days in San Juan

This picture is from the internet story of our recent Early Days at the History Park.

I arrived at about eleven o clock. On the third Saturday of June (Fathers Day Weekend) the History Park has their Early Days. It last two days. This day it was a bright day and we did well at the "Saloon." Our best day of the year was around February, when a group from CSUMB and a tour bus both brought people to the Park, combined with a hot day, and we sold alot of soda.

This month we provided some hot "home made" bread and some apple dessert, which I got a little of both. We had a couple other people helping in the Saloon, so I got out for awhile.

This scene is from behind the Castro-Breen House. Its living history so these people are dresses in period clothing from around the Civil War "post-war" era. Personally, I dress for a person travelling out West after the war.

We had dancers, and a card player in the Saloon. There was a horse drawn wagon (which was for visitors for a fee) and refreshments sold outside. But was had a great assortment of soda inside the Saloon and did better than the people in a tent selling "out on the green."

"Around 1840 a school for Spanish boys was established in San Juan Bautista. The first teacher's name was Hilario Ortiz. He had 12 pupils in his school. The school building was very small. It was made of sticks and mud. The boys began school a the age of five. They learned to read and write. Mr. Ortiz was very severe, but the boys learned in his school. The punishments used in the school were the same as Mr. Ortiz had learned when he was a soldier in the Army. One of his punishments was to strike the pupil's hand with a smooth side of the wooden mallet. There were many schools started in San Benito County in the early days. The first public school was build in 1859. This school was built near San Juan Bautista on the Rocks Road just beyond the cemetary.
     Before this school was build, the parents of the pupils rented buildings at different times. This meant the school was not always in the same place.
     In the early schools, all the teachers were men. Often these teachers were ministers and lawyers who taught school while studying. These free schools were open four or five months each year." (p. 35-36: San Benito County Long Ago and Today)

Old Mission Portland Cement Co. erected a cement plant just outside the town of San Juan Bautista in 1903. This helped keep open the Saloon in San Juan Bautista. This is one of several stories I tell the tourists and locals who come into our Saloon. A couple railroads were established to transport the lime from three locations in San Benito County. A narrowgauge railroad was establish, and later a broadgauge railroad from the plant to Chittenden on the Southern Pacific Central Railroad.
(quarriesandbeyond.org)

The information was compiled by Peggy B. Perazzo and the web master is George (Pat) Perazzo.