3-79 Af&ti /Jo. 281? CALIFORNIA-KO OSTATUAK: A HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA'S BASQUE HOTELS DISSERTATION Presented to the Graduate Council of the North Texas State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By Jeronima (Jeri) Echeverria, B.A., M.A. Denton, Texas May, 1988 Echevenia, Jeronima (Jeri), Cal^fornia-ko Ostatuak: A History of California's Basque Hotels. Doctor of Philosophy (History), May, 1988, 282 pp., 14 tables, 15 illustrations, bibliography, 512 titles. The history of California's Basque boardinghouses, or ostatuak, is the subject of this dissertation. To date, scholarly literature on ethnic boardinghouses is minimal and even less has been written on the Basque "hotels" of the American West. As a result, conclusions in this study rely upon interviews, census records, local directories, early maps, and newspapers. The first Basque boardinghouses in the United States appeared in California in the decade following the gold rush and tended to be outposts along travel routes used by Basque miners and sheepmen. As more Basques migrated to the United States, clusters of ostatuak sprang up in communities where Basque colonies had formed, particularly in Los Angeles and San Francisco during the late nineteenth century. In the years between 1890 and 1940, the ostatuak reached their zenith as Basques spread throughout the state and took their boardinghouses with them. This study outlines the earliest appearances of the Basque ostatuak, charts their expansion, and describes their present state of demise. The role of the ostatuak within Basque-American culture and a description of how they operated is another important aspect of this dissertation. Information from interviews supports the claim that the ostatua was the most important social institution among Americanuak during peak years of Basque immigration. Since a majority of the Basque sojourners who arrived before 1930 were unmarried, unable to speak English, and intended to return to the Old World within a decade of their arrival, the Basque-American often substituted his "hotel" contacts for his Old World family. At the ostatuak, he found a familiar language and cuisine, as well as an employment agency, a place to vacation, translating services, an occasional loan, explanations of his host culture, and new friends from old villages. This history of California's ostatuak is the first of its kind and encourages future research on Basque boardinghouses throughout the American West. Copyright by Jeronima (Jeri) Echeverria 1988 111 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Very few projects are independent ventures and, as I have been privileged to work with two experts on Basque-American issues, I wish to thank them publicly. Richard Etulain of the University of New Mexico gave tirelessly of his editorial skills and made this dream of mine readable. William A. Douglass, Director of the Basque Studies Program, University of Nevada, Reno, generously shared his research and expertise. Both professors honored and enhanced my work with their contributions and I am grateful. In addition, Elena Talbott, Mary Paquette, Steve Ybarrola, and Lyda Esain shared themselves and their collections graciously. Without these, and the dozens of unmentioned Amerikanuak who made researching such a joy, this history of California's ostatuak may have never been written. Eskerrikasko! (Many thanks!) IV TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS vii FOREWORD Chapter 1. FROM EUSKAL HERRIA TO THE NEW WORLD 7 2. FROM THE MOTHER LODE TO THE GREAT BASIN 21 3. THE EARLIEST HOTELS, 1850 to 1880 39 4. LOS ANGELES AND SAN FRANCISCO: TWO EARLY CALIFORNIA "BASQUE TOWNS" 64 5. LOS ANGELES'S LEGACY AND SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA'S BASQUE HOTELS 95 6. OSTATUAK IN THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY 134 7. SAN FRANCISCO'S TWENTIETH-CENTURY OSTATUAK. 170 8. THE OSTATUA EUSKALDUNA 186 9. OBSERVATIONS, COMPARISONS, AND DISCUSSION ... 204 10. AGUR CAUFORNIA-KO OSTATUAK 224 APPENDICES 229 BIBLIOGRAPHY 247 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Basque Population, 1900 and 1910 29 2. Plaza Hotel Guests, 1863 to 1866 43 3. Plaza Hotel Staff, 1870 45 4. Los Angeles's Ostatuak, 1872 to 1890 68 5. Los Angeles's Ostatuak in the 1890s 75 6. Los Angeles's Basque Population, 1900 and 1910 77 7. Occupations of Adult Basques in Los Angeles County 78 8. Occupations of Basques in Western States, 1900 and 1910 . 80 9. Los Angeles's Ostatuak, 1900 to 1910 81 10. San Francisco's Ostatuak, 1866 to 1900 88 11. Origins of San Francisco's Basques, 1900 and 1910 .... 92 12. Stockton's Basque Hotels, 1907 to 1970 158 13. Chronological Display of Stockton's Ostatuak 165 14. Stockton's Basque Restaurants 167 VI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1. Basque Immigration Flow, 1850 to 1930 27 2. Basque Immigration to California, 1900 to 1910 30 3. Basque-American Ethnic Areas, 1985 37 4. Earliest Basque Outposts and Ostatuak, 1850 to 1880 .... 61 5. Map of Los Angeles's "Basque Town" 67 6. Hotel France and Hotel Pyrenees, Los Angeles 70 7. Los Angeles's "Basque Town," 1920 84 8. San Francisco's "Basque Town," 1899 89 9. Layout of the Noriega Hotel, Bakersfield 99 10. Bakersfield's "Basque Town" 110 11. Tehachapi Piatt Map, 1901 117 12. Borderre's French Hotel, Santa Barbara, 1910 123 13. California's Transhumance Sheep Trails, 1865 to 1905 . 135 14. Fresno County Transportation System, 1890 137 15. Map of Stockton's "Basque Town" 163 vu FOREWORD Although Basques were among the earliest Europeans to migrate to the New World, surprisingly few historical studies deal with their impact on United States history. To date, even fewer studies have appeared on one of their major social institutions--the Basque hotel. The focus of this study is a history of Basque ostatuak in the state of California.1 Such an undertaking requires consideration of historical factors that brought Basques to California and influenced them after their arrival, a discussion of ostatuak in the American West, and some comparisons with other ethnic boardinghouses. Unfortunately, some of the data and materials necessary for a complete study of these hotels are lost to history. In the case of San Francisco, for example, most of the civic records were destroyed in the earthquake and fire of 1906. In addition, many of the earliest hotels began as informal boardinghouses without licensure and cannot be found in the historical record. The county of Merced, for example, did not begin filing deeds of record until 1922 by which time at least two of its earliest Basque hotels had closed. This study relies upon interviews with former hotelkeepers, employees, and hotel customers, as well as city directories, local newspapers, fire insurance maps, early state and county histories, *See appendix A for a glossary of Basque. Spanish, and French terms used throughout this work. Lengthy phrases and those that appear only once are translated within the text. deeds of record, census information, and other primary material. The verbal record speaks most directly to the social function of the Basque hotel and supports my thesis that the ostatuak, more than the family or church, functioned as the major social institution of Basques in the New World for a specific period of time. Because they were dependent upon surging Old World immigration, the peak years for Basque hotelkeeping seem to fall between 1890 and 1940. Since the 1940s, the role and function of the hotels within the Basque-American community have transformed. Interviewing provided critical information on the daily functions of the ostatuak but, unfortunately, the history of the earliest hotels has lapsed beyond human memory. Important reasons exist for focusing upon the history of California's Basque hotels. California became the major port of entry for Basques as a result of the Gold Rush and the state is believed to be the site of the first Basque hotels in North America. In addition, the golden state continues to host the largest Basque population and the greatest number of currently functioning hotels. These factors make California a primary target for an initial study of Basque ostatuak. At the same time, one should realize that to some extent the use of California is at best a heuristic device. Delineating the history and nature of California's Basque hotels is useful as a method of discovery but can neither be automatically accepted as a model for all Basque hotels nor can it be taken as identical in nature to hotels in other areas of the United States. A general knowledge of Basque behavior in the American West and of Basque migration patterns within the United States indicates that Basques themselves have been relatively unaware of state borderlines. That is, a Basque from Bakersfield who visited a Reno hotel in 1932 is not likely to have noticed substantial differences in that hotel merely because he had crossed a state line. Another point critical to any discussion of Euskaldunak is the boundary line that divides them in Spain and France. A student of the Basques must decide whether he or she will follow the lead of the Basques and ignore Spanish and French viewpoints and distinctions. Except in the cases where it is impossible or where provincial sentiments affect the hotels in the New World, I will attempt to do as other Basques do and use a Basque perspective in both Old and New World settings. To speak of Basque hotels in the present tense is a bit of an anachronism. In the past four decades, the Basque ostatuak of the American West have evolved into scaled-down versions of their former selves. The few that remain as ethnic boardinghouses no longer function in the full capacities of an earlier era. In addition, the observer should note that when a Basque uses the word "hotel" for one of these boardinghouses, he is applying the term to a complex set of social functions familiar to members of his community.