The Glendora Historical Society Preserving Our Heritage Since 1947 www.glendorahistoricalsociety.org May-June 2017 Newsletter & Archive

Rabat, Morocco – a city on the parallel. Photograph: CIA Photograph: G l e n d o r a o n t h e P a r a l l e l by Janet Stone When Monday, May 22nd Where Glendora Public Library, Bidwell Forum 140 S. Glendora Avenue Time 6:30-8:30pm (Program will begin at 7pm) Cost FREE and open to the public - Refreshments will be served. magine yourself in Glendora, lacing up your most comfortable long-distance shoes. IYou start walking, heading east. As you walk, you may pass neighborhoods of houses or neighborhoods of businesses, or slip back and forth from one to the other. Eventually, Glendora becomes San Dimas. San Dimas becomes La Verne. After 45 miles or so of this subtle patchwork, you hit the San Bernardino National Forest, and it takes maybe 150 miles more before you leave and find yourself in Arizona. If you were to continue this eastward trek straight around our Earth, 2360 miles away from the equator, what would you discover? Join us and find out. In this issue: Janet Stone has worked for the City of Glendora since 2007. After serving as Come Join Us – the Senior Librarian overseeing Adult Services, she became Library Director Calendar of Events in 2013. Prior to joining the City of Glendora, Janet worked with the Pasadena Country Dinner Invite Public Library for 18 years in several positions, largely in technology and Third Graders Visit Easter Egg Trophy information services. Born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley, Janet earned Vehicle Restoration Progress her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Occidental College in Theater Arts and her Unwet Your Whistle Master’s in Library Science from UCLA. She is a recreational runner, singer, Amazon Smiles and actor, and is a member of the Glendora-based Valley Poets group. THE GLENDORA N e w M e m b e r s HISTORICAL SOCIETY We are happy to welcome our newest members Mail address: P.O. Box 532, Glendora, CA 91740 Annual Membership Preserving Our Heritage Since 1947 Warren Asa (Family) Patricia Brabon G l e n d o r a M u s e u m 314 North Glendora Avenue Glendora, California Sunshine For Open Saturdays, 11:00am until 2:00pm. Sandi Finkbiner For special tours of the Museum call (626) 963-0419 ITH HER TWO Rubel Castle tours by appointment only. Weldest sons by her For details and reservations, visit our website side, Sandra entered eter- www.glendorahistoricalsociety.org. nal life March 2, 2017. She G e n e r a l M e e t i n g s was a passionate elementary The GHS program/general meeting will take place: school teacher and loving May 22. All are Monday nights 6:30-9 pm in the Glendora Public Library Bidwell Forum, 140 South mother with life-long inter- Glendora Avenue. Our programs are organized in ests in gardening and na- partnership with the Glendora Public Library and ture. Elvis Presley’s gospel are free and open to the public. Times and location recordings were high on her subject to change and will be announced. courtesyPhotograph of Oakdale Mortuary list of favorite music. B o a r d M e e t i n g s The next two regularly scheduled Board Meetings Memorial services were held April 7, at the United will take place Monday, May 15 and June 19 at 6 Methodist Church in Glendora. In lieu of flowers, pm in the Rubel Castle Bennett Room. All members the family requests a donation to: Cure Alzheimer’s are welcome to attend. Fund (www.curealz.org). Agendas, meeting minutes, and financial reports of previous meetings of the GHS Board are filed at the Museum, and can also be made available upon This issue marks the first request in electronic format. anniversary of our new logo. Officers Thanks to the generosity and and Executive Board of Directors skills of former Castle residents President:...... Jim Riley Ron and Sheharazad Fleming. Executive Vice President...... Steven Bluitt Flowers Museum Vice President:...... Karen Fortus-Garcia Development V.P.:...... Marlene Flowers-Lamerson Financial Report - Mar. 2017 Castle Vice President:...... Jerry Heinrich Treasurer:...... Ruanne Skeels Net income for 9 months ending March 31, 2017: Secretary:...... Steve Edwards Castle...... 24,598.92 ome Join Us Museum...... (3,311.05) C D i r e c t o r s Castle Curator:...... Patricia Sullivan Society...... (6,359.60) Membership Co-Chair:...... Janet Sorensen Total...... 14,928.17) Membership Co-Chair:...... Craig Woods Checking Acct...... 3/31...... $52,733.40 Director:...... Karen Cullen Reserve Acct...... 3/31...... $30,094.00 Director:...... Susie Kramer Submitted by Ruanne Skeels, Treasurer Director:...... Leonard Pihlak Director (Gift Shop Coordinator):...... DeDe Tomory S u p p o r t V o l u n t e e r s If there are any suggestions, corrections or additions to Newsletter Editor:...... Scott Rubel the Newsletter, please contact Scott Rubel via email at: Program Chair:...... Jim Baker [email protected]. Castle Docent Chair:...... Rona Lunde If you would like to be on an email list to get announcements Castle Garden Coordinator:...... Amy Wolkins between Newsletters, request this from Craig Woods at Sunshine Chair:...... Carol Tracey [email protected]. Hospitality Chair:...... Olivia Andonian

GLENDORA HISTORICAL SOCIETY D2d MAY-JUNE 2017 NEWSLETTER T h e G l e n d o r a H i s t o r i c a l S o c i e t y invites you to join us for our Annual Banquet & Installation of Officers Country Picnic Comen o up to the Pharm for delicious home style fried chicken and steamed corn on the cob, wine, beer and country music Rubel Pharms Saturday, June 24th from 5 to 8 pm (gate opens at 4:30) $20 per person Seats are limited and no tickets will be sold at the gate. To purchase online: http://bit.ly/2017_picnic Prefer to pay by paper check through snail mail? Please make it payable to Glendora Historical Society & mail it along with your name and contact information (please include a phone number) to: P.O. Box 532, Glendora, CA 91740

CAL E N D AR ¶ Come Join Us ¶ Upcoming activities for Glendora Historical Society Members and Friends. ~ Thursday May 18th ~ Tour of South Pasadena Museum, dinner and shop at the local Farmer’s Market. We’ll meet at our museum at 2, go to the metro and ride to South Pasadena, tour the museum there, check out the town and market, eat and take the metro back. ~ Saturday June 10th ~ Heritage Day. 11-3 in Heritage Park, 701 E. Mauna Loa, (626) 914-2357 ~ Saturday June 17th ~ Visit to the San Dimas Experimental Forest. ~ Saturday June 24th ~ Glendora Historical Society Installation Dinner at Rubel Castle. (see above)

GLENDORA HISTORICAL SOCIETY D3d MAY-JUNE 2017 NEWSLETTER Greetings from the Museum ramer K an s u : S h p hotogra P

T HAS BEEN A BUSY TIME at the Museum. Anniversary celebration of GHS and enjoyed an IKaren Cullen, Steven Flowers and Karen Garcia afternoon of visiting and enjoying ice cream and all the spent two afternoons with Stanton Elementary third toppings. Mayor Gary Boyer and all the City Council graders sharing Glendora’s history. They presented members took part and presented a beautiful certificate programs to four classes. Jesse and DeDe Tomory, to President Jim Riley. It was a great way to start out Terry Bollinger, Randee Schroeder, Karen Cullen, a year of celebration!! And thank you to Susie Kramer Steven Flowers and Karen Garcia have been busy at for all the party preparations!! the Museum giving tours to Sutherland, Sellers and Cullen Elementary third graders. A new aspect to More GHS member activities are coming up - mark your the program is having the kids do a scavenger hunt. A calender for a Gold Line trip to South Pasadena Museum special thanks to Linda Lybrand for developing the fun and farmers market on Thursday May 18. Also a trip is new “History Hunt.” The kids seem to love it!! planned for a tour of the San Dimas Experimental Forest on Saturday June 17. Over 40 members came to the Museum for the 70th — Karen Garcia

Jim Riley receives 70th anniversary certificate from City Council and Mayor Gary Boyer. Above and top: Third graders learning about the museum and Glendora’s early History

GLENDORA HISTORICAL SOCIETY D4d MAY-JUNE 2017 NEWSLETTER Vehicle Restoration Report HE FIRST MEETING of vehicle restoration Tvolunteers took place on April 22. Jerry Heinrich and Jim Riley met with Carburetor Carl Haren (as introduced in the last newsletter), Steve Krause, Glenn Matejzel, Craig Woods, and Charles Aldrich to make decisions on which vehicles should get attention first. It was decided that the 1927 Chevy flatbed truck should get sent off to rehab. Craig Woods and Amy Wolkins used Michael Rubel’s Kubota tractor to tow the truck into position so that Jan’s Towing get at it. Thank you to Jan’s for the complementary tow, and to all our volunteers for their expertise and enthusiasm.

— Scott Rubel

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Above: Restoration volunteers: L-R: Steve Krause, Charles Aldrich, Craig Woods, and Glenn Matejzel, Carburetor Carl Haren.

GLENDORA HISTORICAL SOCIETY D5d MAY-JUNE 2017 NEWSLETTER Bicycle month kicks off at rubel castle HOSE WHO HAVE LIVED in Glendora long Tenough will remember the name Elwyn Boly. Mr. Boly was a citrus rancher and artist who contributed much to the community. His most famous work was a large painting of St. George and the Dragon and St. Patrick, which he created as a contribution to the beauty of the Memory Chapel at Grace Episcopal Church in 1939, when the church was on Vista Bonita. This painting did not fit in when the new church was built on Mountain View in 1957. It was cut in two and the panels now hang in the Tin Palace at Rubel Castle. The Castle has always been a vortex where the present catches up with the past, and this played out again in a beautiful way when I received the following letter from Mr. Richard Boly, Elwyn’s son: Two years ago you kindly arranged for my family and me to visit Rubel Castle and see the paintings done by my father hanging there. We shared this great experience on Facebook, touching many people with the story of discovery of the paintings and the wonderful history of Rubel Castle. My father died of cancer when I was a child. Today, I am the same age he was when he passed away. His dream was to retire and tour route 66 in an Airstream camper, painting scenery and people along the way. Unfortunately, he never was able to realize his dream. In memory of my father I plan on bicycling the length of Route 66 from Santa Monica Pier to Chicago. I am no artist, so I will take photos along the way. I know this is an unusual request, but I could think of no better start to this adventure than to spend the first night camping on the grounds of Rubel Castle. I would happily pitch my - tent in the most out of the way corner of The Memory Chapel plan the property and would head out early was conceived two years ago - in the morning of Friday April 27. - by church members. The al It would be a very symbolic start to begin Boly found time to pour out tar is built of rocks collected in a town where my father grew up and in his artistry in the painting. It from all of California’s mis , Aug. 7 A sions. a historic location that features paintings - now has been made a perma from early in his life. GLENDORA nent fixture of the chapel. The painting portrays St. Times 1939: farmer-artist’s skill with the Elwyn Boly On a chilly evening on April 27, Richard brush has combined with re George and the dragon on Boly arrived at the Castle after braving high ligious inspiration to create a one side of the altar and St. with his paint- winds all day from Santa Monica, and slept reredos mural oil painting to Patrick driving the snakes ing. Text from Ireland on the other. enhanced for soundly in the caboose. The Castle may be grace the altar of the Memory Another distinctive feature Chapel of Rev. Henry Scott readability. the end of the journey for Saints George and of the altar is the Celtic stone Patrick, but we are proud to be a continuing Rubel’s Grace Episcopal Church here. cross in the center. A minia- part of the Boly Family saga as Richard begins Elwyn Boly, the young - ture of St. Patrick’s cross at his adventure in honor of a beloved father and artist, started the work 10 Armagh, Ireland, it was built Glendora artist who passed too soon. months ago as an addition the by Fritz Leiber, Hollywood the church’s distinctive Cha film worker. You can follow Richard on Tumblr. pel of Memories. When not Top: Richard Boly with family < http://bit.ly/boly_caboose> irrigating his orange grove in front of his father’s paint- — Scott Rubel and pruning trees, young ings in the Tin Palace.

GLENDORA HISTORICAL SOCIETY D6d MAY-JUNE 2017 NEWSLETTER Memories of Rubel Easter Egg Hunts past PRIL WAS A BUSY MONTH at Rubel Castle… Ain the 20th Century. Michael and his mother Dorothy’s Easter egg hunt was a production attended by hundreds of friends and Glendorans every year. Guests enjoyed fresh spit-roasted pig and other delicacies. Jello- mold desserts jiggled as both Western Pump engines thundered away, shaking the earth. Families arrived with their troves of decorated eggs and Michael would task the children with hiding them all. The next part of this exercise, Michael claimed, was not his own idea, but rather was a wise tradition inherited from the famous The coveted Riser Family egg hunts from the 1930s. After the children Riser/Rubel Egg completed their egg-hiding (and parents loved this part) all the Hunt trophy. little ankle-biters would get locked into the Compressor Room for a few minutes while the adults hunted for the eggs. This was a necessary measure that prevented children from cheating by calling out clues to their parents. If you doubt that there was incentive to cheat, just take a gander at the trophy. Isn’t that a beauty? The winner would have his or her name painted on and would take it home for a year to proudly display on the mantle. The winner was trusted to return it before the next year’s hunt to pass on to the next winner. Competition was fierce! If your name appears on this trophy, you are in rare company. After the completion of the Clock Tower, Michael began to relax, and the Easter parties tapered off. Although the last egg hunt took place in 1985, the last egg was found sometime in 1998 somewhere near the Billings Horse Barn. — Scott Rubel e s rau K andy : S h p hotogra P

GLENDORA HISTORICAL SOCIETY D7d MAY-JUNE 2017 NEWSLETTER H av e Y o u T h a n k e d a V o l u n t e e r T o d ay ? Unwet Your Whistle ubel R

cott : S h p hotogra P Craig Woods on top of the Rubel Castle King’s Quarters, worrying a wet whistle. INTER DELIVERS a raft of challenges The climbing is the hard part. The actual fix is fairly Weach year at Rubel Castle, both underfoot straightforward. After unscrewing the whistle from the and overhead. This year, Winter took a notion to wet top of the King’s Quarters, an inspection revealed it was our whistle. The nineteenth century train whistle, full of rust and particles blasting from the pressurized a neighborhood noontime fixture in the foothills of air in the ancient galvanized pipes. Glendora, was weakened by Winter water this year. Instead of its usual robust toot, it began emitting a A few turns with a wrench, a rinse, and a little oil to strange, brass, dying sound, which became weaker by prevent non-oily surfaces, and the whistle is tooting the day after the heaviest rains of the year. good-as-new. The whistle is mounted at the highest point of the And that’s a toot worth tweeting about. Castle, not a climb most volunteers want to make. Castle resident Craig Woods, always game for a mechanical — Scott Rubel challenge, put on his sturdiest work socks and climbed.

GLENDORA HISTORICAL SOCIETY D8d MAY-JUNE 2017 NEWSLETTER While Working On Whistles – We Wondered T JUST DIDN’T SOUND RIGHT, our three- and identified our treasure as an automobile Ichime whistle. Even before the Castle was built, exhaust whistle. He informed me that high Michael had a noon whistle mounted outside the Box pressure air will make it sound wrong, because Factory to charm the neighbors. This three-chime it is meant to mount to an exhaust pipe. Indeed, beauty was retired long ago, and while Craig Woods in the days before automobiles had horns, an was working on the sad sounding Castle whistle optional accoutrement was an exhaust whistle. I (see previous page), we threaded this one onto the followed Mr. Rizzoli’s instructions and confirmed air pipe to test it. It was loud enough, but sounded his verdict by hooking the whistle up to a small unsatisfyingly tinny. shop vacuum. I reckoned that some vital part must be missing from It sang beautifully and made me long for a world this whistle, so I began to research what could be the in which all cars could sound like this. Imagine matter. Google didn’t help much. I found pictures of how pleasant West Los Angeles would sound if similar whistles, but no blueprints or patent drawings all the honkers would be whistlers instead. that were useful. So I sent pictures of it around to some of our local train buffs. They were all willing, but If you are a locomotive enthusiast, pay a visit to none of their suggestions panned out. I finally found Rizzoli Locomotive Works, LLC. my answer with a Mr. Christopher J. Rizzoli, who is a builder of custom train whistles. Can you believe rizzolilocomotiveworks.com that’s a thing these days? — Scott Rubel Mr. Rizzoli wrote back as soon as I sent a photograph

A Clean Bird ubel R

ICK UP the May/June 2017 copy of The cott : S

Glendoran Magazine. Read about one of h P p Glendora’s extraordinary, unsung characters. for memories of Mrs. Edith Friezner, the cleaning hotogra lady for Michael and Dorothy Rubel, as Scott P Rubel and Dwayne Hunn remember Glendora’s magic mistress of spic-n-span, rumors, and hexes. Mrs. Friezner kept us on our toes and in our socks while consistently turning out the official Rubel newsletter, “The Shriek,” which was distributed and read worldwide.

GLENDORA HISTORICAL SOCIETY D9d MAY-JUNE 2017 NEWSLETTER Amazon will donate .5% of all eligible purchases to GHS F YOU ARE AN AMAZON CUSTOMER, just designate IGlendora Historical Society as their Smile charity from your account page. Then when you make a purchase you sign in to smile.amazon.com. Even if you have put items in your cart you can sign-in to smile.amazon.com and check out. As long as you are properly singed in, Supporting: Glendora Historical Society will show up right below the search box.

President’s Corner NOTHER YEAR HAS PASSED and it is time to was help preserve history in our community by assisting Aelect a new board. We have had the Nomination others, this is a great opportunity to step up and keep this Committee submit a slate of possible officers per our by- valuable resource going for another 30 years. It would be laws and standing rules. They were announced at the nice if we all showed up on June 10 for Heritage Day to last general meeting. Once again, they sought a waiver show our support of the program there. While Heritage to extend the term of President for another year. This Day is being coordinated by the City, it does showcase waiver was approved at that meeting. I am glad to do it all the priceless articles of the history the Preservation because we have such an active and dedicated group that Foundation have collected. For more information call it really makes my job easy. (626) 914-2357. After the meeting, another member came forward and On June 24 we will once again be installing our new asked about running for the board. So we are going to board and it should be a great time. See page 3 of this have a ballot for the first time in many years. It will list newsletter. Hope to see everyone there. the President, the four Vice Presidents, the Secretary and the Treasurer and the Directors by name. The new — Jim Riley, President person, which is interested in one of the director slots will be addressed as a write in vote. We have an interesting program planned this month, Castle Curator Report with Janet Stone speaking about “Glendora on the Parallel.” We will be handing out the ballots to you as HE SOCIETY IS UPDATING the cataloging you enter and during the program they will be counted Tsoftware to PastPerfect 5.0 which will result in a and the results will be announced after the program. combined database containing both the Museum and the Castle catalogs. As I understand it, this catalog will be On another topic we are still putting together a plan searchable online. The transfer to the new version began to assist the Glendora Preservation Foundation in May and may take a couple of weeks to complete. Organization in keeping the Centennial Park going Please be patient with us while this is in progress. for many years. They are now thirty years old and they can really use our assistance. Since one of the goals set — Patricia Sullivan, Castle Curator

In Good Company OOK! A BUS parked in front of Rubel Castle. What Ldoes that Day Tripper sign say in the windshield? “ and Rubel Castle.” Do we keep famous company, or what? It’s like those messages you always get from Amazon, “People who liked Watts Towers absolutely loved Rubel Castle.” Some people just have good taste. — Scott Rubel om c . oods uildings B W reat raig G : : C h h p p hotogra hotogra P P GLENDORA HISTORICAL SOCIETY D10d MAY-JUNE 2017 NEWSLETTER