Friendly Acres Airport

It was 1926 and both Daniel Stafford and the Redwood Committee had lost the bid to establish the San Francisco airport on Sweeny Ranch lands (read more in the post on Sweeny Ranch Airport) - lands that adjoined the Redwood City airport.  That loss lead to the creation of the neighborhood we know as Friendly Acres.

However the Second World War only served to resurrect those commercial airport aspirations. And at the end of the war, in the late summer and fall of 1945, David Dewey Bohannon proposed the idea of building an airport at the end of Marsh Road.

Bohannon, like Daniel Stafford before him, was a real estate developer who had purchased the Belle Haven Tract from Harry Friend who, in turn, had originally purchased Belle Haven in 1935 during the depression.  Belle Haven represented the most easterly parcels of land of the old Sweeny Ranch (ranch lands carved out of the original Pulgas Rancho).

Despite the high and rapid turnover of owners, Redwood City airport, between Chestnut and Woodside road, had continued to operate during the 30s and 40s and the airfield was commonly referred to during the 2nd World War as Sanders' field.

No doubt influenced by the war time aviation activity, and the superb geographic conditions which the Navy had written about in 1916, coupled with Redwood City's 1925 slogan of "Climate Best by Government Test", Bohannon had pitched the idea of rezoning 72 acres of land north and east of Marsh Rd on the northern side of Bayshore Highway to create an airfield by the bay. 

At 72 acres, the proposed extent of land for the Friendly Acres airport (what we know today as the Industrial Park area) would have been a little under four times the size of today's Bayfront Park, at the end of Marsh Road, which is about 22 acres.



But Sander's Field, and the war in general, had given the residents of Friendly Acres its share of aviation mishaps:  noise from low flying aircraft, plane crashes by flying aces (read about the crash landing here), and bombs being dropped on the neighborhood, (more about the warhead incident here) were just a few of the trials that befell local residents.

The Times, San Mateo, CA, Dec 29 1939

Inevitably, the combined communities of Friendly Acres and Atherton saw fit to deny Bohannon's application for an airfield citing noise and land value depreciation as objectionable.

Unable to develop the airport, Bohannon went on to build 1305 homes in the Belle Haven Tract, (today, in East Palo Alto and East Menlo Park), which they envisioned as "a home builder's paradise where wildflowers bloom year 'round..."  


Sources:

• San Mateo County Genealogy, SF Place Names, Belle Haven: http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sanmateo/smplaces.htm
• Friendly Acres Airport Banned - San Mateo Times, Oct 20 1945
• Low Flying Aviator Scare Friendly Acres - San Mateo Times, Dec 29 1939

Vestiges of Redwood City Airport

For those of you who wrote in with comments and information following the article on Sweeny Ranch / Sanders Airport thank you for your emails.

I have been advised by several people that there is still one building of the original Redwood City Airport that remains intact and should be considered a historic building.  (And hopefully it is considered a historic building by the Redwood City History Committee.)

The building in question was originally the Aviation Cafe which had been owned and operated by the Andreini family from 1925 to 1969.  Ettore and Carolina Andreini had emigrated to the U.S. from Italy in 1921 and established themselves in Redwood City in the middle of what was then one of the busiest and most prestigious flying schools and airports in the state of California.

The Andreini's cleverly chose a site for their restaurant that was located immediately opposite the hangars which stood where Grant Yard is now, on the western end of the airfield.  (On the corner of Chestnut and Spring, opposite where the county corporation yard today stands.)  It would have been a place where pilots, students and passengers would have immediately gone to for a coffee and bite to eat.

The cafe was sold by the Andreini's in 1969 and in the 70's became the "Hideaway Lounge" offering cocktails and live music, which is how many people still remember it.

Vintage Hideaway Lounge matchbook covers.  Left, cover logo of cowboy on bucking bronco, reminiscent of the Redwood City Rodeo - [Source: ebay - sold]; Right, an elegant evening matchbook cover with gold embossed lettering, [Source: Frank Kelsey on Flickr].   Retail between $6-10 each!

Today, their building continues to stand and to provide food as it did back in 1925.  Nowadays it houses the Apatzingan Mexican restaurant. 

Click here to locate on Google Maps.

So for all you hardcore airplane aficionados and airport archaelogists if you're interested in sneaking a peek at the place - then you might want to pay a visit to Apatzingan's at 739 Chestnut St., Redwood City, CA 94063.  Phone number (650) 599-9172 

I can't find a website for the Apatzingan restaurant.  But they do have a page on Yelp.com with plenty of reviews from the general public.

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References: San Mateo Times, 4 December 1975, Death Notice Caroline Andreini.

Cherchez la femme: Mrs Harry Friend

Gussie and Harry Friend

For the longest time, I had been hoping to find a photograph of Harry Friend, the developer of Friendly Acres.  I only had a photo of a street sign named after him so I was really keen on putting a face to the name.  After trawling the internet exhaustively, newspaper archives and genealogy sites, all to no avail, I decided to switch track and follow the wise adage of 'cherchez la femme'.  So I began researching his wife, Gussie, instead.

I knew that Mr and Mrs Friend had moved out of Friendly Acres to live out their retirement years in San Carlos, so I searched for Gussie Friend in San Carlos and, lo and behold, found her obituary in the San Mateo Times for November 5, 1974.

The obit was short. Her funeral was private, restricted to family only.  Mrs. Friend, 93, a native of Poland, a resident of 1525 San Carlos Avenue, had lived in San Mateo County for 65 years.  She was survived by a daughter, Miss Eva Bercut of San Francisco: two grandchildren and three great grandchildren.   Her interment was at Woodlawn Cemetery in Colma.

Woodlawn is part of the chain of cemeteries that makes up Colma city, the largest necropolis in the world.  Its also a crematorium.  And the Friends were cremated.  Their remains are together in a brass box engraved with their names and crowned with a masonic seal, locked behind a glass case.  Next to them are the remains of the rest of their family.


On the glass front case in front of every niche, the Bercut-Lust Family, Friend's great grandchildren, had taken the trouble of placing a photo of their loved ones.  He had died in 1961 and his wife thirteen years later in 1972.

Harry and Gussie Friend, Woodlawn Cemetery, Colma, CA

Eva and Jean Bercut, daughter and son-in-law of Harry and Gussie Friend.

Jean Bercut, husband of Eva Bercut (nee Friend), [and co-founder of the famous Bercut Brothers Meat Market of San Francisco].

Eva Friend Bercut, born 1901 - died 2002.  A centenarian with 101 years on her belt when she passed.  Wearing, in this photo, what looks like a Spanish mantilla in a very 1950s pose.

The funerary boxes for Harry Friend and his son-in-law Jean Bercut, both have masonic badges engraved on the front.  A newspaper article in the San Mateo Times of October 22 1927 confirmed that Harry Friend waa indeed a Mason who had been inducted into the Islam Temple of the Mystic Shrine in San Francisco.

At the beginning of the 20th century almost 1 in 10 men belonged to a freemason association.  The affiliation provided men who were already leaders or active in their communities with business contacts and networks which transcended cultural prejudices and superstitions.

After the devastation of the 1906 earthquake and the aftermath of the First World War of 1914-18, the Shriners civic-minded values sought to rebuild and contribute to their communities on a grand scale, building hospitals, schools and more.  While monotheistic, they were typically non-denominational, enjoying membership from many religions.  And the Bay Area, according to Jweekly.com, was "one of the least anti-semitic regions". (Harry Friend was a Prussian Jewish émigré.)
 
The "Islam Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine" or "mosque" on 650 Geary where Harry Friend was inducted is a wonderful arabesque of a building, inspired by the Alhambra of Granada in Spain.  Built in 1918, it remained in use by the Shriners until 1972, when operational maintenance and funding needs necessitated a move to another location in the city, with the Shriners finally settling on new headquarters in San Mateo in 1994.  Their original building on Geary still stands, and is one of San Francisco's most visually interesting and architecturally stunning buildings.  Today it is used by the Alcazar Theatre.



In recognition of the anti-islamist sensitivity and political repercussions following the 9/11 tragedy, the San Francisco lodge changed its name in 2002 from Islam Temple to the Asiya Shriners of San Mateo.

On a final note, Woodlawn Cemetery in Colma, is also famously known as the  Masonic Cemetery.   In 1901, in order to make room for the building of the University of San Francisco, the remains of those who had originally been buried in the Masonic Cemetery, (1864-1901), on Masonic Street, were moved out of the city to Woodlawn Cemetery in Colma.  The tombstones of the original San Francisco plots were used as fill on the approaches to the Golden Gate Bridge.

If you pay a visit to Woodlawn Memorial park don't be surprised by the extent of Masonic insignia.  Its an interesting place to wander around on a Memorial Day afternoon, while remembering those who have gone before us.

And a fitting resting place for Harry Friend. 
References:

1. Newspapers.com archive:  obituary for Gussie Friend, San Mateo Times, page 31 November 5 1974.
2. Woodlawn Cemetery, Colma, California
3. Findagrave.com:  Search and Reference Information on Woodlawn Cemetery  
4. Jewish Weekly News of Northern California.   Jews and Freemasons - a not so secret brotherhood:  http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/20507/jews-and-freemasons-a-not-so-secret-brotherhood/ 
5. Patheos - http://www.patheos.com/blogs/altmuslim/2002/09/shriner_clubs_change_names_due_to_anti_islamic_sentiments/
6. San Francisco City Guides: 650 Geary - http://www.sfcityguides.org/public_guidelines.html?srch_text=Isadora+Duncan&submit=Search&submitted2=TRUE%2F
7. Timeshutter.com: Islam Temple AAONMS, San Francisco CA, 1910 - http://www.timeshutter.com/image/islam-temple-aaonms-san-francisco-cal
8. SFCurbed.com; The Landmarks: #195 The Alcazar Theater on Geary Street: http://sf.curbed.com/archives/2013/12/16/the_landmarks_195_the_alcazar_theater_on_geary_street.php