" ...can you recall Tarantino's Restaurant on the NW edge of 101 through Garberville? Can you recall the name of the restaurant before it was Tarantino's? (Hint: Rotary used to meet there.)"
Too easy!
Terry Tarantino started his restaurant in Miranda in the location of the present-day Stones Gallery. The highway through Miranda at the time was the 101 highway. He served excellent food and he had a very popular cocktail bar. He moved his Restaurant and liquor license to shelter cove when it was first being developed. He opened his restaurant in the building that sits on the point overlooking the cove. The building belonged to the Machi’s. Terry’s wife was a Machi. The biggest reason for his move was the fact that his business dropped off when the freeway was put in.
There was an astounding land rush to buy property at Shelter Cove, but the people didn’t follow, they were buying land as speculators, or for their future retirement. People didn’t flock to Shelter Cove like everyone thought would happen, and “The Cove” was very sparsely populated for years.
The restaurant didn’t do as well as he hoped, so he moved to Garberville where his restaurant was very popular up until Terry died of a heart attack.
Now back to the question at hand: The Restaurant was called “The Silver Spurs”. It was located just north of the present day Branding Iron, where the fence is that has the sign; “Will Build To Suit”. It was ran by a Frenchman by the name of Peter, and his wife. I don’t remember his last name, but everybody called him “The Frenchman”.
The building burned down in the fifties and was rebuilt. It was spared during the Southern Humboldt Builders / Branding Iron fire, but it was burned again from bums living in the basement. This time it took The Branding Iron bar with it. Both times The Branding Iron was an innocent victim.
After Terry died, the restaurant became "The Trees Restaurant" and I believe that Roy Schmunk owned it for a while. Schmunk also ran a very popular Redwood tour bus called "The Squirrel" that did a tour of the local redwood parks and the Pacific Lumber Company in Scotia.
Steve Anderson ran the restaurant for a while, but times were tough and he didn't do well at the location. A fellow by the name of Kieth Thompson, (I spelled it wrong, but it is spelled with two s's) bought the place and catered to the newly built Humboldt House Inn across the street. He was an excellent chef and he was a supreme host. He did fabulously well.
His son Scott also worked there, and he later bought "The Emerald" and changed the name to the "707 Restaurant". Scott then sold to a famous San Francisco Chef, by the name of "Chef Robert" (Pronounced "robare") who sold to Cecil's (Pronounced Cecil's). Who also serves excellent food.
Arn't we lucky that Garberville has such great food!
As a side note, I worked on the refrigeration of all those places.
ReplyDeleteYour side note has been noted.
ReplyDeleteI sure do miss the Sawblade in Phillipsville. Burgers and beer.
ReplyDeleteAnd the occasional brawl.
Had lunch one day around 1975, shooting pool was a lad wanted for murder. They weren't looking very hard
DeleteErnie, the Chef's name wasn't Chef Robert (robare) but Chef Albert (pronounced Albare) and he is the current owner of the Hacker Creek Property.
ReplyDeleteon a side note. what was the name of the restaurant in miranda after tarantino's moved?
ReplyDeleteHey, you're good, Ernie! Sorry I made the trivia question "too easy".
ReplyDeleteI rode on Schmunk's Squirrel tour once. He salvaged that bus from the scrap heap a year or so after it went over an embankment just north of Redway while returning from a game at South Fork. It wasn't the team bus as I recall; it was the rooters bus and fortunately none of the students got badly hurt. (No, the bus driver wasn't on a cell phone at the time.)
I'll work on harder trivia for you, Ernie, since the next question I'd intended is easier yet: What was on the site before the CalTrans maintenance yard was built?
Ernie, I remember LA friends who were visiting going to the Tarantino;s in Miranda and raving about the food. one guy, who was Chief Epidemiologist for LA County, said it was one of the best meals of his life. That would have been about 1972. The Sawblade hamburgers were huge and probably shortened my life a few years, but worth it. Mountains of fries. How many readers ever ate at The Forest of Arden? Jack Kerouac mentioned eating there in "The Dharma Bums". My brother in law, who is a discerning eater and fine cook, was amazed at the excellent meal he had at the 707 a few years ago. Aside from fine restaurants, Garberville also has the best looking women in Northern California.
ReplyDeleteThe original CalTrans yard was at the South end of Garberville on the West side of the road. That was before it was called CalTrans.
ReplyDeleteWhere was the Burney Bush apartments? Bill Semans lived there and owned the Mobil gas station and bulk plant. The old Mobil bulk plant was about in the location of the US Post Office. Hell, the post office might be somewhere else since I have been there.
Here's a tough one, who were the 3 operators at the phone office in the early 50's? That was back in the days of 3 digit phone numbers and crank phones with nothing but party lines. I do remember the number of Riverside Farm Dairy, it was '190'. For those who don't remember the dairy it belonged to the Pancoast's.
Who remembers Doctor Lowen and the nurse, Jan Semans, at the "doctors office". I remember going there when there were ash trays in the waiting room. Times change, no ash trays in the doctors office, now, no talking on the phone in your truck or Corvette.
Ekovox, yep, the Saw Blade was a Byrd of a different color! I heard that Mel Byrd was over around Grass Valley some where now, but I haven’t seen him in years. He was a great historian and collector of logging memorabilia and other oddities.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kym I knew that, But it slipped my brain. Albert…
Yes Ben, Tarantino’s was well known for fine Italian food and nice juicy steaks. I remember the spumoni Ice-cream for desert. The Forest of Arden was remodeled and cleaned up just before the State Parks bought it and removed it. There was a Italian Chef that came out of Eureka. I forget his name, (Maybe Kym remembers) but it was something like, Ramaschotti? He used to make veal scallopini that was to die for. Melt in your mouth delicious!
Sorry anon, I have another post about the Caltrans lot and how we got the 25 cents to go to the Saturday Matinee. But you’ll just have to wait.
There was a Pete & Hazel Ramaschotti in Garberville back then. He was the store manager at Bistrin’s.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite waitress at Tarantino’s Miranda was Bertha DiVee (sp?). She was related to Speed. By the way, was there ever a bar or restaurant near Phillipsville called Riverwood?
I liked Maria at Tarantino's.
ReplyDeleteMel Byrd lives up at Snow Camp. The Sawblade had three jukeboxes with the greatest collection of roadhouse music in the history of mankind. All courtesy of Sharon Byrd. At Astrinsky's, there was a plywood patch on the front door as a result of Mel throwing someone through the door. Literally through the door. A week or so later he let the guy back in. I won't mention his name a he might still be living and take my story badly. We used to call the Sawblade the "Fun Zone". It was a family tavern an if you opened the front door too fast you might knock some little kid in a walker half way across the room. This could mean a pissed off mom and so you became careful going in. I was once an extra in a dreadful soft core porn movie partly filmed at the Sawblade. The movie was called UP and the director was Russ Meyer who died recently. The movie premiered in Garberville as a Phillipsville Volunteer Fire Department benefit. It was an event most partiipants would like to forget but I intend to do a little research and try to tell the story. Those were certainly the days.
ReplyDeleteSome of the teachers were stand ins for that movie
DeleteBen,
ReplyDeleteCan you tell me more about Kerouac eating at The Forest of Arden restaurant?
Ben,said " I was once an extra in a dreadful soft core porn movie partly filmed at the Sawblade."
ReplyDeleteI took my wife to see that movie. If you look up "prude" in the dictionary, there is a picture of my wife. She wouldn't trust me to pick a movie for a long time. The next time that she let me pick a movie I took her to see "The Alien". It took a while to get her fingernails unstuck from the armrests at the theater.
Back to the porn film, I supplied the colored lights for the film, because we had the only 115 volt light bulbs in Garberville at the time. They were in our big Christmas tree. We took them out and loaned them to the movie company. It was all great fun for Garberville until we got to see the movie. OOOPSIE!
P.S. My wife thought that it was "Hard Core Porn", poor thing...
ReplyDeleteThe Forest of Arden burned down. Ben & I responded to that one together. John Hagen saved most of the booze as he tried to put out the fire. That was like 1977, maybe '76.
ReplyDeleteActually, The Fiorst of Arden burned twice. The first time in '76 when the P-ville truck ran out of water and the second time in the mid 80s when Richard Head was trying to sell it to State Parks. He evicted the remaining tenants and someone torched the place on New Years at one AM when they knew the volunteers would be somewhat incapacitated. Before that, the log cabins here seemed to catch fire regularly and I remember being in one with Bob Harris when the tenant's ammunition collection went off. Scary.
ReplyDeleteRobin, In "The Dharma Bums", Kerouac is hitching to Washington to his job as a fire lookout at Desolation. He gets a ride with a log truck driver and they stop at the Forest of Arden for lunch. Back when the Forest was a going concern as a resort, the half ponder steelhead run was so regular that the place would be booked every early fall. The resort would hire locals who had boats to take fishermen out for the day and Casey Bowman often was one of their guides. That would have been over forty years ago. The fishery then declined to its present pathetic state.
Ernie, All I remember of the UP premiere was the realization that all of the nice old ladies in Phillipsville were there. My other memory is of Darrel Beasley howling with laughter while Ruth sat stiffly beside him. Meyer's (the director) biographer described UP as an "abomination". Oddly, my granddaughter is a fan of old Russ Meyer movies and was amazed and thrilled to learn that I was an extra in one. She actually has a VHS of UP and you can tell Janice that I can get her a copy.
ReplyDeleteI know this is an old thread but I just found it in google search. I was wondering if you could tell me anything about the property just south of where stones gallery in Miranda is now. My family bought it and i know it used to be some kind of hotel or something and was just looking for any info on it. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI remember the motel. I have no info, but the last time that I worked there a man by the name of Dennis Bourassa owned it.
ReplyDeleteSorry that I'm not more help.
Well dam had it all text then it just disappears but words like seaman. Scott Anderson.long beach mortgage. And BEA ANDERSON REALTY. BEA TWO WORDS BE A IS A VOUL AND EA BEING SHORT FORM OF EACH YOU END UP WITH BEACH. BUT 705 TWIN TREES ROAD IS A GOOD ONE 705 7=G SO GO EAST.TO WIN TREES ROAD. GEORGA FOR PEACH AND CANT REMEMBER WHAT STATE FOR PEAR..BUT TO WIN INTREES YOU WOULD NEED TWO PEAR TREES PEAR P EACH AND EAR TWO GOOD EARS TO HEAR.TWO PAIR 33'S 4 OF A KIND 3333.I KNOW IM CLOSE. BUT JUST NOT OLD ENUFF TO OUT SMART THE OLD BOYS. BUT I LOVE IT HERE EARNIE. AND THAY CAN KEEP MY PROPERTY.FOR THE GOOD OF ALL SO HUM. THE SOUTH FORK OF THE EEL.BUT WHO EVER DID THE MAP UPSIDE DOWN AND BACK WARDS .ALMOST DIDENT NOTE THE POINTER WITH THE N OVER IT HOW IT MAKES A FLAG BLOWING TO EAST AND OND UPSIDE DOWN TO THE WEST .SO I GUESS JUST DEPENDS ON THE WAY THE WIND BLOWS. AND I WILL NEVER PUT MY NAME ON ANYTHING THAT HAS NAMES UNDER THE LINES. IT SHOULD ALWAY BE ABOVE THE LINE ON THE TABLE FOR ALL TO SEE THAT ITS GOOD.I TRUSTED THINKING LIKE MY GRAND FATHER TOLD ME BOY IF YOU SHAKE A MANS HAND AND LOOK HIM IN THE EYES AND MAKE A DEAL . MAKE YOUR WORD GOOD ITS ALL YOU HAVE.ITS WHO YOU ARE AND YOUR NAME SO BE PROUD OF IT. AND I CAN SAY I STAND WITH MY HEAD UP AND FORWARD KNOWING IM A GOODMAN.☺ GOOD DAY SIR AND PLEASE KEEP UP THE GOOD STORYS IVE ENJOYED READING ABOUT OUR HISTORY HERE. A WEALTH WORTH MORE THEN GOLD OR SILVER ITSELF.RANDOLPH W. HARMON.
ReplyDeleteWell dam had it all text then it just disappears but words like seaman. Scott Anderson.long beach mortgage. And BEA ANDERSON REALTY. BEA TWO WORDS BE A IS A VOUL AND EA BEING SHORT FORM OF EACH YOU END UP WITH BEACH. BUT 705 TWIN TREES ROAD IS A GOOD ONE 705 7=G SO GO EAST.TO WIN TREES ROAD. GEORGA FOR PEACH AND CANT REMEMBER WHAT STATE FOR PEAR..BUT TO WIN INTREES YOU WOULD NEED TWO PEAR TREES PEAR P EACH AND EAR TWO GOOD EARS TO HEAR.TWO PAIR 33'S 4 OF A KIND 3333.I KNOW IM CLOSE. BUT JUST NOT OLD ENUFF TO OUT SMART THE OLD BOYS. BUT I LOVE IT HERE EARNIE. AND THAY CAN KEEP MY PROPERTY.FOR THE GOOD OF ALL SO HUM. THE SOUTH FORK OF THE EEL.BUT WHO EVER DID THE MAP UPSIDE DOWN AND BACK WARDS .ALMOST DIDENT NOTE THE POINTER WITH THE N OVER IT HOW IT MAKES A FLAG BLOWING TO EAST AND OND UPSIDE DOWN TO THE WEST .SO I GUESS JUST DEPENDS ON THE WAY THE WIND BLOWS. AND I WILL NEVER PUT MY NAME ON ANYTHING THAT HAS NAMES UNDER THE LINES. IT SHOULD ALWAY BE ABOVE THE LINE ON THE TABLE FOR ALL TO SEE THAT ITS GOOD.I TRUSTED THINKING LIKE MY GRAND FATHER TOLD ME BOY IF YOU SHAKE A MANS HAND AND LOOK HIM IN THE EYES AND MAKE A DEAL . MAKE YOUR WORD GOOD ITS ALL YOU HAVE.ITS WHO YOU ARE AND YOUR NAME SO BE PROUD OF IT. AND I CAN SAY I STAND WITH MY HEAD UP AND FORWARD KNOWING IM A GOODMAN.☺ GOOD DAY SIR AND PLEASE KEEP UP THE GOOD STORYS IVE ENJOYED READING ABOUT OUR HISTORY HERE. A WEALTH WORTH MORE THEN GOLD OR SILVER ITSELF.RANDOLPH W. HARMON.
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ReplyDeleteNear the end of a 1975 cross country bicycle trip, my fellow traveler and I cruised down route 1 all the way to San Francisco. Many great memories, Including a stop at the Saw Blade. I have scanned a matchbook from the Saw blade but not sure how to upload it here.
ReplyDeleteWant to share this image, but how? Thanks.
Wonderful memories of vacationing with my parents at the Forest of Arden ca. 1958; all the trees and the river was a real change from suburban Southern California.
ReplyDeleteI remember when the forrest of arden burned We were all at a party for new years when the call came in the core of the p- ville volunteers were all at the party I don't think anyone was surprised to hear it was on fire however the volunteers did respond to the call as they should have
ReplyDeleteI did some electrical work at the sawblade when Linda and George were running it for Mel The whole building was wired with "zip" or lamp cord! How it never burned I can't say
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