Last time I left you, we were cruizin' Reedley and eating cheeseburgers in 1960, as well as checking out the gas stations and bulk plants. But, you might ask, how did kids afford cars way back then, not to mention gas, insurance and cheeseburgers? We'll get to that, after a little history.
The last time we slid back in time it was to 1950 and I was pedaling around town on my J.C. Higgins 'Hiawatha' bike, checking out the auto dealerships around Reedley. Today we are going to slide back to 1958, while "cruizin" in my 1940 Ford Coupe.
Flipping back to 1949–I just got a butch haircut at Vic's Barbershop and as a budding "gear head" I hopped on my bike to check out the car dealers. I was hoping that they had done a sloppy job of covering the showroom windows with butcher paper, because I wanted to get a peek at the new cars for 1950.
The start of the 1920s finds Drake Manufacturing moving to their new location at East and South Avenues (now Dinuba Ave.). Having perfected the Jadson Motor Valve, Drake closed the garage and Buick agency to devote all their efforts toward the valve business. The Drake Family still finds time for racing and a new hobby: barnstorming. In fact, on the roof of the new building "Jadson Motor Valve Company" is painted for anyone passing or flying by to see. 1920 was bittersweet for the Drake Family however, as family patriarch John Alexander passes away.
America may have been a late comer to the industrial revolution, but the country had the advantage of possessing the raw materials needed to excel in manufacturing. The only thing imported was cheap labor. The industrialization of transportation began with the "horseless carriage." These vehicles were propelled by three types power.
It's a challenge not to be repetitious while writing for Kings River Life--in many of the stories I have written before, it is inevitable that Reedley's history will come up. It is also astonishing to realize that the lifetime I have spent in Reedley spans over half of the City's existence! That's right, not just the centennial, not even the incorporation, but since the very inception of a town named Reedley (by one year) in 1888.
In the early 1900s, a great Pentecostal movement started in the Azuza Street Church in Los Angeles, and those called to God set forth on a mission of revivals throughout the United States.
In 1850 California became the 31st state, and Reedley was in Mariposa County. Back then, if you wanted to cross the river, you either found a shallow place and "forded" across or found a ferry, paid the fee and crossed while staying nice and dry. At one time there were half a dozen ferry crossings over the Kings River, from the foothills to Tulare Lake. In just two years, the Reedley area was in Tulare County and could claim two operating ferries.
Ghouls, goblins and zombies too, witches and ghosts and maybe a hobo or two--groups of kids invade the streets searching for candy and all saying "treat of treat." It must be October 31, all Hallow's Eve in Reedley.
I can't keep writing how great those Fiesta's of a half century ago were when every year there are fewer around to remember them. Thinking of friends gone by, a conversation came to mind between myself and the late Dennis Olson about the pride we both had when we watched our Reedley High "Pirate" Band march down Colorado Boulevard during the Pasadena Rose Parade in 2000. So, I thought to myself, "Self, what a better tribute to the Fiesta than to drop by and see Mr. Burl Walter Jr. and chronicle the story that led him to Reedley."
