City Structures

Station names painted on roofs

1. In the 1920s, the Standard Oil Co. had all of their distributors, nationwide paint the town name on the largest building in
   

2. their facility to provide an aid to aviators. Most of these facilities were close to the SP tracks.)
   

3. Tom VanWormer
   

4. 
   

5. Two photos of the former Standard Oil distribution station in Gilroy.
   

6.                                                                         http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Espee/photos/album/1845697149/pic/list
   

7. Some long time residents confirmed its use as a navigation aid for aviators. The building is located right off the old Coast Div. mainline around MP 76.4. These photos were taken February, 2009.
   

8. Chuck Catania
   

9. 
   

10. During WWII, a lot of the painted roof names, as well as hillside markers and the like, were removed so as to not provide any navigational aid to japanese pilots.
    

11. Drew Jacksich
    

Ice house Company name on walls

1. Photo of Visitacion on page 307 of PFE. Good shot of a Union Ice deck at Oxnard, page 318. The San Jose facility was a Union Ice deck, a 7-carlength island-type deck (data, page 308).
   

2. Tony Thompson
   

3. 
   

4. (the So.Cal Citrus Industry Modeling group) and the Union Ice company site are here in a second!
   

5. http://unionice. com/history
   

Businesses

Coast Businesses

1. Citrus (Lemons and Oranges) from Santa Barbara, Carpenteria, Ventura and the Santa Paula/Ojai* branches.(* the remaining part)
   

2. Avocados from Santa Barbara, Carpenteria, Ventura and the Santa Paula branch.
   

3. During earlier eras, there was oil. The Seaside/Rincon area had wooden Oil well "platforms" extending out from the shoreline. (and a manmade island too.)
   

Gaviota

1. The 1956 timetable shows that the mail train, 90/91, had a scheduled stop there.
   

2. Jim Pattison
   

3. 
   

4. There were some stops to pick-up milk from local dairy ranches between SLO and L.A.
   

5. Pat LaTorres
   

6. 
   

7. Post office and market were out on the highway across the road from where you turn down to get to where the old depot was.
   

8. Rusty Ron Plies MMR
   

9. 
   

10. There was a fair amount of oil production related activity at Gaviota both offshore and nearby. There is still some oil facility here. The existing oil facility/tanks etc. is the beginning of the All American Pipeline to the midwest.
    

11. 
    

12. Even in the 60's the cattle boats worked the islands and several of the small piers along the coast. A 1972 SPINS book shows the passing track and a balloon track that was labeled Gaviota Cattle U/L track and Gaviota Team Track. The balloon track may have had more than one track on part of the line.
    

13. Cliff Prather
    

14. 
    

15. Oil and cattle where king of the Cow Coast. In the "Fifties" both oil and ranching were fairly labor intensive.
    

16. 
    

17. There’s been a divided highway (101) since the 60's in the Gaviota area.
    

Guadelupe

1. GC was a hoppin' place, even in the early 90's.
   

Puritan Ice Company

1. This plant was located just south of downtown Guadalupe, less than a hundred yards northeast of the intersection of State Highway 1 and Main Street (Route 166). The main entrance appears to have been on Obispo Street. This plant provided ice to a 485 foot single platform ice deck just to the west owned by PFE. The deck served up to ten cars, had no roof and was built in 1928. The deck has been gone for a number of years.
   

2. 
   

3. There were three related facilities at this location that utilized the same ammonia refrigeration system to refrigerate storage space and process equipment (i.e. chillers, ice makers, etc.). The facilities are situated on contiguous properties that share the same ammonia refrigeration system (both equipment and ammonia). From earlier images it appears that Puritan owned Obispo Cooling and its vacuum pre-cooler at one time.
   

4. 
   

5. The ammonia used by all three facilities originated at the Puritan Ice liquid receiver. This vessel had a 1,500 gallon capacity and was the location for loading ammonia. Liquid ammonia from this vessel was used in the Block Plant ice tanks and ice storage room. Large blocks of ice were produced and stored until ready for delivery at this facility.
   

6. 
   

7. The Block Plant also had the capability to compress and condense the ammonia vapor from the ice tanks, ice storage room, and various other equipment used by the two other facilities. This ammonia vapor is condensed to its liquid form and recycled back to the liquid receiver.
   

8. http://www.flickr.com/photos/phillips-chronicles/3910941161/
   

9. http://www.flickr.com/photos/phillips-chronicles/3911717386/
   

10. http://www.flickr.com/photos/phillips-chronicles/3911717382/
    

11. http://www.flickr.com/photos/phillips-chronicles/3912044522/
    

12. http://www.flickr.com/photos/phillips-chronicles/3911717378/
    

13. Bob Chaparro
    

San Luis Obispo

Associated Oil

1. Associated was founded by independent oil folks in the Kern fields to counter the power of Standard. SP got a stake in AO around 1906 and provided AO with many O-50-1 tank cars, taking in "trade" a few smaller capacity, wood frame cars. SP eventually obtained over half the stock but spun AO off in the late 20's (to avoid potential grant-land problems). AO was picked up by Tidewater Oil, which was taken over by Getty, then Texaco, etc.
   

2. They had tanks.
   

3.     Oil bldg. picture SLO       (*see T-13/8)
   

Paint

1. Associated dealers painted their storage tanks. Aluminum was very common, but some companies used other colors.
   

2. Tony Thompson
   

3. 
   

Del Monte Grocery

1. It was a former cafe.
   

Flying "A" Gasoline

1. Mr. Autry named his ranch in Oklahoma the Flying A. The Associated Oil Co. used Flying A as a brand name. You would see a lot of oil cars with the Flying A symbol on them in the 40s and 50s on the west coast and around LA.
   

Julliard-Cockcroft Wholesale Grocers Warehouse

1. Formerly Coast Wholesale Grocers and Channel Commercial Co.
   

2. This was the Coast warehouse. It was built in 1912. It was owned by the Rand Helper Commercial Co. until 1975. In 1975 it was  owned and remodeled by Warehouse Sound. There was a wood front in the 20’s, then later corrugated steel siding was added in the 40’s. It had ship and narrow gauge rails in the back (probably used by the Pacific Coast Railway). Rail cars would pull up right to the building. It had an elevator in the middle of the building. The elevator has a penthouse on the roof and a lift gate. The building also had a circular freight slide that was rounded and made 2 1/2 turns to the basement. The basement in 1986 still held Chesterfield Tobacco boxes. Out back there is a sliding freight door. On the front, trucks parked on Santa Barbara St. side. The construction is of brick with 16” heavy timbers in the basement, 14” on the first floor and 10” on the second. The horizontal members are 6” x 12”, 4” x 12” with 3” tongues. In almost burned down in 2004.
   

3.       (*see CLP-146, 152)
   

Paulsen Wrecking & Storage

Park Hotel

1. Located in SLO it was named that after WWII. Before that called the Axtell Hotel.
   

Occidental Bituminous Rock Co.

Richfield Oil Co.

SLO Bituminous Rock Co.

SLO Tribune

SLO Ice House

1. There were no ice facilities in SLO.
   

S.P. Milling Co. Warehouse

1. Warehouse built in 1895 for S.P. Milling Co. to accommodate farmers. Still used in 1980 by a farm and garden business.
   

Stockyards

1. Moved over by Associated Oil.
   

Transportation

1. Taxi’s were painted yellow with red fenders per This is My Railroad (1950’s)
   

Union Oil Co.

1. 
   

Camp San Luis Obispo

1. In 1941- 42 the camp was expanded and so was S.P. presence there. The Southwestern Signal Corps was based at Camp SLO.  Infantry replacements were based at Camp Roberts 2-3 miles North. These two training camps served as the training grounds for more than 500,000 men during the war.
   

2. Armored units trained at Ft. Ord and Camp Roberts, thus tank shipments ran by rail.
   

3. Military photos of Stuart Tanks & Half-Tracks    (*see CLP-54-55 )
   

Facilities

1. Warehouse on the base were 100 yards apart and each had spurs to off load supplies like: uniforms, equipment, food, trucks.
   

Track

1. Goldwater was the turnout for the camp. It was 2-3 miles from San Luis Obispo.
   

2. Dead end tracks were also available to off load jeeps, trucks, etc. A round telephone booth was at the Goldtree turnout.
   

3.                          (*see SPT vol. 1, pg. 150)
   

Santa Barbara

Facilities

Santa Barbara Depot

1. The Coastline had engine facilities at SB.
   

2. There was an ice platform in Santa Barbara but not in SLO.
   

Businesses

1. Hacienda Food Products sign by building in Santa Barbara near depot.
   

2.                         (*see SP Official Color Photography Vol. 1)
   

Santa Barbara Businesses - Circa 1948

1. 1930 Sanborn maps with updates are very helpful with size of structures and sometimes construction methods eg; wood or concrete. The occupants of those buildings are not always the same over the years and the names on the Sanborns do not always reflect those changes. Remember Sanborn's reason for the maps is for fire insurance purposes and the structure of the building, fire suppression systems and availability of water were most important for that regardless of who the current occupant is.
   

2. 
   

3. Many of the buildings still exist but as has been mentioned earlier no longer have any rail service. In fact by 1996, Southern Pacific no longer had any customers in Santa Barbara. The switch at Santa Barbara distributing (beer distributor) in Goleta was also removed before 1996 so the only rail served industry in the Santa Barbara area at the end was the lumber facility in Goleta. Even the two stub tracks in Santa Barbara, which were remnants of the yard and industry access/scale track, were seldom used at the end. Amtrak had built its cleaning track in Goleta so Amtrak trains were no longer parked there overnight. Only the occasional MoW equipment or a bad order set-out would occupy the tracks.
   

4. 
   

5. Many city libraries have holdings of old city directories or old phone books, which can be used to check on business addresses and character (helpful when the business name itself does not clearly reveal what they do). This is of course true everywhere, not just in Santa Barbara.
   

6. Tony Thompson
   

7. 
   

8. From the 1950 Sanborn maps, here is a list of businesses that appear to be served by rail in Santa Barbara.
   

9. 
   

10. Union Oil Co. of Cal.Southern Counties Gas Co. Assoc.            Acme Planing Mill
    

11. Tidewater Oil Co.Western Motor Trucking                          Boyd Lumber Mill
    

12. General Petroleum Corp.Bottled Water Co.                                     Union Commercial Co.
    

13. Pennzoil Co.Soft Drink Bottler                                      S.P. Milling Co.
    

14. Signal Oil Co.Consolidated Rock Products                      No Name Lumber Yard             
    

15. Richfield Oil Co No Name Bldg. Matl.                                Ambrose Mill & Lumber
    

16. Gilmore Oil Co.McNall Bldg. Matl.                                   County Lumber           
    

17. Shell Oil Co.McNall Brick Yard
    

18. Texas Oil Co.Coleman Bldg. Matl.
    

19. Quaker Oil Co.Grocery Warehouse,
    

20. Standard Oil Co.Willard Cockcroft Wholesale Grocery
    

21. 
    

22. Frozen Food ProcessorBean Sorting Warehouse
    

23. Johnson Fruit Co.Wholesale Poultry
    

24. Johnson Fruit Co. Lemon packing
    

25. Brocker Vegetable Sales Co.
    

26. Santa Barbara Press         Bekins Moving Warehouse
    

27. Puritan Ice Co.         Tractor Repair
    

28. Hay Yard         Grain Hay & Feed
    

29. Mission Industries (Their trucks were ubiquitous around Santa Barbara. 1950)
    

30.                      
    

31. 
    

32. By 1996, Southern Pacific no longer had any customers in Santa Barbara. The switch at Santa Barbara distributing (beer distributor) in Goleta was also removed before 1996 so the only rail served industry in the Santa Barbara area at the end was the lumber facility in Goleta.
    

33. Bruce Morden
    

34. 
    

35. The area west of the depot did not much businesses in that direction. The Potter Hotel was toward the ocean from the depot and the tracks to the west of the depot were for private cars from the east coast when they came to stay at the Potter. There was a lemon packing house just west of the depot at one time associated with the Crocker-Sperry operation at Las Fuentes.
    

36. Not much if any rail served industries west of the depot.
    

37. Bruce Morden
    

38. 
    

Puritan Ice Company

1. The following website shows historical photos of the company and its relationship with the SP. Great shots for modeling purposes. and for those citrus modelers too.
   

                                                                            http://www.decomposingsb.com/?cat=18

Santa Barbara Cannery

1. Santa Barbara did have a cannery. It was not served by rail as far as I know, unless it was via the team track or the freight house. They stopped canning in the 1970's sometime. The specific cannery in Santa Barbara was Castagnola's. The canned a clam chowder. It was located on Anacapa Street. The cannery was in the back, where the glass brick wall is.  If you go here <http://binged.it/Y5ZIJs> you can see the building and that it is near the tracks. The building has a red roof and is adjacent to the triangular building. The tracks run along the bottom of the Birds Eye view.
   

2. 
   

3. The Castagnolas were the big fishery folks in Santa Barbara. There were at eight brothers and several sisters. One of them, George, owned Stearns Warf for a while.
   

4. 
   

5. Long ago, canned foods were the way to store food products.  There were not great quantities of food items in the Santa Barbara area that were canned. There were also several abalone packers and sea urchin processing facilities in town, but both fisheries have stopped.
   

6. 
   

7. On Sanborn maps (number 145), the one with the SP Freight house, it has Stearns Wharf on it also and has an abalone packing house at the end. There were tracks to the wharf in the distant past when the Pacific Coast Steamship Co stopped at the Wharf.
   

8. Bruce Morden
   

1. 
   

Surf

Facilities

Water Treatment Plant

1. Surf had an extensive water treatment plant north of the station to produce soft water. Steam power turned to diesel and thus no need for soft water and heated bunker fuel.
   

Track

1. There is a wye turnaround between Surf and Ocean Park, just before the Santa Ynez Bridge.
   

Businesses

The Military & Surf

1. Camp Cooke (Vandenburg) dates back to 1941 when it served as a training facility for armored and infantry troops. Troops from Camp Cooke boarded at Surf. Military prisoners were put in jail cars at Surf. During the war a U.S.O. building was built for the enlisted men. Dancing was with the cooperation of the Ladies of Lompoc.
   

2. There was a fallout shelter was located in the sand dune just north of the depot for rocket launches at Vandenburg Air Force Base for railroad personnel.
   

Morinini General Store

1. Henry P. Morinini had a general store next to the Surf depot during the 20’s & 30’s. He even sold Union Oil gasoline. His home was directly behind the depot. He had two daughters, Margaret and Theodora. He also raised goats. In 1942, the U.S. Army and Camp Cooke moved in and Mr. Morinini moved to Tajigus.
   

Billboard Signs (of the 40’s)

Static Signs

1. Consider a Burma Shave string of little signs, they were prominent in the 50's. The other memorable signs were the "Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco" painted on what seemed like every barn. There always have been advertisements for motels down the road, and of course you must have an Anderson's Split Pea Soup billboard with PeeWee and HappPea.
   

2. 
   

3. There was a Helm's Bakery and it showed a large "Helms Olympic Bread" logo. back on the 1940's out on Venice Blvd along the PE Venice Short Line just west of La Cienega Ave.
   

4. 
   

5. For non-animated signs there were a lot of Mammoth Orange, Big Orange stands along the SP Valley Route and Highway 99 (which is really probably the reason for their existence) Here's a link to website by a fellow modeler:
   

6.                                                                             http://scph.home.netcom.com/giant_orange/california_orange_stands.html
   

7. 
   

8. There also used to be a lot of A&W Root Beer Stands in central and northern CA, along Highway 99 which almost paralleled the SP mainline most of the way between Bakersfield and Redding.
   

9. Ernie Fisch
   

Animated type

1. A famous one was The Wagon Wheel in Oxnard. It had the wagon wheel going around. The Colonial House Restaurant in Oxnard on Highway 1 had a large black man dressed as a chef ringing a large dinner handbell in a stand across the street from the restaurant. We used to watch for him as one of the last "sights" on the way home on our trips up the coast. He stood between the SP Coast Route and the highway.
   

2. 
   

3. In the San Francisco Bay Area, Coca Cola had a sign with the letters of the name filling up with a fizzing brown color which sprayed wee bubbles when it topped off; Admiral TV did animated fireworks; Sherwin Williams in Oakland had a paint can pouring paint over the globe ("covers the world" was the motto.)
   

4. 
   

5. Then there was the Lachman Brothers' page-boy clock atop the company's store on Mission, one arm of which would switch between holding the clock, saluting, and pointing at the time. They're all gone now: Coke's billboard, the only one remaining, is a quite mind-numbingly static.
   

6. Nolan Hinshaw
   

7. 
   

8. In San Francisco in the forties. (North Beach?) a cigarette billboard showing a handsome, pleased male smoker with a round hole for a mouth out of which puffs of smoke emerged at intervals. The brand was Camels or Chesterfield.
   

9. Barry Roth
   

10. 
    

11. A Neon Fireball was "shot" over the top of the sign like a firework.
    

12. Jim Baker
    

13. 
    

14. The Hills Brothers Coffee sign was an "animated" one. With the Persian pouring coffee.
    

15. 
    

16. Not really on the coastal route, at least one animated sign from that era: the sign at the Milk Farm, near Dixon, had a cow with a tail that moved up and down (US 40 became I-80 in 1958).
    

17.