Ground Rules

(By posting in this forum, you acknowledge that you have read and will abide by these rules.)

Forums work when people participate - so don't be bashful.  But be respectful.  The administrators reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.  Access and participation on this forum is not a right, it is a privilege and abuse may result in suspension or revocation of WHS60s site access at any time.  

 Posting involving politics or religion are prohibited as they typically and quickly become offensive/demeaning.    

We don't actively monitor the forum, but respond to complaints and take action as deemed appropriate.

V/R, Co-site Administrators Joan Lucchesi ('60) and Gary Wegener ('66)

Click the "Post Message" button to add your entry to the forum

(you always have the option to edit or delete your post). 

Linda Hotchkiss (Dela Torres) (1965)

There probably are a lot of us who remember the train tracks going west on Main St. and into the building on the corner next to Cranston's.  I even remember an old locomotive headed into the building.  I assume that is where they worked on them.  On another note, one of my grandmothers worked at the old bus station when it was located on the north side of Main St. between Second and Third Streets about in the center of the block.  I'm guessing this was in the early 1950's.  That bus station was facing those same train tracks. 

John Michael Somero (1967)

Walter J. "Wally" Summ (1967)

That's pretty good, John.  You have some really interesting stories.  You ought to share the story or stories of when you flew Jackie and John John.  I was fascinated with that one. Hyannis Port?  Martha's Vineyard?  Chime in anytime.

Theresa Eve (1964)

Oh yes, I remember the old bus station before it moved into the Train Station.  That old bus station was really not the place to be, pretty run down.  I recall the tracks by Cranston's Hardware, also recall the trolly that went down Second Street.  That was way back in the early 50s.   I was just little but recall that.  A lot of State workers took the Bus into Sacramento, as I did for college.  Transportation was not so available.  But, was glad that Dad and my sister JoAnne could pick me up at the Train Station.  Also, the Rice Growers also sold baby chickens at Easter.  We use to get them and Dad would raise them until, time for a dinner.  

Doyle Phillips (1961)

Theresa, when you were commuting to Sac was there a train from Woodland to by the I Street Bridge? 

Becky Knight (Tobitt) (1961)

Theresa, that's what we did with the calves on the Ranch! Remember when I would tell you who we were having for dinner? My Dad would not eat "store bought" chickens, so my Mom would raise 50-75 each year. Butchering was always interesting, but the freezer would be full. She had some that dressed out at 5-6 pounds after only 10-12 weeks. The drumsticks would be bowed!

Gary Wegener (Wegener) (1966)

From the wall at Placer Title Company...  can see Cranstons and Corner Drug signs.  Think this is looking east from Collrge and Main.

Linda Hotchkiss (Dela Torres) (1965)

Gary, I can't see it in this picture but I remember Woolworth's being on the south side of the street in that block between College and First Streets.  It had wood plank floors and really high ceilings with fans...no air conditioning back then.  I vividly recall the divided glass front case that held bulk candy in each compartment.  Of course it had to be at a child's eye level and near one of two doors entering the building. 

I also see Leithold's Drug Co. that moved from that location to the same north side of the street, but closer to the building that use to be in front of the Opera House.  That drug store had a soda fountain in the back.  Many of the young women in our classes worked there.

Theresa Eve (1964)

Oh My!!!  Becky, the first time I saw young lambs ready for killing was at your home.  I was totally Shocked .  So yes, too much for a small girl in grade school at Yolo.  But, so is life on the farm with healthy raised animals for the purpose of food.  Dad always had chickens on the farm in Indiana, so he was ready to get chickens ready for a dinner; a clean kill without the presents of those complications of antibiotics and additional additives.  What a great Easter Dinner with wonderful,  great, clean chickens in the oven.  Mother did the best cooking of these birds with her skills of cooking along the road of  Julia Childes approach.  We were so pleased and happy with the Easter Dinners.  We did not realize the additives now presented.  We had a fire in the fireplace in the living room  and a lot of old 1950s music on the radio/and of long playing records.    Very simple Life.  A blessing.  

Theresa Eve (1964)

When we commuted to Sacramento, there so no train on that old track, which could have been a blessing.  We just used the bus from the Train Station into the Sacramento Bus Station, and then City Busses to our location. It was a little complicated to keep all the tickets and passes ready for the end destination.  A train on that old River Road would have been such a great commute.  Do not know why no one thought of that way to get all those commuters in and out of Woodland.  What a savings for all.  The train rails just there without use.  Could a Government see the light of that use?  

Linda Hotchkiss (Dela Torres) (1965)

Theresa, my mom spent a lot of time in that old bowling alley in the quonset hut just west of I-5 now.  I remember there being a coach for passengers, but it was when I was in about third or fourth grade.  It must have been done away with by the time you needed it.  The sugar beet factory was there in those days so I'm thinking the train was used for more agricultural purposes.

Theresa Eve (1964)

I am sure the train was used for Agriculture; and the trolly down Second Street, as I was so young, about 3.  It was used for selling produce to the homeowners.  That was so useful.  But, if the train tracks now were used for commuters, that would be a big savings in all ways.  Wish that would come to be in this 2020; how useful and economical.  Use what we have.  Maybe Nugget Market could think of using a trolly; or for some home to home delivery with the uses we have.  

Joan Richter (Lucchesi) (1960)

The Leithold's Drug store in this picture was in the ground floor of the Porter Building and did have a fountain in the back. The larger Leithold's was where Ludy's was located and there was another (where I worked in high school)  in the Southland Shopping Center (I think it's the correct name) where the first Raley's was located. It is where Dr. Wagnon's office is now. As far as the train which went down Main Street, my mom rode it from West Sacramento to attend W.H.S. and it dropped her at the building on 2nd Street. 

Theresa Eve (1964)

Gary:  Love the old picture of Main Street of Woodland.  Have to study the signs to see which stores I remember.  The old awnings, some look green; interesting, to protect the customers on the sidewalks.  No Malls  in those days.  Love the old cars. 

Gary Wegener (Wegener) (1966)

I was second of 4 boys in the family, and I guess we collectively drove my mom out of the house.  She got hives on her arms so bad the doctor told my dad she needed a two week vacation in like Hawaii.  That wasn' t in the budget, so the doctor then prescribed a job so she could get out of the house.  If it pays for a sitter to watch the kids, its worth it.

Mom got a job at Marvin Landplane on East Street, eventually becoming the office manager., working there probably 20 plus years.  We got sitters; only went through 2 as I recall.  One, maybe both, were from the deep south and were new to indoor plumbing.  Pop started bringing home live chickens for dinner; the sitter (Mrs Purse) would break their necks with a twist of the wrist, pluck'em and cook dinner.  One  managed to make it over the back fence in its death throws. We all thought that was pretty cool; don't remember who had to go over the fence to get it.

Ron Blickle (1963)

This photo was taken in the Soda Fountain area of the Leithold Drug Store on the north side of Main Street where I worked with this gang of WHS students.  At that time, I was the delivery driver for the pharmacy, working directly with Bill Griffith, the owner and pharmacist.  I drove a small Ford Falcon Wagon with a three speed stick on the column.  We enjoyed the time there, but part of my job was to clean out the drain trap under the sink in the fountain.  I guess they didn't want the soda jerks to get their pretty white outfits dirty, so I got to do it once a week.  Dirty, smelly job!

By the way, my mother used to tell us kids about riding on that trolly/train to Sacramento when she was a young girl growing up in Woodland during the 20's & 30's on her home on First St near Pendergast.  My folks later bought that home from my grandparents (Palmer & Peg Muhl) when the Muhl's built the small house across the street at 750 First.  

Tim Tucker (1965)

This may or may not have been a topic of conversation before on this forum. Does anyone else remember the underground passage that ran from, I think College Street, and east to at least 2nd street ? It was directly under the sidewalk  on the north side of Main Street. I remember there were grates in the sidewalk that provided just enough daylight to find your way around. I recall you could actually enter a basement type area under Leitholds (At it's last location on Main.) and it went possibly as far as the Opera House.

Bernard Rocksvold (1965)

Gary,

I remember your mom when she worked at Marvin Landplane. I thought she was the prettiest, nicest lady on the planet back then.

I think Bessie Burns worked the counter at Lietholds also. She may have been the supervisor. Her husband was Laird Burns who worked with my dad at Marvin Landplane.

Bernard Rocksvold (1965)

I remember those passageways Tim. They gave access to the basements of businesses. There were a few places with flat steel doors in the sidewalk that allowed an elevator to raise to sidewalk level. Those and the old trolley tracks in the street would really raise hell with the front tires of a bicycle loaded down with newspapers.

Charles "Chuck" Page (1968)

Wow, flashbacks. I also was delivery boy for Lietholds..but at the later location. I think it was a different owner....but I vividly remember the grease trap under the soda fountain.  That was the worst,  stinkiest job I ever had. I loved bombing around town in a little vw bug, the tranny so worn that I didn't need to clutch to shift. Just rev it up and slam it in gear. Loved making my own cherry cokes. Loved the porno mags that they used as wrapping for the regular mags. Also had a little side business of buying pints of booze for resale at whs. I was 16, 17...so 1966, 67. I could ring up booze at cash register, nobody noticed.  Thank you for sharing your photo and story. Even with the grease trap it was one of my favorite gigs. Got to know the alcoholics who needed their fix, but couldn't drive, also cigarettes and of course pills. A couple of those girls look a bit familiar....any names

Gail Smith (Maxwell) (1964)

The faces look so familiar in the soda fountain picture but I can't quite put a name with the faces (getting old is the pits).  The only one I know for sure is Doug Brown, second from the left in the back.  Can someone name them???

Ron Blickle (1963)

In that Leithold Picture in the Ilex, the people in the back row are Kathy Griffith (daughter of the owner), Nancy Ele, Jo Ann Longee, Doug Brown & Tom Lunt.  In the front row is Eileen Roach, Patty Huerta, Margorie Cassel,  (possibly) Karen Morelli & Pam Barrow.  Like Stan's Men's Store, Corner Drug and others, many of us had our first jobs working after school, holidays and summers.  I was lucky to have inside jobs, but many worked outside during the hot summers.  I am sure many of us also delivered newspapers or mowed lawns, but almost everyone had a job while in school.  I had a Sacramento Bee Route when they were an afternoon paper; then I worked as a draftsman for Bob Crippen, the local architect; obviously, Lietholds; Stan's Men's Store; and finally as a draftsman at Woodland Mill Supply, owned by Fred Jost.  While at Woodland Mill Supply, we were designing and building the new rice mill at Pacific International Rice Mills, Inc (PIRMI).  One summer, it was my job to supervise the layout on the three floors for all of the machinery to be installed later.  We were trying to secure the bolts in the concrete so the machinery could be dropped onto the bolts and secured.  I was a Sophmore at Cal Poly, but just a young guy who was trying to work with the older guys on the construction crew.  We got it done, but it took all of my charms to get the cooperation of that senior crew.  Those years and jobs set up the foundation for many of us to enter the work world knowing what it was to work.  I just don't see the kids getting those opportunities today.  No wonder it is so hard to get service from the companies of today!

Tom Stewart (1969)

WOW, so many memories.  Our class was younger than most of you who post here.  I had my first paid job as a paperboy for the Democrat, then for the Sacramento Bee.  I believe the Ardens managed the Bee and they had a son named Allen.  They lived on Lincoln St I believe.

I eventually got a job at Safeway and worked with Ralph Somero and Benji Argumento (spelling???).  Benji had an awesome '67 Camaro with a full racing clutch and he would let us borrow it at times.  If we had to stop at lights for very long our leg would begin to spasm from holding in the clutch.  I eventually got a '69 Firebird which as pretty fast and everyone would go out south of town to what we called "the quarter mile" to drag race.  There was one guy who lived near City Park who had a rather ugly Plymouth with a 426? or something that was really fast.

I left Safeway and worked for Bill Nardinelli at Kentucky Market. I also played baseball with Clark and Bruce Nardinelli. I really liked that job and he trusted me to open and/or close the shop.  For a while Joe Rudy had his butcher shop in the back.  At the time his nephew also named Joe Rudy played for the world champion Oakland As.  Eventually that store was bought by Fred Gordon who had previously owned Cache Creek Market.  I used to ride my bike out to Cache Creek and hunt rabbits with Mike Gordon.  That is about 5 lifetimes ago.

Picture:  The Sugar Champs Babe Ruth Team

Tom Stewart (1969)

Joe DiMaggio, center, one of the greatest players in baseball history, shakes hands with W.G. Bowen, the Babe Ruth international director, in August 1964 in the stands at Clark Field in Woodland. DiMaggio was the guest of honor as the Babe Ruth World Series was played at Clark, 30 years after the Yankee Clipper roamed the same outfield during a doubleheader while playing with the San Francisco Seals.

Tom Stewart (1969)

Clark Field and its storied baseball past

By Bruce Gallaudet

Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part series on the life and renovation of Woodland’s historic Clark Field.

WOODLAND — It has always been a community that’s honored its heritage.

From the breathtaking Victorian homes on College Street to the Opera House …

From Beamer’s Woodland Park and its estates to the Hotel Woodland and the Gibson House …

History is respected in Woodland, which, from the 1850s, has been considered one of the richest crop-growing regions in America.

And among the town’s most storied facilities is old Clark Field.

A neighborhood baseball facility that has played host to the great Joe DiMaggio and more than a dozen other players who are enshrined in Cooperstown, the 81-year-old stadium on Beamer Street is in the middle of a facelift.

Phase one — outfield fences, a terrific natural playing surface, new sprinklers and a handful of cosmetic touches — is complete. As the Clark Field Restoration Project goes forward, new flagpoles, storage and coaches’ meeting facilities are being rehabilitated.

New bleachers and the backstop are on the agenda. Restored snack and press facilities also are being planned.

A look back in time gives one an understanding of why the renovation of Clark Field is so important to so many.

Larry Martinez, a 1966 graduate of Woodland High who has played many games at the old diamond, has become the facility’s ranking historian.

He shared his knowledge with The Davis Enterprise …

For years, baseball was played at old, 400-seat Beamer Park, but when the site was condemned in the late 1920s so Beamer School could be constructed, baseball was briefly in limbo, Martinez says.

Charles Clark, who was the president of the Sacramento Valley League, saw an opportunity, bought land off Beamer Street and worked with Motroni Construction to build a 1,400-seat, covered ballpark that became known as Clark Field, Martinez adds.

Clark gained entry to the SVL with his club, known as the Woodland Oaks.

Opening day was April 27, 1930. The Oaks won, 4-2. Don Traynham hit the first home run at Clark Field — a two-run shot that not only was the difference in the game, but brought him “fabulous gifts” from merchants throughout Woodland.

According to one newspaper account, Traynham received two season passes to the National Theater, $5 cash from Herb Murphy, $7.50 from the Bank Exchange, a pair of baseball shoes from Cranston Brothers and a $10 radio order from Wallace Huston.

Into the 1940s, in many incarnations for different teams, first baseman Traynham would hit many circuit clouts at Clark Field — most colorfully covered in The Daily Democrat. Ironically, it was Traynham’s son, Gary, who would continue his father’s legacy by belting out home runs on his typewriter for more than five decades writing sports for The Democrat.

Throughout its early history, Clark Field teetered on bankruptcy. Clark himself left when an $849.99 debt to Motroni and former property owners Charles and Alma Robinson was too much.

Even though Pacific Coast League teams like the Seattle Indians and San Francisco Mission Reds loved Clark Field and accommodations at the Hotel Woodland, the ownership of the facility was subject to debate for more than five years.

While the collection of debt and who would run the Oaks or take control of the park were in limbo, a handful of future Hall of Famers came to town.

In 1931, the Detroit Tigers — with the great Charlie Gerhinger — played twice against Seattle.

In 1932, the Pittsburgh Pirates played an exhibition game with the Mission Reds. The Bucs came loaded. On their roster were infielders Arky Vaughn and Pie Traynor. Roaming the outfield were Paul and Lloyd Waner — Big and Little Poison, as they were known.

All four eventually made it into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Two weeks later, when the Reds met the New York Giants at Clark Field, it was another embarrassment of riches for the local fans.

In the ballpark were Carl Hubbell, Mel Ott, Waite Hoyt and Bill Terry. Yep, all in the Hall of Fame.

As the tug-of-war continued over operating Clark Field, according to The Daily Democrat, the park continued to fill to capacity for spring training games.

In 1934, “playing right field for the San Francisco Seals in a weekend doubleheader against the Missions was Joe DiMaggio,” Martinez says. “Joe had set a record 61-consecutive-game hitting streak the previous season.”

Thirty years later, DiMaggio would return to Clark Field as a guest of honor during the opening of the Babe Ruth World Series.

In the mid-1930s, American Legion Post 77 came to the rescue. In a role that pulled Clark Field from demolition, the local Legionnaires took over operation of the park. Currently owned by the city of Woodland, Clark Field owes its existence to the American Legion — which still plays a dominant role keeping the Old Girl singing.

Over the years, Babe Ruth teams, Woodland High School, the Woodland-Davis Men’s Baseball League and Post 77 have used the busy facility.

Names from the past like major-leaguers Rich Chiles and Ron Bryant, Dustin Pedroia and Steve Brown jump out of the old box scores.

Folks like Motroni, former Woodland Mayor H.I. Bobb, Dick Klenhard, Gil Garcia, the Traynhams and now Larry Hoppin, Martinez and Frank Eakle have worked diligently over the years to keep Clark Field open, stocked with good players and pointed to the future.

Who really knows what the future will hold for the facility at Grand Avenue and Beamer Street?

All that’s certain is that there are enough old and new friends floating around so that the oldest, continually operating neighborhood ballpark in California will never be alone.