August 29, 1973 (12 pages)

ERATE SEES SORIA Raianic? 072 press SICALS SECTION RACTO. } NEVADA COUNTY NUE Serving the communities of Nevada City, Grass Valley, Red Dog, Town Talk, Glenbrook. Little York, Cherokee, Mooney Flat, S : : » Gr 4 , Re A : xy F ss 6 lat, Sweetland, Alpha, San Juan, North Bloomfield, Humbug, Relief Hill, Washington, Blue Tent, LaBarr Meadows, Cedar Ridge, Union Hill, Peardale: Suimnit City, io Liberty Hill, Sailor Flat, Lake City, Selby Flat, Grizzly Hill, Gold Flat, Soggsville, Gold Bar, Lowell Hill, Bourbon Hill, Scotch Hill, Nort low Valley, Newtown, Indian Flat, Bridgeport, Birchville, Moore’s Flat, Orleans Flat, Remington Hill, Anthony House, Delirium Tremens. CAl. (5-16-74 LISRARY 95824 cca RELATE SESS aS ~ VOLUME 49 Omega, French Corral, Rough and Ready, Graniteville, North Walloupa, Gouge Eye, Lime Kiln, Chicago Park, Wolf, Christmas h Columbia, Columbia Hill, Brandy Flat, Sebastopol, Quaker Hill, 10 Cents A Copy Published’ Wednesdays, Nevada Citv Wed. Aug. 29,1973 Smartville Better than ever School to. Nevada City/s 2 ‘re-open The ‘“‘little red schoolhouse’ at Smartville has been ordered opened by the Marysville Unified School District Trustees even though the building will probably be abandoned in two years. Closure of the school came June 30, 1972 after itwas determined it was too expensive for the district to operate. Last year Smartville pupils attended . schools in Loma Rica and Brown’s Valley. A total of 19 students will attend the one room schoolhouse when classes begin Sept. 11 while only seven planned to attend prior to the. closure in 1972. Fate of the school will again be discussed by district trustees at their next meeting Sept. 4. A 1975 Field Act deadline will require either abandonment or rebuilding of the school. _ George Says: YEAR END CLEARANCE SPECTACULAR BUYS ON e MOTOR HOMES e TRAVEL TRAILERS e MINI-MOTOR HOMES e VAN CONVERSIONS. LOWEST PRICES ANYWHERE! EVERYTHING GOES! NOW at: MEIER Chev.-Olds. Hiway 49 at Brunswick Rd. _ Grass Valley — 273-9535 Mon.-Sat — 8 to dark! By PHYLLIS L. SMITH Recent mail has brought the Nugget several inquiries about the earliest motion picture theatres in Nevada City. Primary interest along this line seems to center in the business up to the time that ‘‘talkies” ¥ arrived to draw the curtain on ee) the good old “silents.” Research of Nugget files has @ been enlightening and the material which follows has been taken directly from that source, ; . from articles written by a number of staffers and outside contributors to the Nugget. February 1908 saw _ the introduction of‘‘moving pictures” to Nevada City by W. J. Gribben, who showed films in the Nevada Theatre until a regular movie house could be built for that exclusive purpose. On March 24 of that same year } the Crystal Theatre opened.on 3 Commercial Street to an amazingly large patronage. ° Gribben managed both houses early theaters and voiced pleased surprise at “ his success in the venture. Films in those days were “‘one ‘reelers’’ and most programs included a half-dozen titles on each performance night. A special feature of these shows was an illustrated song with printed words to aid the audience in its vocal participation. It wasn’t long before Gribben realized that the Crystal would soon be hopelessly inadequate to accommodate the film-hungry community. During the time that it was in use, the Nevada Theatre was remodeled to handle both movies and vaudeville shows. In February, 1909, the Crystal ~was “darkened” and its seats moved to the now enlarged and modernized Nevada Theatre. It wasn’t long, however, before the management found that movie and stage shows weren’t getting along too well together, so movies were banned at the Nevada Theatre and the more “legitimate’’ forms of 4 entertainment held sway there exclusively. ‘ The “Broadway,” a movie house located in the upper half JAMES J. WARNKE of Penn Valley had minor injuries but the logging truck he was driving received major damage when it overturned on the Colfax Highway Monday afternoon. The accident occurred at 1:15 p.m. about 900-feet south of the Bear River bridge while the truck was descending a grade toward a sharp curve. The truck was northbound at about 15 miles per hour when it overturned, according to the Gold Flat office of the California Highway Patrol. Warnke was taken to his own doctor for treatment, said the CHP {ruoTo Dy Kic Kasnoff) of the Alpha Store had bought out Gribben’s interests in motion pictures and became the only cinema in town. Gribben also sold out his interest in the Nevada Theatre and moved away. The old Crystal was renovated and reopened on April 14, 1915 and extensively advertised as “a cozy little show house.’ It was known, then, as “The Gem”’ and had weekly programs. But it was short-lived and closed in less than a year because of size limitations. The “Broadway” closed in 1915 and once more special films were shown at the Nevada Theatre and this house reached its pinnacle when managed by William Tamblyn and George Calanan during the “silent” days of the 1920s. Talking motion pictures arrived in 1926 and about four years later films were converted to all-talkie productions, the death knell of silent films. Now there are companies which make quite a good thing of showing revivals of the old silent movies, revivals appreciated primarily by those of us who so vividly recall the days when movies really were “better than ever”; and regarded as “far out” by the younger generation of movie fans. Even television’s best_efforts cannot entirely dim some memories, and that’s the way it should be. Penn Valley highway bids Bids were opened today on construction. of a new two-lane expressway section for Highway 20 in Nevada County eight miles west of Grass Valley. The new unit will be three miles long on new alignment north of the existing road.in the vicinity of Penn Valley. Huntington Bros. of Napa is low among nine bidders. The firm submitted a proposal of $1,753,617 for the work, according to officials of the State. Department of Transportation in Marysville.

ERATE SEES SORIA Raianic? 072 press SICALS SECTION RACTO. } NEVADA COUNTY NUE Serving the communities of Nevada City, Grass Valley, Red Dog, Town Talk, Glenbrook. Little York, Cherokee, Mooney Flat, S : : » Gr 4 , Re A : xy F ss 6 lat, Sweetland, Alpha, San Juan, North Bloomfield, Humbug, Relief Hill, Washington, Blue Tent, LaBarr Meadows, Cedar Ridge, Union Hill, Peardale: Suimnit City, io Liberty Hill, Sailor Flat, Lake City, Selby Flat, Grizzly Hill, Gold Flat, Soggsville, Gold Bar, Lowell Hill, Bourbon Hill, Scotch Hill, Nort low Valley, Newtown, Indian Flat, Bridgeport, Birchville, Moore’s Flat, Orleans Flat, Remington Hill, Anthony House, Delirium Tremens. CAl. (5-16-74 LISRARY 95824 cca RELATE SESS aS ~ VOLUME 49 Omega, French Corral, Rough and Ready, Graniteville, North Walloupa, Gouge Eye, Lime Kiln, Chicago Park, Wolf, Christmas h Columbia, Columbia Hill, Brandy Flat, Sebastopol, Quaker Hill, 10 Cents A Copy Published’ Wednesdays, Nevada Citv Wed. Aug. 29,1973 Smartville Better than ever School to. Nevada City/s 2 ‘re-open The ‘“‘little red schoolhouse’ at Smartville has been ordered opened by the Marysville Unified School District Trustees even though the building will probably be abandoned in two years. Closure of the school came June 30, 1972 after itwas determined it was too expensive for the district to operate. Last year Smartville pupils attended . schools in Loma Rica and Brown’s Valley. A total of 19 students will attend the one room schoolhouse when classes begin Sept. 11 while only seven planned to attend prior to the. closure in 1972. Fate of the school will again be discussed by district trustees at their next meeting Sept. 4. A 1975 Field Act deadline will require either abandonment or rebuilding of the school. _ George Says: YEAR END CLEARANCE SPECTACULAR BUYS ON e MOTOR HOMES e TRAVEL TRAILERS e MINI-MOTOR HOMES e VAN CONVERSIONS. LOWEST PRICES ANYWHERE! EVERYTHING GOES! NOW at: MEIER Chev.-Olds. Hiway 49 at Brunswick Rd. _ Grass Valley — 273-9535 Mon.-Sat — 8 to dark! By PHYLLIS L. SMITH Recent mail has brought the Nugget several inquiries about the earliest motion picture theatres in Nevada City. Primary interest along this line seems to center in the business up to the time that ‘‘talkies” ¥ arrived to draw the curtain on ee) the good old “silents.” Research of Nugget files has @ been enlightening and the material which follows has been taken directly from that source, ; . from articles written by a number of staffers and outside contributors to the Nugget. February 1908 saw _ the introduction of‘‘moving pictures” to Nevada City by W. J. Gribben, who showed films in the Nevada Theatre until a regular movie house could be built for that exclusive purpose. On March 24 of that same year } the Crystal Theatre opened.on 3 Commercial Street to an amazingly large patronage. ° Gribben managed both houses early theaters and voiced pleased surprise at “ his success in the venture.

Films in those days were “‘one ‘reelers’’ and most programs included a half-dozen titles on each performance night. A special feature of these shows was an illustrated song with printed words to aid the audience in its vocal participation. It wasn’t long before Gribben realized that the Crystal would soon be hopelessly inadequate to accommodate the film-hungry community. During the time that it was in use, the Nevada Theatre was remodeled to handle both movies and vaudeville shows. In February, 1909, the Crystal ~was “darkened” and its seats moved to the now enlarged and modernized Nevada Theatre. It wasn’t long, however, before the management found that movie and stage shows weren’t getting along too well together, so movies were banned at the Nevada Theatre and the more “legitimate’’ forms of 4 entertainment held sway there exclusively. ‘ The “Broadway,” a movie house located in the upper half JAMES J. WARNKE of Penn Valley had minor injuries but the logging truck he was driving received major damage when it overturned on the Colfax Highway Monday afternoon. The accident occurred at 1:15 p.m. about 900-feet south of the Bear River bridge while the truck was descending a grade toward a sharp curve. The truck was northbound at about 15 miles per hour when it overturned, according to the Gold Flat office of the California Highway Patrol. Warnke was taken to his own doctor for treatment, said the CHP {ruoTo Dy Kic Kasnoff) of the Alpha Store had bought out Gribben’s interests in motion pictures and became the only cinema in town. Gribben also sold out his interest in the Nevada Theatre and moved away. The old Crystal was renovated and reopened on April 14, 1915 and extensively advertised as “a cozy little show house.’ It was known, then, as “The Gem”’ and had weekly programs. But it was short-lived and closed in less than a year because of size limitations. The “Broadway” closed in 1915 and once more special films were shown at the Nevada Theatre and this house reached its pinnacle when managed by William Tamblyn and George Calanan during the “silent” days of the 1920s. Talking motion pictures arrived in 1926 and about four years later films were converted to all-talkie productions, the death knell of silent films. Now there are companies which make quite a good thing of showing revivals of the old silent movies, revivals appreciated primarily by those of us who so vividly recall the days when movies really were “better than ever”; and regarded as “far out” by the younger generation of movie fans. Even television’s best_efforts cannot entirely dim some memories, and that’s the way it should be. Penn Valley highway bids Bids were opened today on construction. of a new two-lane expressway section for Highway 20 in Nevada County eight miles west of Grass Valley. The new unit will be three miles long on new alignment north of the existing road.in the vicinity of Penn Valley. Huntington Bros. of Napa is low among nine bidders. The firm submitted a proposal of $1,753,617 for the work, according to officials of the State. Department of Transportation in Marysville.