by David Mostardi, Club Historian
Once Upon A Hillside: 25, 50, 75 and 100 years ago
March 1923
Business Meeting, March 5
Camp Fire Girls: President C. W. Whitney introduced Mrs. Kibbe who gave a brief talk
to acquaint the members with the Camp Fire Organization. After Mrs. Kibbe, Mrs.
Marston spoke in high commendation of the work of the organization, as did Mrs. C. W.
[Margaret] Whitney. Upon motion it was carried that the Hillside Club endorse the work
of the Camp Fire and its request that provision be made in the Community Chest Budget
for its support, at least to the extent of giving it funds for the employment of a field
worker and the establishment and maintenance of Camp Fire Headquarters in Berkeley.
[Margaret Mason Whitney (1877-1953), a Hillside Club member for 24 years, was
clearly a huge booster for Camp Fire. Two cartons of her papers on the Berkeley Council
of the Camp Fire Girls are held at the Bancroft Library; they include correspondence,
biographical materials, financial records, notebooks, minutes of meetings, theater
programs, and photographs.]
Tribute to the Maybecks: President Whitney then called upon Mr. Galloway to bring
before the Club a recommendation to the Board of Directors. After a tribute to Mr. and
Mrs. Bernard Maybeck, Mr. Galloway moved a motion that Mr. and Mrs. Maybeck be
elected honorary member of the Club. The motion was unanimously carried.
Architectural influence: Mrs. Foulds brought before the Club the matter of the new
Pacific School of Religion, with the hope that the Hillside Club might use its influence in
having the building for the school be such as to give pleasure to Berkeley. Mr. Bradley
moved that the President appoint a committee to call on the Managers of the Pacific
School of Religion to inquire into the architecture and sightliness of the building to be
placed in North Berkeley.
Slide show: The business of the evening was followed by the darkening of the hall and a
delightful illuminated travel talk was given by former president Mr. Russell Osborn. His
extended trip through Europe gave him the opportunity to entertain with a description of
many of the most interesting and charming places visited. In particular was his
description of the scenes of the Passion Play at Oberammergau, of interest to the many
members and their friends who gathered to enjoy the expected treat. [Oberammergau is a
town of 5,400 people in southern Bavaria, a few miles from the Austrian border. A
passion play depicting the final days of Jesus’s life has been performed in Oberammergau
every ten years since 1630s. The 2020 play, postponed by COVID-19 until 2022,
involved about half the population of the town. The play is over five hours long, with a
long break for dinner, and is performed from May through October.]
March 1948
Fireside Meeting: The Civic Affairs Section presents Mr. Ross Miller, City Manager of
Berkeley, who will speak on the subject “Berkeley, the Growing City.”
Garden Festival: A century of gardening in California culminates in our Garden Festival
this year under the able direction of our chairmen, Mr. and Mrs. Graham Moody. They
ask that you save the finest of the blooms and potted plants that you have perfected
during the past 100 years for exhibition on March 15th. Mrs. Kimball is in charge of
these specimen displays and will contact you concerning them. This is a leap year, so the
men of the Club will do table arrangements. Horace Ivie, Bill Alexander and Will
Mathews are fostering this unique feature and promise that the men will present some
interesting tables. There will be a Kodachrome film appropriate to the occasion.
March 1973
Asilomar Tour: Hillsiders are now familiar with the procedures for early departure for the
weekend tours, so follow the directions on the flyer sent to you with the January bulletin.
As you know, this occasion combines the tour with a theater party scheduled by the
Dramatic Activities Committee on Saturday night at the first theater in California. [The
First Theater in California, at the corner of Pacific and Scott in Monterey, was built in
1846 as a lodging house and tavern for sailors. It was first used as a theater in 1850.]
Fireside Meeting: Our program will be presented by Mr. William Carter, well-known
author and photographer, on the subject of “Ghost Towns.” Mrs. Carter will discuss the
general nature of his ghost town project, and the historical background of the towns,
accompanied by color slides of numerous scenes. His latest book, “Ghost Towns of the
Middle West,” has just been published. [William Carter was born in Los Angeles in 1934
and graduated from Stanford in 1957. He remains a noted photojournalist and has
exhibited in museums around the world.]
Garden Festival: The theme for this year’s Garden Festival will be a salute to various
countries of the world, as displayed in place settings of treasured pieces brought back by
traveling Hillsiders. Major emphasis of the evening will be on Scandinavia since the
program will be the showing of 16mm color movies taken last fall in Norway, Sweden,
and Denmark by Bayard Rucker.
March 1998
The Club’s archive of printed monthly newsletters ended with the May 1994 issue. If you
know of a source for any newsletters between 1994 and the Club’s renaissance in the
early 2000s, your historian would love to hear about it!
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