Weird California

[Carol]

EUREKA -- ?Weird California? might strike some as a redundant phrase. They would say that California is synonymous with ?weird.?

?Weird California,? actually, is the title of a new book that documents some of the many oddities and local legends found throughout the state, from haunted mansions to cemeteries and eccentric homeowners decorating their abodes with unusual objects.

Written by Greg Bishop, Joe Oesterle and Mike Marinacci, the book is published by Sterling Publishing Co. of New York and includes chapters about ?Bizarre Beasts? (yes, Bigfoot is included), ?Roads Less Traveled,? ?Golden State Ghosts? and ?Unexplained Phenomena.?

The book is subtitled ?Your Travel Guide to California's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets? and is part of the ?Weird U.S.? series that began with ?Weird N.J.,? by Mark Sceurman and Mark Moran, who are now the executive editors of the series. Other regions profiled include Florida, Illinois, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Texas, New England, Ohio and New York, as well as ?Weird U.S.,? the second in the series.

The editors enlist writers in each state who are either natives or have lived there so long that they are ?honorary? natives. Each of the three writers of ?Weird California? has a history of investigating the state's bizarre legends and folklore.

One could, if so inclined, spend a week or so traveling around Northern California visiting the few dozen sites in this half of the state that are described in the book.

As a convenient jumping-off point, one could start right here in Eureka by visiting Romano Gabriel's Wooden Garden, described on page 139 in the book's ?Personalized Properties? chapter. The garden has been on display since 1982 in a custom-built ?storefront? at 315 Second St. in Old Town.

Gabriel, who died in 1977, was an Italian immigrant who arrived in Eureka just after the end of World War I. A carpenter and gardener by trade, he combined the two talents and spent decades carving and painting wooden flowers, trees, people and other objects with which he filled his front yard until his Pine Street home was almost completely obscured. Gabriel reportedly worked on the sculptures, created from discarded fruit crates, until about 10 years before his death. Local historians who have written about the garden said he only stopped because fruit no longer came in wooden crates.

The garden became quite the local tourist attraction and Gabriel is said to have taken much pleasure in sometimes hiding in the garden and, through a system of levers and ropes, animating some of the sculptures to the surprise and delight of passersby. Others were animated by motors he installed.

After Gabriel died, the sculptures were purchased from his estate by Eureka residents Ray and Delores Vellutini; their son, Vince, spent almost a year restoring them. The Vellutinis donated the garden to the city and the Second Street display space was created for it, funded by individuals and local foundations.

When its new home was ready, the entire sculpture garden -- about 300 or so carvings -- was moved to its present location and dedicated in 1982. Since then, the Eureka Heritage Society has held the responsibility for its upkeep, and the garden was re-dedicated in 2001 after a facade grant from the Eureka Main Street program allowed for new lighting, signage and other improvements.

The sculpture garden's inclusion in a book about weirdness may seem questionable, almost an insult to Gabriel's memory, until one considers that Webster defines ?weird? as ?odd, fantastic, or of extraordinary character.? Indeed, some scholars, historians, artists and preservationists have dubbed Gabriel's Wooden Garden a masterpiece.

The work has been studied by researchers and writers from Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to Architecture Magazine and Art News, as a classic example of American folk art.

In fact, on the day Gabriel died, he had just received notification from the California Arts Council that his sculpture garden was designated an ?important piece of folk art,? according to the Eureka Heritage Society's website.

To continue our hypothetical tour of ?Weird (Northern) California,? we might head south on U.S. 101 and then east on State Route 128 out of Healdsburg to Pope Valley, east of Calistoga, where we'll find Litto's Hubcap Ranch. Another monument to 20th century folk art in the book's ?Personalized Property? chapter, the hubcap ranch is maintained by the grandson of Emanuelle ?Litto? Damonte, who died 20 years ago.

The authors tell the story of how Damonte began collecting hubcaps:

?Damonte's masterwork came about by lucky accident. The road that stretched in front of his home was full of potholes and cracks, and travelers would constantly lose their hubcaps on the twisty and rutted terrain. Damonte would gather (them) and hang them along his fence so the unfortunate motorists might claim their belongings.?

It turned out that hardly anybody ever came back for their hubcaps, which thus became just decorations. Neighbors soon started bringing hubcaps they had found to Damonte, and he accepted the donations to his growing collection. The self-proclaimed ?Pope Valley Hubcap King? even had enough dented auto parts to spell out the name ?Litto? on the roof of the barn.

If we continue on to San Francisco before heading north again, we'll find a plethora of pages in the book devoted to ?The City? and its oddities, beginning with a two-page spread devoted to Joshua Norton, who named himself ?Emperor of The United States? (page 102). The authors put together a lengthy bio of Norton, and included one of the eccentricities he was most famous for:

?He banned the Bay Area's most offensive ?F? word -- Frisco -- the use of which was named a High Misdemeanor, punishable by a $25 fine to be paid to the Imperial Treasury.?

Other San Francisco legends described in the book include the World's Largest Rubber Band Ball, an incredibly realistic mural of furniture and other items being thrown out the windows of a building, several stories of ghosts and a detailed description of the creepy-yet-fascinating abandoned Hunters Point shipyard.

At this point in our tour, we might be yearning for the relative peace and quiet of Humboldt County. Or, we can take a leisurely drive home and visit more places highlighted in the book by heading northeast, through Davis, to Lake Tahoe and back. Then we'll head north to catch some sights in Auburn, Oroville, Chico and Mount Shasta, about which the authors say ?No place in America is the subject of as many occult legends and stories as (this) majestic snow-capped dormant volcano.?

Finally, our route back to Humboldt County must take us down State Route 96 through what the authors describe as -- and devote three pages to -- the ?center of Bigfoot country,? the Bluff Creek area in Six Rivers National Forest.

On the fourth page of the ?Bizarre Beasts? chapter is a mention of the Bigfoot statue in Willow Creek -- ?Gateway to Bigfoot Country? -- as ?what must be the strangest town-square statue in California.?

If we choose to come home from San Francisco via the shorter route up U.S. 101, we should be sure not to miss what is perhaps the smallest monument in the book but surely one of the most unique: Ukiah's commemorative memorial to the city's streetwalkers of the past.

A simple plaque affixed to a boulder on a corner where a thriving brothel operated from 1890 to 1915 reads: ?To the ladies of the night who plied their trade upon this site.?

The memorial was placed by Ted Feibush, a Ukiah contractor who bought the property (the house had long since been demolished) in the late 1970s, found out the history of that particular corner at West Church and South State streets, and had the plaque made and installed -- ?without bothering to mention it to the Ukiah Chamber of Commerce,? the authors note.

?Weird California? is available through bookstores or on the Web. It lists for $19.95 and is about 300 pages long.

Source: http://times-standard.com/lifestyle/ci_3717338