SLOCHS Community Based Learning Weblog

Hello again. So on Satrday, February 2, I picked up a shift volunteering at the museum at 10am. Being able to get on the schedule last minute, I thought that maybe not many people were volunteering on weekends. But when I walked into the building, I was pleasantly surprised to see two other classmates volunteering for the same shift. I guess people are able to volunteer at the same times… but the more the merrier, of course.

Leon was the morning docent, and talked to us for a while as it turned out to be a quite uneventful start of the day. Few people filtered in to browse while others came to take care of some business. During the morning shift, a lady walked in to do a bit of research on her grandfather. I believe she is the grand-daughter of J.P. Andrews, who built the building where present-day Blue bar on Monterey and Osos streets. I think when it was first built it was a bank building. There was also mention of a small hotel that he was affiliated with that burnt down 7 months after being in business. She seemed very grateful to find the downstairs research room to be a treasure trove of information. The other volunteers (Jennifer and Philip I think?) and I browsed through one of the bounded volumes of a newspaper and chatted over the interesting articles and ads. Can you believe that back in the early 1900’s, EVERYTHING was printed in the news? By everything, I mean the names of people that came and left town and the specific reasons why. Even which people were sick and when the doctors came to visit them. It seemed like an olde tyme version of the gossip column. That kept us bust for about fifteen minutes.

The rest of the day, we were upstairs chatting with the lady who was “manning” the bookstore, which used to be the “parlor”. When I wasn’t greeting any of the few guests that came in, I had a chance to sit and watch the DVD on Chinese immigrant history. I think one of my favorite conversations of thet day had to do with social groups called the Red Hat Society and another one which had a reputation for being very motorcycle-gang-ish and who planted a false plaque somewhere in California stating that Columbus had landed there. The happen to only wear red and black. That stuck in my mind as this guy walked in to browse the exhibit who was wearing very red and black and motorcycle-y attire. I find it fascinating how social societies have a kind of exclusivity and, in some cases, notoriety for certain behaviors and even pranks. It was a pretty slow morning overall, but I learned a few new facts, and relearned some stuff that I heard about last week.

Stay tuned for the next installment this weekend.

jen o.