While relaxing in his Little Pocket backyard last week during a meeting with this publication, Sacramento native Dick Ryder was in a very reminiscent mood.

DICK RYDER, who resides in the Little Pocket area with his wife of 53 years, Irene, enjoys a moment during his recent interview with The Pocket News. Through his marriage, he became a stepfather to two children, and he now has eight grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. / Valley Community Newspapers photo, Lance Armstrong

He also proved that he enjoys kidding with others, as he chuckled and explained that he had ushered in the Great Depression with his birth at the old Sutter Hospital at 28th and L streets on Sept. 6, 1929.

“I started the Depression,” Ryder said. “It’s my understanding that Sept. 6 (1929) was the first day that there was any indication that the stock market was falling.”

Although he has spent his entire life residing in Sacramento, Ryder, who continuously displayed a good natured demeanor during his interview, noted that he came close to being born in San Diego.

“My parents (Clark and Mary Ryder) met in the Bay Area and they were going to have me,” Ryder said. “They didn’t like the Bay Area that much, so they decided to move apparently. And it was either to Sacramento or San Diego, because my dad had been in the Navy. And guess what? They moved to Sacramento.”

As a result of this decision, Ryder was born a river city boy, as opposed to a beach city boy.

River City memories

And by opting to remain in the capital city for his entire life, Ryder has more than 80 years of river city memories.

In 1930, the Ryder family moved into a former tract house at 2800 Regina Way, where they lived for many years.

Unique sign

Among Ryder’s earliest childhood memories is seeing a unique, lighted sign at the eventual site of the Tower Theatre.

EARLY INTEREST IN AUTOS. Shown in this early 1930s photograph, Dick Ryder poses with a homemade racecar that his father built for him. / Photo courtesy, Dick Ryder

“One of my earliest memories was going to pick up ice every week (at the State Ice Co.) at 20th (Street) and Y Street, which is now Broadway,” Ryder said. “The icehouse had this big sign on the side that (read), ‘Ice,’ and that’s the first word I ever learned to spell. I was three or four at the time. Coming back along Y Street to turn left onto Land Park Drive, there was a big sign in the field over there. I can remember it well and I have never heard a word of it ever since. But it was a big billboard sign with a face and two big eyes on it – and I think the eyes flashed – and I always called it ‘goo-goo eyes.’ ‘We’re going to go back to goo-goo eyes.’ (The sign) was right where we made the left turn, right now where the Tower Theatre is.”

Tower Theatre

Having grown up in the area, Ryder witnessed the construction of the theater, which opened in 1938. He soon afterward began attending Saturday kiddie matinee movies at the theater.

Solons in ’42

Although he admits that he was not a big baseball fan, Ryder said that he does not recall missing a regular season baseball game at Cardinal Field at Riverside Boulevard and Broadway during the Sacramento Solons’ 1942 Pacific Coast League championship season.

The airport

Ryder said that he also remembers visiting the old Municipal Airport (today’s Sacramento Executive Airport) on Freeport Boulevard during his childhood.

“My father was always interested in flying and he was always hanging out at the airport and I was hanging out there also – the ‘Daddy, can I come, too, sort of thing,” Ryder said.

Close calls

LOCAL BOY. Dick Ryder grew up in the Land Park area with his parents, Clark and Mary Ryder, and his sister, Caroline Ryder, who is three years younger than him. / Photo courtesy, Dick Ryder

Ryder explained that during his childhood, he was like a cat with nine lives.

“Sacramento is a hot place (during the summer) and my dad had a spot out on the American River where he liked to swim,” Ryder said. “I gave my dad a big scare. Apparently he almost lost me there. He had to reach around under water and he couldn’t find me.”

“I gave him another scare when I had my tonsils out at age five, but I got through that one, too. I bled I guess. They had to give me resuscitation or something.”

Ryder said that he was also hit by a car during his youth on two separate occasions.

“When I was 12 or so, I was playing baseball in the street and the only time I can remember hitting a home run, I hit a car. I broke my shoulder and had a concussion,” Ryder said. “There was also the time that I came swinging around on my bicycle and this guy was pulling out (in his car) and he didn’t turn his lights on and I hit the front of his car and went clear over and landed on my front teeth.”

Swimming lesson

Ryder explained that his near drowning in the river proved to be a positive event in his life.

“Back in 1936 or 1937, my dad decided that we should have a pool in the backyard, so he could have better control,” Ryder recalled. “That wasn’t a thing that people did back then. They didn’t have pools. For two years, we dug a hole in the backyard and went swimming in the mud or dog paddling in the mud. It was a couple feet deep. In 1938 or 1939, perhaps, a concrete pool with walls rising 2 feet above the ground was done by Angelo & Frank. And Angelo & Frank were Angelo Queirolo and Frank Geremia. Geremia is a familiar name. A lot of pools in Sacramento are Geremia-built pools.”

The Ryder family’s pool was possibly the first backyard pool in the Land Park area.

Youthful work

Ryder eventually turned his family’s pool into a money-making place, as he charged area youth an admission of five cents each per day to swim in the pool.

He also earned money during his youth delivering The Sacramento Bee and The Sacramento Union and working during the summer harvest season in the Delta.

Dec. 7, 1941

After stating “everybody knows where they were when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor,” Ryder explained where he was at the time.

“I was getting over the mumps and my mother was getting the mumps and I was constantly listening to the radio,” Ryder said. “I was laying there in the chesterfield in the front room, because I was sick. I heard on (the radio) Pearl Harbor had been bombed and it was suspected to be the Japanese, etcetera, etcetera, and so I got the family together on that Sunday morning, so they could hear that.”

Early education

While discussing his education, Ryder explained that he was actually recruited to attend kindergarten at Crocker School at 1740 Vallejo Way.

MEET THE PARENTS. Clark and Mary Ryder moved to Sacramento in 1928 and had their first child, Dick Ryder, during the following year. / Photo courtesy, Dick Ryder

“(Crocker’s) kindergarten teacher, Miss Eunice Tuttle, had to go on a recruiting campaign, I guess, to fill up the relatively new school,” Ryder said. “One of my earliest memories was Miss Eunice coming to our home to talk to my parents to sign me up for school.”

While Ryder was attending Crocker School, the next school that he would attend – California Junior High School at 2991 Land Park Drive – was under construction.

Eventually, he attended McClatchy High School, where he graduated in June 1947.

With his love for snow skiing, Ryder was later drawn to the University of Colorado, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1952.

Insurance career

From 1956 to 1982, Ryder worked in the insurance industry. He established the Insurance Protection Analyst company at Arden Way and Howe Avenue and then he served as the president of Howe-Ryder Insurance Service at 2613 24th Street.

Today, Ryder fills part of his time as an appraiser of collector cars.

CAM founder

His involvement in such work makes perfect sense, when considering that he was the person who decided to create an automobile museum in Sacramento.

“People come up to me and say, ‘You’re one of the guys who founded the California Automobile Museum (originally known as the California Towe Ford Automobile Museum),’” Ryder said. “And I tell them, ‘No, I am the founder of the museum. After Bill Harrah died at the age of 66, his collection of 1,500-plus cars was left without plans. I figured that it was time for the creation of a California car museum located in Sacramento. We never received any cars from Harrah’s collection, but Harrah’s death definitely created the concept for the (Sacramento) museum in my mind and the idea immediately caught hold.”

Outside his time providing assistance for the museum every Thursday, Ryder remains active in his life with the Sacramento Rotary Club and the Fremont Presbyterian Church.

lance@valcomnews.com

Among the various draws of Sacramento is the California Automobile Museum on Front Street, just north of Broadway. And the majority of those who are most familiar with this museum remember the name Towe.

EDWARD TOWE (seated) and his daughter Kristy Updegraff and his son-in-law Jim Updegraff pose in front of a 1903 Ford Model A during the second annual Founders’ Day at the California Automobile Museum. The car is owned by longtime museum supporter Buck Kamphausen. / Valley Community Newspapers photo, Lance Armstrong

After all, it was the then Montana banker Edward Towe who provided nearly every automobile that was used to establish the museum at its current, original site in 1986. The museum officially opened to the public on May 1, 1987.

Many local automobile enthusiasts were delighted to learn that Towe, 97, would be making a special appearance last Sunday, Oct. 2 at the museum for the second edition of the museum’s annual Founders’ Day.

The visit also represented the 25th year since Towe’s automobiles were relocated to the then-new museum site.

A crowd gathered in front of the museum during last weekend’s event to meet Towe, who shared a few of his many memories.

While sitting in a wheelchair in front of the museum, which was originally known as the California Towe Ford Automobile Museum, Towe, who once owned the largest collection of Fords on display in the world, drew much attention, as he posed for photographs and signed several autographs.

Although much energy was created by guests who were eager to at least get a glimpse of the man who was so instrumental in the process of bringing an automobile museum to the capital city, it appeared at times that no one was more excited to be present at the event than Towe himself.

Towe’s excitement and sense of nostalgia for the event was apparent as he requested copies of photographs taken at the event and at one point turned to his daughter, Kristy Updegraff, who served as the museum’s executive director from 1996 to 2006, and asked, “Can you take a picture of the (museum) building for me?”

Fortunately for Towe, his visits to the museum do not have to be so infrequent as they were during the past, since he recently moved from Arizona to the Pocket area of Sacramento to reside with Kristy and his son-in-law and Kristy’s husband, Jim Updegraff.

LOCAL CELEBRITY. Edward Towe signs an autograph for museum guest Brenda Whittington of Roseville. / Valley Community Newspapers photo, Lance Armstrong

Nonetheless, Towe seemed to treat the event as if it were either his last visit to the museum or it would be a long time before he would visit the museum again.

Dick Ryder, the museum’s founder, said that Towe’s presence at the event was a fulfillment of a commitment that he made in the 1980s.

“It was really neat to have the reminiscent of something that happened (about) 20 years ago,” Ryder said. “On that video tape (that was shown at the museum during the event, Towe) said that he would be around in 20 years or so (and) he was around in 20 years.”

Roseville resident Brenda Whittington, one of several people to receive an autograph from Towe last Sunday, said that she feels fortunate to have had the opportunity to have met Towe, considering that she had arrived at the museum for the current Porsche exhibit, which continues through Nov. 28, and was unaware of the Founders Day festivities.

“My husband (Tom Whittington) wanted to come see the Porsche exhibit,” Brenda said. “I like (cars), but I’m not as attentive to the finer details of a car as my husband is. We come down here (to the automobile museum) from time to time and look at the various exhibits. But I had no idea that (Towe) would be here today. I’m glad that I got a chance to meet him. It’s wonderful to see that he’s still doing so well for his age.”

Although Towe spoke few words to the crowd that had gathered to see him, he requested that he have the opportunity to share a few of his memories for this article.

And in doing so, Towe, who later rode in a 1903 Model A Ford as part of the event, said, “You might say that this is a culmination or the windup of about 100 years of playing with old cars. I put my life into (car collecting). I’m 97 and a half and I have two years and a half to go (to reach 100 years of age). I bought my first car in about 1926. It was a 1917 Ford Model T Touring car. I bought it from Sam Towe, a distant relative of mine, for $12.”

FOUNDING FATHERS. California Automobile Museum founder Dick Ryder (left) and Edward Towe were instrumental in establishing the museum, which was first opened to the public on May 1, 1987. / Valley Community Newspapers photo, Lance Armstrong

As a teenager, Towe, with the help of his father, established a bicycle business in his hometown of Paullina, Iowa.

As Towe’s mechanical expertise in bicycles progressed, he added automobiles to his business.

Towe’s love of Fords eventually led to his accumulation of 240 Ford automobiles. He purchased the first of this collection’s cars in 1950.

The collection included every year and every model of the first 50 years of automobiles manufactured by the Ford Motor Co.

During the event, Towe demonstrated that he still possesses a sense of humor.

After signing an autograph, Towe said, “Don’t write a check on top of it.”

Later during the event, after being asked why he specified the 1914 Touring car as his favorite automobile, Towe replied, “(Because) it’s the year I was born.”

In the most recent edition of Fuel, the California Automobile Museum’s newsletter, which is printed six times per year, Karen McClafflin, executive director of the museum, wrote: “Museums like ours are truly fuel for the soul. Museums are places of reassurance in times of uncertainty; a place where people can escape from the problems of life for a time. Museums are inspirational; a place where visitors can see how the changes and innovations of the past have shaped our world today.”

And fortunately for the capital city, Edward Towe helped pave the way for the creation of what has become the California Automobile Museum, thus allowing thousands upon thousands of people the opportunity to obtain “fuel for the soul” at this longtime, popular Sacramento museum.

AUTOS TRAVELED. Edward Towe’s Ford automobile collection was transported from Montana to Sacramento to establish the California Towe Ford Automobile Museum – the original name of the museum – in 1986. / Photo courtesy, Kristy Updegraff

Kristy said that she is appreciative of the opportunity that her father had to participate in this year’s Founders’ Day.

“I’m glad he’s getting some recognition,” Kristy said. “It’s been a long, long lifetime of collecting automobiles and he’s been away (from Sacramento) for some years now, so it’s nice to have him back.”

The Stop-N-Shop market at 3231 Riverside Blvd. served the community from 1947 to 1975. The building, which still exists today, was later home to Walter Kassis’ Big K Market, which closed in 1982. / Photo courtesy of the Kassis family

One wonders how many longtime, local residents still drive by the old Stop-N-Shop building across from Vic’s Ice Cream on Riverside Boulevard in the Land Park area and reminisce about when they used to shop at this once grand supermarket.

Considering that Sacramento was home to 13 Stop-N-Shop markets, there are undoubtedly many people who remember at least one of these stores.

Furthermore, many longtime, local residents assuredly still remember the store’s popular jingle, which featured the familiar lines: “Let’s go down to the Stop-N-Shop and push the cart around ‘n’ round. Let’s buy all of our groceries there. They have the best in town. Let’s go down to the Stop-N-Shop and push the cart around ‘n’ round. You get a lot more for your money there than anywhere else in town.”

Sacramento grocery leaders

Although there are currently several Sacramento area convenience stores that use the name, Stop N Shop, these stores are not to be confused with the Stop-N-Shop stores that were once leaders in the city’s grocery industry.

The Stop-N-Shop stores highlighted in this article were established by the Kassis family, with the first of these stores being opened in 1928 at 2800 Y St. (present day Broadway).

Another view of the Stop-N-Shop market at 3231 Riverside Blvd. / Photo courtesy of the Kassis family

The roots of Stop-N-Shop stores began with A.G. Kassis, who emigrated with his wife, Maggie, from Lebanon to the United States in 1890.

Lebanese immigrants

Upon their arrival in America, A.G. and Maggie, who were Christian Lebanese, made their way to North Dakota, where they eventually had five sons. These sons, in order of seniority, were Frank, Lew, Ed, John and Walter.

A.G., who purchased farmland in Williston, N.D., began his own grain farming operation, which proved to be unsuccessful.

As a result of this failed endeavor, A.G. joined his four brothers – Abe, Charles, John and Eli – in the operation of a billiards parlor in North Dakota. A.G. also added to his income through other business ventures, which included the operation of a small grocery store.

After about 20 years of living in North Dakota, A.G. and Maggie decided to move their family to Rio Linda, Calif. This decision was based on the poor health of John, who suffered from vitamin deficiency and would be better suited living in a warmer climate.

In Rio Linda, A.G. sold chickens and eggs and raised fruits and vegetables, which he sold from roadside stands.

The source of the majority of A.G.’s income ended abruptly, however, when a fatal disease eliminated A.G.’s chickens.

Subsequently, A.G. attempted to achieve success by operating a miniature golf business and a livestock feed store, but neither were very successful.

Greg Kassis (left) and Bill Kassis are among the members of their family who contributed to the longtime success of Stop-N-Shop markets. / Valley Community Newspapers photo, Lance Armstrong

Son finds first location

Fortunately, Frank, who regularly took a train into Sacramento and then rode by streetcar from 12th and H streets to Sacramento High School, was able to find work at the Del Monte cannery at 17th and C streets, where his mother was also employed.

It was also Frank who discovered a commercial corner in Sacramento that, in his own description, “intrigued” him.

This corner at the aforementioned 28th and Y streets proved to be the site of the first Stop-N-Shop store, as A.G. leased a former retail ice business at this street corner from Preston F. Reed, a carpenter and building contractor who lived at 2545 28th St.

After traveling into Sacramento each day, the Kassis family eventually moved to the capital city, residing at 2522 28th St.

Stop-N-Shop, which A.G. operated with the assistance of his sons, was not the first Kassis-owned grocery store in Sacramento, since A.G.’s brother, Charles Kassis, who resided in Rio Linda, had partnered with Rio Linda resident Anna Bohamera to own and operate Del Monte Grocery at 1730 C St.

Quick growth

The area around the first Stop-N-Shop store grew quickly with the assistance of the opening of the Shasta Ice Cream Co. at 2814 Y St. Additionally, Scotty’s Service Station, which was located across Y Street from these two businesses, aided in bringing people to the area.

A.G. Kassis and three of his five sons (left to right), Walter, Frank and John, stand in front of the first Stop-N-Shop grocery store at 2800 Y St. (present day Broadway) in about 1928. / Photo courtesy of the Kassis family

Pocket area resident Dick Ryder, a 1947 graduate of McClatchy High School, said that he remembers seeing the first Stop-N-Shop location during the 1930s.

“I lived (at 2800 Regina Way in Land Park), near California Junior High, and I remember the first Stop-N-Shop,” he said. “It was kind of like the picture at the (California Automobile) Museum of the first Raley’s (grocery) store in Placerville. It had all the fruits and vegetables out in front of the place.”

The success of the Y Street store, which had a dirt floor and initially sold cold watermelon, ice, beverages and wood blocks, was achieved through the Kassis family’s reputation for providing quality food and service.

This success led to the establishment of Stop-N-Shop, Store #2, at 1330 16th St. in about the early 1930s.

As the prosperity of the Stop-N-Shop stores increased, A.G. Kassis transferred ownership of his stores to four of his sons.

Of the five sons of A.G., only John ventured outside the family’s grocery business, as he instead opted to go to medical school. Eventually becoming Dr. John Kassis, John practiced family medicine in Sacramento for nearly a half-century.

The number of Stop-N-Shop stores continued to increase as a Del Paso Heights store was added in about 1939 and three years later, the 2000 I St. market opened.

Following his service in the Army during World War II, Eli’s son, Bill Kassis, who formerly worked at the 16th Street store and opened the 20th and I streets store, opened the Land Park area Stop-N-Shop store, which was located at 3231 Riverside Blvd.

Bill Kassis (far right) serves customers (left to right) Janice Gee, Malcom F. Gee, Lana Coppin and Chet Coppin at the Riverside Boulevard Stop-N-Shop store in about 1950. / Photo courtesy of the Kassis family

‘Store of tomorrow’

 The two-story Riverside Boulevard building, which was built by the Erickson Construction Co. and included a warehouse elevator, opened in late 1947.

The Riverside Boulevard store, which Theodore H. Richards of the Bercut-Richards cannery referred to as “the store of tomorrow,” was locally unique for its time, as this early supermarket served as the anchor of a wide variety of businesses.

Doris (Lopes) Yager, a 1938 graduate of McClatchy High School, said that her mother, Gloria Lopes, was one of the very first customers of the Riverside Boulevard store.

Doris added that by 1950, she had moved into her mother’s house at 1250 Marian Way in the Land Park area and had begun to shop at the Riverside Boulevard store.

“When I got married, I lived with my mom for several years and I did all my shopping at (the Riverside Boulevard) Stop-N-Shop,” Doris said. “It was the only grocery store in the neighborhood, so naturally everybody shopped at Stop-N-Shop. It had such things as a meat counter, a fruits and vegetables department, a post office, a drug store and Swanson’s Cleaners was there, too, so you had everything in the one store. And Bill Kassis was there all the time and he was a very nice gentleman, as I recall. It was quite the grocery store for its time.”

Bill, 88, who is now the patriarch of the Kassis family, remembers the store with much passion and detail.

He emphasized that the Riverside Boulevard building, which also included a barbershop, a beauty shop, a Green Stamp redemption center and a location of the locally-famous Hart’s Pastry, was fortunate to have Ash Rutledge and his Vic’s Ice Cream across the street at 3199 Riverside Blvd.

“We were very good friends and actually, we depended on each other,” Bill said. “I’d have lunch there every day.”

A 1965 city directory shows the continued expansion of Stop-N-Shop, as the number of its store locations had reached 11 by this time. These stores included the River Park store at 5491 Carlson Drive and stores at 4065 McKinley Blvd. and 5815 Stockton Blvd.

Lucky No. 14

Overall, the Kassis family eventually operated 13 stores, yet in a similar theme to buildings that do not designate a 13th floor, the store numbers jumped from Store #12 to Store #14.

Surpassing the popularity of the chain’s Riverside Boulevard location was one of the last Stop-N-Shop stores to be constructed – the then-very modern Fort Sutter Shopping Center supermarket at 2815 L St., where Sutter General Hospital was later built. The market structure also included candy and coffee shops and laundry and shoe repair businesses.

Bill said that Stop-N-Shop was well represented in the north area of Sacramento.

In addition to the Del Paso Boulevard store, north area Stop-N-Shop stores were located at 4120 El Camino Ave., Fulton and Marconi avenues, where Honey Baked Ham is located at the present day address of 2875 Fulton Ave., 2312 Watt Ave. at Country Club Plaza and 1765 Arden Way at the Arden Fair Mall.

Greg Kassis, the son of Lew Kassis and a Stop-N-Shop employee for most of the years of 1954 to 1975, said that he most fondly remembers the Fulton and Marconi avenues store.

Greg added that he first provided assistance at this store when he was 7 years old.

“I used to ride my bike to work (at the Fulton and Marconi avenues store),” Greg said.

Stop-N-Shop-Photo-05

The interior of the two-story Riverside Boulevard Stop-N-Shop store is shown in this c. 1950 photograph. / Photo courtesy of the Kassis family

Food court pioneersWhen asked about the north area Stop-N-Shop locations, Bill was quick to describe the uniqueness of the Watt Avenue site’s Gourmet Lane, which included Frank Fat’s restaurant, La Fiesta Mexicatessen Restaurant, Hart’s Restaurant, Frank’s Fisherman’s Wharf Restaurant, T&T Burger Bar, Farmer Joe’s Restaurant and Keller’s Doughnut Shop.

“As far as I remember, (Gourmet Lane) was one of the first food courts that was opened anywhere in the country,” Bill said.

Although Stop-N-Shop stores once held a very high position in the world of Sacramento grocery stores, their heyday gradually ended as the stores were individually sold at separate times due to competition from other grocery stores and financial struggles related to other Kassis family business ventures.

Despite the absence of any Stop-N-Shop stores in Sacramento by 1975, the fond memories of Stop-N-Shop markets continue to live on today in the minds of the Kassis family and their stores’ many former customers.

lance@valcomnews.com

It has been more than a quarter century since a museum opened along Front Street, just north of Broadway, for the purpose of honoring automobile history. And now having a long history of its own, the museum is inviting the public to celebrate this history on Oct. 3, from 1 to 4 p.m.

Automobile-Museum-Photo-01

Dick Ryder, one of the founders of the California Automobile Museum, shows off his 1934 Pierce-Arrow Deluxe Eight Sedan, which is on display at the museum. / Valley Community Newspapers photo by Lance Armstrong

Dick Ryder, one of the founders of this museum, which is known as the California Automobile Museum, said that the event will be held in celebration of the earliest efforts to create an automobile museum in Sacramento.

Autos and entertainment

“Efforts to form an automobile museum began on Saturday, Oct. 2, 1982 and resulted in the opening of the museum on May 1, 1987,” Ryder said. “The movement began with a meeting attended by 12 Sacramento auto enthusiasts at the old Del Prado restaurant (at 5500 Stockton Blvd.). The meeting resulted in a series of monthly Saturday breakfast programs. These programs brought car-related personalities and entertainment. One of the programs included the Archers, Ed and Karen, who provided 1920s Dixieland, Charleston music and dancing. Ed and Karen will be back, 28 years later (at the Founders Day celebration), performing their dance routines again.”

California Vehicle Foundation

Ryder, 81, said that Monday, Oct. 4, 1982 was also a special day in the history of the museum, as the California Vehicle Foundation was created and efforts were begun to apply for charitable foundation status through the IRS.

Subsequently, every Monday for the following several years, a core meeting was held as a planning session.

Looking back on these meetings, Ryder said that although these gatherings were effective toward meeting goals, sometimes the meetings were attended by as few as two people.

For those who were involved in the early efforts to create a local automobile museum, a myriad of dreams were envisioned.

With the creation of a newsletter and the expression of some of these ideas, interest was shown toward bringing some of these dreams to reality.

Enter Edward Towe

During this period, some of this information reached Deer Lodge, Mont. resident Edward Towe, who had accumulated the world’s largest collection of a single make of car, which included every year and model of Ford automobiles from 1903 to 1953.

Towe corresponded with Ryder in October 1985 and expressed interest in moving Towe’s collection out of Montana.

Ryder said that a 71,000-square-foot building on Front Street in Sacramento was among the places where Towe would consider moving his collection. The building was originally used as a grocery warehouse and later a tire warehouse, then lastly a storage facility for used restaurant equipment.

“After an exchange of trips between Deer Lodge and Sacramento, an agreement was drawn to bring the collection to Sacramento,” Ryder said. “We interested Bill Hadley of Hadley Automotive Transport in bringing the collection to Sacramento. Hadley provided 13 transporters and his personnel to bring approximately 100 cars from Deer Lodge to Sacramento.”

Sacramento resident Ernie Stemer, owner of this 1931 Phantom street rod, which he restored with all Ford parts, is one of the many dedicated volunteers at the California Automobile Museum. / Valley Community Newspapers photo by Lance Armstrong

The cars arrived at the new museum on Front Street in late September 1986.

This event led to the opening of the museum eight months later.

Founders’ Day

Now almost 30 years after efforts began to bring an auto museum to Sacramento, the museum has established its first Founders’ Day – an event that may become an annual event at the museum.

Today, the California Automobile Museum, which was originally known as the Towe Ford Museum and later the Towe Auto Museum, is no longer recognized as a Ford museum, but instead displays a diverse range of automobiles such as a 1911 Pierce-Arrow, a Lamborghini and several alternative fuel vehicles.

One of the most notable automobiles at the museum is a 1933 Lincoln KB, which was once owned by Amadeo Peter Giannini, the founder of Bank of America.

During the Depression, Giannini used the car for his $200,000 advertising campaign. Traveling throughout California, he made it his mission to boost people’s spirits by listening to their needs and determining how his bank could assist in meeting these needs.

Sharing the stories

Sharing histories like the story of Giannini is an important part of the museum’s efforts as an educational facility, explained Bob Daloia, a docent at the museum.

“There are stories with all these things that people can learn and I think it’s fascinating,” Daloia said. “Most car museums display the car as art, but we present it as history. Our docents are trained to tell stories about most of the individual cars and where (each car) was in history and what did they do before they had cars, why is the steering wheel on the left side and how the automobile has affected every one of our lives. We think (these things) are very important.”

Ongoing attractions

In addition to educating its visitors, the museum is dedicated to avoiding a stagnant appearance by regularly rotating its exhibits and continuously providing new attractions.

The museum also presents a variety of offerings such as automobile training classes and classic reel-to-reel film showings. 

Volunteers and guests of the museum, like the group shown above, meet for lunch at the museum every Thursday at noon. / Valley Community Newspapers photo by Lance Armstrong

Throughout the museum’s history, there have been hundreds of people involved in assisting the museum, including many volunteers who have been working with the museum during much of its existence.

Examples of such volunteers are Guy and Margie Weybright, who initiated the museum’s Thursday lunch program and the Christmas tree trim program for car clubs.

In honor of Founders’ Day, those who played a part in the museum’s early history are invited to stop by the event and relate their stories pertaining to the museum.

Through the recommended $10 donation price of admission on Founders’ Day, museum guests on this day can view the museum’s entire automobile collection, as well as enjoy ice cream provided by Vic’s Ice Cream, the Archers’ 1920s-style entertainment and music played on a pipe organ that was formerly located in the home of the famous film director and producer Cecil B. deMille.

Kaela Nelson, the museum’s marketing and education coordinator, said that the event is an excellent way to celebrate the museum’s beginnings and its importance in the community.

“I think it is great that we are hosting our first Founders’ Day event,” Nelson said. “It not only allows us to celebrate our past and the people who helped found this museum, but (it) also lets us look toward the museum’s future and make the community aware of the museum and what it has to offer Sacramento in the way of education and entertainment.”

In addition to the Founders’ Day schedule, the museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with the exception of Thursdays when the museum is open until 9 p.m. and Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day when the museum is closed.

Regular day admission is $8/adults, $7/seniors and American Automobile Association members, $4/students, and free/children, 4 years old and younger.

For more information about the California Automobile Museum, including additional details regarding Founders’ Day and other upcoming events and programs, call (916) 442-6802 or visit the Web site www.calautomuseum.org.

lance@valcomnews.com