CHAPTER 2 - COLTON, CALIFORNIA
From Richard's memoirs, recovered from his original WordPerfect files
Colton was a small town of about 10,000 people. The Southern Pacific Railroad, the Pacific Fruit Express and the Colton Cement Plant provided jobs for most of the men of the town. There was a “Candy Palace” run by Mr. Montgomery, Hunter's “Sweet Shop” owned by Mr. Hunter where we could get a huge milk shake for ten cents. There was one theater in town. The seats were divided into a center section with two smaller sections, one on each side of the center. The Mexicans could only sit in the one section on the left side. The white people got the rest of the seats. Every Saturday there was a matinee with a serial which left you wondering how the hero was going to get out of his current predicament. So we all had to go the following week.
The theater had drawings for a free turkey each night for a week or so before Thanksgiving. Dad asked me one time if I would like to win the turkey. I said: “Sure.” So he asked me for my ticket stub and went out of the theater. He came back in a little while and gave me back my ticket. When they held the drawing that night, from a big bowl of tickets, my number was called and I went up and got the turkey. I think Dad paid Mr. Meyers for the turkey and for my ticket to be “drawn”.
Albert Floyd and I used to sneak into the theater before the show started and hide in the ventilating ducts until after it got going. Then we would come out and into the theater through the exit doors down at the front. The show only cost ten cents but it seemed like more fun to go in that way. Mr. Meyers, the theater owner, used to try everything he could think of to keep us out.
One day Bino and I went down to the back of the theater in the afternoon, long before the show started, and broke the lock off of the door to the sound system. Then that night we came in through the sound room. We had already cut holes in the ventilating ducts so we could climb in there to wait until the show started. We made a lot of noise that night and Mr. Meyers came behind the screen with a flashlight and looked for us. Bino kept quiet but I panicked and he found me and brought me out by the back of my shirt and marched me down to the police station, which was only about two blocks away. The first thing the sergeant asked me was if I had a dime in my pocket, which I did. I told him it was more fun this way. He had me taken home in a police car and turned over to Dad. Dad said that if they couldn't keep a kid from sneaking into their theater I shouldn't go there anymore. He said from then on I would have to go to the shows in San Bernardino.
Colton had just about one of every kind of store we needed for a town our size.
The two main department stores in town were Helman's and Willits. Both were located down at the lower end of Eighth Street just before you entered the Mexican section of town. Lots of the Mexicans traded at Helman's but not many at Willits. Our family bought most of our clothes at Willit's. Old man Helman was a Jew and he had two children, Nathaniel and Carol. Nate was two years ahead of me in high school and Carol was in Betty's class. Nate lost a leg during World War II but he came home to Colton and eventually took over running the store for his dad. Willits was established in Colton in 1883 so you can see they had been there for some time. J. C. Penney Co. had a store located on North Eighth Street. The big department store was The Harris Company but it was located in San Bernardino.
Mr. Montgomery owned and ran the Candy Palace and Mr. Hunter had the Sweet Shop which were the two favorite hangouts for the kids when school was out. Roller's Gasoline Station was on the corner of 9th and “I” Streets. “Roll into Roller's” was their motto. Their daughter, Orel, was in my class in high school. The Colton Courier gave the “latest world doings plus all the HomeTown News” and only cost $1.00 for four months. Walter Harpold ran the only sporting goods store in town. E. W. Cosgrove & Co. was the only jewelry store. The Globe A-1 Grain & Milling Company was one of the big industrial units in town.
E. N. Hubbs was Manager of the Colton Municipal Plunge. Mr. Hubbs gave me a lifetime pass for swimming at the Plunge after I had made a name for myself in the local area. Bollong & Son Furniture Company was the only furniture store in town. We bought our groceries at J. J. Andrews Grocery Store. Dad used to take Bob, Betty & I down to the Mission Drug Store at the first of every year and weigh us. It was the only place that had a set of scales. Dad would record our weight and height in a book and kept this up for several years. I don't know whatever happened to the book.
The Lewis Arcade building was the closest thing we had to compare to today's “mall”. It housed Western Union, a barber shop, flower shop, Dr. Whitmer's office, Dr. Palmer's dental office, other offices and the Post Office. Our box number was 424. I. M. Knopsnyder's Mortuary and Ambulance Service was located on Seventh Street. Henry DeArmond ran the Valley Hardware Company
We had a streetcar track running down the middle of Eighth Street from San Bernardino to about “J” Street in Colton where they changed the trolley position for the car to go back to San Bernardino. It cost about ten cents to go all the way to San Bernardino from Colton, which was a good three miles from the center of each town. Finally, the track was torn up and that was the end of our streetcars.
There was only one negro family in the whole town and they had two boys, Albert and Richard Sneed. Richard was my age and we were good friends and played together for a few years.