Roy’s Club Celebrates 65 Years

Evo Fanucchi at Roy's-tending bar on Fridays

A few months ago I mentioned that I’d had a chance to talk with Roy and Catherine Fanucchi, owners of Roy’s Club in Old Town, Eureka.

I wrote an article based on some of the stories the Fanucchis shared about the history of the place and today I’m happy to say that you can find it  in the Times Standard Boomer Section.

One of the stories I couldn’t fit in the article goes as follows.

During prohibition, Evo’s father Angelo would sometimes go to Napa for whiskey.  He would fill the car with 5 gallon tins and cover them with a mattress.  Angelo would then take little Evo and his sister Ida-and have them  lie on the mattress.  If they were ever stopped  by officers, Angelo instructed, Evo and Ida were sleeping.   Evo remembers being stopped one time and hearing his father say, “No officer, I don’t have any alcohol , but please keep your voice down as my children are sleeping in the back of the car…”  The officer sent them on their way.

Eureka Railroad Depot

NW Pacific Railroad Depot, 2nd/A Streets, Eureka (Stine)

Drinking fountain for man, horse & dog

SoHum Historian, Olmanriver,  sent me some wonderful newspaper excerpts full of all kinds of random community news, but this, inexplicably, is the one that struck me. 

As always, thanks so much ‘River, for being so generous with your information !

 I tried but was unable to find any photos of the type of fountain described.

“The Daily Humboldt Times” Eureka, California
Thursday, July 29, 1897
THE DRINKING FOUNTAIN ARRIVES

The drinking fountain which was ordered from J. N. Fish, of New York, by the retiring council on the night of its last meeting, has been landed safely in this city. It stands 5 feet 4 inches & measures 22 inches in diameter at its base. It weighs 800 pounds & is well adapted for city use, having been made extra strong to resist the knocks & jars of heavy trucks. The fountain possess an ornamental top piece. It is furnished with three basins at which man, horse & dog may drink. The basin which will be used by pedestrians & the trough for horses are on opposite sides & about midway up the fountain. The vessel provided for dogs is near the base & it catches what water escapes from the other two bowls. A self closing faucet regulates the flow of water by means of an automatic ball-valve.

The cost of the fountain in New York was $93, to which sum must be added $21.40 freight charges, making the total cost $114.40.
The sum of $25 will be donated by the W C T U (Women’s Christian Temperance Union) towards the expense of the fountain, & the Ricks Water Company will furnish the water used free of charge to the city. The fountain will probably be set up on the curbstone on the F street pavement where it will be convenient for the greatest number of pedestrians & people driving horses. The need of such a drinking structure is strongly felt in this city, where nothing of the kind is provided for the general public.

Lips that touch liquor shall not touch ours

I recently met  w/ Evo Fanucchi and his wife Catherine (owners of Roy’s Club Italian Restaurant in Eureka) and Evo shared many wonderful stories about his childhood in Old Town, Eureka during prohibition.    I’ll transcribe and post them soon…

Lynching in Eureka

On Sunday my husband and I attended the annual Humboldt Historical Society Luncheon, and in a silent auction I “won” a series of books written by Peter Palmquist and Lincoln Killian.  The books focus on the history of local photographers, and though I’d seen them before, I  hadn’t realized they also contained a lot of great local history.  Great, well written, local history.   This sounds terrible, but I figured they weren’t written by Palmquist and on a hunch, I successfully tracked down the co-author, Lincoln Killian.   Killian had, indeed, written most of the text for the series.

We chatted for a while, and as I always do, I shared the story of Lucy.  He remarked, rather surprised, that he hadn’t heard the story before (though he worked in the HSU library’s Humboldt Room and spent years steeped in local history).  He said that it was important to share the stories that no one knows…

Which got me thinking.  And thinking… And thinking. 

I work with a lot of clients doing marketing and public relations projects and last night I attended a workshop on Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) so that I could do more in that realm for my clients. I did pay attention (at least some of the time), but mostly I thought about the murder of James Casebeer and the lynch mob killing of the two Indians accused of the murder.  Two Indians named Jack.  I realized that I need to tell their story and I will start by doing it here.