Some years ago I was browsing the California State Archives
and happened onto a several
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The recent brouhaha over a project called “Trackside” has
prompted me to look at it again and more closely.
In that examination, my main impression is that as late as
1964 Davis was a place where work of a meaningfully real physical kind was still
performed along the tracks--a type of human activity no longer found there to
any significant extent. Put differently and more broadly, there has been a long-term
shift from gritty to clean labor along the tracks.
1964 GRITTY PHYSICAL
LABOR
The more recent phase of this long-term shift can be seen in
the 1964 map, which I present in its original form as item A. It is difficult
to read so I have also rotated it and broken it into four main segments,
numbered 1 through 4. (High resolution files of all these images can be downloaded from https://picasaweb.google.com/110278657375889577976/DavisHistoryToday?noredirect=1 You must, though, be patient.)
Starting with excerpt 1 and running from top to bottom of
each of the four segments, here is a list of 21 locations featuring “gritty”
and “real physical labor.”
1. Union Service Station
2. Lbr. Office
3. Hibbert Lumber Co.Yard
4. S & H car lot
5. Davis Van Storage
6. B & H auto wreckers
7. SP Loading Platform
8. Hartz Motor Company (2 locations)
10. Henry Gustie Grain Elevator
11. Davis Tire Shop
12. Shop
13. Donnells Garden Supply
12. Blacksmith Shop
13. Traction Engines
14. King & Peno Fluming Shop
15. Motel
16. Fullertons Motors
17. Wells Fargo loading platform
18. Section Foreman’s House
19. Maintainer’s House
20. Bunk House - 1
21. Bunk House - 2
This list of course includes some activities that can still
be found trackside--Hibbert lumber and garden supply activity in particular.
But, the overwhelming fact is that real physical labor is not nearly as common
there today as it was in 1964.
THE PRIOR ERA
All this is quite apart from the era previous to the 1960s
when “trackside” was the location of multistory grain storage warehouses and Ag
equipment manufacturing. These operations involved “really real” and very hard
physical labor (some of it very dangerous and even lethal) that far exceeded
the strenuousness seen in the 1964 items.
In post #25 published November 27, 2011 on this blog, I
report on structures making up that prior world and how it had “vanished” by
about 1955 (item B). That account can be read here:
CULTURAL RESOURCES HISTORICAL
CELEBRATION
Proposals for new development in Davis and elsewhere often
encounter objections on the grounds that they are incompatible with historical
facts of “cultural resource” significance.
Regarding possible trackside redevelopments, it seems to me
that “cultural resource” compatibility requires representing that for many
decades the area was a gritty and sweaty center of hard labor featuring large
structures.
My suspicion, however, is that we will get, instead, a
cutesy middle class bungalow and cottage version of Davis history sans any
significant recall of bulky buildings and sweaty grit.
At least, that is the direction in which proponents
and opponents of new development alike seem to be heading at this time. After
all, we are transitioning into a high technology Davis, one that prompts a fitting
history--that is, a history that fits.
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