Compiled by Nick Sestanovich

75 years ago

Gas Registration Dates November 18-19-20 (November 12, 1942)

Gas registration dates have been changed to November 18, 19 and 20, and gas rationing postponed from November 22 to December 1.
Benicia car owners will register at the grammar school auditorium between the hours of 12 noon to 9 p.m. daily for the three day registration period, with teachers assisted by local women in charge.
Delay in distributing forms and coupons was given as the reason for the change of dates.
Some 100,000,000 pieces of printed matter are necessary to put the nation-wide program into effect, according to OPA and only one-third of delivery schedules have been met.

50 years ago

Council Gives Extension to Southampton (November 9, 1967)

Developer Has 6 Months to Make Improvements

Southampton Development Co. has been granted a six months extension (from Oct. 7) by the city council on its subdivision agreements. The extension will terminate on April 7, 1968. The agreements under which the H.R. Watch firm was committed to make certain public improvements expired on Oct. 7. However, on Oct. 3 the city council granted an additional 30 days. Tuesday night the council tacked on an additional five months through next April 7.
Thomas A. Kilburn, manager of Watch interests in Benicia, originally had requested a one-year extension, saying in a letter to the council that “financial circumstances beyond our control have been responsible for our inability to complete the improvements within the agreed time.
“We have and still are working diligently toward establishing a program that will result in the completion of the subdivision and the initiation of a home building program.”

25 years ago

A tribute to Bob Arneson (November 8, 1992)

It seems only fitting that a quiet park overlooking the Carquinez Strait will be named in honor of the late Robert Arneson, a native Benician and renowned artist who worked in his hometown and loved walking along the waterfront.
Arneson died Monday at his home, where he also worked in his studio.
His sculptures earned him international fame, but friends say he never let that attention take away from his enjoyment of small-town life— talking to friends on First Street, going to downtown cafes, giving his time and energy to projects and political campaigns, and taking walks around the waterfront.
The small park is at the end of West Fourth Street, one block from the artist’s boyhood home, and will be called Robert Arneson Park.
City Manager Mike Warren said the park will be formally dedicated later this month. Tuesday night, the City Council passed a resolution honoring Arneson.

The full articles of these and other stories are available on microfilm at the Benicia Public Library.

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