WASHINGTON HOUSE in 1979.
Reg Page photo

By Reg Page

IN 1965, WHEN I FIRST CAME TO BENICIA, there was little to suggest what it would look like nearly 50 years later.

The Arsenal had just closed, leaving warehouses and buildings of all kinds devoid of any hint of activity. Interstate 780 to Vallejo had been built to carry traffic west from the Benicia-Martinez Bridge toward I-80 and Vallejo, but north of the freeway only rolling hills were visible, and there was just a two-lane road between Benicia and Cordelia. It carried little traffic, even at commute hours.

For all intents and purposes, Benicia appeared to have been abandoned and bypassed by plans that others had made. The downtown itself looked pretty shabby. It would have been an exaggeration to think it might become a ghost town, but its fortunes looked dim, and it seemed an unlikely place for a young family to move and raise children.

A decade later, when we moved here permanently, the town’s fortunes had changed. The Arsenal had acquired a major industry, and warehouses were being utilized for storage and trans-shipment of goods, including a large Ace Hardware complex directly east of the refinery. The residential development known as Southampton had gone through its second stage of construction in the hills above the city (some referred to it jokingly as Humble Heaven, as the refinery was initially constructed under the Humble name). What made Southampton successful, however, was its reputation for quality construction and prices far more reasonable than across the Strait in Contra Costa County (I know — we looked). It also had something very few developments with reasonable prices had: views.

As I remember it, fast food places were limited at the time. There was a Jolly Cone, which was located across from where the Taco Bell is now, in the corner of the parking lot of what is now Benicia Health and Fitness Club. That space was then occupied by a Food Fair supermarket. Interestingly, there weren’t many eating establishments downtown either, as I recall, with the exceptions of Mabel’s and the Main Street Restaurant. I believe the only place to get a pizza was the Pizza Pirate, and I don’t think there were any Chinese restaurants (I apologize in advance for any lapse of memory on my part).

JURGENSEN’S SALOON, aka The Lido, in 1979.
Reg Page photo

The post office was located in the small building at the southwest corner of West Second and West J streets. But we did have two newspapers, which says something for a town that at that time had only around 12,000 people. City Hall was where it is today. It had been the high school until a new one was built in the ’60s.

In the late ’70s Russ Blanchard, a former city councilman, took on the task of having a book written about Benicia’s early history. “Great Expectations,” written by historian Richard Dillon, was the result, and several of us supported the project by taking or copying photographs or helping out in other ways. The consensus was that Russ drove everyone crazy with his “book,” but it is difficult to imagine it happening otherwise. A couple of pictures I took at the time were of Jurgensen’s Saloon (then known as The Lido) and the Washington House. At the time the saloon stood across from where the railroad depot is today, but it was no longer used as a bar. One of author Jack London’s favorite hangouts when he was in town in the late 1890s and early 1900s, it was subsequently relocated to become the upper story of the building now occupying the location of the old Solano Hotel, on the northwest corner of First and West E streets.

The exterior appearance of the Washington House, on the southwest corner of First and D streets, has changed significantly; today it is where Kinder’s is located. It also had a shady past — but we often forget that Benicia was very much a part of the “Old West.”

In the 1970s, the downtown still left much to be desired. Many businesses and homes were not being maintained. There was little new construction except what was happening in the hills to the north. Clearly, though, a corner had been turned.

What is striking today is the degree to which homes and businesses throughout the community, and especially downtown, have been attractively preserved and maintained. Moreover, the level of activity everywhere is amazing. Benicia has become a vibrant community. While one could feel sorry for it a few decades ago, they would be hard-pressed to feel so now.

Heroic efforts by people who cared saved Benicia in the 1960s. Dedicated citizens today have made it a very desirable place indeed. To so many of us who did not grow up here, it has become “our” town as well, and we are thankful for what so many have done to make it so.

Share your memories of Benicia — email us at beniciaherald@gmail.com

Reg Page and his wife have lived in Benicia since 1974. He lived here briefly during the summers of 1965 and ’66. He has been involved in a number of activities in support of the community, including the Rotary Club, Chamber of Commerce and Benicia Unified School District Governing Board. He also served on the city’s Water Advisory Committee in the 1980s and the General Plan Oversight Committee in 1997. He has a degree in mechanical engineering and business administration.

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