This is an old Real Photo Post Card (RPPC) the Old Chinese Joss House which once stood in Placerville somewhere near Pacific and Sacramento Streets. I am not sure of the location. I believe it burned down. Most of the buildings in Chinatown were wood, so they are no longer there. The Chinese were hard workers and worked hard at mining in the Gold Country. 
You can see how this part of town could have easily gone up in flames. Notice the big old house up on the hill. It would be fun to take a drive and find this spot and see if the old house is still there, maybe on De Bernardi Court or Meridian Street.
I'm not sure what they have here, but it probably isn't full of gold. This photo could have been taken along Quartz Alley.
Benham Street, which was once known as Oregon Ravine, was a very busy mining area when Dry Diggins first was settled. Later homes were built along the street. When I was small, across Benham from the City Park were several old ramshackle cabins and homes that have now been torn down and guess what is there? A parking lot!
This may have been one of those old homes that was still there into the 1960s. I have always been fascinated by empty old homes, they seem so sad. Notice the pear or cherry blossoms.
This old home, if it had gotten some updating in the 1930's, might have survived. But it didn't. I love the gingerbread along the roof line and the picket fence.I think all the Gold Country Girls learned to swim at the Placerville City Pool on Benham Street at the City Park. I remember being small enough to just go to the wading pool which was just South of the big pool. Then I graduated to Pollywogs, and on from there.
Behind the pool up along the hillside were pyracantha bushes. They bloomed with tiny white sprays of flowers every summer, and the scent covered the area. I still can't smell that perfume without feeling like I also smell chlorine and feel the cool water slapping against my body as I swim. That scent is as much a part of my memories of Placerville as old photos are.
I have a lot of memories of the pool, but the one engraved in my mind was a child being hit and killed in the crosswalk on Benham just as I was about to dive off the diving board. I believe it was the first traffic fatality in Placerville in years. That was in the 1960s.
This is an old postcard of the original City pool in the 1930s. You can see the old homes across the street from the pool. Also note the "Big Cut" at the top middle left. I have never found a postcard of the pool in later days. Now our old pool has been replaced by a larger new aquatic center. I hope the pyracantha bushes are still there!
This is an old postcard of the original City pool in the 1930s. You can see the old homes across the street from the pool. Also note the "Big Cut" at the top middle left. I have never found a postcard of the pool in later days. Now our old pool has been replaced by a larger new aquatic center. I hope the pyracantha bushes are still there!Just another short tour of some of our town which is no longer there. I hope you enjoyed it. Now get out there and smell the flowers and take a nice cooling dip in your nearest aquatic center.
7 comments:
I am always fascinated by your posts regarding Placerville and it's history. Yes - we do have some good memories from our swimming lessons and days spent at the city pool, don't we?
I love all of the great old photos!
love the old photos and your stories. my house that i grew up in was taken for urban renewal so long ago and i loved that big old house. thanks for sharing those great memories!
Hmmm, I should see if there are any post cards of the club pool I learned to swim in. Great idea. =)
oh my goodness what a wonderful post! to include not only the distant past but also up to your childhood memories of the 1960s is such a brilliant idea. because now even THOSE things have changed. i wish i could have seen those little ramshackle houses across from the pool. the parking lot you mention must be the catholic church's lot? or US Bank? anyway i used to live in a little cottage on Quartz Alley which i adored. it is so cool to think that just behind me was the old chinatown of placerville and maybe that explains the very haunting feeling i had while living there. i still live close to downtown but over by the hospital. i think this town is full of miners' ghosts.
Great pictures, just stumbled across your post while doing some research, thanks for posting. The picture of the Chinese procession is a funeral party on pacific, they are carrying the deceased...
The picture of a painting made by my husband Deino Trotta, of the Chinese moving the altar of the Joss House to its new building. This painting won many awards for its historical accuracy and detail to the occasion of the parade in Placerville. This street was on the hill behind the city hall building before the freeway tore the town in two. This is not a funeral procession. All of the research was done through the historic archival materials and the books that were available in the library and the museum in Placerville in 1972. Colors were not named or even mentioned in the details and thus the grey scale was employed in making it appear as it being a photograph.
My husband Deino Trotta painted this procession of Chinese, moving their Joss House altar to the new building. The street they are walking on is behind the old court house building before highway 50 tore the town in two. This painting has been awarded many accolades for its historical accuracy. Many long and devoted hours went into the research at the Placerville library and museum to authenticate the occasion of this parade. No color reference was given to any of the peoples clothing, flags or other objects, so he painted it in the grey scale, as you would see it in a photograph.
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