It was on this date in 1931, Hubert “Hoolie” Hill opened Hill’s Market in the Knoch Building on the corner of Main and Lassen Streets. Hill was formerly associated with the Mt. Lassen Packing Company. The market was also known as the Red & White. In 1939, Hill opened a second store on Highway 36, next to the Meadows and across from the Coppervale Ski area. He sold that store in 1941, and it became known as the Meadows Market.

Hill died in 1949, but his wife, Mildred carried on with the market. Unfortunately, I do not have the exact year when it closed. It is one of those research challenges created by Covid-19, as access to certain records hampers research.

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Seasoned residents will recall Carlos Lucero and his mortuary located on South Lassen Street, which is now Walton’s Mortuary. In November, 1935 Lucero purchased the George McDow residence and proceeded to renovate it into a mortuary to compete with the town’s other mortuary—Edenholm & Morrill. Lucero hired A.K. Philbrook to operate it, who had been in the local undertaking business since the early 1900s.

Fast forward to the spring of 1938 when Edenholm & Morrill took over the premises. They, too, made extensive improvements including the use of knotty pine in the interior, that was quite popular then. Within ten years, Lucero would again own it and this time operate mortuary for several decades.

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According to Claude Wemple, who by the way was related to the Christie family, that after Jim Christie’s death in 1936, the furniture store was sold to Frank Stewart, It was Stewart who moved the store to the Main Street location from Weatherlow Street. Stewart later sold to the store to Madge Dolio, who in turn sold to Carlomagno.

Tim

In October 1916, Franceska Neuhaus placed a small 2×2 inch display advertisement in the Lassen Advocate that for sale was the Commercial Hotel on the corner of Main and Union Streets, Susanville. She also offered 80 acres of timberland two miles from Susanville. Innocent enough? The hotel that she offered was named the St. Francis Hotel., after all there was the Commercial Hotel a block away on South Weatherlow Street. As to the timber property she did not own any.

This alarmed Leona Jackson, a granddaughter of Franceska. She went to court to file guardianship papers for her grandmother. Of course, a notice is required to be sent to all relatives. It turned into one of those proverbial “all hell broke loose.” Other relatives filed their own petitions seeking to be Franceska’a guardian. Most of 1917 was tied up in litigation over Franceska’a guardianship, until finally the court appointed, Franceska’s son, W.H. “Bill” Neuhaus her guardian. The following year, 1918, Franceska passed away, a victim of the Spanish Influenza.

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In 1920, the Christie Brothers—John and James—dissolved their partnership in a general mercantile store in Janesville. John, better known as Burt, had already launched a new career when he purchased the Eagle Lake Resort. For his brother, Jim, he was not quite sure what path to take. In 1921, he opened Christie Furniture at 903 Weatherlow Street, Susanville and continued until his death in 1936.

Eventually, the store moved to 608 Main Street. For several decades it was owned and operated by S.R. “Carl” and Ferne Carlomagno. Christie Furniture store, along with the Murray Insurance were destroyed by a fire on March 20, 1982. The Christie store was never rebuilt, and remains a vacant lot.

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This is from the archives of the Lassen Mail, dated November 1, 1935 which appears there were more tricksters than treaters on the streets of Susanville for Halloween.

And the Old Town Is Turned on End. That great institution the American Boy went hog wild in Susanville last night, with the result that the old town looked tattered and torn this morning.

Halloween the eve of All Saints was celebrated by the youngsters of the community with great gusto. It’s an old American custom, and it certainly was carried out unrestraindly here.

Gates, fences, automobiles and outhouses stood the brunt of the holiday pranksters. Many a car owner who foolishly left his machine on a public street awoke this morning to find all four tires as flat as a bride’s first cake, and valve caps gone to the land of missing auto parts.

Streets, even the highways were strewn with debris of all sorts, including logs, paper boxes, city garbage cans, milk cans, tree branches and a dead cat or two.

The usual stunt of marking store and automobile windows with soap and tallow was indulged in freely, and plenty of tick-tacking developed throughout the residential sections before the witching hour of midnight.

Yes, it was a large night for the youth of the town, but it won’t occur again for another whole year and so—-why worry?

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