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Post Info TOPIC: PICs: San Rafael Parade and Fire c.1947
JasonLewis


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RE: PICs: San Rafael Parade and Fire c.1947
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Paul Penna


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Date: Apr 22, 2009
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Thank you very much for that info and the link to the article, Carol!

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CarolBr

 

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Date: Apr 21, 2009
 
  
 

The fire that you are talking about was May 21, 1950 at 812 Fourth Street. It was then known as Mar Vista Motors and subsequently home to several eating establishments, the latest, Rafters Bar & Grill. The parade that was happening when the fire broke out was the St. Raphael's Mission Parade. Two firefighers died - one was my uncle, Bill "Sonny" Bottini and Aubrey "Jack" Miller. Sonny was 24 and Jack was 34. Both were trapped when the roof collapsed - Jack died instantly. Sonny was taken to nearby Cottage Hospital and died that night. He was my mom's brother. They were the first two casualties in the 75 year history of SRFD.



There is a first hand account of the fire here:



http://www.cityofsanrafael.org/Assets/April+2008+Newsletter.pdf



Go to page 15 of the PDF newsletter. Incredible eye-witness account by two of the firemen who are still alive and were good friends of my uncle and Mr. Miller.

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Eleanor Holton


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Royce's was a mens clothing store. When I was at Tam I worked there one Christmas vacation.
E. Holton

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Paul Penna


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Ah, thanks to the photos submitted by Alan Lovett here in the Spotlight's Fires and Floods of the 40s & 50s section, I can correctly date our photos as being from June 1950. My sister would have been at Marin Catholic then, not St. Raphael's.

-- Edited by Paul Penna at 17:56, 2008-04-02

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SteveC


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Paul Penna, I really enjoy these pics.

I'm pretty sure the last one is the northwest corner of Fourth & Lincoln.

The Used Cars is Rafters Brewery/Grille and the lower retail to the right of it is a hispanic market and was Bananas Music Store in the early 80's but I can't remember other tenants, Anyone ???

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Paul Penna


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Date of this parade on Fourth St. is an educated guess at this point; could be 1948. In the first shot, though it's a little blurry, you can make out Montgomery Ward, a bit of J.C. Penney, and down the street, Royce. Can't remember what Royce sold - shoes, maybe. The second give a good view of Penney's. During the parade, a fire broke out at Mar Vista Motors, seen in the third shot. Not sure exactly where that was. My sister would have been a student at St, Raphael's when she took these.








-- Edited by Paul Penna at 16:43, 2007-12-28

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