HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM FRIULI

IVANO SAYS: Remember my cousin Ferruccio Dri - proprietor and your genial host at the famous Ramandolo Club in Friuli:
http://www.ramandoloclub.it/ Well he sent me the top photo above and wanted me to post his Happy New Year message on the 'blagga.


Oggetto: AUGURI DI BUON ANNO 2010

Carissimi amici de la Nostra Costa

Vi faccio i miei più caldi Auguri di Buon Anno

Spero che il prossimo sia migliore di quello passato

Colgo l’occasione di inviarVi una mia foto fatta a Caserta prima della inaugurazione della Reggia di Caserta 28 Nov 2009

E del Gran Ballo dei Borboni che ho partecipato

Inoltre Mi Auguro di incontraVi personalmente in California

Auguroni a Tutti

Ferruccio e famiglia

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IVANO SAYS (CONT'D): Loosely translated Ferruccio says "Happy New Year- 2010.

Dear friends of La Nostra Costa. I send you my warmest wishes for a most Happy New Year.

Let's all hope that the New Year will be better then the past year. I am sending you a photo that was taken at Casereta before the inauguration of the Royal Palace (?). There I participated in the Gran Dance of the Bourbons. (French Royal Family). Hopefully, I will meet all of you personally in California. Best wishes to all. Ferruccio and Family".

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AND I JOIN IN WITH FERRUCCIO AND MY WIFE, MILDRED, IN WISHING ALL YOU LNOSTRA-COSTA 'BLAGGATORI' A HAPPY NEW YEAR. SEMPRE AVANTI. Ivn0

AMICA DELLA COSTA - EDITH KING REMEMBERED

Edith I. King*

Edith I. King passed away peacefully at home, Sunday December 6. She was 100 years old. She was born in the city of Santa Cruz on July 7, 1909, to Harry W. and Margaret M. King, who had immigrated to Santa Cruz from Toronto, Canada. Her father died when she was 8 years old, and her mother remarried Harry A Baker. They moved to the ranch in Aptos, where she lived for 67 years. In 1986 she moved from the ranch to Rio Del Mar, where she resided until her death.

Edith was an educator who worked in Santa Cruz county schools for 39 years. She graduated from San Jose State in 1932, and began her teaching career in Watsonville. She soon moved to the Santa Cruz city schools where she taught at Grant, was principal at Gault from 1949 until 1966, and finished her career as principal at Laurel, instituting the first Title One program in Santa Cruz county. She retired in 1971.

Edith loved horses and raised Arabians and ponies at the ranch as well as cattle, and had many pet dogs and cats over the years. She enjoyed the outdoors and hunted and fished for most of her life. She loved to travel, and her most recent trip was a cruise through the Panama canal at age 92, which fulfilled a lifetime goal. She was an avid gardener and was known for her beautiful dahlias and roses.

Edith is survived by her loving nephews and nieces, Timothy Matthews and wife Heather, of Capitola, Ann Matthews Atlas and her husband Larry. of Millbrook, New York, Martin Matthews of Honolulu, Hawaii, and grand nephew Julian Matthews of Aptos. She was preceded in death by her sister, Dorothy Baker Matthews. The family also wishes to thank Dolores M. Austria, her loving caregiver for over 6 years.

No services will be held at her request, but the family would welcome any stories or memories be sent to P.O.Box 36, Aptos, CA 95003 or to tim@heatherglass.com. Memorial donations can made to Hospice of Santa Cruz, 940 Disc Drive, Scotts Valley, CA 95066
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IVANO SAYS: Edith King was the principal and teacher (Sixth Grade) when I graduated from Laurel School. She was instrumental in selecting five "Figli della Costa", Jerry Mungai, Jim Ceragioli, Marvin Del Chiaro, Mario Rodoni and me (Ivan Comelli) to serve with the famous "Traffic Boys" of 1948-49 (LNC: P.275). Thanks Miss King. Until we meet again across "Il Ultimo Ponte"

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*The above Remembrance was first published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TONY MARTIN

NICK FAITOS -CYD CHARISSE-TONY MARTIN -2OO7
('Clicca' on photo for enlarged image)
On Christmas Day in 1913, Tony Martin one of our most famous singers and entertainers was born in San Francisco. In 1948, Tony married the famous and beautiful dancer (and actor), Cyd Charisse. Nick Faitos of Santa Cruz , sent me the photo above, taken at the Martin home in Los Angeles (Sept 2007). Sadly, in 2008, Tony (and all of us) lost Cyd to an apparent heart attack. Cyd Charisse starred and danced in some of the most memorable movies of all time, such as “Silk Stockings”, and "Bandwagon" (below) with Fred Astaire, and “Singing in the Rain” with Gene Kelly. Who could ever forget those lovely legs?

CYD CHARISSE AND FRED ASTAIRE

And here are some of my favorite Tony Martin big hit records: “To Each His Own”, “There’s No Tomorrow”, “I’ll Take Manhattan”, “I’ll See You In My Dreams” and “I Hear A Rhapsody”.

Happy Birthday, Tony. And thanks to you and Cyd for the all those wonderful memories.
Sempre Avanti! Ivano

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Below is the letter by Nick Faito sent with the photos.


Dear Ivan:

Enjoy these photos of the Martins and me. I don’t know if Ill ever take any more. You wouldn’t believe how much we miss Cyd. She was just about the most adorable person I’ve ever known.

Merry Christmas, Nick

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Thanks Nick. And a very Merry Christmas to you and your family. And here is an added note from Len " SCHS Class of '54:

Hi, Ivan,
I thought you might be interested in reading a column about Cyd Charisse written by Ron Miller, Santa Cruz High Class of 1956. Ron, as you probably know, was the TV critic for the San Jose Mercury for many years and later became a movie critic for the Knight-Ridder newspaper chain, which owned the Mercury.
Ron's piece on Charisse appears on a web site called "The Columnists" and is at:
www.thecolumnists.com/millers681.hml

Thanks Len. I found the excellent article on Cyd by going to the homepage: http://www.thecolumnists.com/
then clicking on Ron Miller's photo and then going to his 2008 archives. The article on Cyd was first posted in June 23, 2008

COAST ROAD BLOG

LA NOSTRA COSTA BEACH - GULCH RANCH - OFF THE COAST ROAD - 3 MILES N. OF SANTA CRUZ -(PHOTO TAKEN BY GINO CAMPIONI)

IVANO SAYS: Surfing the net I came across this book review posted on The Coast Road Blogsite: www.coastroad.wordpress.com This blog has many beautiful photos of the Coast Road along with interesting articles. I invite my "blaggatori" to take a look. Sempre Avanti.


La Nostra Costa, Santa Cruz North CoastIvano Franco Comelli’s La Nostra Costa (our coast) sticks an Italian flag in the coast north of Santa Cruz. Ivano Comelli is “un figlio della costa (son of the coast), born and raised on a brussel sprouts rancio.”

Ivano’s family lived on the Coast Road from 1937 to 1953 amongst other ranceri and amici della costa. “Italians who lived on or near the Coast Road would often say that they lived su per la costa, up the coast.” The family home was located on The Gulch Ranch, Il Golce.

“Our single-story batten and board-house had only about 1,200 square feet of actual living space and was separated from the Coast Road by a small patch of lawn, which in turn was surrounded by three sides by a hedge of tall juniper plants. These thick, woody plants shielded the house, somewhat, from the dusty wind, but did little to mitigate the constant noise that was generated by passing vehicles. There were far fewer vehicles on the road in those days; however, it still had a significant amount of traffic.”

Southbound cement trucks traveling the Coast Road to Santa Cruz from Davenport’s Portland Cement Plant would “descend into the gulch and climb a steep grade on the other side. Our house was located right at the top of the grade where the trucks completed their climb. Many times a truck going by was so noisy that our single wall house literally shook on its foundation. Mercifully, when the highway was rebuilt in the latter part of the 1950s, this particular portion of the gulch was mostly filled with rock and sand. The present roadway has a slight dip, but no longer does it have that steep descent.”

La Nostra Costa provides old photos and tells stories of daily life along the coast ranches and in old Davenport. Some things change, some things remain the same: access to beaches bordered by privately-owned land, nudism and sex on the beach while being spied upon from above by boys on the bluff, automobile accidents on the Coast Road, good food and Localism.

Many of the Italianos along this stretch of coast came to America, before World War II, from the northeastern region of Friuli. During World War II, being immigrants without U.S. Citizenship, these Italians were not allowed west of the Coast Road. “The entire coast from the Oregon border to just below Santa Barbara was declared off-limits to enemy aliens effective February 24, 1942.”

La Nostra Costa may be found at Bookshop Santa Cruz and via a few other venues. Ivano also maintains a blog.

2 Comments

Posted in History, Literature Tags: Cabrillo Highway, Davenport, Dimeo Lane, Laguna Curve, Pescadero-Santa Cruz Road, Respini Creek, Santa Cruz County, Serafina's, Yellowbank Curve
Posted by: coastroad October 19, 2009 Rincon Causeway – 1912
http://www.coastroad.wordpress.com/

HOOVER'S CHILDREN - NICK FAITOS

'CLICCA' ON PHOTO FOR ENLARGED IMAGE

A VERY SPECIAL CHIRSTMAS GIFT FROM 'ST. NICK'

IVANO SAYS: I met Nick Faitos at one of my presentations. Last week he called me up and said that he had a special photo of the 1940 graduating class of Laurel School. (I graduated from Laurel School in 1949.) He was wondering if I wanted a copy. "Of course", I told him. Nick was gracious enought to send me a copy. Nick has entitled this class as "Hoover's Children" All were born durning the Great Depression. Some of the above names appear in "La Nostra Costa". I hope you all enjoy the photo as much as I did. (BTW: The teacher for the class was Viola Meints, who was also the principal.)

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY E SEMPRE AVANTI