A Look Back -- Jerry Person

Jerry Person

First thing this week, I would like to apologize for typing the wrong

birth date last week for, George Arnold. The correct birth date should be

Jan. 21, 1929.

I do have this feeling that somehow it was George’s hand that made me

type 1921 as his last joke on us.

But now for this week’s look back.

In the past Huntington Beach has had its share of cafe-taverns.

Although there were not as many as we have in the Downtown today, we did

have had a number of them owned by some very interesting people. This

week we’re going to look at two brothers who owned the One-O-Seven

cafe-tavern.

To begin our story the cafe was at 107 Main St., hence its name. But

over the years it gets a bit complicated as it was sometimes spelled as

One-O-Seven and One Hundred and Seven cafe and then later it became

Bill’s 107 Club at 119 Main St. with Bill Allen and Bill Gannon.

But we are concerned with its early owners, brothers Ray and John

Dolan. These two are synonymous with its early history.

Ray, the eldest brother, was born on Nov. 19, 1901 in the little

farming town of Hornick in Iowa to Henry and Maggie Dolan.

The Dolan family soon moved to Mapleton, Iowa and then to Sidney, Neb.

When Ray was 18 years old he moved to Omaha to live and stayed there

until 1925.

His next move was to California, where Ray lived in Hollywoodwith his

brother John.

In 1937 Ray moved to Huntington Beach to live with his wife Vel. Ray

started a the little cafe in the Obarr building at 107 Main St. called

the One-O-Seven and he promptly joined our chamber of commerce.

Settling into his new adopted town Ray joined our local Rotary Club in

1940. Art Laubach then became associated with the cafe in the early

1940s. Ray became the treasurer of the Rotary Club in 1945, a duty he

took on with pride.

Ray and Vel lived at 209 Knoxville Ave. in the Downtown and their son

Ray Jr. and his wife Lois lived right behind Ray Sr., at 210 Lincoln Ave.

Some of you might remember Jim Young, one of their bartenders who worked

there in 1958.

Ray retired from the cafe business in 1962 and traveled the world and

enjoyed life.

We’ll now look at Ray’s younger brother John James ‘Johnny’ Dolan who

was born when the family lived in Mapleton on March 8, 1904.

The Dolan family lived the strenuous life of Midwestern farmers and

the Dolan boys worked hard in the fields. In 1914 the family moved to

Sidney where Johnny attended both grammar and high school.

In high school Johnny loved to play football, which is not unusual

except for the fact that Johnny weighed only 140 pounds and he played

right tackle for the team.

His football league played teams from Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming.

After graduating from high school in 1922 Johnny got his first real job

as a warehouse man in Wyoming’s Teapot Dome oil fields. But Johnny was

looking for something a bit easier on the back and quit that job after

one year.

That was when he moved to Hollywood. It was 1923 and for a few years

he bounced around doing different jobs.

During this time the country was caught up in the aviation fever and

flying a plane was all the rage. Johnny caught that fever and took flying

instructions at Clover Field in Los Angeles. He went on to get his

pilot’s license and for the next 15 years was flying over the Los Angeles

basin.

Johnny joined his brother Ray in Huntington Beach in 1939 where he

went into a partnership with his brother in the cafe business.

When America went to war in 1941 Huntington Beach residents went too.

In 1942 Johnny joined the Civil Pilot Training as an instructor. They

stationed him at Manzanar Field in Manzanar.

Even though he was a civilian he was attached to the army at Mather

Field near Sacramento as a civilian pilot.

He also served as a training instructor in Canada where he trained

cadets to fly in 1944 at Calaero, Ontario under an agreement between our

two countries.

After the war Johnny came back to Huntington Beach and he and his wife

Betty lived at 503 Walnut Ave.

Betty worked as a clerk at Surf Liquor at 420 Pacific Coast

Highway. Johnny was active in the Huntington Beach Lions Club, which

he joined in 1949. He was a member of our Elks Lodge No. 1959 and also

the president of the town’s Windsor Club where the elite meet to eat and

play cards. Johnny gave up flying and took up the game of golf.

These two brothers will forever be a part of the rich, golden history

of Huntington Beach.

* JERRY PERSON is a local historian and longtime Huntington Beach

resident. If you have ideas for future columns, write him at P.O. Box

7182, Huntington Beach, CA 92615.