Women’s Club still going strong

A LOOK BACK

It’s not every day that an organization reaches its 95th birthday.

On Jan. 28, the Huntington Beach Woman’s Club turns that very

number. In just five short years, it will reach the century mark.

As we read a short time before in this column, the club began on

the long road to success in the home of Florence Blodget on Jan. 28,

1908. At that first meeting were Blodget, Adelaide Howard, Ruth

Lindgren, Minnie Nutt, Hattie Sholly, Dena Sundbye and Ruth Waite.

Their mission would be to bring culture and civic improvements to

our little beach town.

As the club neared its 10th birthday in 1918, the country was

mobilized for a war with Germany, and their celebration was kept to a

minimum.

But as the club graduated from girlhood to a mature woman of 20 in

1928, it celebrated with a large luncheon and program at their

clubhouse on 10th Street.

Guests at the luncheon included one of its original members, Mary

Newland.

A talk was given on movie censorship and how it had failed.

The speaker pointed out that if you recommend to someone that a

picture should be avoided because of its content, them somehow

everyone wants to go see that picture and it becomes a box office

hit.

The speaker recommended that the club sponsor a junior matinee at

our local theater so our youths could enjoy clean, wholesome

entertainment. Local baker John Eader baked a three-tier birthday

cake with 20 candles on it. The cake was lighted by club president

May S. Jackson and cut by Mary Newland.

Mary Bushard and Mary Newland presented the club with $5 bills.

Of course, there were the regular Monday evening car parties

during the year. These were meant to bring the ladies together to

play “500” or a round of bridge. These evening get-togethers featured

hot biscuits and honey with hot coffee. The 50-cent admission went

toward the clubhouse’s kitchen equipment.

Tuesday nights were reserved for the special teas that were held

along with a little back room politics during the year.

During the month of March, the club put on a program of

old-fashioned clothing. Demure lace, petite bonnets and ruffled

skirts were worn by many of the club members at their clubhouse.

Also in March, the club invited Emmett Berry, supervisor of the La

Habra schools, to talk about adult education.

After this interesting talk, the club members discussed helping

our boy scouts during their scout jamboree at the Orange County

fairgrounds.

It is said that Christmas comes but once a year, and so does the

club’s Hi Jinx program. On June 12, the clubhouse was the scene of

the 1928 Hi Jinx.

The program included a talk on war work and law enforcement and a

fashion show, in which the club members modeled garments that could

be found at our Main Street stores.

The club was presented with a phonograph and a selection of Edison

records. “The Fatal Wedding,” an old-time song, was acted out by the

members as the words were read in a comic fashion.

The club received six new members at the opening of its September

meeting.

War work was a big issue at the time, and the ladies were right

there to step in to help.

A Home Talent show was held that same month in the clubhouse. It

featured Frances Smith, who read the stirring poem “Whispering Bill,”

a tragic story of a young boy whose mind was shattered by a shell

during the war, though his body kept on living.

There was not a dry eye in the house.

Then came a talk on caring for the boys who were injured in the

big war, confined to hospital beds and without funds.

It was suggested that every Woman’s Club in Orange County adopt

one boy and send him $2 a month for his own personal use.

But the biggest cause for the members that took place in 1928 was

the suggestion that the city take some of its new oil money and “buy”

our beach front.

In those days, the beach was privately owned, and spending money

to buy it for the people was unthinkable.

But the idea was brought forward by these civic-mined ladies, and

we have them to thank for starting the ball rolling.

They started that ball with a letter to the City Council urging

them to acquire our beach front.

It didn’t happen overnight, but their little letter started the

process going, and today we own our beautiful strand of beach.

I can just imagine that those founding ladies, if they were alive

today, would be advising the ladies to stand tall and face the unsure

future as they had, and would have lead our city to even greater

glory.

* 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.