A LOOK BACK:

One of the greatest assets a fledgling business could have when opening in Huntington Beach is a membership in our Chamber of Commerce.

Over the years we have read about many activities and events sponsored by the organization, including our famous Fourth of July and Santa Claus parades, Black Gold Days and the Twins contests.

During the time when William Gallienne was secretary-manager of the chamber there was hardly a week gone by the chamber wasn’t sponsoring some event, bringing tourists to Huntington Beach or answering questions from the public, such as: “What is the altitude of block 713 in Huntington Beach?”

Other questions concerned congressmen or how to remove cream stains from my new suede purse. The chamber maintained a veritable clearinghouse of information.

Part of Gallienne’s workday included answering numerous phone calls and letters that arrived daily. Most of the letters concerned something the city was doing or asked about zoning ordinances. Sometimes they required calling outside the chamber for answers.

One worried lady called to ask Gallienne what she should wear to a large civic party she was planning to attend that evening. Because Gallienne was no authority on women’s wear, he turned this question over to his assistant, Mary McBeath.

Prospective real estate buyers would call to get real estate advice, and others would call or write asking about the reliability of local merchants. Others wanted to know when city elections came around, where they were to vote, and, sometimes, who they should vote for.

In the summer, tourists flocked to Huntington Beach. It was not uncommon for the chamber to receive requests for the addresses of visitors’ relatives and friends, who believed the chamber must surely have such information.

The chamber once received a telephone call from a man who wanted to know who exterminates termites in Huntington Beach (as if we had termites).

It was not unusual for Gallienne to receive visitors in his office. Frequently, children came in to ask the identity of a flower, and once, several boys came in with a basket of snakes and wanted to know what kind they were.

People looking for employment would often stop by and ask where they could find a job. Some people would call to find out the weather conditions. Some called to find how high the tide was or what the snow conditions were like on nearby mountain tops, or if the grunion were running.

One man spent three hours hoping to find the exact latitude and longitude of Huntington Beach. He finally staggered in to the chamber office after a futile search, and within a minute was walking out of the office with the correct answer. Efficiency is the rule at the chamber. The tradition of helping businesses is carried on today by chamber President Joyce Riddell.

The chamber’s first president, J.F. Corbett, was born in 1868 in Nova Scotia, Canada, but shortly after the family migrated to Slatersville, R.I. Later, the family would move to Minnesota.

Corbett’s father was instrumental in the development of the area and helped build the first schoolhouse in the county. His mother brought the books from their home in Rhode Island to be used in that first schoolhouse.

In 1885 Corbett moved to Long Beach, where he conducted a blacksmithing business for a number of years before coming to Huntington Beach.

Once here he became a real estate agent and donated a lot at the corner of 6th Street and Orange Avenue. He was one of the principal organizers of the building project of the First Baptist church on that lot.

Corbett convinced Henry Huntington to build a Red Car line between Huntington Beach and Santa Ana. By this time he had married. He and his wife Blanche had three sons, Harold, Eugene and John.

In 1906, the same year the Baptist church was erected, his brother George came to live in Huntington Beach and for many years operated a grocery business here until his passing on July 28, 1930.

Corbett traveled to Mexico and Central America, where he had mining interests. He also had extensive real estate holdings in Northern California.

In July of 1931 Corbett appeared as a witness in San Diego on behalf of Huntington Beach in a lawsuit to secure title to the local beachfront.

By 1940 his health was failing, and on Sept. 6, 1940, the first president of the Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce passed away. But the legacies of the chamber live on today with people like Dale Dunn and Joyce Riddell.

JERRY PERSON is the city’s historian and longtime Huntington Beach resident. If you have ideas for future columns, write him at P.O. Box 7182, Huntington Beach, CA 92615.