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minute, I thought you and the stage were a package deal.” Selin was hired
to take care of the ranch coaches and horses and lived on the ranch for the
next 45 years.
In 1903, Joel Remington Fithian married Mary Rathbone Smith (née
Baker) at her home on Pedregosa Street. Only their most intimate friends
witnessed Mary, gowned in a creation of smoke-colored chiffon trimmed
with white lace and silver, join in wedlock with the popular bachelor.
That year was a busy one for Joel. He formed a sightseeing stage
line with Francis Underhill, who had divorced his Eastern wife and
moved permanently to Santa Barbara. The stage went up San Marcos
Pass to their summit clubhouse, the renovated “Old Prine Place,” where
meals were served before the return down the pass. “The Old Time
Stage Company,” however, only lasted a year. Joel also arranged all the
transportation for President Theodore Roosevelt’s visit to Santa Barbara
on May 9. Debarking the train at the Montecito Station, Roosevelt’s
carriage was conveyed past the Country Club on Channel Drive and
along flower-strewn streets of Montecito before ending up at Plaza del
Mar in Santa Barbara.
In 1906, Joel joined Stewart Edward White, renowned western
author, in purchasing 160 acres of slough and dunes in Carpinteria. White
had become entranced with the idea of owning a beach retreat, and the
beach between the slough and the ocean seemed an ideal spot. They built a
simple beach cottage, and the two families with invited friends spent many
summer days at the retreat. Joel and Stewart became the first in Santa
Barbara to ride the wild surf on redwood boards. In 1914, Joel teamed up
with Peter Cooper Bryce to purchase the sand spit east of Santa Monica
Creek to sell as beachfront lots.
In April 1908, Joel Remington Fithian strung the Country Club
pier with lights and invited the officers of the Great White Fleet to the
club. He also created the float that carried the admirals of the fleet in the
floral parade along East Boulevard (Cabrillo). That same year, he sold
the Country Club’s clubhouse and several lots to Walter Douglass, who
formed Montecito Park, a collection of cottages for rent for seasonal
visitors. The Country Club moved to the location of today’s Music
Academy of the West.
April 1910 found Joel at the Los Olivos Hotel (Mattei’s Tavern).
As Lucy Mattei bore a ten-pound trout about the room – an old
custom bestowing luck on an enterprise – the men, mostly members of
the 1890 Arlington Jockey Club, reminisced about olden days in Santa
Barbara. Out of this meeting arose a club dedicated to preserving the
traditions, customs, and sports of early-day California: the Los Alamos
Society. Joel Fithian’s old mud wagon was on hand to commemorate
the occasion.
A Grizzly War
As war was about to erupt in Europe in 1914, Anne Stow Fithian and
Dorothy returned to Santa Barbara, first living with her parents in Goleta.
Richard Barrett stayed in France, where, along with looking after Fithian
business interests, he became involved in Red Cross work.
In 1917, Stewart Edward White, who had moved to Burlingame,
returned to Santa Barbara to recruit men for the California Grizzlies, the
144
th
Field Artillery. Joel Adams Fithian assisted in recruiting men for
Battery C and became the “godfather” of the Battery, whose members
were sent for training near San Francisco. Joel himself joined Company
F of the Carpinteria Constabulary. At this time, the Constabulary was a
defense force of armed and trained men who were subject to orders from
either the sheriff or the chief of police. They were organized under the
auspices of the County Council of Defense.
On October 24, a huge Grizzly Bear flag was draped next to Old
Glory in front of the Santa Barbara railway station in preparation for
the arrival of the train transporting the 144
th
Regiment to San Diego.
Thousands of friends and relatives of the 106 recruits from Santa Barbara
among the 500 troops on the train had turned out to greet them. Joel