More Memories of Pico Canyon - by Bill Rundberg
By our time in Pico Canyon (1948-1953), most of the larger buildings were gone or partially so. Somewhat intact was a jack plant. There were remnants of its cables and their standards. Also intact was a an office building/dog house which then had old books of records from many years before. I later heard that someone had taken some of the old equipment for a museum in Santa Paula or Fillmore.
Bill Cochem was my father's Superintendent (Production ? Maintenance ?) for a while when my father worked for Standard Oil at Baldwin Hills (Inglewood). The story was that Bill was first a gang pusher at age 16 in Pico Canyon.
I used to see Paul Cochem (Bill's brother) later when he came to Pico Canyon to hunt deer. Given my affection for the deer, I was less than candid in responding to his questions about where I'd seen deer.
The house certainly looks good now (1990). I do wish that the renovation had included a replacement for the other chimney. Perhaps you know that there was a chimney on the left side of the house, as viewed from the front, symmetric with the chimney on the right. That on the right served open flame gas fireplaces in the dining room and the bedroom above. On the left was a chimney that served fireplaces in the living room and a bedroom above. Before we moved in, the chimney on the left was in poor condition and was removed. While we were there, all four fireplaces were intact, but we didn’t use those in the living room and bedroom above. I don’t remember when/how much we used those on the other side. Some early photos of Mentryville show both chimneys. (In particular, see here.)
Pico Cottage in late 1940's
Pico Cottage in late 1940's
When the Wooldridges moved out -- I believe that they retired to Encinitas -- and before we moved in, the company (Standard Oil) painted the interior. The renovation inside included painting most of the walls and trim white and covering walls in the hallways with a finish coat of plaster, light green and skip-trowled.... brightened it up but lost some of the history. The maid's quarters -- that was a room at the rear and near the kitchen -- were not touched. My mother wallpapered the dining room.
The interior fireplaces on the south wall were left intact after the chimney was removed. The ornate wooden mantles and plate glass mirrors remained.
I don't know when the gas light fixtures were removed, only that in 1990 Frenchy told me that they had been removed for safety. When I visited after the earthquake, I was told by a caretaker who was housed temporarily in a trailer in the garden area that the other fancy fixtures -- that included four fireplace mantle assemblies, two clawfoot bathtubs, two alabaster sinks, maybe three pull-chain toilets -- had been removed.
1940's pictures of the house show the picket fence that I replaced with a fence made of staves from a collapsed water tank and 4x6 posts. It was apparently replaced later.
I was told that after the earthquake, Lagasses immediately moved into their camper and were then not allowed to return and were not given alternate housing.
The above photo shows the other side of the missing fireplace with my sister and me in about 1949, ages 17 and 14 respectively. I include it because, while of poor quality, it shows the fireplace in the living room. The absence of a chimney made necessary the free-standing stove, which hides the original burners. The original burners were long slots, perhaps three, with a heavy coating of asbestos on the outside.... wouldn't pass inspection today.
Helen and Joe Rundburg - Bill's parents
The above Helen and Joe photo shows a kerosene lamp, the most common form of light in the house at the time, more than the gas lights.
Wayne Hamaker and June Rundburg
The wedding is of my sister, June, and Wayne Hamaker in 1952. (They graduated from Hart High in 1950) The ceremony was under the black walnut tree on the lawn on the south side of the house. The third picture shows my father at right, Charlie Thurman next to him and Charlie's wife Violet next to him. My mother is standing at right, looking surprised. Others are relatives. Thurmans then lived on Company property at Railroad Canyon in Newhall. They had lived in the house across the road and footbridge from us. They replaced us in the Pico Cottage in 1953.