Lockeford Street big dig at one of city’s oldeest homes unearths bit of Lodi history
Restaurant owner John DeNigris and his wife Aleisa have been slowly restoring one of Lodi’s oldest and most historic homes on Lockeford Street. Most recently they put in a new backyard — a spectacular one — complete with pool and professional outdoor kitchen. While digging a hole for the pool, John and the workers unearthed a couple boxes worth of old medicine, soda, perfume, and root beer concentrate bottles. And a pistol, fragile and crusted over with age. Among the bottles was one from Lodi Soda Works, whose owner, Charles Sollars, was shot to death June 16, 1911 by the editor and publisher of the Lodi Sentinel, Sam Axtell, according to News-Sentinel archives. John wonders what else might be buried in his backyard.
d’ELEGANCE: Local classic car collector Kirk Wentland has been invited to show his 1959 Cadillac Eldorado convertible at this year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance car show in August. This is not your average Autorama. It is the most important car show in the world, says Kirk, and it’s staged on the famed 18th fairway of Pebble Beach Golf Links. To be invited is unheard of, he says. Wayne Craig, President/CEO of the Lodi Memorial Hospital Foundation, is a docent at the event. Kirk owns between 40 and 50 classic autos, including extremely rare and valuable ones, famous ones like the actual Cadillac used in filming the Beverly Hillbillies TV show, as well as cars owned by local luminaries. Jack Chappell’s locally famous red swim club Jeep is included in Kirk’s collection, which is discreetly tucked away in storage facilities spanning two cities.
RACE UPDATE: City Council candidates aren’t exactly busting down the doors of City Hall to register to run. As of yesterday morning, only the incumbents have taken out papers. Seems a little odd that all the disenfranchised candidates for which district voting was instituted at a taxpayer cost of about $100,000 have been no-shows, so far.
REAL ESTATE NEWS: The old Henderson Brothers Hardware building on Sacramento Street may soon have new owners. The prospective buyers report the building has been a haven for the homeless.
SALUTE: We further note the passing of Vietnam War hero and former Lodi businessman Bob Rocha, who died two weeks ago following an accident on Highway 12. Bob, one of 10 kids who grew up in the roughneck neighborhoods of Oakland, was an entrepreneur who had a near genius intellect when it came to building a business. Bob was gutsy with a flair for living on the edge. He lost a leg in Vietnam when he was in his young 20s, after stepping on a land mine, an event that nearly cost him his life.
He went on to become a mortician, an odd choice given his war injuries, but was able to parlay a loan from his dad into a multi-million dollar funeral business here and in Southern California. He also served a stint as head honcho of cemetery operations for the Catholic Diocese of Oakland. Those who knew Bob can attest that despite taking many brutal body blows in life, he came back to fight another day. He will be missed by many.
SLOW GO’N: The roadwork that’s been happening, like, forever on Lodi Avenue between Sacramento and Church streets is being done by PG&E subcontractors, according to Lodi Public Works Director Charlie Swimley. The bad news is, it won’t wrap up until next month. Until then, it’s one-lane frustration. Aargh.
LOCAL ANGLE: With the June primary election now in the books, we see that Steve Bestolarides has been duly elected as the county assessor-recorder-county clerk. You’ll recall he stepped down as a county supervisor when the board appointed him to the vacant assessor position three years ago. Some people may be surprised to learn that Bestolarides hails from Lodi and is the son of the late Harry Larides, who owned the New Yorker coffee shop on Cherokee Lane for many years. The New Yorker was Lodi’s only 24hour establishment back in the day, popular with cops, commuters and insomniacs alike. The restaurant is long gone, but the building remains and is now home to a bird store … . And why do we still see Chuck Winn campaign signs in some lawns? Winn won — and that was seven weeks ago.
POLITICIANS IN YOUR POCKET: People, especially millennials, must be wondering, in this age of smartphones and living in “real time,” why the Lodi City Council meetings aren’t being livestreamed over Facebook or other social media applications? Other cities do it.
SHUTTERBUG: Check out the interesting website hosted by local sports and event photographer Keith Colgan, who has cataloged some excellent pics he’s taken over the years: www.keithcolganphotography.com. You might see yourself in one of them.
UPDATES: Rama Rao called me on my use of the word “factoid” to describe some income stats last episode, all of which were true facts. According to good ole Webster’s, a “factoid” is “an invented fact believed to be true because it appears in print.” Fake News? I think not … Janine Jacinto also says she has run the Boston Marathon, count ‘em, four times!, not two as was erroneously reported here.