Thursday, September 24, 2009

Portola-Crespi Cross, 1969





Harry Henry John Downie, curator and restorer of the Carmel Mission was orginally a San Francisco cabinetmaker. Father Michael O'Connell brought Downie to Carmel in 1931. Downey spent the rest of his life working on Carmel Mission. Downie hewed the replica Portola-Crespi cross out of local redwood. It was erected on December 9, 1969 to celebrate Monterey's Bicentennial. The cross was located at the spot where the Portola expedition had an overlook of the natural harbor in Monterey Bay.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

1967 Monterey Jazz Festival


Rock/blues guitarist, B.B. King, performs on the main stage during the Monterey Jazz Festival, Saturday, September 16, 1967. The lineup during the 1967 Monterey Jazz Festival took a decidedly harder edge with such groups as Big Brother & the Holding Company featuring Janis Joplin, which rocked the Saturday crowd. Years later Jimmy Lyons would admit that he submitted to pressure to include rock groups and that more patrons were alienated than attracted to the Monterey Jazz Festival from the “new” music.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Del Monte Center construction, May 1967





May 15, 1967 construction of the $15 million Del Monte Shopping Center on Carmel Hill in Monterey. The design of the mall was by architect John S. Bolles, who was an authority on Mayan architecture. S.F.B. Morse, president of Del Monte Properties, dedicated the center on September 14, 1967. The shopping center’s anchor tenant was and still is Macy’s department store. Over 80 stores are expected to occupy the mall. (Photos by Herald staff photographer Teresa Zabala)