Distinguished Members

Joel Remington Fithian

Founder:

Montecito Country Club

Pierpont M. Hamilton

Medal of Honor Recipient

Hamilton, who spoke fluent French, was to go ashore with the first landing wave and persuade the French commander of Port Lyautey, near Casablanca, not to fire on the combined American and British forces. Unfortunately, the French had already resolved to resist the landings, and when the Americans landed just before dawn on November 8, 1942, French machine guns opened fire and pinned the troops to the beach, where they were strafed by low-flying aircraft. The situation at last became so desperate that Hamilton and another intelligence officer, Demas Craw, resolved on an act of almost unbelievable bravery: rounding up a jeep, they drove at breakneck speed directly into the French fire.

Craw was struck by machine gun bullets a few yards from a French emplacement, killing him instantly and causing the jeep to turn over. Hamilton leaped out to retrieve his partner’s remains and demanded to be taken to the French commander. The French soldiers blindfolded Hamilton and took him to their army’s headquarters. Hamilton began a negotiating session which lasted for two days, at the end of which the French commander ordered his troops to cease fire and surrendered himself and his staff to Hamilton. The American and British forces occupied Port Lyautey and later began their successful campaign to drive the German Army out of North Africa. On February 19, 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt presented the Congressional Medal of Honor to Hamilton and to Craw’s widow in a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden. They were the only airmen in World War II to receive this award for heroism on the ground. Hamilton retired from the Air Force in 1959 as a Major General.

E. Palmer Gavit

Creator of Cuesta Linda/Lotusland

Born in Albany, New York in 1872, E. Palmer Gavit was the grandson of Erassus Palmer Gavit, founder of the American Banknote Company. After serving in the Spanish-American War, E. Palmer Gavit returned to Albany and joined his father-in-law, Anthony Brady, in several successful business enterprises which enabled him to accumulate substantial wealth. In 1912, Mr. Gavit’s first wife lost her life in a tragic railroad accident. Mr. Gavit remarried in 1914. The new Gavit family arrived in Santa Barbara in 1915 aboard a private railroad car. The next year, Mr. Gavit purchased from George Owen Knapp a 39-acre estate abutting Sycamore Canyon Road known as Tanglewood. Mr. and Mrs. Gavit commissioned Reginald Johnson to design the main residence on the property; later it was remodeled by celebrated Santa Barbara architect George Washington Smith, who also designed the swimming pool, bathhouse, and landmark pink perimeter wall. Mr. and Mrs. Gavit called their estate Cuesta Linda and occupied it as their winter residence. The estate became a favorite destination on local tours of private gardens. In 1941, the well-known Polish opera singer Mme. Ganna Walska purchased the estate and renamed it Lotusland. The property is now owned and operated by the Lotusland Foundation. Palmer Gavit was one of three or four people who back in 1928 started the Valley Club.

John James Hollister, Sr.

Rancher and Senator

Francis Price, Sr.

Water Warrior

George Washington Smith

Architect of Santa Barbara

Thomas M. Storke

Mr. Santa Barbara

Fairfax H. Wheelan

First President of the Club

Fairfax H. Wheelan was the president of the Southern Pacific Milling Company, a firm which operated warehouses along the Southern California Coast. On the evening of February 29, 1892, Wheelan and twenty other men met at the Amateur Music Club to discuss the formation of the Santa Barbara Club. Many of the men had previously belonged to a loose fellowship of eastern industrialists and local ranchers called the “Arlington Jockey Club” because it originated at the Arlington Hotel. Wheelan and the others sought to preserve this fellowship by creating a social club with a professionally-staffed clubhouse. On a later occasion, Wheelan offered this explanation for the formation for the Club: “A little over a year ago, some of the residents of Santa Barbara became aware that the citizens of our fair town, though eminently qualified by nature to talk, had little opportunity to exercise that pleasant and agreeable accomplish-ment. There was no attractive place one could resort to when dry, and there was no place where our people could pass the time and have somewhat the feeling of home. Such a place was needed. The energetic members of our Club bestirred themselves, and the result was the Santa Barbara Club.” At the group’s second meeting, thirty five men were present, and one of their first acts was to elect Wheelan to be president of the Club. The men decided to lease as a clubhouse a large structure on Figueroa Street a half block east of State Street. The Club speedily grew to 58 resident members, and on March 13, 1893, one year after the Club’s founding, Wheelan could triumphantly report that “our Club has passed its first milestone on its road to immortality. It has completed the first year of its existence, and contrary to many predictions, it is still with us, and we are still with it.” Two years later, Wheelan left Santa Barbara for San Francisco, never to return, but the Club he started over a century ago, thanks to his guidance, is still traveling the road to immortality.

Joel Remington Fithian Founder: Montecito Country Club	Joel Remington Fithian was born on February 28, 1874 in Marseilles, France. His father, Joel A. Fithian, was a wealthy banker who sought to build Santa Barbara’s first skyscraper, the Fithian Building on the corner of State and Ortega Streets. The building was partially destroyed in the Santa Barbara earthquake and was renamed the Park Building after Dr. C.C. Park, a subsequent owner. Joel Remington Fithian was educated at Mount Pleasant Military Academy in New York, after which he attended Sillig College in Vevay, Switzerland, and Hensington House in Oxfordshire, England. Afterwards Fithian studied in Germany and then spent two years on a trip around the world. In 1891, Fithian came to Santa Barbara to manage Rancho Alegre, his father’s extensive ranch in Carpinteria. Fithian succeeded to the ownership of Rancho Alegre on his father’s death in 1898. He also followed his father into banking, serving on the boards of the Central Bank of Santa Barbara and the Bank of Carpinteria. Fithian later served as the president of the Union Mill & Lumber Company and the Johnson Fruit Company. On May 28, 1903, he married Mary R. Baker. Fithian was the principal founder of the Santa Barbara Country Club, a three-hole golf course, later expanded to nine holes, laid out along Butterfly Beach between the Santa Barbara Cemetery and the future site of the Biltmore Hotel. Fithian built the first clubhouse, which burned down in 1903 and was replaced in 1908 by the beautiful Mediterranean villa known as Miraflores. Miraflores is now the home of the Music Academy of the West. The Santa Barbara Country Club later moved inland and became the Montecito Country Club, with 18 holes on 99 acres of some of the costliest real estate in the world.

Pierpont M. Hamilton Medal of Honor Recipient	Pierpont Morgan Hamilton was born on August 3, 1898, into a prominent American family. His father was the great-grandson of Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury, and his mother was the daughter of John Pierpont (“J.P.”) Morgan, founder of the House of Morgan. When America entered the Second World War, Hamilton abandoned a successful career in investment banking and joined the Intelligence Section of the Army Air Corps. He distinguished himself during the British and Canadian raid on Dieppe, France, in 1942 and was given a pivotal assignment in Operation Torch, the amphibious invasion of French North Africa. Hamilton, who spoke fluent French, was to go ashore with the first landing wave and persuade the French commander of Port Lyautey, near Casablanca, not to fire on the combined American and British forces. Unfortunately, the French had already resolved to resist the landings, and when the Americans landed just before dawn on November 8, 1942, French machine guns opened fire and pinned the troops to the beach, where they were strafed by low-flying aircraft. The situation at last became so desperate that Hamilton and another intelligence officer, Demas Craw, resolved on an act of almost unbelievable bravery: rounding up a jeep, they drove at breakneck speed directly into the French fire. Craw was struck by machine gun bullets a few yards from a French emplacement, killing him instantly and causing the jeep to turn over. Hamilton leaped out to retrieve his partner’s remains and demanded to be taken to the French commander. The French soldiers blindfolded Hamilton and took him to their army’s headquarters. Hamilton began a negotiating session which lasted for two days, at the end of which the French commander ordered his troops to cease fire and surrendered himself and his staff to Hamilton. The American and British forces occupied Port Lyautey and later began their successful campaign to drive the German Army out of North Africa. On February 19, 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt presented the Congressional Medal of Honor to Hamilton and to Craw’s widow in a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden. They were the only airmen in World War II to receive this award for heroism on the ground. Hamilton retired from the Air Force in 1959 as a Major General.

E. Palmer Gavit Creator of Cuesta Linda/Lotusland	Born in Albany, New York in 1872, E. Palmer Gavit was the grandson of Erassus Palmer Gavit, founder of the American Banknote Company. After serving in the Spanish-American War, E. Palmer Gavit returned to Albany and joined his father-in-law, Anthony Brady, in several successful business enterprises which enabled him to accumulate substantial wealth. In 1912, Mr. Gavit’s first wife lost her life in a tragic railroad accident. Mr. Gavit remarried in 1914. The new Gavit family arrived in Santa Barbara in 1915 aboard a private railroad car. The next year, Mr. Gavit purchased from George Owen Knapp a 39-acre estate abutting Sycamore Canyon Road known as Tanglewood. Mr. and Mrs. Gavit commissioned Reginald Johnson to design the main residence on the property; later it was remodeled by celebrated Santa Barbara architect George Washington Smith, who also designed the swimming pool, bathhouse, and landmark pink perimeter wall. Mr. and Mrs. Gavit called their estate Cuesta Linda and occupied it as their winter residence. The estate became a favorite destination on local tours of private gardens. In 1941, the well-known Polish opera singer Mme. Ganna Walska purchased the estate and renamed it Lotusland. The property is now owned and operated by the Lotusland Foundation. Palmer Gavit was one of three or four people who back in 1928 started the Valley Club.

John James Hollister, Sr. Rancher and Senator	The scion of one of Santa Barbara’s most influential families, John James Hollister, Sr., was born to Colonel William Welles Hollister and Hanna James Hollister (known as Annie) on December 7, 1870 at the Corona del Mar Ranch in Goleta. Hollister’s birth was attended by frontier physician Robert Fulton Winchester, whose name was afterwards given to Winchester Canyon. Hollister lived at the Corona del Mar Ranch, later renamed the Glen Annie Ranch after his mother, until 1880. In 1891, Hollister enrolled at the newly-opened Leland Stanford University, becoming a member of its first class. Hollister was elected class president and graduated in 1895 with a degree in geology and mining. When gold was discovered in the Klondike in the late 1890s, Hollister signed aboard a ship bound for Alaska to search for the precious metal. He crossed the infamous Chilkoot Pass, suffering snow blindness and many other hardships, and staked a promising claim. Unfortunately, while Hollister was away, his partner sold the claim and disappeared. Hollister afterwards traveled south to work in Mexico’s Tuolumne Mines. In 1910, Hollister and his wife, Lottie Steffens Hollister, returned to Santa Barbara and built a home on the Hollister Ranch in Gaviota. Here they raised their four children and managed the Hollister Estate Company’s 35,000 acres of ranch land. Avid supporters of the arts and education, the Hollisters donated the Lobero Theater to the City of Santa Barbara and the YMCA building to the YMCA. In the late teens, Hollister entered politics by running for and winning a seat in the California Senate as a Republican. Hollister ran a second time for the California Senate in 1932, this time as a Democrat, and defeated his cousin, Edgar Stow of Goleta, who ran as a Republican. In 1936, Hollister became a candidate for Congress, but on the eve of the election, the Santa Barbara News-Press ran the headline: “Communists Vote For Hollister,” which destroyed his campaign. The News-Press’s editor later apologized for this action. In 1954 Hollister moved to Santa Barbara, where he remained until he died in 1962.

Francis Price, Sr. Water Warrior	When Francis Price died in 1965, newspaper editors across the country eulogized him as California’s leading authority on water law. Born to Judge Samuel S. and Mary Price in 1890, Price worked his way through Stanford Law School and joined Santa Barbara’s oldest law firm, Richards, Heaney & Price, in 1916. Even at an early age, Price was recognized as an outstanding attorney and community leader. When he was 33, Price co-founded the Old Spanish Days Fiesta and served two terms as El Presidente. At 34, Price co-founded the Santa Barbara Foundation and arranged for its acquisition of the Daniel Hill Adobe, which is still the Foundation’s headquarters. At 35, Price brokered the deal between the city and Max Fleischmann for the creation of the Santa Barbara harbor. And when the Santa Barbara earthquake struck in 1925, one of the city’s first acts was to draft Price to be city attorney and a member of the city council. Professionally, Price handled many landmark cases, the most important of which was Gin Chow v. City of Santa Barbara. Gin Chow, a Chinese-born fortune teller who predicted the Santa Barbara earthquake two years in advance, claimed that Santa Barbara and Montecito were unlawfully diverting water from the Santa Ynez River. Chow’s case, if successful, would have had catastrophic consequences for the south county cities. The suit, which still ranks as one of the most important water rights cases, eventually reached the California Supreme Court and was decided overwhelmingly in favor of the cities. Commenting on Price’s performance, Judge Frank Collier said: “I have never, as a judge or as a practicing attorney, seen a more thoroughly prepared case.” The success enabled Price, C. W. Bradbury, Dwight Murphy and others to initiate the Lake Cachuma Project in the 1950s. In 1955, Price was named Santa Barbara’s “Man of the Year” for his many contributions to the community. He devoted his last years to civic affairs and to his law firm, which today is known as Price, Postel & Parma.

George Washington Smith Architect of Santa Barbara	Born on February 22, 1876 in East Liberty, Pennsylvania, Smith was the son of a civil engineer who designed bridges for local railroads. Smith attended the Harvard School of Architecture and then joined an architectural firm as a consultant. Financial difficulties later forced Smith to leave the firm and pursue a career in Philadelphia selling stocks and bonds. In 1912, Smith married Mary Catherine Greenough and the couple moved to Paris. They traveled around Europe until 1914, when Smith enrolled at the Julian Academy of L’Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Smith developed a new passion, painting, and he studied Impressionism, Cubism and Fauvism with George Bellows and Robert Henri. On his return from Paris, Smith settled in New York to exhibit his paintings, holding shows in New York, Philadelphia and Chicago. He won an award from the Chicago Art Institute for “Point Lobos,” a painting of the California coast south of Monterey. In 1916, the Smiths moved to Santa Barbara, and soon after Smith built his first Montecito home, known as the Smith-Heberton House. With this Smith created his own style of Spanish Revival architecture, drawing its sources from the farmhouses and manors of rural Andalusia. Smith’s work, described as “simple, romantic and refined,” was widely acclaimed. Infinitely versatile, Smith adapted his style to all types of buildings, from the Meridian Studios to the Lobero Theater. He operated out of his home office, employing several local draftsmen and designers who helped maintain a high level of quality. Smith worked primarily in Santa Barbara, but he also accepted commissions in larger cities. Smith died in 1930 at the age of 54. Although he lived in Santa Barbara for only 14 years, his interpretation of Spanish Revival architecture was enormously influential and his works are still revered today.

Thomas M. Storke Mr. Santa Barbara	Dubbed Santa Barbara’s “benevolent dictator” by Time magazine, Thomas More Storke (known as TM most of his life) was one of city’s most influential personalities for over six decades. Born on November 21, 1876, Storke was the son of Charles A. Storke, founder of the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, and Mattie More Storke. Newspaper ink ran in Storke’s veins, and in 1898 he became a cub reporter for the Santa Barbara Morning Press, earning $6 a week. At the age of 24, he purchased the Daily Independent for $2,000 and, ten years later, he acquired the Daily News. Storke combined the two papers and engaged in a twenty-year competition with Reginald Fernald, publisher of the Morning Press, until the latter went bankrupt during the Depression. Storke bought out Fernald and merged the Daily News and the Morning Press into the News-Press. Because of his newspaper monopoly, Storke acquired considerable political influence, and through his Washington connections Storke brought over $22 million in federal funds to Santa Barbara for such WPA projects as the County Bowl, the Post Office, the National Guard Armory, Sheffield Reservoir, and the Mesa sewer system. Storke also arranged for the federal government to pay for the Santa Barbara Airport. After World War II, Storke persuaded the University of California to convert the old marine air station at Goleta into U. C. Santa Barbara. Storke Tower, Santa Barbara County’s tallest civilian structure, was erected as a tribute to him by his fellow regents. One of the highlights of Storke’s life was his brief service as a U.S. Senator from California. When Senator William McAdoo resigned six weeks short of the end of his term, Storke was appointed to fill the vacancy. He was afterward addressed as “Senator Storke.” In 1963, Storke launched an editorial barrage against the John Birch Society for falsely accusing government officials of being communists. The editorials won the News-Press a Pulitzer Prize. Storke died in 1975, a few weeks short of his 95th birthday. At his funeral, his long-time friend Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the United States, eulogized Storke as “the most powerful citizen of the century” in Santa Barbara.

Fairfax H. Wheelan First President of the Club	Fairfax H. Wheelan was the president of the Southern Pacific Milling Company, a firm which operated warehouses along the Southern California Coast. On the evening of February 29, 1892, Wheelan and twenty other men met at the Amateur Music Club to discuss the formation of the Santa Barbara Club. Many of the men had previously belonged to a loose fellowship of eastern industrialists and local ranchers called the “Arlington Jockey Club” because it originated at the Arlington Hotel. Wheelan and the others sought to preserve this fellowship by creating a social club with a professionally-staffed clubhouse. On a later occasion, Wheelan offered this explanation for the formation for the Club: “A little over a year ago, some of the residents of Santa Barbara became aware that the citizens of our fair town, though eminently qualified by nature to talk, had little opportunity to exercise that pleasant and agreeable accomplish-ment. There was no attractive place one could resort to when dry, and there was no place where our people could pass the time and have somewhat the feeling of home. Such a place was needed. The energetic members of our Club bestirred themselves, and the result was the Santa Barbara Club.” At the group’s second meeting, thirty five men were present, and one of their first acts was to elect Wheelan to be president of the Club. The men decided to lease as a clubhouse a large structure on Figueroa Street a half block east of State Street. The Club speedily grew to 58 resident members, and on March 13, 1893, one year after the Club’s founding, Wheelan could triumphantly report that “our Club has passed its first milestone on its road to immortality. It has completed the first year of its existence, and contrary to many predictions, it is still with us, and we are still with it.” Two years later, Wheelan left Santa Barbara for San Francisco, never to return, but the Club he started over a century ago, thanks to his guidance, is still traveling the road to immortality.