A strange tale: Yorba Linda's first liquor license
Nothing more clearly illustrates the differences between Yorba Linda’s cultural past and present than the story behind the community’s first--and for several years the only--state-issued license to sell alcoholic beverages.
Last week’s column noted the legend that had grown up around the liquor license, with the permit held for years by the local Friends Church--a tale once widely circulated but, according to interviews with two pioneer residents, not a true account.
The interviews were conducted for the Oral History Program at Cal State University, Fullerton. Hoyt Corbit was interviewed by Tom Peters in 1968 and George Kellogg by Terri Burton in 1971 and John Tugwell in 1972.
Corbit, who arrived in Yorba Linda with his parents in 1910, and Kellogg, who bought a ranch in 1914, shed some welcome light on the history of Yorba Linda liquor sales in the interviews, as related in my July 21 column.
Interestingly, Richard Gauldin’s oral history from 1970 repeated the tale of the church’s takeover of the license. Interviewer Milan Pavlovich asked, “Didn’t the church buy the license?” and Gauldin, resident since 1912, replied, “Yes, but that was a long time after [my days as a youth].”
Actually, according to Kellogg, a small group of concerned residents--including Kellogg, Hurless Barton and church representatives--attended a Santa Ana hearing on a transfer of the first license, which had been issued after Prohibition ended in 1933.
Kellogg said he told the others: “The [owner] has invested his money here and it does seem rather wrong to say that he couldn’t dispose of it. ...I wonder if we couldn’t buy him out.”
The license didn’t transfer and eventually the owner said he’d sell the permit for $150, an amount Kellogg said could be raised “easy enough.” Kellogg recalled that he and Barton put up $25 each “and I presume both of the preachers put up fifty,” and a deal was struck.
Then, the issue of who would hold the license arose. Kellogg recalled: “I said to Hurless, ‘Do you want to take this license?’ ‘No,’ he said, ‘I don’t want it.’ So I turned to each of the preachers and I said, ‘Would you want to uphold this license?’ They said, ‘No.’”
Kellogg stated he replied, “If you folks don’t do it, I was the one that started this, so I’ll take the license.” Kellogg said a state official later informed him that “if you bought that liquor license with the purpose of closing it, there’s nothing in the law that allows that.”
So, Kellogg said, he turned the license over to the official to hold. The official got into some legal trouble and “spent the rest of his life in Mexico,” according to Kellogg. “I don’t know whatever became of my liquor license. I don’t know whether he took it with him or not. But at any rate, that’s the way we ended the liquor situation in Yorba Linda.”
Corbit’s story was similar, but he stated the money was raised “by popular subscription.” They “went up and down the street” to ask for donations, Corbit noted, adding, “I guess practically everybody in town, including myself, gave maybe $1 or $5 or whatever they felt they could spare.”
Today, 74 licenses are active in the city’s 20 square miles. The state’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control says six are non-retail (manufacturers and wholesalers), 22 off-sale retail (grocery and liquor stores) and 46 on-sale retail (restaurants and bars).
Last week’s column noted the legend that had grown up around the liquor license, with the permit held for years by the local Friends Church--a tale once widely circulated but, according to interviews with two pioneer residents, not a true account.
The interviews were conducted for the Oral History Program at Cal State University, Fullerton. Hoyt Corbit was interviewed by Tom Peters in 1968 and George Kellogg by Terri Burton in 1971 and John Tugwell in 1972.
Corbit, who arrived in Yorba Linda with his parents in 1910, and Kellogg, who bought a ranch in 1914, shed some welcome light on the history of Yorba Linda liquor sales in the interviews, as related in my July 21 column.
Interestingly, Richard Gauldin’s oral history from 1970 repeated the tale of the church’s takeover of the license. Interviewer Milan Pavlovich asked, “Didn’t the church buy the license?” and Gauldin, resident since 1912, replied, “Yes, but that was a long time after [my days as a youth].”
Actually, according to Kellogg, a small group of concerned residents--including Kellogg, Hurless Barton and church representatives--attended a Santa Ana hearing on a transfer of the first license, which had been issued after Prohibition ended in 1933.
Kellogg said he told the others: “The [owner] has invested his money here and it does seem rather wrong to say that he couldn’t dispose of it. ...I wonder if we couldn’t buy him out.”
The license didn’t transfer and eventually the owner said he’d sell the permit for $150, an amount Kellogg said could be raised “easy enough.” Kellogg recalled that he and Barton put up $25 each “and I presume both of the preachers put up fifty,” and a deal was struck.
Then, the issue of who would hold the license arose. Kellogg recalled: “I said to Hurless, ‘Do you want to take this license?’ ‘No,’ he said, ‘I don’t want it.’ So I turned to each of the preachers and I said, ‘Would you want to uphold this license?’ They said, ‘No.’”
Kellogg stated he replied, “If you folks don’t do it, I was the one that started this, so I’ll take the license.” Kellogg said a state official later informed him that “if you bought that liquor license with the purpose of closing it, there’s nothing in the law that allows that.”
So, Kellogg said, he turned the license over to the official to hold. The official got into some legal trouble and “spent the rest of his life in Mexico,” according to Kellogg. “I don’t know whatever became of my liquor license. I don’t know whether he took it with him or not. But at any rate, that’s the way we ended the liquor situation in Yorba Linda.”
Corbit’s story was similar, but he stated the money was raised “by popular subscription.” They “went up and down the street” to ask for donations, Corbit noted, adding, “I guess practically everybody in town, including myself, gave maybe $1 or $5 or whatever they felt they could spare.”
Today, 74 licenses are active in the city’s 20 square miles. The state’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control says six are non-retail (manufacturers and wholesalers), 22 off-sale retail (grocery and liquor stores) and 46 on-sale retail (restaurants and bars).
posted by Jim Drummond at 12:00 PM
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