A snapshot history of the 1886 McNear Building at 23 Petaluma Blvd. North
In 1886, John A. McNear erected a two story, Italianate-style building across from what was then known as Lower Main Street Plaza, today’s Center Park.[1] The area was then part of Chinatown, which extended along Lower Main Street from Western Avenue to B Street, where Main Street became Third Street, and continued to D Street.[2]
Of the roughly 1,000 Chinese residing in Sonoma County at the time, more than 100 lived in Chinatown, where they operated five laundries, a tobacco shop, a variety store, a restaurant, and a grocery. There was also a Joss House, or Buddhist-Taoist Temple, Chinese Masonic Hall, and a Chinese Mission School conducted by the Congregational Church, which trained young Chinese men to return to China as Christian evangelists.[3]
In the mid-1880s, Petaluma’s Anti-Chinese League temporarily drove most of the Chinese from Chinatown. McNear, who continued to employ two Chinese as house servants and many more Chinese at his shrimping operations and brickmaking factory in Marin County, came under personal attack by the League.[4]
Immediately after the Chinese expulsion, McNear erected his building on the site of a group of abandoned Chinese dwellings known as “shanties” beside the Cosmopolitan Hotel. His new two-story, 20,000-square-foot brick building extended from Main Street to Fourth Street. He leased out the entire upper story to Petaluma’s militia for an armory. The bottom story was occupied by a rotation of grocery, hardware, and appliance stores, many occupying the entire floor extending to the Fourth Street entrance.[5]
In 1911, McNear constructed a new two-story building adjacent to his 1886 building. It included the Mystic Theater operated by his oldest son John Jr., a retired doctor, and his son’s sister-in-law, Lulu Egan. McNear evicted the Armory from his 1886 building and reconfigured the top floor into individual business and medical offices for lease.[6]
From the 1930 to 1942, the first floor of the 1886 building was occupied by Safeway Grocery. After Safeway consolidated into their other store on Western Avenue near Liberty Street, the space was leased to Tibbett’s Appliance.[7]
Tibbett’s gave way in 1953 to Guy Manwaring’s Furniture Store, after his original store, in the adjacent Gervasoni Building, burned down. That building site was converted into a parking lot, made famous in the movie “American Graffiti.”[8]
In 1976, Guy’s Furniture relocated after the two McNear Buildings were purchased by Jeff Harriman and Wally Lourdeaux. After an extensive restoration of both buildings, they rented out the bottom floor of the 1886 building to a series of restaurants, beginning with the Petaluma Café, Cheers, and finally McNear’s Saloon and Dining House, which has occupied the building since 1987.[9]
A lifelong teetotaler, McNear is likely rolling over in his grave at the thought of his name being affixed to a bar in his landmark building.
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FOOTNOTES:
[1] “The Upper Story,” Petaluma Argus, July 3, 1886.
[2] Petaluma Sanborn Maps, 1883 and 1885, Library of Congress; “Improvements,” Petaluma Argus, November 29, 1884.
[3] 1870 U.S. Census; Thomas W. Chinn, A History of Chinese in California (Chinese Historical Society of America, 1969), p. 24; “Gordon C. Phillips, “The Chinese in Sonoma County, California, 1900-1930: The Aftermath of Exclusion,” a master’s thesis, Sonoma State University, 2015; Chinese New Year,” Petaluma Argus, January 20, 1868; “The Chinese Mission School,” Petaluma Courier, May 1, 1899;
[4] “The Boycott,” Petaluma Argus, March 13, 1886; “The Boycott Again,” Petaluma Argus, March 31, 1886;
[5] 1885 Sanborn Map of Petaluma, Library of Congress; Phillips thesis.
[6] “Last Dance in the Armory,” Petaluma Courier, June 14, 1912; “Company K Votes to Vacate Present Armory on First of Next Month,” Petaluma Argus, June 18, 1912.
[7] Ad for Skagg’s Grocery, Petaluma Argus-Courier, July 21, 1928; “Skaggs Now Safeway,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, January 10, 1930; “Earl Tibbetts To Engage in Business Here,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, December 14, 1945.
[8] “Fire Destroys Two Stores in Petaluma,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, May 19, 1952; Ad for Guy’s Furniture, Petaluma Argus-Courier, July 2, 1952; Ad for Tibbett’s Furniture, Petaluma Argus-Courier, March 20, 1953.
[9] Bill Soberanes column, Petaluma Argus-Courier, February 11, 1976; “Another Historic Building Faces Renovation Project,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, March 30, 1976; “Petaluma Café to Offer Lunch, Late Night Dining,” PAC, January 28, 1978; Bill Soberanes column, Petaluma Argus-Courier, October 22, 1984; “McNear’s: Good food, dancing and fun,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, September 30, 1987.