I never really lived in Silverado Canyon, but I did spend a great deal of
time there in my childhood. All I have to share is a few personal memories,
probably of little interest to anyone but me; but at least it was very
nostalgic for me to compose this email!
My grandfather and grandmother bought a small cabin right on the creek on
ShadyBrook Drive in Silverado Canyon in 1946. My grandfather passed away
later that same year; I came along the year after that. Beginning in about
1952 when I was 5 years old, my cousins and I began spending many vacations
and summers in the cabin with grandma.
Among the faded memories I have of those days, I remember:
* Hiking in the mountains nearby, but never getting too far from the cabin.
* Playing for hours in the creek which ran behind the cabin, catching
frogs and building little "dams", even swimming once in a while
* Reading comic books for hours, and eating way too many candy bars.
* Learning poker and canasta from grandma; existing without TV's,
VCR's, CD's, DVD's, PC's, PlayStations - and actually enjoying it
* The ShadyBrook market & post office, about 1/2 mile up the road,
where we would buy the soda, candy and comic books from the older man who lived upstairs.
* The Dance Hall/Saloon a few feet west of the market. Never did see
anyone go in or out; torn down in the late 50's
* The OC Fire Station, wiped out later in the disastrous floods of '69.
* The old hotel and swimming pool, on the triangular point where
Silverado Canyon Rd and Hazel Bell Drive merge; also torn down in the late 50's
* What we called "Cabinland" - the area on Silverado Canyon (S/C) Road
just east of Ladd Canyon
* The old elementary school, and the old chicken ranch, with rows and
rows of coops and feathers, north side of S/C Rd west of Ladd Cyn
* The long since-closed dump, west of the intersection of Black Star Cyn and S/C Roads
* Listening to the frogs in the creek at night, lulling me to sleep
* Trying to help grandma by raking the tons of oak leaves around the cabin
* During rare rainstorms at night, listening to the deafening roar of
the creek behind the cabin, hoping it wouldn't rise too much more...
* Going back years later in 1969, a few weeks after the terrible
floods, seeing the devastation the creek had wrought on the area. Many
people, including those trapped in the firehouse, were killed, and many
homes were severely damaged by the raging waters of the creek, which did in
fact overflow its banks, per my worst childhood fears. Seeing one cabin's
kitchen counter, hanging precariously out in to the creek, the wall and
foundation gone. My grandma's cabin though, because of its location on an
inside bend in the creek, was miraculously spared.
The cabin has long since been sold, and I have visited the area several
times since '69. I'll always have very fond memories of the people and places in Silverado Canyon.
-Jim Kelly
-jvk13@msn.com