Our first Red Phone call came from a Hollister woman concerned
about a slew of motorcycles parked in front a motorcycle shop on
Fourth Street in Hollister. Our caller said the bikes took up two
parking spaces along the street and thought allowing dealerships to
use public parking spaces to sell their wares was a bad precedent
for the city to set. The Crimson Crusader made a call to Hollister
Code Enforcement Officer Mike Chambless to see what could be
done.
Our first Red Phone call came from a Hollister woman concerned about a slew of motorcycles parked in front a motorcycle shop on Fourth Street in Hollister. Our caller said the bikes took up two parking spaces along the street and thought allowing dealerships to use public parking spaces to sell their wares was a bad precedent for the city to set. The Crimson Crusader made a call to Hollister Code Enforcement Officer Mike Chambless to see what could be done.
Chambless said if the dealership was selling the motorcycles and displaying them on city property, it would probably violate Hollister ordinances. However, being unsure, Chambless told the Crusader that he would do further research on the matter and find out what was going on. So fret not, dear caller; Chambless is on the case.
He’s Got places to be
Our next Red Phone matter came from a local man seeing red after repeated problems with the traffic light at the intersection of San Benito Street and Wright Road. Our caller told the Crimson Crusader that the light would often stay green too long for reasons he could not fathom.
Our hero drove his Snoop Dog Custom Cadillac DeVille to the intersection in question to check out the traffic light. The light did seem to have a timing issue, so the Crimson Crusader got on the phone to Street Supervisor Ray Rojas with the Hollister Public Works Department to see what could be done to ease our caller’s traffic light blues.
Rojas said he would forward the problem to the city’s engineering department for inspection. He said our caller’s complaint would be recorded and investigated. He also promised to keep the Crusader informed on what action would be taken.
Visit from the Aviator
Our final Red Phone matter came from a longtime Hollister resident with a question about one of America’s greatest aviators. She asked the Crimson Crusader if Charles Lindbergh ever touched down in Hollister.
The Crimson Crusader spent nearly a dozen hours flipping through the Free Lance archives from the 1920s and finally stumbled upon the following headline: LINDBERGH ‘INSPECTS’ HOLLISTER AIRPORT. The article, published in the March 22, 1929, edition of the Evening Free Lance, goes on to report that Lindy flew over the airport, but didn’t touch down. It reads: “It is believed Col. Chas. Lindbergh ‘inspected’ the Hollister Airport this afternoon at about 1:50, the noted aviator, if it was him, purposely flying low in the big ‘Patrician’ 32-passenger plane he was piloting from Los Angeles to San Francisco.”
The article goes on to point out that United Press wire reports later confirmed that is was, indeed, Lindbergh. It turns out that two members of the local American Legion had sent a telegraph to the famous pilot asking him to touch down in Hollister to endorse the airport. Although Lindy didn’t touch down, he did purposely go out of his way to fly over the Hollister Airport, according to the article.
