DOWNTOWN FROM SHALE HILL: The 1970s view of the south side of downtown Pinole’s San Pablo Avenue is remarkably similar to the 2015 photo, both taken from Shale Hill, behind the Pinole United Methodist Church. The Second Fiddle, a thrift store in the two-story building at 2101 San Pablo Avenue bordering School Street, next to the Pythian Castle (the A-frame building in the middle of the photo), was destroyed on February 17, 1998, when an East Bay Municipal Utilities District crew accidentally cut through a shallow PG&E gas line with a backhoe and blew up the building. The explosion shook surrounding buildings and was felt for miles. Four people suffered minor injuries. No one was killed. ROSE RANCH/PINOLE VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL: The Antone Rose family came to Pinole from the Portuguese Azores in the 1880s. The Roses settled one mile west of the old Martinez Adobe on ranch land where Pinole Valley High School sits today. Walt Peterson took this photo of the ranch in 1956, just prior to the land boom that transformed Pinole Valley into tract homes. Pinole Valley High School opened in 1967. Students are now housed in brown portable buildings next to the football field; the campus is being demolished to make way for a new school. may 2015 MARKETPLACEcontrac osta .com 29
Contra Costa Marketplace - May 2015
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