La Noche Buena By The Sea  

Grand old home

'La Noche Buena by the Sea' turns 100 and Seaside takes notice

By KATHRYN McKENZIE NICHOLS
Herald Correspondent Updated:02/14/2009 01:50:37 AM PST

 

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1280 Noche Buena St. was purchased by Jocelyne Muson in 2004 and is also located on one of Seaside's largest lots, a half-acre, or equivalent to 12 standard city lots. Muson and her son, Jesse Muson, a Los Angeles contractor, have been renovating it ever since.

 

She has given it a new name — La Noche Buena by the Sea.

"I've been told that Mrs. Pattullo used to have a pink car, and she kept it in the garage below," said Muson, a retired Waldorf School teacher and artist, gesturing to one of the outbuildings on the property. "I also heard she had the picture of a pink car painted on the garage door."

The home was built by George W. Phelps, an early developer in the area, who was the home's first owner. His Del Rey Development Co. subdivided that area between 1907 and 1909. At the time, it was considered part of Monterey; Seaside wasn't incorporated until 1954.

About the second owner, Jake Hulzengar, little is known. But the third owner was John Pattullo, a mayor of Seaside who moved there with his family in 1948. His name can also be found on Seaside's Pattullo Swim Center.

In the early days, according to documents from the Seaside Historical Commission, mail delivery to the house was done on horseback. There was no paved road to the house until the 1950s.

John Pattullo, who had an insurance and real estate business, served on the Seaside planning commission and city council in the 1960s, and was mayor from 1964-'66. The Pattullos had many guests to the house, including service members stationed at Fort Ord. Della Pattullo was also known for her work with the March of Dimes, which she made her cause after two of the Pattullo sons were afflicted with polio.

After the Pattullos left, the house was bought by John XXIII AIDS Ministry, which offered its rooms to AIDS patients in need.

"After 100 years, I'm only the fifth owner," said Muson in amazement.Jocelyne Muson stands in the living room of her historic home on Noche Buena Street in Seaside.

"The house itself is the oldest and best example of the Craftsman style of architecture found in Seaside," wrote local historian Kent Seavey in 2003. "Craftsman homes were characterized by horizonality of proportions, seen in the spreading lines of low-pirched, overhanging gable roofs and informal building plans."

In addition, Seavey noted, there are touches of New England in the house, probably because the original owner/builder Phelps was from Massachusetts. A small, enclosed "widow's walk" is part of the home, and the shutters have cutouts of anchors.

The widow's walk was the room used as an observation post during World War II, where Civil Air Patrol volunteers watched for signs of enemy invasion.

The house is surrounded by a tall fence, and it is probably on the fence that the plaque will be placed later this spring. The Historical Commission would also like to host a centennial celebration at the home at some point, but Muson would like to have the house painted first.

Just painting the house is quite an undertaking. Muson purchased 25 gallons of primer and 40 gallons of exterior paint, and hopes it will be completed later this spring, under her son's direction.

Inside, much of what Muson wanted to accomplish has been completed. The hardwood floors, covered by layers of linoleum and carpet, have been rescued and refinished. There are all kinds of wonderful little touches from the original builder, like sliding pocket doors and built-in cabinets and bookcases.

Some updating was done while John XXIII was there, including lighting, plumbing, water, and fireplaces, and a new roof was installed in 1995.

"It's pretty amazing that the house is here after 100 years," said Muson, who rents some of the house to roommates. "People have taken good care of it."

The garden in front has also been redone by Muson and her family, with rock-lined paths, drought-resistant shrubs, and a bench looking out over the bay.

These days, it's hard to see much of the water. It's obscured by newer homes and electrical lines. There's a lot of road noise from Noche Buena Street, now a major thoroughfare through town.

Still, Muson is glad she's here.

"It's a great, great house," she said. "I've never been a history buff, but I'm beginning to get a little more interested."

Finish painting the house. We still need man lift, plastic, labor and sunshine

Build and install front gate

New furnace

New on demand water heater

Purchase and install solar electric panels

Insulate floors and walls

Gutters and rain water storage system

Re-do concrete walk ways around the house

Spray oaks for oak moth

Rebuild rotted wall on barn

Re-roof barn and garage

Rebuild rotting garden shed

New garage door on barn

Tent barn and garage for termites

Build Craftman style entry rain cover at front fence

Buy and install push to talk entry system

Purchase and install 3 cameras 1 on graffiti wall 1on roof looking at seaside and the bay and 1 looking at the house from up in the oak tree

Complete remodel of the kitchen and master bath

Replace shower stall with original claw foot bathtub and recoat wood floor in upstairs-shared bath

Finish ½ bath ---install sink and faucet

Hire a garden and weeding service

Buy and install gravel on slope of driveway

Bomb shelter to do’s patch cracks, install lights, and electrical receptacles, build door

Purchase and build small pond

Correct all drainage issues

Repair West window box

My family lived in this house from the middle of the l930s until l948. My father, a general building contractor in Monterey, built the retaining wall and the three-story garage. He bought the house for $1800 cash, the asking price had been $2000. The property included the entire block. There was a huge barn at the other end of the property. I had a picture of the house taken in l902. My father built 6 houses on Noche Buena, down from the big house, for military families to live in. He also made an apartment inside the house for a military family. We were called upon to make housing available for these families during the war. They all became part of our family since they were all so far from home.

The observation post was in our livingroom, not upstairs. We reported all planes flying overhead from 6 am until midnight, when neighbors came into our home and took over for us. Later, my father built a tower at the other end of the property (I think the street was Maple) and people then manned the tower 24 hours a day. We sold the house to a family friend, Johnny Pattullo in l948 for $20,000. When I lived in the house, it had two large bedrooms and one tiny bedroom upstairs and what we called the sun room...warm when the sun was out, but very cold in foggy weather with windows on three sides. The master bedroom was huge with a huge closet. The sun room was not used as part of the observation post. There was another bedroom downstairs and a parlor, as well as the kitchen, diningroom, livingroom and back porch. There were only 2 bathrooms, one upstairs and one downstairs.

The two porches on the front of the house were open, and my father enclosed them with glass. It is sad to see the glass-doored bookcases painted white. All the wood in the house was natural wood....not painted. My father was a general building contractor and built many homes and commercial buildings on the peninsula. He was on the Monterey school board around l950. He was also a dog enthusiast and judged and showed in dog shows and field trials. He built a dog kennel next to the 3-story garage. He actually sold a dog to Leon Panetta's father and two dogs to Joan Fontaine. She spent the day with us and had lunch with us while picking the two puppies she wanted. They were Mr. and Mrs. William Dozier and were extremely nice people. Dad also gave two dogs to Gene Harden, of Harden Farms, a friend and dog enthusiast. My father came to the peninsula as a soldier at the Presidio and stayed because he liked the cool weather. He did not like the humidity of his native Illinois. He was l00% Dutch, his parents having come from Holland. The army had war games around our house, and it was quite frightening to hear them clanking around the house at night and filling their canteen at our water faucets. We always had a baseball game going in what is now the street going up the hill. It was just a vacant lot then. When the cleared the brush, they must have found a lot of baseballs, as we could never find them in the brush. We called it manzanita, but I'm not sure if that's correct. The sidewalk was there when we bought the house. It went all the way around the house and out to both streets. My brother, Dick, and I used to skate around and around.There was no heat in the house, just two fireplaces. My father installed a wall heater upstairs in the sun room and a floor furnace between the livingroom and diningroom. We moved because the area became too populated. I was born in Seaside in l928 in my grandparents' house across the street from the Seaside Market. They owned that whole corner and had a beautiful English garden there, of which I have lovely pictures. The house is still there, but I noticed it has had an addition. The library was directly behind the house. The librarian was Blanche Smith, whose daughter, Velma Seaman, still lives in Seaside on Kenneth. Velma lived with us for a time and we always felt like sisters. Mrs. Smith took care of Dick and I when my mother died in l939 in the house on Noche Buena. We also lived in Lakeside, as it was called, near Fremont and Hilby and then across the foot bridge that went over the railroad tracks next to Nelson's (which was across the street from what is now Seaside Market). I believe that would be what is now the nursery of Home Depot, or whatever store is there now. There was supposedly the largest oak tree in the world there at that time, but it is now covered in sand, or maybe covered by the store.That was the heart of Seaside. I don't know when it began to be called East Monterey. I remember when it happened, but not the year. My mother, Brenda Schofield, came to the US with, her parents when they retired to Seaside from England around l926, after visiting twice. My parents met while my father was building my grandparents' house. I have a picture of the Seaside post office (a tiny PO) when it was at the foot of that footbridge and across the street from our house. My mother's brother, Tom, was married to Jennie Bentley, who lived in what is now Sand City.