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Published on 09/08/1999 All articles from this issue

Carrying on a tradition

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By Clyde Noel

Special to the Town Crier

Founder's Day at Town Crier brings back memories for former paperboys (and girls)

Editor's Note: Tomorrow is a special day. Yes, we know Y2K soothsayers are predicting computer malfunctions because of the date, 9/9/99. But we at the Town Crier are celebrating because Sept. 9 marks the first publication date of the paper 52 years ago. We contacted former paper carriers to interview them abouut their experiences. We invited them to a get-together on Founder's Day. We also released a new Town Crier coffee blend for the occasion (see Page 7) and are announcing a major change affecting the paper (Page 6). Read on.

"Hey kid, wanna make 50 cents?" Town Crier co-owner Warren Goodrich asked Frank White. "I want you to help put the Town Crier together and then deliver it."

When you're 11 years old and carrying the Town Crier, you learn about responsibility and what discipline means.

The year was 1947, and White was in the fifth grade at San Antonio School, located at Hillview Avenue and San Antonio Road.

White helped put the Town Crier together with Goodrich's son, Don, and then walked to a few stores to deliver it. For the houses on Second and Third streets, he rode his bicycle.

White wasn't a Town Crier carrier for very long because Sam Kahn, owner of Kahn's Pharmacy at the corner of First and Main streets, asked him to help in the drugstore and deliver pharmaceuticals.

White took the responsibility he learned from carrying the Town Crier and working at Kahn's Pharmacy with him into medical school and his podiatry practice. He is now retired and living in Los Altos.

The first issue of the Town Crier was published Sept. 9, 1947, and consisted of four pages of advertising with a handwritten message from co-owner Dave MacKenzie. MacKenzie can't recall exactly when the paper started using carriers - initially it was delivered by mail service.

"We could use all the help we could get when we started," MacKenzie said. "We didn't even have a typewriter. We competed with the Los Altos News and they were subscription. To get the advertising, we used mail as our advantage."

In the late 1960s, the paper began hiring carriers again. Matthew Ives delivered the Town Crier from 1969-71. He used a mini-bike to cover the hilly territory of seven streets around the Los Altos County Club.

"I had 75 papers to deliver. They weren't as big as today's Town Crier, but you could toss them to the front door." Ives said. "A 36-page paper is just right to throw. I could hit a mailbox at 15 feet and keep moving on the bike."

Ives said Los Altos residents had a lot of interest in the Town Crier. They couldn't wait for the weekly paper and if it was delivered late, they left the carrier know. One woman asked Ives to hit her front door with the paper so she would know when it arrived.

"As a kid, it was one of my first jobs. Delivering and collecting got me started in life," Ives said. "I was too young to get a Palo Alto Times route (12-year-old minimum), but I learned discipline carrying the Town Crier and then started carrying other papers on my route.

"Most everything in Los Altos was bought and sold through the Town Crier. When people saw you, they talked to you and you became an ambassador for the paper," Ives said.

Today, Ives is a registered stockbroker working with Morgan Stanley Dean Witter in Palo Alto.

Mark Smallhouse, Town Crier board member and local attorney, delivered the Town Crier when he was in junior high during the years 1971-73.

"We had about 15 to 20 carriers at the time, and I delivered the paper around 5:30 a.m. At the same time, I delivered the Palo Alto Times and the Sunnyvale Valley Journal," Smallhouse said. "I remember Matt, because my route went to the first green and Matt's went below the first green."

Smallhouse said he had a lot of excitement being chased by a raccoon. But he showed his responsibility when he came across a burning car in the early morning. He called the fire department and helped where he could before continuing with his paper route.

The Town Crier was a two-piece paper in those years. One section was the subscriber section, the other the advertising section. Every household got a paper, but nonsubscribers received only the advertising section. Both Ives and Smallhouse delivered the Town Crier from a cloth bag that hung front to back over their shoulders.

"Those choker bags were killers. When you delivered all the papers out of the front of the Town Crier bag, the back became heavy and it choked you," Smallhouse said. Both carriers resorted to the Palo Alto Times bag for comfort.

Mayumi Takata was a Town Crier carrier for a short stint between 1969-72. She now lives in El Sobrante.

"Not much to report other than breaking a window on my first day. The pay wasn't as competitive as my friend's routes who delivered the Chronicle and the Merc," Mayumi said. "I went on to carry the Valley Journal, which was better pay."

Elayne Giannatos started working with the Town Crier as a carrier in 1973, and eventually became the Town Crier carrier routes manager.

"We had about 20 carriers, and the circulation was around 22,000. The paper cost $6 annually, and we had to collect once a year. The carriers were paid $2.80 for every collection they made," Giannatos said. "When I delivered the paper from house to house, some of the older people thought you were the highlight of the week."

Still with the Town Crier, Giannatos is the bulk carrier, with drops at different locations in Mountain View, Los Altos and Palo Alto.

"It's much better now. I only work one day a week and I don't have to collect anymore," she said, adding that collection was a hit and miss affair.

"You delivered the paper to everyone and tried to collect 35 cents a month. Every now and then someone would give you a buck," Ives said. "What money I brought in didn't cover the costs of a mini-bike."