Winter 2023 California Chapter Meeting Saturday, January 7, 2023
Vince’s Restorante 840 Harbor Blvd West Sacramento, CA 95691 (916) 371-6395 Google map
Directions: • Take US 50 Harbor Blvd Exit 1B • Turn north on Harbor Blvd • Turn left into the parking lot of Vince’s Ristorante
11:30 am Lunch in Banquet Room $22 Menu: Veal Parmigiana, Special Steak Sandwich, Italian Chicken Sandwich, Baked Lasagna Includes: Salad, hot bread and butter, coffee, iced tea, water (Gluten-free, vegetarian pasta and kids’ menu available upon request)
1:00–3:30 pm Meeting in Banquet Room • Officer & committee reports • OFFICER ELECTIONS • Updates: Website, signs and markers, 2023 Conference report • Clarksville Days [Future] • California Chapter LH Book Sales • Presentation: “History of West Sacramento & 1928 Lincoln Highway from Sacramento to Berkeley” by Trey Pitsenberger
Ruth Gordon performing in NBC’s Saturday morning show “Lincoln Highway.” (1940)
On March 16, 1940, NBC Radio introduced a Saturday morning dramatic show called Lincoln Highway sponsored by Shinola Polish, which featured stories of life along the route. The show’s introduction contained an error in noting the Lincoln Highway was identical to US 30 and ended in Portland. Many of the era’s stars, including Ethel Barrymore, Joe E. Brown, Claude Rains, Sam Levene, Burgess Meredith, and Joan Bennett, made appearances on the show, which had an audience of more than 8 million before it left the air in 1942. A rare surviving recording of the show’s theme song, “When You Travel the Great Lincoln Highway,” survives online.
After a couple of years on hiatus due to Covid, our annual LHA conference is back! The conference will start on Monday, June 20. The host hotel will be the Clarion Hotel and Convention Center, just off the Lincoln Highway and close to Interstate 80. The nite of June 20 will kick off with an opening banquet followed by a bus tour the next day with a lunch stop and pipe organ concert at the gorgeous Rialto Square Theatre in the heart of Joliet, considered one of the ten most beautiful theaters in the United States and a photo stop at the Building the Lincoln Highway statue on the border of Joliet and Crest Hill.
The Garfield Farm and Museum
Another tour will include a stop at the Garfield Farm and Inn Museum, an 1840s era farm, and a stagecoach stop. For a significant find in the middle of farm country, experience authentic Italian food in a stunning banquet hall featuring hand-painted décor for the Wednesday West Bus Tour. There will be a popular request tour of the Egyptian Theatre in DeKalb on the West Tour. The Egyptian Theatre underwent a major restoration and expansion in recent years and has air conditioning. The West Tour will be a golden opportunity to visit the LHA Headquarters in the H.I. Lincoln Building in Franklin Grove to see the recent renovations.
Inside the National Headquarters in Franklin Grove.
The conference finishes on June 24 with Speakers Day, which will feature native Joliet resident Dennis Doyle speaking on the Lincoln Highway and James R. Wright, a lifelong resident of Homewood, Illinois, who will give a history of the Dixie Highway in Illinois. The activities on Speakers’ Day will conclude Thursday evening with the ever-popular Awards Banquet.
