3 minute read
Northstar History
A Local History
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Truckee, once known as a railroad town and a lumber mill site, is today a thriving community that attracts thousands of tourists every year. Still leaving an imprint from the past is one of Truckee’s most colorful characters, Dick Joseph. Haven’t heard of him you say? Well…have you been to the Pastime Club, Kings Beach, Gateway, or Tahoe Forest Hospital? If yes, your life has been touched by Dick Joseph.
Born in 1890 in Armenia, he was 27 when he arrived in California and began working in Truckee as a barber. He was frugal and soon was wheeling and dealing to acquire property of his own. His first business purchase was the “Louver Bar” later known as the Pastime Club (which he owned for over 50 years)! He was the third owner of the building--following Charles Crocker of the “big four” who had built it and a man named Weed (for whom Weed, CA was named). But Truckee was a little rough around the edges where men were killed for their possessions, so Joseph decided he needed a bodyguard. About that time, he spied a big, burly man climbing off the train in Truckee and several days later approached him, suggesting they form a partnership. The man was Joe King, a traveling gambler. Joseph offered to sell King half his property, and King earned the money for the purchases as Joseph’s bodyguard!
They remained partners for the next ten years and together bought what today is Kings Beach. At the time, lakefront property sold for $10 – 12 a running foot. Why was Kings Beach named for Joe King instead of Dick Joseph? Joseph told many that he sold his half to Joe King…but those in the know heard he lost his half to Joe King in a gambling game!
Still, Joseph was a shrewd businessman. He had parlayed the few dollars he earned (at 25 cents a haircut and $1 for a haircut and shave) into investments and stocks which enabled him to purchase 320 acres of land in Gateway from the Union Ice Company in the 1940’s. There he developed the Gateway Motel and the Gateway shopping center. While the motel is gone, the commercial center is still there…and some of the remaining property is now home to Safeway and neighboring stores.
Another part of the 320 acres became home to Tahoe Forest Hospital. Joseph donated the property for the hospital shortly after his wife died in childbirth, when she developed blood poisoning from the delivery of their twin daughters. He felt that had there been a local hospital, doctors might have been able to save her life. Years later, when Tahoe Forest Hospital became a reality, it was dedicated in the name of his son, Levon Joseph, who was killed in action in World War II.
Over time Joseph bought lots of property—Kings Beach, Gateway, and a stunning piece overlooking Lake Tahoe. And in addition to being a barber and a bar owner, he was rumored to have run some businesses on the back streets of Truckee that are no longer legal in CA. Shrewd…yes. Philanthropic…yes. Colorful…absolutely!
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