By Katherine Hon
The North Park Historical Society (NPHS) will hold their 10th annual, and final, North Park Car Show on Saturday, Sept. 7, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Balboa Tennis Club is once again hosting the event in their parking lot at Morley Field. This free, family-friendly event celebrating the automobile always delights attendees. It will be the last car show held by NPHS so the organization can spend more time developing and conducting walking tours and arranging other educational events.
If you have a fine classic car or vintage motorcycle to show (pre-1990 preferred), the exhibition fee is $10 for one vehicle and $20 for two or three. Visit NorthParkHistory.org for a registration form and car show information or contact NPHS at 619-294-8990 or [email protected].
Johnathan Harrison volunteered to design the car show poster for a third year. An exceptional graphic designer and professional photographer, he is the owner of Rison Studios, a full-service creative company specializing in graphic design, brand development, and lifestyle, portrait, and commercial photography. He can be contacted at [email protected].
The 2019 poster commemorates a decade of North Park car shows with a theme of riding into the sunset in a sharp white 1966 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. This car was bought new by Barbara Vallero, who has shown it at all of the North Park shows since 2012. This is how she remembers acquiring the car:
“We bought the car almost immediately after we were married in July 1966. We were living in Phoenix and needed an additional car so we decided to purchase a nice used vehicle. My husband was looking for one and he ended up at a Chevrolet dealership on the showroom floor. No used cars there! He came by my work at noon and told me he had put a $20 deposit on it — funny now. When I saw it, it was the whitest car I had ever seen! Couldn’t say no. It became my daily driver until 1981. It was repainted in 1998 with some interior work and became my show car! It has been a lot of fun and I have met a lot of great people as a result!”
NPHS also has met a lot of great people by organizing the car show. All of the show’s sponsors are appreciated, including A7D Creative Group, who has printed the car show posters from the beginning.
Another steadfast local sponsor is North Park Trophy & Award, who has generously donated fabulous trophies for the top three People’s Choice cars since the second show in 2011. They opened their business in April 1984 at 3813 30th St. in the building where True North is today, and they have operated the business at 3612 30th St. since April 1987. The classic Craftsman home that is now their store was built in 1911, when the streetcar first rumbled north from Downtown along 30th Street to University Avenue. The first owner of the house was William Bertrum Caughey, a butter maker and creamery man who was born on a farm in Pennsylvania. He lived in the house until about 1920. Robert L. Shaw, a meat cutter from Nebraska, bought the house in 1924 and lived there for nearly 60 years. Shaw died in 1983 — imagine all the changes he witnessed in North Park from 1924 to then.
NPHS thanks all the sponsors, exhibitors and attendees of the car shows through the years, as well as board members and others who have helped make it a smoothly run event. The last show is sure to be the best ever.
— Katherine Hon is the secretary of the North Park Historical Society. Reach her at [email protected] or 619-294-8990.
