The California General Attorney closed the club under the Red-light Abatement Act of 1913. Â There were 10 cabins at the club that were rented out for assignment — that means prostitution. The club was closed down, and the property had a lien on it.
That’s when the lienholder, Mr. Perry Whiting, came in and bought the property and 44 acres. He renovated the main building and made his home there, calling it Whiting Manor. He was a wealthy man, owning and selling construction materials, so he and his wife got a Manor. Funny word.
Within the next two years, he bought the adjoining 675 acres — some from his neighbor, a Chinese man who pretended to sell vegetables but was actually selling opium. This story keeps getting better. Oh yea, there is a story that some guy got shot and killed at the speakeasy, too, before Whiting purchased the place. I guess it was the wild wild west.
When I lived in Whiting Woods, the Old Manor was still there, horses and all. I don’t know who lived there, though. (No speakeasy or easy women — they were gone by then.) It was later torn down and subdivided—what a shame. I love old buildings.
Here’s the same area today, from the bridge: (and our little corner bus stop, where the school bus picked us up)