No one better exemplifies the pioneer spirit of Old Town Orcutt than this year’s Christmas Parade Grand Marshal, Berto VanVeen. The histories of Old Orcutt and La Graciosa, its predecessor, are colorful mosaics of our country’s westward migration and settlement that should strike a note of pride in the Santa Maria Valley’s collective memory.
Early historical records show the settling of the Orcutt foothills by Absolom Stubblefield and others in the late 1800s. Former Irish soldier Don Patrico O’Neill opened a trading center around 1862 close to present-day Old Orcutt, and by 1870 it consisted of 370 inhabitants. The saloon doubled as a school, court house, and post office. Like in other early Western towns, it was a rough and tumble period. Just as in Western movies, it had a famous outlaw named Soloman Pico who inhabited Soloman Peak, the flat mountaintop in the Orcutt Hills. Pico robbed travelers as they slowed to climb Soloman Grade. A land dispute caused La Graciosa to fade into a memory.
But in 1904, an oil boom revived the area when the oil gusher “Old Maud” came in on Orcutt Hill. Orcutt became the biggest trading center in the Santa Maria Valley. As late as 1905, cattle were driven down the dirt road of Clark Avenue on the way to the rail center. Cowboys and oil workers bellied up to the bars, and the boom attracted prostitutes, drinking, and gambling. Slowly, over the years, the town has tamed and slumbered. Along with this slumber, it unfortunately became old, tired, and run down.
It is with this historic backdrop of colorful Old Town Orcutt that building contractor Berto VanVeen came on to the scene. Berto could see promise in the rundown community and had vision as to what could be. He had migrated from humble beginnings in his native Holland to America to seek his fortune. He was a young man with a laser focus who insisted on learning the language and becoming a citizen on his own. He worked his way up from a building framer to a licensed contractor. He, above all others, has put his stamp on modern-day Old Town Orcutt through his numerous major construction projects and his participation in the Old Town Orcutt Revitalization Association. His projects line Clark Avenue and include a recent rehabilitation of the old bank building, a large Commercial Center, the Far Western Restaurant, and numerous other landmark Western-themed buildings. Owners sought Berto out because of his meticulous focus on detail and his insistence on quality workmanship. He still has many projects he plans along Clark Avenue. Berto’s work ethic makes him a modern-day pioneer in his own right along with Stubblefield and O’Neill.
His zeal also transformed the Old Town Orcutt Revitalization Association into a group with many achievements under its belt, including changes in zoning that allowed only Western-style construction on the front property line as in Western towns, changes in commercial parking patterns along Clark, welcome signs leading into Old Town, Western benches and tree plantings along Clark, a model Western intersection at Gray and Clark, and a town clock, to mention only a few.
Berto is still pushing the group to complete the donation and acquisition of a community parking lot adjacent to Clark to provide additional parking for Old Town. The future parking lot will sit in the same historic location as the original Old Town Orcutt School building that existed in the early 1900s. The lot is currently owned by ConocoPhillips, and they have expressed a willingness to donate the lot for the proposed town parking lot. The donation is appropriate, as Old Orcutt itself is a testament to the early oil age in the Santa Maria Valley. Keep pushing Berto, as it is a worthwhile goal!
Berto has made a huge impact on what Old Town Orcutt is today, and his pioneer spirit will be felt for years into the future. Old Town is no longer old and tired, but is now a lively and vibrant cultural center with people walking to and from many wonderful restaurants, offices, and shops. He deserves our accolades and our salute on Dec. 13 at noon when he rides by as this year’s Christmas Parade Grand Marshal. Thank you, and Merry Christmas Betty and Berto VanVeen!
Ken McCalip is a Northern Santa Barbara County native who holds bachelor and doctorate degrees in history, cultural geography, and law from various California universities. He can be reached at kennethmccalip@yahoo.com. Send comments to the executive editor at rmiller@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Nov 26 – Dec 3, 2014.