Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
JACK'S GRILL
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The Wintu tribe of Native Americans occupied the Redding area, until the early 1800s. Trails used
by the Indians became the route for the Siskiyou Trail, which was the primary overland route for
trappers moving between the Hudson Bay Company district headquarters in Southern Washington
and the San Francisco offices.
One of California's early pioneers, Pierson B. Reading, received a Mexican land grant in 1844
for the land along the Sacramento River where Redding is today. The Siskiyou Trail passed through
the area and the gold rush of 1849 brought many travelers. Miners founded a town along the trail
that was so poor, they referred to it as Poverty Flats. When the economy of the town improved, the
name was changed to Redding to honor one of the railroad men who helped develop the area. Later,
citizens considered naming the town Reading after the first white settler but, when the railroad
refused to acknowledge the change, the name was officially returned to Redding.
Redding incorporated with only 600 people in 1887, but grew to 25,000 before the Great Depres-
sion. Very hard times nearly caused the city to become a ghost town. Less than 300 people remained
in the 1930s, due to little or no agriculture. The completion of the Shasta Dam in 1945 resulted in a
surge of population and the local economy.
After prospectors failed to find major quantities of gold in the surrounding hills, Redding's
main industry became lumber—and every town of lumberjacks has several saloons for entertain-
ment. The two-story structure that houses Jack's Grill was actually built in 1935 by Bill Morrison
and first served as a secondhand store. In 1938, the downstairs was leased to a World War I flying
ace, Jack Young.
Redding's elders felt that there were already too many saloons in town, but Jack opened one
more bar and grill. He was successful, largely because of the influx of workers for the dam, the few
mines that survived, and the new railroads snaking through the area. California Street became a
magnet for hotels, bars, and a number of bordellos. Even the upstairs of Jack's Grill served horizon-
tal refreshments for a time in the early 1940s. Of all the bars opened during that era, Jack's is the
only one that survived.
Jack was around just long enough to give the bar a permanent name. Jack sold the establish-
ment to Fats Woolf in the 1940s and, when Fats died, Joe and June Stanley bought it. June was the
daughter of the original builder, Bill Morrison, and she is responsible for emphasizing the restaurant
aspect, adding respectability to what had been primarily a bar.
