Wednesday, May. 13, 2009

Bob Shallit: Delta King stirs up memories of river reverie

Ah, the memories. It seems there are plenty of folks who remember riding the Delta King paddlewheeler when it plied the waterways between Sacramento and San Francisco in the 1930s.

The King's owner, Charlie Coyne, has heard from a dozen or so who saw our recent item seeking Delta King travelers from decades past.

Coyne is hosting a 20th anniversary party next month to celebrate the boat's more recent life as a floating hotel and wants to invite those early passengers. He's also inviting folks who got married aboard the Delta King after 1989, when it re-opened on the Sacramento riverfront.

Among those who contacted Coyne this week: an 82-year-old who reports she has home movies from her time aboard in the 1930s.

Another caller, 84-year-old Robert Rath of Pollock Pines, says he frequently accompanied his mother and aunts onto the Delta King in the mid-1930s. The attraction: riverboat gambling.

"They couldn't wait for it to leave the dock so they could start playing the slot machines," Rath tells us.

And then there's Phillip Caine, a retired Sacramento social worker, who doesn't quite remember his trip on the Delta King.

He reports that his parents boarded the ship for a one-way trip between Sacramento and San Francisco on New Year's Eve in 1937.

Years later, his mother told him there was "an incredibly raucous party going on" that night. Now deceased, Caine's mother also confided that he "was conceived on the Delta King." That maternal disclosure was admitted with some embarrassment, he says, because his parents didn't get married until two months after their New Year's Eve boat ride.

If you were aboard the Delta King between 1927 and 1940 or were married there after 1989, call Coyne at (916) 379-5007 for an invitation to the June 2 celebration.

For the rest of Bob Shallit's column, see Thursday's "Our Region" section.

Call The Bee's Bob Shallit, (916) 321-1049. Back columns: www.sacbee.com/shallit.