Letter: Remembering Henry Preciado (Oct. 30)
Live Performance: “Gone” by Switchfoot
Today, Sunday, Oct. 25, as I am writing this letter about El Rio Drive In Theater and Mr. Henry Preciado, one-time owner of the theater, its been exactly 37 years today that he was robbed and killed for 85 cents, right there at the entrance to the drive in, and I have real good memories of Henry Preciado.
I first met him in 1950, when he owned the Rex Theater, which was between the Brammer Shoe Store and the Chase Bank of today that is at the corner of C Street and Yosemite Avenue.
Mr. Preciado used to play semi pro baseball with the San Francisco Seals, which played in the Pacific Coast League.
After attending movies there at his theater, I would always stay with him after attending a movie, sometimes for 4 1/2 hours, and he would tell me some of his stories about things that happened while he was playing baseball with the San Francisco Seals.
He told me that one day they were playing ball in Seattle, Washington. It was cold and windy, and the public announcer, said, “Will the man behind home plate, will you please stand up for the national anthem?”
Only one man attended the game because it was so cold and windy.
In 1969, I was telling Mr. Preciado that I was going to San Francisco to see the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams play at Kezar Stadium, and he told me, “If you go to Fisherman’s Wharf, please go to Lefty O’Doul’s Restaurant,” because he, Lefty O’Doul, and Mr. Preciado played together with the San Francisco Seals.
I went to San Francisco, together with other members of the Pan American Club, to the game, and after the game the bus driver took us to Fisherman’s Wharf. All the members of the Pan Am Club went to see the go-go girls that were popular in those days, and I went to see Lefty O’Doul. I met him there in his restaurant, and I told him Mr. Henry Preciado had told me to say hello and best regards, and he told me Mr. Preciado was quite a ballplayer. Mr. O’Doul told me if you would of been here a few minutes earlier, you would have met Joe Dimaggio. He just left through the back door.
Everywhere that I would meet Mr. Preciado here in Madera, at the Post Office, at the bank, at the grocery store or coming out of church — he was a very devoted Catholic — we would talk nothing but baseball.
Mr. Preciado was born here in Madera, Oct. 5, 1892, and was 80 years old, when killed Oct. 25, 1972, by a man from Fairmead for 85 cents.
Mr. Preciado and his brothers Ben and Charlie were hunting out of town by Bonita Ginn eight miles out of town on Howard Road and they came across a pack of coyotes, and all the brothers named the high school football team the Coyotes.
In 1961, when I had the Madera merchants baseball team, I invited our Mayor Alex Robertson, Monte Pearson, who played with the New York Yankees and Mr. Preciado to open up our 1961 baseball season and Henry and Monte threw out the first pitch.
In 1969, we had a big flood down here in Madera. The Fresno River goes right behind my back yard and over by the drive in, and it was flooded. I went to help to put equipment above ground.
In 1972, our daughter Janie, was a cheerleader at Madera High and they had a fund-raiser to buy new cheerleader uniforms, and they were going to sell popcorn during the Friday night game. My daughter told me that they had the popcorn, butter and salt, but they didn’t have any popcorn boxes, so they went over to see Mr. Preciado at the drive-in theater, and he called to the snack bar and told Anselmo to give me a box of popcorn boxes.
I stayed there with Mr. Preciado at the ticket box office until 10:30 p.m. I went home and turned on the TV, and the first thing that came on was breaking news that Mr. Henry Preciado had just been killed and robbed of 85 cents. Good thing I left. Who knows what would of happened to me?
And those are my good memories of Mr. Henry Preciado.
I read in our daily newspaper The Madera Tribune, that the flea market at the drive in has closed after 36 years. But I hope that the theater will remain open because it brings me lots of memories.
Eddie Chapa,
Madera
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Live Performance: “Live Like You’re Dying” by Lenka
