Juanita Musson

Juanita Lois Musson (née Hudspeth; October 16, 1923 – February 26, 2011) was an American restaurateur who, from the 1950s to the 1980s, established and operated eleven restaurants (many of them named Juanita's Galley) in Sausalito, California, and around the San Francisco Bay Area, of which she was a longtime resident.[1][2]

Juanita Musson
Born
Juanita Lois Hudspeth

(1923-10-16)October 16, 1923
Texas, U.S.
DiedFebruary 26, 2011(2011-02-26) (aged 87)
Sonoma, California, U.S.
Resting placeGolden Gate
37°49′N 122°29′W
OccupationRestaurateur
Years active1950s–1985
OrganizationJuanita's Galley and other restaurants
Known forFlamboyant style, large portions of food served
Spouse(s)
Richard Musson
​
​
(m. 1944; div. 1957)​

Called "flamboyant", Musson had a reputation for being kind to animals and the poor, and sometimes rude to her patrons.[1] Drinking frequently, she often argued with and insulted her staff and customers,[3] and was involved in a number of physical altercations.[1][4] Despite all this she was well-liked.[1] While Musson was careless with money and the management of her restaurants, they gained prominence and popularity for their atmosphere and generous portions.[1]

Personal life

Juanita Lois Hudspeth was born on October 16, 1923, in a rural part of Texas.[5][6] During her youth, she lived in the southwest United States. In 1944, she married soldier Richard Musson in Wichita Falls, Texas.[2] The Mussons moved to Sausalito, California, in 1946.[7] They divorced in 1957 but remained friends afterward.[2][8] Richard died in 1987.[2]

Musson was considered to be a "flamboyant and eccentric" woman.[9] She was overweight (over 300 lb (140 kg) at her peak),[10] and always wore a flower-patterned muumuu. Her trademarks were her muumuu and verbal assaults. Journalist Alice Yarish remarked "She was rough and tumble and cussed a lot, but it was always funny. She was mean to everybody, and you liked it."[1]

Musson owned, as pets, a white turkey, monkeys, parrots, deer, chickens, goats, dogs, cats and other creatures that were allowed to wander around her restaurants.[1][9]

Career
Juanita's Galley...Noted for fabulous breakfast, potluck and the unpredictable disposition of its proprietor, Juanita Musson, who is genial or belligerent with no seeming valuation to tide or events.

Dining and Wine Guide, San Rafael Daily Independent Journal, January 25, 1962.[11]

In the 1950s, Musson established Juanita's Galley restaurant, which she subsequently moved to a series of locations in Sausalito and adjacent Sonoma County.[1] In 1955 she managed The Ferry Slip Galley, in a building at Gate 5 of the Sausalito pier, for owners Shirley Morgan and Cliff Pedersen.[12] By the beginning of 1956, she was its sole owner, and its name had been shortened to simply The Galley. At that time, the restaurant was included in plans for a marina development by the Marinship Corporation.[13] In September of that year, Musson and her husband Richard filed a "Certificate of Copartners Doing Business Under a Fictitious Name" for a legal change of the business name to Juanita's Galley.[14]

When Musson's lease expired, the 24-hour restaurant and nightclub relocated in May 1962 aboard the Charles Van Damme, a decommissioned paddlewheel ferryboat docked at Waldo Point.[3] Before the end of the year, Musson ran into financial trouble when the Internal Revenue Service filed a $4,497 lien against the business for failure to pay employee withholding taxes.[15] Her difficulties were compounded when the ferryboat's owner Donlon T. Arques filed for eviction of the restaurant for non-payment of rent.[16] The restaurant made front-page headlines on March 16, 1963, when a late-night 40-person melee erupted between a motorcycle club and other patrons; weapons included car jacks, pipes, steel bars, furniture, and a fishbowl. Several people were arrested, and one person was taken to the hospital after being hit in the head with an axe.[17] Musson shut down the restaurant in April after being cited for non-compliance with sanitation laws, and improper sewage disposal. Juanita's Galley was finally evicted from the ferryboat in July.[18] Following her eviction, a $250,000 lawsuit was filed against Musson by the motorcycle club member who had been hit in the head with an axe during the March brawl. In late 1963, a $30,000 lawsuit was filed against her by a woman who claimed to have been injured in a fall at the restaurant.[19]

When Musson relocated to Sonoma County, four hundred people attended her 1964 farewell party at Rico's Restaurant in Sausalito.[7] Her new location was on the grounds of a former rural resort in El Verano. The restaurant's name was shortened to Juanita's, but the cuisine was identical to her Sausalito menu.[20] A kitchen fire destroyed most of the Sonoma County restaurant in 1969. She managed to stay in business, hoping her restaurant could be fully restored, by cooking the food at the nearby Fetters Hot Springs Hotel where she could fall back on her catering license. Musson called what was to be a temporary location "Juanita's North." Temporary turned into a permanent situation, and Musson relocated her restaurant to Fetters Hot Springs. In a bid to raise $35,000 to make an outright purchase of the hotel in 1975, Musson sold her collection of "funky junk and antiques". The next month, an early morning fire burned the hotel and her restaurant to the ground. It was believed that a waitress at the restaurant died in the fire.[9][21]

Following the hotel fire, Musson's next venture was Juanita's Grist Mill in neighboring Glen Ellen.[22] Musson also established restaurants in Port Costa, Fairfield, Vallejo and Winters. Around 1975, Musson took over "The Warehouse", a restaurant and bar in Port Costa.[1]

Celebrities that frequented Musson's restaurants included the Kingston Trio, Joseph Cotten, the Smothers Brothers, Shelley Berman, Robert Mitchum, and Sally Stanford.[2]

Later life and death

In 1982, Musson retired from the restaurant business and moved back to Sonoma, where she lived mainly on Social Security benefits. In 2002, friends raised enough money for her to move to a retirement community in Agua Caliente. On February 26, 2011, she died at the Sonoma Valley Hospital, where she had been living since suffering a stroke, at the age of 87.[1]

See also

References
  1. Chris Treadway; Mark Prado (March 2, 2011). "Juanita Musson, former salty restaurateur in Sausalito, dies at 87". Marin Independent Journal. Retrieved September 13, 2016.
  2. Nolte, Carl (March 6, 2011). "Juanita's Gallery restaurateur Juanita Musson dies". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved September 13, 2016.
  3. Eric Torney (July 22, 2015). "Juanita and Her Galley". Sausalito Historical Society. Retrieved September 14, 2016."Juanita's Galley to Move Onto an Old Ferry Boat". San Rafael Daily Independent Journal. San Rafael, California. December 5, 1961. p. 14. Retrieved September 20, 2016 – via Newspaperarchive.com."Juanita Moves Her Galley". San Rafael Daily Independent Journal. San Rafael, California. May 29, 1962. p. 5. Retrieved September 21, 2016 – via Newspaperarchive.com.
  4. "Woman To Plead In Disturbance". Daily Independent Journal. San Rafael, California. November 22, 1957. p. 19. Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  5. "Juanita Lois Musson". MyHeritage. Retrieved September 19, 2016.
  6. "Juanita Musson". tributes.com. Retrieved September 19, 2016.
  7. "Big Sendoff for Juanita in Sausilito". San Rafael Daily Independent Journal. San Rafael, California. April 3, 1964. p. 4. Retrieved September 20, 2016 – via Newspaperarchive.com.
  8. "Divorce Granted". San Rafael Daily Independent Journal. San Rafael, California. August 3, 1957. p. 8. Retrieved September 20, 2016 – via Newspaperarchive.com.
  9. Mathes, V.S.; Smith, D.M.; Society, S.V.H. (2004). Sonoma Valley. Images of America. Arcadia Pub. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-7385-2943-1.
  10. Treadway, Chris (March 1, 2011). "Flamboyant restaurateur Juanita Musson dished up laughs, hearty meals". The Mercury News. Retrieved September 20, 2016.
  11. "Dining and Wine Guide". San Rafael Daily Independent Journal. San Rafael, California. January 25, 1962. p. WD8. Retrieved September 21, 2016 – via Newspaperarchive.com.
  12. "Ferry Slip Galley Opens at Gate 5". San Rafael Daily Independent Journal. San Rafael, California. August 4, 1955. p. 19. Retrieved September 20, 2016 – via Newspaperarchive.com.
  13. "Work Underway on Marinship Project". San Rafael Daily Independent Journal. San Rafael, California. February 3, 1956. p. 4. Retrieved September 20, 2016 – via Newspaperarchive.com.
  14. "Certificate of Copartners Doing Business Under a Fictitious Name". San Rafael Daily Independent Journal. San Rafael, California. September 17, 1956. p. 16. Retrieved September 20, 2016 – via Newspaperarchive.com.
  15. "Juanita Saved from Axe". San Rafael Daily Independent Journal. San Rafael, California. December 28, 1962. p. 7. Retrieved September 21, 2016 – via Newspaperarchive.com.
  16. "Woe Is Juanita". San Rafael Daily Independent Journal. San Rafael, California. February 9, 1963. pp. 1, 3. Retrieved September 21, 2016 – via Newspaperarchive.com.
  17. Carboneau, Richard (March 16, 1963). "Wild Brawl Breaks Out at Juanita's With Everything From Fists to Axes". San Rafael Daily Independent Journal. San Rafael, California. pp. 1, 3. Retrieved September 21, 2016 – via Newspaperarchive.com.
  18. "Juanita Violates Sanitation Laws". San Rafael Daily Independent Journal. San Rafael, California. April 16, 1963. p. 7. Retrieved September 21, 2016 – via Newspaperarchive.com."Juanita, Ark Seek Sewer Tie-In; Juanita is Given Reprieve". San Rafael Daily Independent Journal. San Rafael, California. April 24, 1963. p. 14. Retrieved September 21, 2016 – via Newspaperarchive.com."Juanita, Musson Gets Quarters, Pays No Rent". San Rafael Daily Independent Journal. San Rafael, California. July 12, 1963. p. 4. Retrieved September 21, 2016 – via Newspaperarchive.com.
  19. "Matean Sues Juanita For Cafe Fight". San Mateo Times. San Mateo, California. July 18, 1963. p. 3. Retrieved September 21, 2016 – via Newspaperarchive.com."Juanita, Musson Faces $30,000 Lawsuit". San Rafael Daily Independent Journal. San Rafael, California. December 11, 1963. p. 3. Retrieved September 21, 2016 – via Newspaperarchive.com.
  20. Craft, Harry (October 23, 1964). "Dining Out and Inns". San Rafael Daily Independent Journal. San Rafael, California. p. 8. Retrieved September 21, 2016 – via Newspaperarchive.com.
  21. "Her Beloved Junk Is On The Block". Daily Independent Journal. San Rafael, California. February 17, 1975. p. 15. Retrieved September 14, 2016.Hatfield, Larry B. (March 31, 1969). "Juanita Not Down Or Out, And Planning To Rebuild". San Rafael Daily Independent Journal. San Rafael, California. p. 4. Retrieved September 21, 2016 – via Newspaperarchive.com.Craft, Harry (April 11, 1969). "Dining Out and Inns". San Rafael Daily Independent Journal. San Rafael, California. p. 12. Retrieved September 21, 2016 – via Newspaperarchive.com."Dining and Wine Guide". San Rafael Daily Independent Journal. San Rafael, California. February 18, 1971. p. S28. Retrieved September 21, 2016 – via Newspaperarchive.com."Juanita Musson photo and caption". Hutchinson News. Hutchinson, Kansas. February 18, 1975. p. 3. Retrieved September 21, 2016 – via Newspaperarchive.com."Juanita's Restaurant, Hotel Burn, Fear For Waitress". San Rafael Daily Independent Journal. San Rafael, California. March 24, 1975. p. 1. Retrieved September 21, 2016 – via Newspaperarchive.com.
  22. "Valley of the Moon". San Rafael Daily Independent Journal. San Rafael, California. February 12, 1976. p. S29. Retrieved September 21, 2016 – via Newspaperarchive.com.
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