Perry Newberry

Perry Harmon Newberry (October 16, 1870 – December 6, 1938) was an American writer, actor, and director. He was a past editor and publisher of the Carmel Pine Cone and the fifth mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. Newberry is best known for his efforts to "keep Carmel free from tourists." At his death the Pine Cone said he was "Perry Newberry...Creator of Carmel." He lived in Carmel for 28 years.

Newberry was born on October 16, 1870, in Union City, Michigan. His parents were Captain Frank D. Newberry (1840-1912) and Frances "Fannie" Ellsworth Stone (1848-1942). His father served in the American Civil War. His mother, began a career as a writer of children's literature. Newberry married Bertha Blair in 1892.

Newberry was a printer and real estate agent in Chicago. In 1897, he and his wife Bertha, came to San Francisco and was reporter and editor of several newspapers, including on the art department of the San Francisco Examiner, and the San Francisco Post. He purchased the San Francisco Wave in 1901. He went to Frank Coppa's restaurant, known among Bohemians in San Francisco where he heard about an art colony at Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. He and his wife came to Carmel in 1910 by stage coach.

He bought one of the first lots sold by Frank Devendorf and Frank Powers in 1910. The Perry Newberry Cottage, or "Sticks and Stones" Craftsman-style house was built in 1937 by builder Maynard McEntire. It can be found on the northern side of Vista Avenue, specifically the second house to the west of Junipero Avenue.

Newberry wrote children’s stories, short stories, and mystery novels. He was an author and co-wrote five detective stories with Carmel writer Alice MacGowan in the 1920s.

His poet and playwright wife, Bertha, passed away in January 1934, at a Monterey hospital. Newberry remarried Ida L. Brooks, a Berkeley public health nurse. The ceremony was performed on September 9, 1936, in Salinas, California.

Forest Theater

Newberry became involved with the Forest Theater Society of Carmel. He became actor, producer, playwright, and president at the Forest Theater.

On July 9, 1910, Herbert Heron produced the first of the annual theatrical productions at the Forest Theater. The play was David, a biblical drama by Constance Lindsay Skinner under the direction of Garnet Holme of UC Berkeley. Newberry's wife, Bertha, had a role in the play. The play was reviewed in both Los Angeles and San Francisco, and was reported that over 1,000 theatergoers attended the production.

The second play was the Twelfth Night, produced on July 3 and 4, 1911 at the Forest Theater. Newberry played the character Sir Toby Belch.

In July 1912, Newberry produced the play Alice in Wonderland, at the Forest Theater, which was a dramatization of Lewis Carroll's book.

Newberry was part of the cultural circle that included Jack London, Harry Leon Wilson, James Hopper, Mary Hunter Austin, Arnold Genthe, Francis McComas, Xavier Martinez, and Sinclair Lewis.

In 1917, Newberry enlisted as a soldier during World War I and served as a YMCA secretary with the 77th division, American Expeditionary Forces. He was gassed in the war. He developed a plan, that the Monterey County endorsed, to arm and equip a military body of men for the defense of the county and coast line.

When Newberry returned from the war, he continued writing short stories and books. He designed and built several houses in Carmel. One is called Sticks And Stones. There is a street with his name in Carmel, named Perry Newberry Way, two blocks between Fourth and Sixth Avenues, east of Carpenter Street.

Politics

In the late 1920s, Newberry, concerned about Carmel's growth and being commercialized, he entered city politics. In 1922, he was elected to the Carmel board of trustees and became the fifth mayor of Carmel. Newberry was known for his efforts to "keep Carmel free from tourists," and Keep Carmel off the Map."

Believing that what 9.999 towns out of 10,000 want is just what Carmel shouldn't have, I am a candidate for trustee on the platform, DONT'T BOOST! I am making a spirited campaign to win by asking those who disagree with me to vote against me.

Don't Vote for Perry Newberry
If you hope to see Carmel become a city.
If you want its growth boosted.
If you desire its commercial success.
If street lamps on its corners mean happiness to you.
If concrete street pavements represent your civic ambitions.

Don't Vote For Perry Newberry

He was elected again in 1929 as city trustee and a second term as mayor on a similar anti-expansion platform.

Carmel city attorney, Argyll Campbell, shared the same philosophy as Newberry. They were both known for their efforts to prevent the town from becoming "another Santa Cruz," with beach amusements and commercial tourist attractions. Campbell even suggested "building a wall around the town and restricting entry," much like the neighboring community of Pebble Beach, California.

In 1926, Newberry was the editor and co-publisher of the Carmel Pine Cone the town's weekly paper; until he sold the paper in 1935.

Plays

Books

Newberry died on December 6, 1938, from heart failure, in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, at age 68.