1105 words
Foothill Flavors Murphys Hotel celebrates history and happiness

By Antoinette May Herndon

Here’s a challenge question for you: Where do you go on a Monday night in winter?

Do I hear a “duhhh”?

Next question: Why go anywhere?

But suppose it just happens to be your birthday.

You can’t just stay home!

Charles, an aim to please husband if there ever was one, whipped out his trusty iPhone and ran down a googled list of restaurants. Sadly, many numbers still on the roster have been disconnected.

So many great restaurants have closed. Remember the Dorrington, Franco’s, 498, Tallahan’s, Wendell’s, Buscaglia’s? Unfortunately, the list goes on.

The moral to this sad lament is to support your favorite restaurants. How can they keep their doors open if customers don’t come in? Pretty soon your favs will just go away.

Our birthday dilemma was two-fold. Besides the alarming number of restaurants shuttered by the economy, many establishments simply aren’t open on Monday nights.

Yes, I could have made it easier by just picking a different day to celebrate. But why should I? A birthday’s a birthday.

Then an idea came to me like a gift from heaven, a star in the east, so to speak. (Isn’t this the season for that sort of thing?) Flashing through my mind’s eye was a bright neon triangle anchored by a cute little green olive. But, of course, Murphys Hotel. How perfect! How often has that flashing triangle heralded a celebration of one sort or another?

Yes, I know, some find the very idea of a neon sign in pristine Murphys to be blasphemous. The sign controversy is part of the restaurant’s mystique, another chapter in its colorful history. Talk about contentious meetings: Voices were raised, fists waved.

Resolution only came when Dorian Faught, the hotel-restaurant’s beleaguered owner, thought of playing the history card. Once upon a time the hotel had boasted a neon sign. So that was more than 70 years ago. So what! Doesn’t history count for something?

It did and does, the Planning Commission decided.

Personally, I applaud that decision. On many a storm-tossed night the sight of that martini glass twinkling in

Gold Rush history was made in Murphys in 1849 when John and Daniel Murphy established a trading post and mining operation in the area that now bears their name.

During that first year, 50 tents, several lean-tos, and two blockhouses were erected, and by 1850, the camp had a population of 1200. In 1852 there were 3000 people, close to the town’s present- day population. Murphys was one of California's richest "diggins." In one winter alone, five million dollars worth of gold was taken from a four-acre placer area.

True entrepreneurs, John and Daniel paved the way for westward expansion. In 1844, they were part of the very first immigrant party (Stephens-Townsend-Murphy) to successfully bring wagons over the Sierra Mountains.

The Murphy brothers’ cries of “Gold! were among the first heard in California. Reportedly they took in two million dollars in gold ore from Murphys Diggins in one year’s time making them each millionaires before they were 25.

Murphys Hotel opened on Aug. 20, 1856, functioning as a popular stopping point along the stagecoach route between Milton and Big Trees. Today it is thought to be the oldest operating wooden hotel in California.

I love history and, seeing how it was my birthday and all, was ready to make a little of my own. Driving out to Murphys, I speculated about what awaited us. We knew that the restaurant was open because someone had answered the phone, but would anyone else be there? I imagined Charles and I sitting alone in an empty dining room—empty unless you count the stuffed deer heads staring balefully down at us.

What a relief when we stepped into the bar. Monday night or no, there was a nice crowd assembled. Happily, too, the bar lives up to its sign’s promise. Expect atmospheric touches like the iron window shutters dating from the gold rush days when miners from the diggings paid their way in gold dust. The long bar is fun too, like something out of a western movie. Only this time it’s the real thing.

Once considered the finest restaurant outside of San Francisco, Murphys dining

room drew the likes of Black Bart, Horatio Alger, Mark Twain, Henry Ward Beecher. John Jacob Aster, Ulysses S. Grant, and J.P. Morgan.

Which brings us back to Charles and me. Just your ordinary hungry couple. Though a Monday night, there really were other diners present. Tiffany Thompson led us to a pleasant table and handed us an inviting menu with lots to choose from.

Murphys restaurant can be counted on for enticing specials and that night was no exception. We started out by splitting an order of Tempura Asparagus ($9.95).

Charles has a favorite at Murphys, the French Onion Soup ($3.95). I like the Spinach Salad (spinach leaves, bacon bits, sliced egg and sesame seeds) at $5.95. It’s always fresh and crunchy with lots of tang to the dressing.

The main event for me that night was the special, a petite fillet with pepper sauce ($24.95). It mooed up at me reproachfully as I tucked in. Yes, I like my steak rare. Is there any other way?

Charles was equally delighted with his 10 oz Black Angus New York steak, charred just to his liking. ($24.95)

It was an excellent dinner, fine service, pleasant low-keyed atmosphere. Somewhere during the course of the evening, Tiffany asked if we were celebrating a special event. When Charles replied that we were, she was back with an delicious slice of cheesecake—on the house.

Outside once again on that dark, wintry street, I looked back at that cheery martini twinkling against the blackness. A sign’s an inanimate object most would say say, but I clearly saw a lively spirit of fun and good times crying out. Very clearly the message was “Happy Birthday.”

VITALS: Murphys Hotel and Restaurant is located at 457 Main St., Murphys. Phone: 728-3444. ). The hotel is registered as Calfiornia Historical Landmark #267 and also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Dorian Faught, a Calaveras County resident, is only the sixth owner in the hotel's history. Restaurant hours are from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served. Reservatons are advised on weekends. Credit cards accepted.

PICTURES:

Some see Murphys martini sign as a crown jewel

Murphys Hotel is a place to absorb history while making your own.