History
South Bay nightclub regulars know Mountain Charley's as one of the premiere hot spots in downtown Los Gatos. The club entrance boasts a long wall of black and white images celebrating three decades of partying and celebrating in one of Northern California's most charming towns. But while the bar has seen plenty of Kodak moments and great bands, the history of the Los Gatos rock 'n' roll nightclub reaches back well past 1972. ''Mountain Charley,'' a.k.a. Charley McKiernan, was the first white settler in the Santa Cruz Mountains during the 1800s. Though he's dead, McKiernan is remembered well for his kindness, generosity and friendliness -- but also for a tall tale of guns, bears and metal skull plates.
McKiernan is Santa Clara Valley's answer to Jebediah Springfield of The Simpsons fame. Mountain Charley was a well-respected, intelligent man who earned his keep by building roads, logging, hunting and ranching. Local residents respected him. Children idolized him. California grizzlies feared him -- that is, all except for one.
You see where this is going. On May 8, 1854, Mountain Charley and a friend headed into the woods for a grizzly-slaughtering, male-bonding good time. The pair approached a mother bear with two cubs, visions of ''killing and grilling'' dancing in their heads. McKiernan opened fire into mama bear's chest while his friend unloaded on her face. Any ordinary animal would've gone down, but it takes more than a few bullets to put a grizzly away (trust us, WE know) -- and if you can't finish the job, you'd better have a fast means of escape, or it's your ass.
McKiernan swung his gun at the bear's head, but to no avail. Mama bear tossed the rifle aside and sunk her teeth into his forehead. (Stories conflict here -- some say his friend distracted the mother bear and kept her from finishing the job; others say the friend turned tail and ran. Regardless, at the end of the scuffle, Mountain Charley sported a massive hole above his left eye.) The mama bear then wandered away.
A doctor hammered two Mexican dollars into a flat plate to cover the hole in McKiernan's skull. Whether the doctor used stitches or chewing gum to attach the plate to the bone remains a mystery, but it's a historical fact that no anesthesia was used. Some claim that the Mexican dollars corroded and were replaced a few weeks later. Others say that Mountain Charley died years later wearing those dollars in his skull.
Despite the injury, Mountain Charley went on to live a normal life. In public, he wore a hat low over his forehead to hide the head wound. Eventually he married his nurse, and finally died of a stomach illness in 1892.
Today, a portrait of Mountain Charley hangs under a spotlight, among antlers and stuffed animal carcasses in the bar named after him, and his story is alive and well. During a recent visit to Mountain Charley's, a customer didn't hesitate to offer us a Reader's Digest version of Mountain Charley's life: ''He's mostly famous for being attacked by a bear.'' Other traces of his past still stand. Roads he built are found off Highway 17 near Summit Road, and his home -- located, coincidentally, on Mountain Charley Road -- is a historical landmark. And when the bar celebrates its 36th anniversary, it's safe to say the man himself will be there in spirit.
History of Mountain Charley –
Old West Pioneer and Folk Figure. Charles Henry “Mountain Charlie” McKiernan was the first white settler in Santa Cruz Mountain section, he settled here in 1850. A pioneer, hunter, rancher, teamster, and a road builder. His motto was “Right Wrongs Nobody.” A native of Ireland, he made his fortune as a teamster near the Weaverville Mines. Business was prosperous until the local natives ran his mules off, forcing him to move to Santa Clara County, where he continued his teamster operations among his many other ventures and became the ‘Celestial’ Clampatriach of the Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus. In Mountain Charlie Gulch on May 8, 1854 Mountain Charlie and a friend named Taylor were attacked by a grissly bear. The bear sprang from a thicket, both men fired, but the bear grabbed Mountain Charlie, biting him on the arms and face. A piece of skull about 4-inch square was bitten from over Mountain Charlie’s left eye and nose by the bear. Dr. T. J. Ingersoll of San Jose, prepared a plate of silver and applied it to the area of the missing skull at his request. In the ensuing week, the plate was not healing and it was removed against his protests. About a year later an operation to remove an abscess under the brain relieved his intolerable pain. Mountain Charlie was much disfigured from his wounds, but survived another 38 years. Thus began the legend and folklore about the man with the “silver skull.” His gravesite was rededicated in 1982 making the site a "California Registered Point Of Historical Interest SCL-053." |
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