Established 1947
History & About Hollydale Park
Hollydale Park was a west Sonoma County sub-division development project in 1929. Joe Pohley, a Healdsburg Realtor and sub-division promoter, purchased 140 acres from the Druids in 1928 west of Green Valley Creek along Martinelli Road and possibly other lands and sold sites for Russian river summer vacation homes. These building sites were advertised by Mr. Pohley in 1931…”LOCATED on Russian river. one mile below Mirabel. Large beach for lot owners. Buy before the bridge is built at prices that will surprise you. And terms are only $5. down and $5. per month. J.C. Pohley, Healdsburg, Cal.” According to Pohley, “a paved road leads to within a mile of the property and the Northwestern Pacific railroad runs through it.” Featuring (50) lots fronting on the river, offered at special prices and terms. The lots are 50’x100′ and each one includes a smaller one stretching 15′ along the river, large enough for a private landing and bath house.
In 1947 the surrounding neighbors of this Hollydale Park community came together to purchase the land the Clubhouse sits on, as a social gathering place for the summer-time community folk. At that time the neighborhood was primarily inhabited by summer vacation homeowners who wanted a common location where they could all come together for social benefit and shared meals… Over that next year, they built the Hollydale Clubhouse with work parties, scraps of lumber and materials brought up from the city and soon the Hollydale Community Club was in full swing.
In 1953, May 28th to be exact, the Hollydale Community Club officers formed a State of California corporation with the purpose noted on the Articles of Incorporation: “To promote sociability and good fellowship among residents and property owners of this community. To have a meeting place where various groups may meet for pleasure and entertainment. Saturday nights for adults, one or two evenings a week for young people. Nondenominational Sunday school and bible class on Sunday. This Club has been organized pursuant to the general non-profit corporation law.”
Hollydale Park & Local County History
1876 – The railroad is built from Fulton, CA terminating at Korbel Mills, crossing over the Russian River at Hacienda (Cosmo) via the Railroad Bridge, where River Road runs today.
1876 – First Post Office at Korbel
1879 – Highest Property Damage Russian River flood @ 42.10′ (very first official recording).
1882 – Korbel Winery created
1889 – Railroad declares Mirabel Park a picnic ground.
1890 – Original Hacienda railroad bridge updated with a new iron truss, same wooden piers
1891 – Mirabel Park becomes The Reverie
1894 – Hilton Post Office established, Hilton Resort established
1898 – Summer bridges built across the river at Wall Ford near Mirable Park and near Korbel
1906 – Northern California Earthquake
1914 – New Hacienda railroad river bridge over Russian River built of steel and concrete
1914 – World War I starts
1918 – World War I ends
1920 – Prohibition starts
1926 – Cosmo Farm is bought and turned into Hacienda Resort
1926 – Rio Dell Resort created
1929 – Stock market Crashes. Great Depression begins
1929 – Hollydale Park created
1933 – Prohibition ends
1935 – Railroad service ends for the Fulton to Monte Rio line
1935 – Golden Gate Bridge opens
1937 – Russian River Hacienda railroad bridge converted to one-way automobile by replacing tracks with a flat wooden deck
1939 – World War II starts
1940 – Russian River Great Flood of 1940 @ 46.87′ 88,400cfs on February 28th 1940
1945 – World War II ends
1947 – Hollydale Community Club founded in Hollydale Park
1947 – Former Hacienda RR bridge made for two-way cars with old 1914 truss
1952 – Adolph Heck buys Korbel
1953 – Hollydale Community Club Incorporated State of California on May 28th 1953
1956 – Russian River Great Flood of 1956 @ 47.62′ 90,100cfs on December 23rd 1955
1965 – Russian River Great Flood of 1965 @ 47.35′ 93,400cfs on December 23rd 1964
1965 – Mirabel Park Dance Pavilion is torn down due to fears from the county that it could wash away in a flood
1972 – Russian River Pub built as “Safeway Bob’s”
1986 – Russian River Great Flood of 1986 @ 49.50′ 102,000cfs on February 18th 1986
1995 – Russian River Great Flood of 1995 @ 48.00′ 93,900cfs on January 10th 1995
1997 – Hollydale Clubhouse celebrates 50 years in the Community. August 16th 1997.
1998 – Hollydale Clubhouse recognized as a Non-Profit 501(c)(4) public benefit Corp.
1999 – Mom’s Beach (formerly Hollydale Beach) becomes a Sonoma County Regional Park.
1999 – Hollydale Clubhouse receives Land Donation (Parking Lot) – Janice Costantini Trust.
2014 – Hollydale Clubhouse receives $400 Table Tennis Table Grant – Forestville Community Fund.
2016 – Hollydale Clubhouse receives $1000. Main Room Flooring – Forestville Community Fund.
2017 – Skippy’s Restaurant Hacienda (long abandoned) demolished.
2019 – Russian River Great Flood of 2019 @ 45.38′ 85,300cfs on February 27th
2020 – Hollydale Clubhouse Covid Shut-Down for 16 months…No Income, no fun.
2020 – Hollydale Clubhouse receives $500. “We Care” Grant – Forestville Chamber.
2020 – Hollydale Clubhouse receives $250. Assistance Grant – Russian River Rotary.
2020 – Hollydale Clubhouse receives $4200. Covid-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan.
2020 – Hollydale Clubhouse receives $11,000. Back-up Generator TIF Flood Mitigation Grant from County of Sonoma – District 5.
2020 – Hollydale, Canyon, Terrace, California Fire Safe Council started. Zone SON-1J1
2021 – Hollydale Clubhouse receives $2000. ADA Design Grant – Forestville Community Fund.
2021 – Hollydale Clubhouse receives 2nd. $500. “We Care” Grant – Forestville Chamber.
2022 – Hollydale Clubhouse celebrates 75 years in the Community…Life after Covid.
2022 – Hollydale Clubhouse receives $1000. Refrigeration Grant – Forestville Community Fund.
2023 – Our FireSafe Council HCT (Hollydale, Canyon, Terrace) receives national recognition as a Firewise USA Certified Community!! Dedicated to Deb Coy…
2023 – Hollydale Clubhouse receives $2000. Tankless Water Heater Grant – Forestville Community Fund.
2024 – Hollydale Clubhouse receives $900. Pro-Style Table Tennis Table Grant – Russian River Rotary – Guerneville Chapter.
2024 – Hollydale Clubhouse receives $1700. ADA accessible Entry Door Grant – Forestville Community Fund.
2025 – Hollydale Clubhouse receives $2300. Electrical circuits addition Grant – County of Sonoma, District 5, 2024-2025 Tourism Impact, Community Investment Fund.
2025 – Hollydale Clubhouse receives $1175. ADA 8′ Redwood Picnic Table Grant – Forestville Community Fund.
2025 – Hollydale Clubhouse receives $1175. ADA 8′ Redwood Picnic Table Grant – Russian River Rotary – Guerneville Chapter.
Today, all-age family social and cultural events continue in the historical tradition of the founders with social gatherings and fundraising to provide community benefits in a neighborhood setting, while providing support to keep the Club operational.
Did you know?…That the Hollydale Community Club was “Commended and Congratulating the Members of the Hollydale Community Club and Proclaiming August 16th 1997, as Hollydale Community Club 50th Anniversary Day in Sonoma County” by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors.
Come be part of the 79 year-old tradition!
Location:
10241 Old River Road
(Corner of Frank Street)
Forestville, CA 95436
Email: info@hollydaleclub.org
Clubhouse Phone 707-887-0330
MAP
Mail:
Testimonials
– Jenner, Sebastopol, 2018
My older brother sent me a link to your website. That is a very impressive site. Great work.My younger brother still owns the cabin my father built himself back in 1950, largely from scrap materials left over from the war. After a couple of years vacationing at the Hilton resort while he was building the cabin in his spare time, I spent all my three month summers and week long easter vacations in that cabin until I moved on to the “adult world” after graduating college , with then only occasionally visiting my parents when they were up there from our home in San Francisco.
I got my first job at 16 years of age at Cooley’s Union Oil gas station in Guerneville and then as a bag boy at the Safeway (where both brothers and my cousin also worked there in their summers). Made the daily trip on my Vespa motor scooter, whizzing past Korbel and Rio Nido at 60 MPH. Great learning experiences. At age 16 the law allowed a youth to work 40 hours a week. So, at $1.00 per hour, my first paycheck from Cooley was some $65. So much for the labor law.
I have great memories of the beach, primarily Hacienda (but on the small Hollydale side) and the rope swing under the bridge, the raft in the middle of the river and the snack bar on the Hacienda side.
We played the weekly bingo games at the club and enjoyed the big annual abalone feed there resulting from the area’s fishman’s trek to Jenner to get what were then very plentiful abalone to be simply pried off the rocks (with the resulting shells decorating most of the neighboring gardens).
I remember the time when we were burning dried weeds, etc in our 55 gallon backyard steel drum, when the fire escaped and quickly spread across our fence line headed to the club house (there were no structures between us the club house back then. Luckily the fire brigade arrived to put it out short of the club house.
Anyway, thanks for the great memories and I wish all of you wonderful on-going success of the clubhouse. Dick Vortmann, La Jolla, CA 2/2026