The House of Happy Walls

 "The greatest story Jack London ever wrote was the story he lived."   

                                                            - Alfred Kazin

In summer California State Parks gave out a free pass to all its historic state parks that is valid for the remainder of this year. So a couple weeks ago the Geek and I visited Jack London State Historic Park in the beautiful Valley of the Moon (also the title of one of London's novels), just a short drive from our home. This wasn't our first visit by any means - we hiked here on Black Friday in 2017, we visited Wolf House and the gravesite of Jack London and his wife Charmian (I realized I never wrote about it; I should definitely do that) and I had always wanted to visit the House of Happy Walls.  

The House of Happy Walls was built by Charmian London and Eliza Shepard, Jack's stepsister, after London's death in 1916. It was to be Charmian's home and she lived in it from 1935 until 1952. It now houses a museum about Jack and Charmian London.

Admittedly I didn't know much about Jack London. I knew him as the author of "Call of the Wild" and also "The Sea-Wolf" because a popular German mini series in 1971 was based on this novel. It was much talked about back then, but I never watched it. So in short I knew next to nothing about this man who in 1905 had made Sonoma County his home.

Here, in the House of Happy Walls, I learned that Jack London wasn't "only" a novelist. According to the museum he was an 

"Internationally acclaimed author, world traveler, able bodied seaman, celebrated lecturer, model rancher, animal rights advocate, photojournalist, adventurer, social activist, humanitarian".

Quite the list.

For Nicole's Friday Face Off

Jack London was born as John Griffith Chaney in January 1876 in San Francisco. His mother, Flora, was a single mom until she married John London in the same year and brought baby Jack into the marriage (before that he was in the care of a wet nurse, Jennie Prentiss, who was an important maternal figure throughout Jack's life). The family moved to Oakland where he completed public grade school and also met the librarian Ina Coolbrith in the Oakland Public Library who encouraged his learning. At the age of 13 he began working 12 to 16 hours in a cannery and, as a way out, became an oyster pirate. Later, he lived as a tramp until he returned to Oakland and attended Oakland High School. In 1896 he was admitted to the University of California, Berkeley, but financial circumstances forced him to leave the following year and he never graduated. At age 21 he joined the Klondike Gold Rush, but the time in the Klondike was detrimental to his health. After his return in 1898 Jack began his writing career. 

Do you think the adventurous part of his life was over? Well...

In April 1900 Jack married Elizabeth Maddern and divorced her in 1904. The couple had two daughters. In 1902 he visited London where he took pictures of people living in the slums of the East End. He was a very skilled documentary photographer and photojournalist (and before you ask, yes, I purchased a big fat volume of his photographs). This is the aspect of his life that impresses me the most. Later, in 1904 he was a war correspondent for the San Francsisco Examiner in the Russo-Japanese War where he was arrested three times in four months. He was released through the personal intervention of President Theodore Roosevelt.

In 1905 he married Charmian Kettridge, a free spirit and each other's soul mates. The went on numerous trips together, including a 1907 cruise on their yacht Snark to Hawai'i and Australia.

And finally, in 1905, Jack and Charmian bought a ranch in Glen Ellen and arrived here in beautiful Sonoma County. In the words of the museum:

Jack London lived in the Valley of the Moon until his death in 1916. He was only 40 years old, but there are many people double his age who haven't experienced half of what he did in his short life. Here he is in his own words: 

" I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The purpose of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time."

After his death, Charmian built the House of Happy Walls. She was an accomplished pianist, and her Steinway grand piano is still here. On weekends, volunteers sometimes bring it back to life.

I wouldn't mind hanging out in this cozy corner with a good book.

There are displays of the items they brought back from their various trips and journeys.

The view from the windows isn't bad either.

No wonder they loved to live here.

Please excuse the long "essay" about Jack's life. It actually only peripherally touches his full and adventurous life.