Mathewson’s Department Store Closed

The city code enforcement department red-tagged Mathewson’s Department Store in downtown Banning on Jan. 13.

The red tag means that occupancy of the building is forbidden.  City Manager Andy Takata said that the building’s roof is in danger of collapse, and that there are health problems related to rat and cockroach infestation.

The owner of the business, Bud Mathewson, 88, a World War II veteran of the European theater, was angry and upset by the city action and a separate visit by county social services social workers, who interviewed him last week to determine his mental acuity.  Mathewson has been living in an apartment at the rear of the building, which has been burglarized several times.

“This isn’t the country I fought to protect,” Mathewson said in his store on Friday, where he was joined by a small group of friends.  “They shouldn’t be able to do this to me.”

Dry Goods Store

Mathewson’s was a small town department store, the type that used to be called a “dry goods store” years ago.  Mathewson took items for pawn, issued money orders, bought and sold jewelry, and stocked the place from floor to ceiling with a bewildering array of new and used items—using a filing system that seemed to exist only in Mathewson’s head.  He has been on a first-name basis with many of his customers.

“I came here to buy used records,” said Bob Conrad, who was surprised to find the store locked up on Friday.  “In recent months I was buying more records so that Bud had some cash coming in.”

Money has been more of a problem for Mathewson since a burglary last June robbed him of a trove of valuable jewelry he had been saving as a retirement fund.  He put the value of the lost jewels at $200,000.

Mathewson lived alone—he has a sister and niece in Sparks, NV—but friends would look in on him to make sure he was okay.

“They can’t do this to Bud; it isn’t right,” said Julia Olsen-Rodriguez, director of the San Gorgonio Ballet situated a short distance east of Mathewson’s and someone Mathewson said “is like a daughter to me.”

“After all he has done for people in Banning,” Olsen-Rodriguez said, “he deserves better treatment.”

Olsen-Rodriguez knows of Mathewson’s good works personally;  he has been a consistent sponsor of her dancing education at the Joffrey Ballet School and her ballet company. 

Takata, who described Mathewson as “a great guy—I was kind of sick when I heard about the red tag”— helped him to interpret the paperwork that accompanied the red tag.  Mathewson thought he had only three days to clear out the mountain of gear in his store, but Takata discovered that the check box for a three-day notice had not been marked.  As a result, Mathewson will have more time to remove his goods for sale or storage.

But Mathewson is out of a place to live and work.  Liz Olsen of the San Gorgonio Ballet was weeping as she tried to console him on Friday.

"Why are they doing this to you?" she asked.

But Takata made it clear that the red tag would stay on the building's front door.

“It’s a safety issue,” said Takata, “and a health issue.  I’ve seen photos of the roof, and there is a great deal of curvature; it could collapse.  Plus, it’s a health issue; there are roaches and rat feces in the place, evidence of infestation.  I’m sad about it, but we can’t enforce the law selectively; it has to be across the board.”

Banning Fixture

Mathewson said he is the third owner of his store, which opened in the 1920s.  He bought the place in the 1950s and has been accumulating inventory ever since.  The department store property is actually two buildings that have been connected, and Mathewson owns a third building on San Gorgonio Avenue.  He had sold it to the proprietors of the Haven Bean coffeehouse, but they were unable to keep current on payments and forfeited the building back to Mathewson. 

When not running the store, Mathewson has been a fixture at every manner of Banning event.  He brought video gear to the events, interviewed participants and compiled a huge inventory of tapes—an amateur oral history of the town that few cities of Banning’s size could hope to have.  He said that his video history of Banning has been boxed and is in the process of being donated to a historical society.

Before coming to Banning, Mathewson rode in a tank during World War II.

“I was in the 777^th Armor Battalion in Europe,” he said.  “We pressured the Germans all the way to Berlin, but we weren’t allowed to enter the city.”

Health Controversy

The visit from Social Services social workers seemed to in response to a complaint filed by someone, but the source of the complaint is not known.  Takata said that city staff had been in touch with Mathewson's sister and niece, but that he did not believe that they had lodged the complaint with the county.

Mathewson admitted that he has become more physically frail in recent months—“I seem to take quarter-steps now—” but insisted that his mind remains clear.

According to Mathewson, the social workers who had visited him “called my sister and told her that I had to come and live with her,” a move that Mathewson is unwilling to make.  He said that he plans to fight any move by the county to declare him mentally incapable.

Due to the holiday weekend, the Riverside County Department of Social Services was not available for comment.