Special Feature
History of the Eagle Shack
By Eugene Sharp
MVHA Member
The Eagle Shack opening
Night, November 17, 1944
Editor’s Note: Eugene Sharp is a longtime MVHA
volunteer, MVHS class of 1949 alumni, and former
member of the “Melody Mixers” band, which performed at
the Eagle(s) Shack from 1947‒51. He originally wrote this
article in anticipation of the 2007 revival of the Eagle Shack;
an event that drew over 100 people for dancing, music, and
memories shared with friends old and new. We’re looking
forward to doing it all again at our Oct. 6 event!
Was the Eagles Shack a real structure? The Eagles Shack
seemed to be an imaginary place disguised inside the solid
Adobe Building, coming to life only on selected Saturday
evenings in a town recently founded, in a place where eagles
have lown for millennia.
Early in February of 1943, the second year of World War II, the
Adobe building was used as a Service Men’s Club. As reported
in the Mountain View Register-Leader (MVRL) on February
3, 1943, “The irst order of business undertaken by the city
council last night. . . was hearing of arrangements made by the
executive committee recently organized to handle the affairs of
the Service Men’s Hospitality House and accept its petition for
the use of the Adobe Building as a recreation center for service
men either stationed or visiting here.”
Within two weeks support blossomed. Wood was donated for
the huge ireplace, bookcases were provided for either
side of the ireplace, other donations included
“coffee, sugar, shortening and other items so
that cookies can be baked in plain sight and—
smell—of boys that miss the home kitchen .
. . . coins for the juke box, records, ping pong
table. According to the paper, “Articles needed
included writing tables, ‘sitting‘ chairs for our
men and women guests, not those heartless
things that are offered at the chamber of
commerce meetings and in large part account
for the poor attendance at the infrequent
membership meetings.”
The Eagles Shack
coexisted with
the Service
Men’s Club at
the Adobe, and was conceived at a meeting
held on December 5, 1944, and, according to the MVRL,
“attended by nearly four score residents, representing nearly
all active organizations of this community” where “Judge J. M.
Atkinson acting as temporary chairman explained the aims
and objects of the project, giving it as his opinion, based upon
much court dealings with youth, that supervised recreation is
a big force in combating youthful delinquency.” By December
11, 1944, the paper reported that “Saturday night at the
Adobe was another indication of the interest the young
folks of the community are taking in the matter of suitable
recreation.”
In early 1949, a four-page folder titled “The Eagle Shack” was
published “dedicated to youth by youth.” About 2,800 copies
of “The Eagle Shack” were distributed to principal towns
in Northern California and recreation leaders in the state.
Anyone knowing of a copy of this document is asked to notify
the MVHA so it can be added to the archives. The Eagles
Shack or Eagle Shack, as MVUHS ‘49ers knew it, continued
into the early 1950s.
Around 1956 it moved
to the Sunnyview
Club, which later
became the Mtn. View
Senior Center.
The “Melody Mixers”
in 1948 with author
Eugene Sharp playing
clarinet in front of the
piano.
5