McNear: Finnish immigrant Joseph Granskog began Bay Front Garage, a fixture on Mendocino’s Main Street

Between May 1893 and early 1894, Mrs. J.D. Murray sold her deceased husband’s property on Mendocino’s Main Street, splitting the lot in half. The Handelin brothers (Emil, Otto, Andrew, and Ernest) purchased the west end of the lot, which included a two-story building J.D. Murray used as a drugstore. The ground floor became the Handelin Saloon, run by August “Gus” Johnson, with the backrooms used as rented-out dwellings.

In 1906, Joseph Granskog purchased the east half of the J.D. Murray lot, which had been vacant for over a decade. Granskog was born in Finland in 1881 and immigrated to the United States in 1900. He arrived in Mendocino the following year and opened the two-story Eagle Saloon on the lot in 1907. His business was short-lived, however, as Mendocino voted in favor of local prohibition in 1909. Joseph closed the saloon and traveled with his wife Albertina and children Hugh, Irene, and John to Finland, in a trip planned to be only a visit.