Pie Rats to Pirates
From 1917 to 1935, young college men and local high school boys were hired each summer by the YWCA to help out with the summer camps and leadership conferences. Their jobs included grounds maintenance, vehicle mechanics, kitchen help, bus boys, dishwashers and bellboys. They were originally dubbed the "pie rats" because they were often caught raiding desserts – particularly pies – from the kitchen between meals. "Pie rats" soon became "Pirates," and these young men organized themselves into "the membership of Pirates," with an entire hierarchy of leadership.
The president was Captain Kidd, and his officers were John Silver, Black Dog, and Dead Seal. General members of the crew were known as "Sea Dogs," and each summer they took part in a secret initiation ceremony – a secret to this day. In the beginning, the Pirates lived in tenthouses near the garage at the south end of the property. But, in 1923, Mary Sroufe Merrill and Miss A.C. Johnson donated money to the YWCA to build "proper housing for these young men." That year, Julia Morgan designed and built their lodgings, Tide Inn, which the Pirates dubbed the "Pirates' Den." They installed a mast, flag, and binnacle lights and brought in a sea chest and ship's clock for the fireplace mantel.
In 1927, one Pirate brought his parrot to Asilomar as a mascot! At least once a week, the young men dressed up in pirate garb, and climbed through the windows of Crocker Dining Hall hollering and looking as fierce as possible. Their rewards for this performance were the screams and laughter from the summer camp girls. The Pirates were not all fun and games; they had a more serious and thoughtful side as well. The following is an article that appeared in the 1931 issue of The Pie Rat Newsletter. It forms the basis for the Asilomar Vision Statement.
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First impressions are often lasting. When one first comes to fog-swept, pine-clad Asilomar to join the band of workers, he is impressed with the "differentness" of the place. He finds himself transplanted from a grim world of everyday things to a world of quaint tradition and quietness.
To be sure there is work to be done, but even this work, which in the outside world would be drab and distasteful, has an appeal which cannot be resisted.
The crackle of the fire in the fireplace, the creak of the old beds, the moan of the wind and the drip of water from the fog-clad pines, the mournful note of the foghorn, the clatter of dishes, the whiteness of the sand dunes, the blueness of the ocean, and the rare beauty of the sunsets – and much more – all have their place and go to make up this "differentness."
These are the impressions that greet you and hold you and make you and Asilomar one.
Every year as the month of June rolls around, the call of Asilomar is heard by at least a third of the workers of the previous summer and these, with a group of new workers selected by the organization, find their way to the land of fog and pines. As this group comes together from various sections of the country, it comes representing various personalities and interests in life.
Jobs and folks and life in general are new to each other, and for these reasons a certain amount of adjustment is necessary. Selfish desires must be given up for the sake of the group. But as the summer moves on week after week, this adjustment is soon made and the individuals are moving as one united body, ready to work or to play as occasion demands. First impressions have captivated this body and have made it "Asilomar."
Our Pirates and Stuck-ups of this present summer of 1931 are no exception to the rule and in these last fast-going days of the season, are indeed wondering how the time has slipped by so quickly and are regretting that so few days remain before it is time to emerge from the fog-enclosed life once again.
As each worker goes, he goes not as he came – alone – but he goes taking with him the spirit of Asilomar, a something hard to define, yet a something that everyone should possess. He goes, we hope, a little better enabled to live with folks than before he came. He goes away a little different than he came, the "differentness" of the place having become a part of him.
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Glory Days | The Stuck-Ups | The Pirates | End of an Era | Park Purchase