on the cover / By Bob Doran

Hobart’s Children

Family and followers battle over the Kinetic heritage

(Jan. 22, 2009)  The sale of Hobart Brown’s Ferndale Victorian wasn’t your usual trustee’s auction. Out front of Humboldt Land Title Co. in Eureka, a trio of costumed Kinetic Rutabaga Queens adorned with bronze crowns held picket signs and a photo of Hobart. “Hobart’s legacy must live on!!” they implored. One queen, Shaye Harty, conversed with Hobart’s ex-business partner Richard Fergison, aka Eldon John, an Elton John look-alike dressed down for the occasion with just rose-colored glasses and a keyboard tie displaying his alter ego.

Fergison slipped into the title office when Hobart’s son, Justin Hobart Brown and his partner Chelsea Hoff arrived. Justin and Chelsea had recruited some of those in attendance. In the days leading up to the sale Justin sent out a call to the greater Kinetic community saying, “Yep!! Try as I could to keep my father’s dream alive, Hobart Galleries is set to be auctioned off to the highest bidder due to the unfortunate circumstances that have proved beyond my control.”

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A small crowd had assembled inside the title office. A uniformed security guard was stationed at each end of the counter. Chairs in the corner held a collection of people waiting for the auction to commence, among them Fergison and Ellin Beltz, a Ferndale resident who is a published expert on frogs and an official Kinetic Seer. Justin Brown’s primary fear on the morning of the auction was that Fergison and Beltz, acting together, would end up with clear title to the building that houses Hobart Galleries and with it, Hobart’s legacy.

Susan Galliani, branch manager and escrow officer of Humboldt Land Title, kicked off the trustee sale, announcing that day’s date, Jan. 8, 2009, and the date of the deed of trust, Oct. 19, 2007.

She explained the rules: “Before bidding commences, we must know you have sufficient and acceptable funds to cover any bid you make, before you make those bids.” She then invited bidders to step forward.

The room was full of people: The Queens had come in, mixing with interested Ferndale residents, journalists, Kinetic racers and hangers-on, but only three people stepped to the counter. Lowell Daniels, a graying gent with a carefully trimmed goatee, came forward with his wife Jenny, followed by Fergison, who leaned against the corner of the counter.

Galliani went on to detail the location of the property — 373 Main St., Ferndale, Calif. It was being sold as-is, she said, to “satisfy a total indebtedness of $104,490.99.”

Asking, “How much is bid,” she answered for the note holder, Fergison, repeating the amount of the debt.

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