The newest exhibition at the Healdsburg Museum sticks to the tried-and-true formula: What once was commonplace is now historic, worthy of an exhibition.
Case in point: The vehicle collection of Steve Castelli, “who from an early age found worth in old things and loved the hunt to find them,” according to Holly Hoods’ exhibit notes from the Healdsburg Museum and Historical Society.
Castelli, a model car enthusiast and drag racer, passed away at the age of 83 last year. His collection was legendary, and with the assistance of his daughter, Tina Castelli, the museum assembled and mounted these mechanical wonders. As Hoods said, they “mounted this tribute not only to Steve, but to forward motion itself.”
His collection of over 5,000 items ranges from bikes, tricycles, pedal cars, models, remote-controlled boats, farm machinery, fire engines, tether cars and hot rods, to toy wagons, airplanes and trains. It forms the centerpiece of the new museum exhibit, “Vroom: Toys on the Go,” which opens today.
The collection includes his own childhood toy trucks from the 1940s and ’50s, still in pristine condition. “To say Steve was a collector is an understatement. Starting at a young age he took good care of his own toy trucks and we still have them in his collection today,” read a statement from his family on his website, hotrodwillys.com. “Steve especially loved the hunt!”
Castelli also collected soda fountain accessories and service station pumps, oil cans and signage—the physical evidence of transcontinental car culture that straddled the 20th century.
Model Trains
The Castelli exhibition is enhanced by a model train display by another collector friend of the Museum. Enthusiast Wayne Padd has once again set up a festive vintage Lionel model train set and village, including an O-scale model of the historic Healdsburg railroad depot. (O scale is 1/4 inch to one foot, or four feet for every inch of track.)
As in past years, the O-scale train will be up and running to delight visitors of all ages, including a control port that allows kids of all ages to turn on the train and watch it circle its track.
“Every year it’s a little bit different—this year I’m going to do something a more traditional to fit in with the toy exhibit they have,” Padd said.
Padd, now 78, continues to explore the world of model trains, a world once far more common than it is today. “It was relatively rare when I grew up not to find some sort of train set around the Christmas tree,” he said. “Now, people don’t do it anymore—probably because trains aren’t a part of our life.”
The display represents the era of World War II through the late 1950s; a time when it was more common for families to have train sets at home. The model train features a Santa Fe engine and Lionel cars. “If you look carefully as the train comes by, you will see Foppiano wine cars,” Hoods pointed out.
A model replica of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad Depot on Harmon Street, located on the Redwood Empire Route that once extended through Healdsburg, forms the centerpiece of the train exhibit. The depot is likely to undergo further changes in the next few years as the SMART system is built through town, eventually to be extended to Cloverdale.
The Healdsburg Museum is open from 11am to 4pm, Wednesday through Sunday, at 221 Matheson St. Closed Wednesdays on Christmas Day, Dec. 25, and New Year’s Day, Jan. 1, 2025. Admission is free and donations are encouraged.
