A century ago on April 7, 1925, the Berkeley City Council voted unanimously to place three bond measures on the local ballot. If passed, the measures would raise a total of one million dollars to finance new parks and playgrounds in the rapidly growing city.
The council “also decided to get an advisory vote from the people on whether they favor increasing the library building fund tax levy from four to eight cents for the next four years to provide sufficient money to erect a new main library building.”
The election would be held in May, and an estimated 38,700 Berkeley residents were eligible to vote.
A controversial campaign was shaping up since rival slates of candidates for Berkeley School Board would be on the ballot. Readers will remember that the district endured a financial scandal in 1924, with a former employee going to jail for embezzlement. Many thought district leaders should have done more to uncover the theft.
The two opposed slates were the “so called administration slate” — endorsed by the Berkeley Municipal League — and the insurgent “Berkeley Public School League” slate.
Fleet visits: The massive naval fleet that had come into San Francisco Bay in early April 1925 was open for “public inspection” at both San Francisco and Oakland locations. East Bay residents could visit destroyers and submarines temporarily moored in Oakland. It was necessary to take a launch to visit the battleships, moored further out in the Bay.
Tupper & Reed: On April 10, 1925, demolition began on one of downtown Berkeley’s oldest buildings. The structure, on Shattuck Avenue north of Kittredge, was “formerly the home of the late Charles Fischel, part of the Fischel family’s estate, one of the oldest residences of Berkeley. It was later remodeled and housed the California meat market with apartments on the upper floors.”
The new building planned for the site would house the Tupper & Reed music business. It would, said the Gazette, “be designed to resemble an old English inn or residence. It will have an old slate roof and will be surrounded by a court. Two spacious fireplaces with large old English fashioned chimneys will be constructed. In every aspect the new building will be different from any in this part of the state.”
Parking fine: Head of the Berkeley Playhouse, director Irving Pichel, parked his car on Shattuck near University, then took the train and ferry to San Francisco on April 5, 1925. He missed the last ferry back, and stayed in San Francisco overnight. The next morning his car had a $2 ticket for illegal overnight parking on the street.
Mail call: An Army airplane apparently carrying mail circled low over Berkeley on April 11, 1925, coming “close to house tops and frightening housewives.”
“Chief Vollmer today communicated with army officials in the city to find out whether the low flying was necessitated by high fog or simply an airman trying to show off.”
Street names: In order to quell confusion over addresses and streets in the rapidly developing Cragmont district, the City Council voted to alter the names of several streets in the north Berkeley neighborhood on April 10, 1925.
The changes resulted in a new Shasta Road, Bret Harte Street and Bret Harte Road (both formerly called just “Harte”), alterations to Cragmont Avenue, changing the name of East Euclid Avenue to Grizzly Peak Boulevard to avoid confusion with Euclid Avenue, change of Tallac Road to Tamalpais Road, and creating a new Crystal Street. San Benito Road was also proposed for a name change, but “persons living on the street object, and so the street is left “as is.”
Bay Area native and Berkeley community historian Steven Finacom holds this column’s copyright.