A century ago, on April 19, 1924, as part of an apparent effort to oppose a ballot measure that would reverse the creation of Berkeley’s garbage landfill in San Francisco Bay, the city of Berkeley held its first “municipal picnic” … at the city dump.
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“To the music of unloading garbage trucks, nearly 100 prominent citizens apparently seemed to enjoy a basket lunch,” the Berkeley Daily Gazette reported that day.
They included the entire City Council and the city manager.
“Even with all the eatables (sic) spread about on tables there was a noticeable absence of flies, and if there were any rats they were gentlemanly enough to keep out of sight,” according to the Gazette.
The city engineer “enjoyed conducting tours to the edge of the fill where trucks were unloading during the lunch hour. … Superintendent of Parks Carl Biedenbach spoke of the possibilities of a municipal golf links on the fill in years to come.”
The event, the paper reported, showed “that the sanitary fill is entirely sanitary, odorless and actually not offending.”
That same day the city manager coincidently released a report estimating that the fill would save the city at least $75,000 in coming years.
Theater planned: On April 18, 1924, the Gazette reported that “what is declared to be the first 99-year ground lease in Berkeley has been completed by the Richard B. Cadwallader agency on property fronting on Channing Way and Telegraph Avenue.”
“The making of the lease will be followed by the erection of a modern picture theater to cost approximately $250,000, it is announced.”
The article said that the property had a 30-foot frontage on Telegraph and a 60-foot frontage on Channing and surrounded another building on two sides that was “nearing completion.” That would make it an “L-shaped” lot. Was a theater actually built there? It seems not.
Stanford axe: A night watchman foiled what appeared to be an effort to steal the Stanford Axe from the Mercantile Trust Building on Center Street and Shattuck Avenue early in the morning of April 18, 1924. Three cars filled with young men were apparently casing the building and chased away.
In that era the Stanford Axe was held by Berkeley students and was not yet a trophy of the Big Game. In fact, the day before UC students held their 25th “Axe Rally” in the Greek Theatre, during which the prize was handed from the current student custodian to his successor.
Child burglar: A 9-year-old boy and his 4-year-old brother were picked up April 20, 1924, by Berkeley police at a “local theater” after patrons had noticed them with “pockets stuffed with candy” and spending a lot of money.
The older brother later confessed that he had burglarized a home at 2820 California St. by using a ladder, hammer and chisel to open a window. Inside, he stole $14 from a desk and “drank a bottle of milk.”
While being driven to the police station, the older boy threw money out of the car. The police looked back over the route and found a $2 bill as evidence. Police withheld the names of the two boys because of their age; the older boy said his brother was not involved in the burglary.
Voter registration: Berkeley was facing a big election in May 1924, and the April 17 Gazette that year reported that the city had 33,220 eligible registered voters. This was an increase of 11,665 over May 1920, reflecting rapid growth in the city’s population during the previous four years.
Party registration was 25,392 Republican, 5,723 Democratic, 1,607 Decline to State, 365 Socialist and 133 members of the Prohibition Party.
Bay Area native and Berkeley community historian Steven Finacom holds this column’s copyright.