“More than 200 buildings in Berkeley are not properly fitted with fire escapes, according to the announcement of Fire Chief G. Sidney Rose and Chief Building Inspector Stanley P. Koch,” the Berkeley Daily Gazette reported a century ago on Jan. 19, 1925.
“Most of the violations, however, can be easily remedied without much expense,” according to the story, but “some 20 flagrant violations have already been reported.”
The survey covered not only apartment buildings three or more stories tall but also “lodging houses” and “industrial plants.” Readers will remember that buildings were evaluated after a big fire in a Durant Avenue apartment building that proved to have inadequate escape facilities for upper floor residents.
College protest: Property owners along College Avenue made a “pilgrimage to City Hall to defend their stand before the Planning Commission,” opposing commercial zoning on the street.
The latest issue was a petition from the owner of land at the northeast corner of College and Webster Street, who wanted to rezone the property from residential to retail.
“Dr. E.E. Sparhawk (the owner) states in his petition that stores now surround his property, making it undesirable for any improvement except like adjoining improvement (sic). Webster Street property owners are protesting against the proposed change.”
Telegraph improvements: Telegraph Avenue merchants met in January 1925 to advocate for neighborhood improvements.
These included “repair or repaving of Telegraph Avenue between the car tracks from Dwight Way to Bancroft Way; improvement of side streets; widening of sidewalks; better street lighting for the district; direct Key System service to San Francisco along Telegraph Avenue from Alcatraz Avenue” and other plans.
Meeting Jan. 20, 1925, in the Varsity Candy Shop, the merchants also called for “a through roadway from Sather Gate through the university campus.”
Old-timer: Berkeley had a visitor in January 1925 who truly remembered the “old days” in town when Andrew K. Weir arrived on a visit from Honolulu. Weir, born in Scotland, came to the United States in 1864 at the age of 13. In 1925 he was on a trip to visit Scotland, which he had not seen since he was a child.
“I owned Berkeley’s first blacksmith shop” he told the Gazette. “It was on University Avenue near Shattuck.”
Enrollment: UC Berkeley spring enrollment reached 8,400 on Jan. 14, 1925, essentially equaling the enrollment of 8,406 exactly one year earlier.
School sale: The Berkeley school board on Jan. 21, 1925, had an informal discussion of selling school district property in downtown Berkeley. A “committee of realtors” had told the board that land it owned between Center Street and Allston Way was worth nearly $144,000. This was the original site of Berkeley High School.
Alameda tunnel: On Jan. 19, 1925, the Gazette reported that Alameda County was then soliciting bids for construction of a tunnel connecting Oakland and Alameda. This would end up being the Posey Tube, which is still in operation today.
“It is declared it will be the largest tube ever built” with a diameter of 37 feet, the paper noted.
Navy welcomed: Three ships of the Japanese Navy’s training fleet arrived Jan. 23, 1925, in San Francisco Bay carrying some 2,400 officers and sailors. They were greeted by two American warships and received “elaborate” welcome receptions in San Francisco and Oakland.
Four hundred officers went on a tour of the East Bay, including UC Berkeley. That the Japanese and U.S. navies would fight each other in war in the Pacific less than 20 years later is worth considering. One wonders how many men in both fleets in 1925 would have been combatants in World War II, as middle aged sailors or officers?
Bay Area native and Berkeley community historian Steven Finacom holds this column’s copyright.