Two important new buildings were in the news in Berkeley a century ago on March 8, 1924, the day a local Masonic temple held “impressive dedication ceremonies” at its new South Berkeley headquarters.
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It was occupied by East Bay Masonic Lodge No. 489 and Alethe Chapter No. 3656, of the Order of the Eastern Star, the women’s auxiliary of the Masons. The South Berkeley lodge had been organized in September 1920 and had grown to 200 members when the building was dedicated.
The Berkeley Daily Gazette reported that the building was “erected at a cost of $50,000 (and) one of the most modern on this side of the bay. The lodge room, which will accommodate a large company, has been furnished with opera chairs. … A very fine organ has been installed in the loft which overlooks the lounging rooms.”
The building also contained a banquet room that could seat 250. All the lodge facilities were on the second floor of the Alcatraz Avenue structure, east of Adeline Street. The ground floor was rented to the Ashby Furniture Company, which used it for display space and storage. While the Gazette did not give the street address, I believe this building still stands at 1837 Alcatraz Ave.
The other building figuring in March 8 news was St. Mary’s Magdalene Church at Berryman and Milvia streets. Ground was broken that day for the new structure that the Gazette reported would be “one of the prettiest churches in California … there will also be a beautiful parish house.”
“Beezer Brothers, of San Francisco, are the architects, and John P. Brennan, well known local contractor, will be the builder,” the Gazette reported. “Considerable grading will have to be done on the property before actual building operations will start.”
Panoramic Hill: The newly opened “University Hill” real estate development mentioned in last week’s column was selling well, real estate agents reported in a March 8, 1924, advertisement.
“Last Sunday in the drizzle we sold over $20,000 of these wooded view home sites, which adjoin and look down upon the new stadium and, beyond, the university campus and its historic halls.”
Art talk: Mr. and Mrs. Arthur and Alice Best, both well known painters “have recently come to Berkeley to reside and have opened their studio here,” the Gazette reported March 6, 1924. Alice Best was scheduled to give a talk on “The Contribution of the Modernist to Art” at the California League of Fine Arts on Haste Street.
“Mrs. Best’s wide experience in art has made a splendid background for this work,” the Gazette reported. “With her husband, A.W. Best, she conducted the Best Art School in San Francisco, for 20 years.”
Their relocation to Berkeley further swelled the very active ranks of Berkeley artists. What did Alice Best mean by “Modernist” in 1924? Around that time she was doing oil paintings and pastels in a distinctly Impressionist style.
Heating costs: “Price of gas is now one dollar,” the Gazette headlined on March 6, 1924. This was for 1,000 cubic feet of heating gas. The price was up eight cents from “one month ago.” Heating and lighting gas prices were regulated by the California Railroad Commission (which would evolve into today’s Public Utilities Commission).
Rainfall: California looks like it was having a dry winter a century ago. On March 3, 1924, the Gazette reported rain of about an inch over the March 1-2 weekend and that “the rain was most welcome in Berkeley as in all other parts of the state, though the bay section was not suffering from lack of moisture as severely as the interior valleys and particularly Southern California.”
Bay Area native and Berkeley community historian Steven Finacom holds this column’s copyright.