On Oct. 22, 1924, the much awaited world-circling Army flyers arrived in Berkeley for a welcome rally at the Greek Theatre. They had flown down from Seattle on their way to San Diego, according to the Berkeley Daily Gazette.
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An automobile parade up Telegraph Avenue brought them to Berkeley. They also visited Mrs. C.A. “Mother” Tusch, who was a nationally known friend of early aviators and lived a half-block from the campus in a house dubbed “The Hangar” because it was full of aviation memorabilia that flyers had brought to her over the years.
“The Hangar” stood on the one block long Union Street, north of Bancroft Way and west of Telegraph Avenue. It’s now entirely gone, replaced by lower Sproul Plaza. Tusch had led of the University Mothers Club during World War I and had gotten to know, and provide practical assistance (and, well, motherly support) to many young aviators who were enrolled in military programs on the UC Berkeley campus.
Since then, aviators passing through Berkeley had made a practice of stopping by her home and giving her some memento, which often included signing the wallpaper. At the beginning of the round-the-world flight she had ceremonially given a Bible to each aviator.
After the Greek Theatre ceremonies, the flyers returned to San Francisco via a lunch banquet at the Hotel Oakland. Along the way, Berkeley school children, who had been excused from classes, lined Telegraph and Shattuck avenues to cheer the aviators. After the Oakland luncheon, the flyers finished off the day with a banquet at the Saint Francis Hotel in San Francisco.
Assault: Seemingly random assaults by strangers are an unsettling aspect of the news today, and they often seem to be a modern phenomenon. Howver, consider this news report below in the Gazette from a century ago.
“While on his way to take a train to work this morning, Emil Hall, aged 56, foundry man, of 908 Pardee Street, was attacked and severely beaten by two young men … . He was rendered unconscious by severe blows. … Hall says he left his house to catch a San Francisco bound train … when he suddenly became aware that two men were running behind him. He thought they were also hurrying for the train. Then the pair caught up with him. One man tripped him and the other struck him a savage blow on the right eye. As he had fallen (sic) both men kicked him in the face and chest until he was unconscious.”
No robbery was reported. “Hall later told the police he had no idea why he was attacked, unless it was a case of mistaken identity.”
Elder passes: “Lucy Brown, last member of the original Indian tribe found in (and displaced from) the Yosemite Valley when the White men came, is dead, aged 120 years,” the Gazette reported Oct. 21, 1924. She died of heart disease, leaving six generations of descendants.
Park funding: Also on Oct. 21, 1924, a proposed expansion of Live Oak Park ran into a City Council snag when the panel declined an offer to purchase the land for $3,000.
“Councilmember M.B. Driver expressed the feeling of his associates when he stated that he was not in favor of spending another cent for park additions in the northerly section of the city until the southerly end of the city had a park,” the Gazette reported.
The Mason-McDuffie company was offering the land to the city. It had previously been proposed for a bungalow court.
Library opens: The new Claremont Branch of the Berkeley Public Library officially opened for use on Oct. 27, 1924.
Bay Area native and Berkeley community historian Steven Finacom holds this column’s copyright.