Timeline of the San Francisco Bay Area: C 1930-1975
Return to home
1930 Jan 6,
Aviator Douglas Campbell, the 1st American ace of WW I, visited C.A.
“Mother” Tusch at 2211 Union St. in Berkeley, Ca. Tusch’s home was
known s the “Hangar” because it was one of the most complete privately
owned aviation museums in America.
(SFC, 1/7/05, p.F6)
1930 Jan 22, The concrete
freighter Palo Alto arrived at Aptos. She was drawn up toward the beach
and converted into a cabaret and amusement center. The 435-foot, cement
ship was beached as a tourist attraction. By 1978 it was breaking up
and sinking into Monterey Bay.
(Ind, 11/25/00, 5A)(SFC, 1/24/03, p.E3)
1930 Jan 27, Mayor Rolph urged
California to make all of SF and San Mateo counties into one game
preserve after Supv. Thomas Hickey of San Mateo argues that the Spring
Valley lands surrounding the water reservoirs should be made a
sanctuary for wildlife.
(SFC, 1/28/05, p.F7)
1930 Feb 1, A Loening Air Yacht of
Air Ferries made its first passenger run between San Francisco and
Oakland, California. Amphibious airplanes offered frequent six-minute
flights between San Francisco and Oakland in 1930.
(HN, 2/1/99)
1930 Mar 11, An escape attempt
from Alcatraz by 3 soldier convicts ended as a guard crew pulled them
from the water as they struggled to reach the Marin shore.
(SFC, 3/11/05, p.F8)
1930 Mar 25, Hayward’s Mayor John
Lee Wilbur led a groundbreaking ceremony and parade for a new city hall
on Castro St.
(SFC, 3/25/05, p.F8)
1930 Mar 26, SF Mayor Rolph helped
inaugurate air ferry service between SF and Vallejo.
(SFC, 3/25/05, p.F8)
1930 Apr 3, Stanford students
retrieved their Stanford ax from UC students, who stole it in 1899.
(SFC, 4/1/05, p.F8)
1930 May 8, The Richfield Oil
Company tanker Richfield wrecked on the rocks off Point Reyes, Ca.,
with a cargo or 25,000 gallons of high-test gasoline.
(SFC, 5/6/05, p.F3)
1930 May 15, Ellen Church, the
first airline stewardess, went on duty aboard an Oakland-to-Chicago
flight operated by Boeing Air Transport (a forerunner of United
Airlines).
(HN, 5/15/98)(AP, 5/15/07)
1930 Jun 1, In SF the Royal
Theater on Polk St. was dynamited. In October police discovered an
explosive device at the Alhambra Theater. Both theaters were owned by
the Nasser Brothers.
(SFC, 10/14/05, p.F6)
1930 Jun 10, In the 1st night
baseball game on the Pacific Coast the Sacramento club beat Oakland 3
to 0 at Moering Field.
(SFC, 6/10/05, p.F4)
1930 Jun 21, The Rainbow Ballroom
opened on the freighter Palo Alto in Aptos. It accommodated 3,000
people and attracted some of the big bands of the time.
(Ind, 11/25/00, 5A)
1930 Jun 23, The US Coast Guard
Cutter Tingard captured the trawler “5048” also known as the Dora, and
confiscated 400 cases of imported whiskey in Drake’s Bay, Marin, Ca.
(SFC, 6/17/05, p.F5)
1930 Jun 27, It was reported that
E. John Magnin and Grover A. Magnin have signed contracts for a new
$1.2 million, 4-story, I. Magnin store at the northwest corner of 20th
and Broadway in Oakland.
(SFC, 6/24/05, p.F7)
1930 Jul 24, California State
Dept. of Public Works estimated a $72 million cost for a double-decked
SF Bay Bridge.
(SFC, 7/22/05, p.F3)
1930 Jul 27, Ebee Landre (12),
Oakland’s champion tree-sitter, passed his 240th hour tree-sitting and
planned to come down the next day.
(SFC, 7/22/05, p.F3)
1930 May 1, Anton J. Anderson, a
Sausalito fisherman, returned to port in SF, Ca., towing 2 boats and
carrying the bodies of Allen Curry (29), a deputy fish and game warden,
and James Burke (48), a former game warden. Anderson himself was
wounded and explained that he had shot the 2 men in self defense after
they tried to confiscate his nets. Anderson was not indicted and
returned to fishing. He died mysteriously 3 years later off the
Mendocino shore.
(SSFC, 8/17/08, DB p.58)
1930 Sep 13, Gasoline in SF was
raised a penny to 21 cents a gallon.
(SFC, 9/9/05, p.F5)
1930 Sep 26, SF Chief Engineer
M.M. O’Shaughnessy predicted the Sunset District could grow to support
250,000 people from the current 40,000 in the area.
(SFC, 9/23/05, p.F3)
1930 Oct 21, UC Berkeley dedicated
2 new campus buildings: Giannini Hall and the Ernest V. Cowell Memorial
Hospital for students.
(SFC, 10/21/05, p.F6)
1930 Oct 22, Robert Grodon Sproul
was inaugurated as president of the Univ. of California.
(SFC, 10/21/05, p.F6)
1930 Oct 31, Southern Pacific
Co.’s $12 million double-track bridge across Suisun Bay was formally
dedicated. This marked the end of train ferries across Carquinez
Straits.
(SFC, 10/28/05, p.F3)
1930 Nov 7, In California a band
of 6 gunmen, using machine guns and dynamite, stopped an eastbound
train in Alameda County and escaped with $60,000 from a mail car.
(SFC, 11/4/05, p.F6)
1930 Nov 15, St. Mary's of Moraga
(the Mad Magicians of Moraga under coach Slip Madigan) defeated Fordham
Univ. (the Seven Blocks of Granite) in a major east vs. west football
game 20-12.
(SFEC, 6/13/99, p.C1,18)
1930 Nov 18, The Stanford Univ.
football team defeated UC Berkeley 41-0 in the Big Game. UC coach C.N.
Price resigned Nov 24 following the most lopsided loss in the rivalry.
(SFC, 11/18/05, p.F2)
1930 Aug, The International House
in Berkeley opened its doors. It was founded by Harry Edmonds. It was
the 1st interracial, coed-educational housing in the US west of NYC.
(SFC, 9/7/01, p.A25)
1930 In Oakland, Ca., the Ninth
Avenue Terminal building was built. It was doubled in size to
180,000-square-feet in 1951.
(SFC, 3/16/07, p.B5)
1930 Villa Montalvo in Saratoga, a
175-acre estate of former Sen. James Phelan, was officially bequeathed
to California for the encouragement of the arts.
(SSFC, 2/20/05, Par p.4)
1930 George Hearst purchased the
Hillsborough Uplands (Montes Robles) house from Charles Lindgrin. He
hired Julia Morgan to redesign it. She turned it into a 22-room
Georgian colonial similar to the Washington White House. The Hearsts
never moved in due to divorce.
(Ind, 5/6/00,5A)
1930 Edgar Wakefield McLellan
retired from his Burlingame flower business that boasted some 324,000
square feet of glass houses. He had pioneered the shipment of flowers
to cities across the US. The operation was taken over by his son
Roderick and moved to a 61 acre site in Colma.
(PI, 1/24/98, p.5)
1931 Feb 20, Congress allowed
California to build the Oakland Bay Bridge.
(MC, 2/20/02)
1931 May, Federal agents raided
the J.R. Roberts Soda Works in South San Francisco and uncovered the
largest illicit distillery ever found in California. It was owned by
the South San Francisco Chamber of Commerce.
(Ind, 4/21/01, 5A)
1931 Jul 20, The trial of
Constance May Flood Gavin, an alleged illegitimate daughter, began in
San Mateo, Ca., for a daughter’s share in James L. Flood estate. Before
closing arguments Judge George Buck ordered a directed verdict in favor
of the Flood family. 10 jurors refused to sign the verdict. Buck lost
elections the following year to Maxwell McNutt, the lawyer for
Constance. Gavin later received a $1.2 million out-of-court settlement.
(SMMB)(SSFC, 2/8/04, p.A28)
1931 Aug, The Sisters of the Holy
Cross opened St. Matthew’s Catholic School in the former San Mateo home
of Walter Hobart. Tuition started at $2 per month for the 140 students.
(Ind, 8/24/02, 5A)
1931 A new Berkeley Public Library
was designed by James Plachek.
(SFC, 4/4/02, p.A15)
1931 The Paramount Theater in
Oakland was built as a movie house. It was restored in 1971 as a
multiuse arts center.
(SFEC, 11/8/98, DB p.36)
1931 Celia Tobin Clark, Hibernia
Bank heiress, had her House on Hill completed in Hillsborough. It was
designed by David Adler as a Cotswold-style Tudor.
(Ind, 11/25/00, 5A)
1931 The Sisters of Mercy moved
out of the Kohl mansion in Burlingame to newly built facilities. The
mansion became Mercy High School.
(Ind, 1/19/02, 5A)
1931 Charles Crouch and 4 other
investors opened 6 grocery stores on the Peninsula called Peninsula,
Ltd.
(SFC, 3/24/98, p.B1)
1931 The Levy brothers opened a
new store in San Mateo on 3rd Ave. across from the Benjamin Franklin
Hotel.
(Ind, 11/7/98, p.5A)
1931 Ernest Lawrence tested the
first cyclotron at UC Berkeley, Ca. The device measured 30cm in
circumference.
(Econ, 9/13/08, p.87)
1931 David Starr Jordan, the
founding president of Stanford Univ., died.
(Ind, 4/12/03, 5A)
1932 Janet Lewis (d.1998)
published "The Wife of Martin Guere," a historical novel on about 16th
century France. The story was turned into an opera in 1961 with music
by William Bergsma. In 1984 a French film version was released "The
Return of Martin Guere." An American version, "Somersby," was made in
1993 set during the Civil War. Lewis was born in Chicago but moved to
California and lived in Los Altos.
(SFC, 12/5/98, p.C2)
1932 In Oakland, Ca., the Morcom
garden was built as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project. The
8-acre park included a lily pond and a cascading waterfall.
(SFC, 9/21/09, p.D2)
1932 International House, designed
by George Kelham, opened in Berkeley.
(SFCM, 11/9/03, p.8)
1932 The Alameda Theater opened in
Alameda, Ca. The screen went dark in 1979. In 2005 the city of Alameda
used eminent domain to take it over as part of a $30 million
redevelopment plan.
(SFC, 5/21/05, p.B1)
1932 The 18-hole Sharp Park Golf
Course opened in Pacifica, Ca. SF park superintendent John McLaren had
hired Alister MacKenzie to design the course on land donated by sugar
magnate Adolph Spreckels.
(SFC, 8/31/09, p.A1)
1932 Pari-mutuel betting on horse
racing was legalized and racing resumed at Tanforan.
(Ind, 8/17/02, 5A)
1932 Trader Vic’s began in Oakland
as Hinky Dink’s. The Mai Tai was invented there in 1944. A San
Francisco branch opened in 1951 at 20 Cosmo Place, but closed in 1994
when it morphed into le Colonial. In 2004 it reopened in SF.
(SFCM, 1/16/05, p.31)
1932 Sea Cliff Amusement Co. in
Aptos went bankrupt.
(Ind, 11/25/00, 5A)
1932-1936 Charles Templeton Crocker financed and led
6 expeditions for the California Academy of Sciences to the Galapagos
Islands and the South Seas aboard his yacht Zaca.
(Ind, 7/14/01, 5A)
1933 Jan 5, Work on Golden Gate
Bridge began on the Marin County side of SF Bay.
(MC, 1/5/02)
1933 Feb 26, Ground was broken for
the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Russell Cone was hired to
oversee the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge. He had already
worked on the Philadelphia-Camden (Ben Franklin) Bridge, the
Detroit-Windsor Ambassador Bridge and the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge.
(HN, 2/26/98) (SFC,12/20/97, p.A21)
1933 Apr 12, The $ 5 million Naval
Air Station Sunnyvale opened in Mountainview. It was later renamed
Moffet Field after Rear Admiral William Moffet, who was killed in the
wreck of the USS Akron.
(Ind, 1/27/01, 5A)
1933 Jul 4, Work began on Oakland
Bay Bridge.
(Maggio, 98)
1933 Aug 5, Harry V. Hill (50)
drowned off Yerba Buena Island becoming the 1st fatality in the
construction of the SF-Oakland Bay Bridge.
(SSFC, 8/4/08, DB p.54)
1933 Oct 16, Some 50,000 people
gathered to watch the Macon land at the Sunnyvale Naval Air Station,
later named Moffet Field. Hangar One opened to house the 785-foot Macon
airship, a dirigible 10 times the size of a blimp.
(SFC, 2/12/99, p.C1,9)(Ind, 1/27/01, 5A)
1933 Oct 19, Dallas Egan,
condemned slayer, was executed at San Quentin after California Gov.
James Rolph agreed to allow him 8 ounces of good Kentucky bourbon
whiskey.
(SSFC, 10/19/08, DB
p.58)(www.freeotrshows.com/otr/c/Calling_All_Cars.html)
1933 Nov 9, Brooke Hart (22) was
abducted from the parking lot of the family-owned department store in
San Jose, Ca. The 1943 novel “Against a Darkening Sky” by Janet Lewis
was based on the lynching of his accused abductors. The abductors, who
killed Hart, were later captured after police traced their calls
arranging a $40,000 ransom. [see Nov 26]
(SFC, 12/5/98, p.C2)(Ind, 4/28/01, 5A)(SFC, 9/13/05,
p.B3)
1933 Nov 26, In California a mob
attacked the Santa Clara County Jail and dragged out John M. Holmes and
Thomas H. Thurmond for the kidnapping and murder of Brooke Hart (22),
heir to a San Jose department store fortune. The 2 men were hung and
stripped from 2 sycamores at St. James Park, one of which Pres.
McKinley had stood under in 1901 to deliver a speech on American
liberties and the US Constitution. Gov. Rolph said that if anyone was
arrested for the lynching, he would pardon them. [see Nov 9]
(Ind, 4/28/01, 5A)(SFEC, 5/2/99, Z1 p.4)(SFC,
9/13/05, p.B3)
1933 In Martinez the Contra Costa
County Courthouse was completed.
(SFC, 1/9/99, p.A15)
1933 In Petaluma the D Street
drawbridge was completed over the Petaluma River for $77,000 to replace
one of the last remaining "swing bridges."
(SFC, 8/18/00, p.A25)
1933 The US Army left Alcatraz
Island. In 1934 it reopened as a federal penitentiary.
(OAH, 2/05, p.A6)
1933 Gov. James Rolph signed a
bill authorizing the creation of a regional park district for the East
Bay. The East Bay Regional Park District was formally established in
1934 and in 1936 it logged its 1st acquisition from EBMUD -- 2,166
acres in what became Tilden Regional Park and the Sibley Volcanic
Regional Preserve.
(SSFC, 8/15/04, p.A14)
1933 George and Mary Fabbro,
immigrants from northern Italy, established a bar that grew into
Fabbro's Restaurant and Bar in Redwood City at 2915 El Camino. It
reportedly housed the first off-track betting machine in the state.
(SFC, 4/21/99, Z1 p.6)
1933 A fire broke out at the
Oakland Pier of the Key System. One building was destroyed and the
Peralta ferry was heavily damaged. It was soon sold to the Black Ball
Line in Seattle.
(SFC, 12/26/98, p.A24)
1933 Two killers were lynched in
San Jose in St. James Park. The story was covered in the 1992
book "Swift Justice" by Harry Farrell.
(SFEC,12/28/97, p.D5)
1933-1934 Wakefield Taylor (1912-2005) served as
student body president at UC Berkeley. He and the Stanford student body
president agreed that the Axe would serve as the perpetual trophy for
the Big Game winner.
(SFC, 4/12/05, p.B5)
1934 Mar 3, It was reported that
Alf Haraldsen had found some 150 pounds of ambergris on the shore of
Bolinas, Ca. The material, formed in the intestines of whales and used
in the manufacture of perfume, was estimated to be worth $75,000.
(SSFC, 3/1/09, DB p.50)
1934 Aug 11, The US government
opened a maximum security prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco
Bay and the first federal prisoners arrived. From the time it opened to
1937 there was no talking by prisoners allowed. Federal convicts from
McNeil Island Prison in Washington joined a small number of military
prisoners, left over from the island‘s time as a US Army prison. The
facility had been used as a military prison since 1859, but was
redesigned to be a high-security penitentiary for the "most dangerous"
prisoners. The prison closed in 1963.
(AP, 8/11/97)(SFEC, 3/8/98, p.W30)(HNQ,
7/10/00)(OAH, 2/05, p.A6)
1934 Aug 20, Gangster Al Capone
and 42 other prisoners traveled in steel barred railroad coaches to
Alcatraz after being transferred the federal penitentiary in Atlanta,
Ga.
(SSFC, 8/9/09, DB p.46)
1934 Sep 29, In Vallejo, Ca., the
body of Joe soon (40), a member of the Hop Sing tong, was found dead in
the Vallejo business district with a hatchet wound between the eyes and
4 bullets in his torso. The murderers were believed to be hatchetmen
from San Francisco’s Chinatown.
(SSFC, 9/27/09, p.50)
1934 Oct 12, Michael
O'Shaughnessy, SF chief engineer, died, just 12 days before Hetch
Hetchy water began flowing to the Bay Area. [see Oct 28]
(Ind, 3/11/00, p.5A)(SFC, 9/15/02, p.A20)
1934 Oct 28, In Redwood City, Ca.,
a crowd of 20,000 people gathered at the temporary Pulgas Water Temple
to witness the first Sierra water begin to empty into Crystal Springs
Lake. The Pulgas Water Temple near the Crystal Springs Reservoir was
modeled after the Sunol Water Temple designed by Willis Polk. This
marked the end of the 20-year SF water project led by engineer Michael
O'Shaugnessy (d.10/18/34) [see Oct 12].
(SFC, 12/19/96, p.A21)(SFC, 9/27/97, p.A24)(Ind,
3/11/00, p.5A)
1934 Nov 4, The new $400,000,
6,500-seat, Bay Meadows horse racing track opened in San Mateo, Ca.,
under the direction of Bill Kyne (d.1957). Gov. Frank Merriam
christened the one-mile track, which opened on the grounds of an old
airfield. Jockey George Burns rode 5 winners, three of them in a row.
The track featured the new $250,000 totalizer machine to display bets
and payoff. The last day of regular racing was May 11, 2008. A final
racing was scheduled for the 2008 county Fair, August 6-18.
(Ind, 5/13/00,5A)(SFC, 3/23/07, p.A1)(SFC, 5/10/08,
p.A4)
1934 Nov 17, Victor J. Bergeron
(1903-1984), aka Trader Vic, opened Hinky Dink’s, a small food-and-beer
joint at 65th and San Pablo in Oakland, Ca. He expanded his business
and in 1951 opened Trader Vic’s in SF at 20 Cosmo Place.
(SSFC, 10/11/09, DB p.46)
1934 The film "Broadway Bill" with
Myrna Loy and Warner Baxter was shot at the Tanforan Race Track.
(PI, 3/21/98, p.5)
1934 The San Mateo county jail was
built. A new jail was to replace it by 2003.
(Ind, 5/13/00,8A)
1934 The US Justice Dept. took
over Alcatraz from the War Dept. and reopened it as a federal
penitentiary.
(SFEC, 3/8/98, p.W38)
1934 The California Parks
Commission acquired the concrete freighter Palo Alto in Aptos for use
as a fishing pier. A storm soon broke the hull in two. The bow section
broke off during a 1963 storm.
(Ind, 11/25/00, 5A)
1934 The East Bay Regional Parks
District was established.
(SFC, 6/25/04, p.F6)
1934 Spenger's Fish Grotto opened
in Berkeley. It was taken over in 1998 under a 25-year lease by Bill
McCormick and Doug Schmick and reopened in 1999.
(SFEC, 11/14/99, p.C1)
1934 Ford Motor Co. opened an
assembly plant in Richmond. The plant produced tanks during WW II and
was later shut down. In 2002 new plans proposed a film complex for the
site.
(SSFC, 2/3/02, p.A21)
1934 UC Berkeley shut down The
Razzberry (“uncensored and untrammeled”), a student publication that
satirized the faculty.
(SFC, 3/23/07, p.B9)
1935 Jul 27, Eleanor Louise
Christenson (d.1983), the daughter of deceased millionaire Edwin A.
Christenson, married Christian de Guigne III at Christenson
Hillsborough residence on summit Drive.
(Ind, 1/04/03, 5A)
1935 Nov 22, Pan Am inaugurated
the first transpacific airmail service, San Francisco to Manila. The
Pan Am China Clipper took off from Alameda Point bound for the
Philippines. It was the company's first trans-Pacific flight. The plane
was a 25-ton Martin M-130 flying boat with a wingspan of 130 feet, and
was the largest aircraft in world service.
(HFA, ‘96, p.18)(HN, 11/22/98)(Ind, 5/1/99, p.5A)
1935 Nov 24, Ronald V. Dellums was
born in Oakland. he later became a US Congressman and served for 28
years. In 2000 Dellums and H. Lee Halterman authored the memoir
"Lying Down With the Lions: A Public Life From the Streets of Oakland
to the Halls of Power."
(SFC,11/18/97, p.A2)(SFEC, 2/13/00, BR p.1)
1935 Gertrude Stein returned to
the site of her former 10-acre home in Oakland and remarked: "there’s
no there there."
(SFC, 5/3/02, p.A20)
1935 The cornerstone of the
Alameda County Courthouse in Oakland was laid by Earl Warren. It was
built in classical and art deco style.
(SFC, 4/13/02, p.A17)
1935 The Dominican Sisters of San
Rafael built their Santa Sabina retreat.
(SFCM, 8/29/04, p.4)
1935 The marquee of the Art Deco
Fox Theater at 18th and Telegraph in Oakland, Ca., established in 1928,
was replaced. The theater folded in 1965. In 2006 plans were made to
reopen it for live entertainment at an estimated cost of $45 million.
(SFC, 12/6/00, p.A24)(SSFC, 4/23/06, p.A1)
1935 The San Mateo County
Historical Association was established.
(LaPen, 12/86, p.2)(Ind, 9/21/02, 5A)
1935 Roderick McLellan developed
gardenia production and became the world’s largest gardenia grower with
80,000 plants cultivated under glass. He also had begun experimenting
with orchids.
(PI, 1/24/98, p.5)
1935 Charles Crouch and 4 other
investors expanded their Peninsula Ltd. grocery store chain to the East
Bay and named the new Berkeley store at Shattuck and Bancroft "Lucky."
(SFC, 3/24/98, p.B1)
1935 Jack and Bill Dozier founded
Fybate Lecture Notes to help students at UC Berkeley. The operation
went out of business in 1976.
(SFC, 12/7/01, WB p.G9)
1936 Feb 11, Pumping began for the
creation of Treasure Island in SF Bay.
(www.treasureislandfestival.com/island.php)
1936 Mar 22, In Alameda, Ca.,
Chief Engineer George W. Alberts was found murdered aboard the
freighter S.S. Point Lobos. District Attorney Earl Warren prosecuted
the case and 4 defendants were convicted and sentenced to prison.
(SFEM, 6/1/97, p.16-21)
1936 Oct 21, The first 6
passengers on the Pan Am China Clipper paid $1,438.20 for round trip
tickets to the Philippines.
(Ind, 5/1/99, p.5A)
1936 Nov 12, The San
Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opened. It cost $78 million and was the
longest bridge ever attempted. 23 men died during its construction.
(SFC, 11/11/96, p.A13)(SFEC, 5/2/99, Z1 p.5)(MC,
11/12/01)
1936 Nov, Seabiscuit, owned by
millionaire Charles S. Howard, arrived at Tanforan Park. In 2001 Laura
Hillenbrand authored "Seabiscuit: An American Legend." Over 6 years the
horse won 33 victories with record earnings of $437,730.
(WSJ, 3/9/00, p.W9)
1936 Dec 24, The 1st radioactive
isotope medicine was administered in Berkeley, Ca.
(MC, 12/24/01)
1936 A poetry movement called “the
Activists” began in the SF Bay Area. It was led by Lawrence Hart
(1900-1996). The movement faded with the rise of the Beat Poets in the
1950s.
(SSFC, 9/4/05, p.F3)
1936 In Marin county Ca., the
Tudor-style Mill Valley City Hall and firehouse opened thanks to a
federal job-creation program.
(SFC, 9/1/08, p.A12)
1936 St. Matthews of San Mateo
opened a new school building and the former Hobart mansion was
converted to exclusive use by the Sisters of the Holy Cross.
(Ind, 8/24/02, 5A)
1936 Al Zampa (d.2000 at 95), a
worker on the Golden Gate Bridge, survived a fall during construction.
In 2003 a new Carquinez Bridge was named after him.
(SSFC, 8/31/03, p.I3)
1936 William Bourn, president of
the Spring Valley Water Co., died. His Filoli estate on the Peninsula
was purchased by William P. Roth.
(SFC, 12/19/96, p.A21)(Ind, 12/26/98, p.5A)
1936 Timothy Hopkins, adopted son
of Mark Hopkins, died.
(Ind, 8/25/01, 5A)
1937 Feb 14, Sarah Althea Hill,
former mistress of William Sharon (d.1885), died in a Stockton asylum,
where she had lived the last 45 years of her life.
(Ind, 7/1/00,5A)
1937 Feb 17, Nearly at the end of
the four years of construction of the Golden Gate Bridge, 10
construction workers lost their lives when a section of scaffold fell
through a safety net. When construction began on the 35-million-dollar
bridge spanning the Golden Gate Strait between San Francisco and Marin
County, Chief Engineer Joseph B. Strauss was determined to use the most
rigorous safety precautions available. Protective hardhats and
glare-free goggles were required and special diets were developed to
combat dizziness. But it was the safety net strung under the bridge
during construction that saved the lives of 19 men who became known as
the "Half-Way-to-Hell" Club. Until February 17, 1937, only one life had
been lost during construction. The Golden Gate Bridge opened to
vehicular traffic on May 28, 1937.
(HNPD, 2/17/99)
1937 Feb 17, A platform broke on
the Golden Gate Bridge and 12 men plunged 250 feet into the bay. Of 3
survivors two men were picked up by a fishing boat and a third man
caught hold of a bridge beam. Evan C. "Slim" Lambert (d.1998 at 87) was
won of the 2 men in the bay who swam to the fishing boat with a dead
companion.
(SFC, 1/17/98, p.A19)
1937 May 27, The newly completed
Golden Gate Bridge connecting SF and Marin County, Calif., was opened
to pedestrian traffic. The bridge was designed by Joseph Strauss
(d.1938). Over 200,000 pedestrians walked across on opening day. The
bridge towers stood a record 750 feet. In 2007 Frank Stahl and Daniel
Mohn authored “The Golden Gate Bridge, Report of the Chief Engineer,
Vol II.” They gave credit to engineer Charles Ellis of the Univ. of
Illinois for much of the technical and theoretical work that went into
the bridge. He was fired by Strauss before construction began.
(AP, 5/27/97)(SFEC, 10/5/97, Z1 p.6)(SFC, 10/30/99,
p.C3)(SFC, 5/11/07, p.A1)
1937 Jun, The Bayshore Highway,
between SF and San Jose, was completed. It was designated as US 101.
(Ind, 6/10/00,5A)
1937 Aug 24, Treasure Island in SF
Bay was completed after 18½ months. All told 20 million cubic
yards of sea bottom had been dredged, dug, dumped and poured inside the
rocky walls.
(www.treasureislandfestival.com/island.php)
1937 Eugene O'Neill, playwright,
built his Tao House in Danville, Ca., following his 1936 winning of the
Nobel Prize in Literature.
(SFC, 5/16/03, p.E8)
1937 William Wurster, Berkeley
architect, designed a 1,400-square-foot home at 1650 La Vereda Road. It
was later hailed as an early example of modernist architecture.
(SFC, 11/11/04, p.B5)
1937 The Caldecott Tunnel opened
with 2 bores under the Oakland-Berkeley Hills.
(SFC, 9/12/98, p.A21)
1937 On Angel Island a chapel was
built.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W39)
1937 The 1915 Claremont Hotel was
virtually rebuilt.
(SFEC, 11/19/00 p.T6)
1937 The Berkeley Rose Garden was
created.
(SFC, 5/10/97, p.A17)
1937 An unfenced government canal
was built that ran for 57 miles in Contra Costa County. In 1953 the
county called for an investigation of some 33 drownings in the canal.
(SFC, 11/21/03, p.E4)
1937 Alcatraz prison officials
abandoned a silence rule in effect since the prison opened in 1934. The
rule had forbidden prisoners to speak while working.
(SSFC, 12/20/09, DB p.46)
1938 Sep 16, Cal Gov. Frank
Merriam rode a ceremonial test Key Route train across the Bay Bridge.
(SFC, 9/4/98, p.S25)
1938 In northern California more
military artillery was installed in the headlands of the Golden Gate
and Fort Cronkhite was established near Rodeo Beach.
(SFC, 6/13/08, p.A22)
1938 The San Rafael Theater
opened. It was later remodeled, renamed the Rafael Film Center and
adopted as the showcase for the Mill Valley Film Festival.
(SFEM, 9/12/99, p.18)
1928 May 12, Brothers Joe and Tom
Longs opened their first store on Oakland’s Piedmont Ave. In 1993 Longs
acquired Bill’s Drugs, a 20 store chain in northern California. In 2008
Longs Drugs was acquired by CVS Caremark for $2.9 billion.
(SFC, 8/14/08, p.C3)
1938 William Hewlett and David
Packard began their Hewlett Packard Co. in a one-car garage at 767
Addison in Palo Alto with $538. As a student at Stanford, Hewlett built
a prototype for an audio oscillator. In 1939 it became their first
product to be sold. Walt Disney used it in making the film "Fantasia."
In 2007 Michael S. Malone authored Bill & Dave.”
(SFC, 1/8/98, p.C3)(SFC, 3/3/99, p.A11)(SFEC,
6/6/99, p.T7)(WSJ, 6/6/07, p.D7)
1938 Albert Seeno Sr. (d.2000 at
84) started the Albert D. Seeno Construction Co. which went on to build
over 30,000 homes and dozens of shopping centers in Pittsburg and
Contra Costa County.
(SFC, 1/24/00, p.A15)
1938 Levi Strauss & Co.
registered its cloth pocket tab as its trademark.
(SFC, 11/1/02, p.E7)
1938 The Byron Hot Springs Resort
closed down. In 2005 a fire badly damaged a brick hotel built there in
1914. Previous hotels had burned down in 1901 and 1912.
(SFC, 7/26/05, p.B3)
1939 Jan 1, The Hewlett-Packard
partnership was formed and a coin toss determined the order of the
company name.
(SFC, 3/3/99, p.A11)
1939 Feb 18, The Golden Gate
International Exposition opened on Treasure Island in the SF Bay. Pan
American transferred its headquarters to Treasure Island and its
Clipper flights took off from Clipper Cove.
(HN, 2/18/98)(SFC, 2/18/99, p.D10)(Ind, 5/1/99, p.5A)
1939 Sep 3, Bing Crosby appeared
at the Temple Compound on Treasure Island just before the close of the
Golden Gate Int’l. Expo.
(SSFC, 1/21/01, BR p.10)
1939 Sep, The Ocean Shore Highway
opened. It reduced the old 98-mile drive to Santa Cruz to 75 miles. It
was the only recreational road between SF and the beaches.
(Ind, 2/6/99, p.5A)
1939 Dec, Ground was broken for
the Ames Aeronautical Laboratory next to the Navy base at Moffett Field.
(SSFC, 8/10/03, p.I1)
1939 Jacques Schnier, sculptor,
designed art works for the world’s fair on Treasure Island.
(SFC, 10/17/98, p.C2)
1939 Pacifica, the 80-foot-tall
theme statue of the Int'l. Expo, was created by Ralph Stackpole (d.1973
at 88).
(Ind, 1/23/99, p.5A)
1939 The new SF Transbay Terminal,
designed by Timothy Pflueger, opened. It served as the port of entry
for electric-powered trains that went back and forth from the East Bay
on the lower deck of the Bay Bridge.
(SFC, 8/7/07, p.A6)
1939 The Federal style annex of
the San Mateo County Courthouse was built. The original Corinthian
pillars in front were removed.
(SMMB)
1940 Apr 1-3, Contents of the
15-acre El Cerrito estate on the line between San Mateo and
Hillsborough went up for auction following the divorce of St. Cyr and
Helen Strong Carter. Contractor David D. Bohannon acquired the property
and planned to subdivide what he called El Cerrito Park. The mansion
was destroyed within hours of the auction.
(Ind, 5/31/03, p.5A)
1940 May 25, The Golden Gate
International Expo reopened.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1940 Sep 29, The Int'l. Exposition
on Treasure Island closed. During its 2 seasons some 17 million people
visited the 404-acre man made island.
(Ind, 1/23/99, p.5A)
1940 Nov 1, The Iceland skating
rink opened in Berkeley, Ca., with an appearance by Sonya Henie, the
former Olympic champion and Hollywood actress. The facility closed in
2007.
(SFC, 1/19/07, p.B2)
1940 In Hillsdale development
began for 2,500 new homes. Much of the material came from the Dolly
Varden Lumber Co. of David D. Bohannon north of Arcata, Ca.
(Ind, 11/30/02, 5A)
1940 Clark Shaughnessy, coach of
the Stanford football team, invented the "T-formation" and led the Wow
Boys" to a 10-0 season with a 21-13 Rose Bowl win over Nebraska.
(SFC, 12/28/99, p.A11)
1940 The Immigration and
Naturalization Service abandoned its Angel Island Station after a fire
destroyed the administration building.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W39)
1940 San Mateo County Parks Dept.
purchased 727 acres of Coyote Point.
(Ind, 12/30/00, 5A)
1940 Some 13,575 cows grazed in
San Mateo County.
(Ind, 10/7/00,5A)
1940s Sally Stanford operated a
cat house at 1144 Pine St, SF, Ca. It was called "The Fortress" by vice
cops because it was so difficult to penetrate. Stanford later authored
"A House Is Not a Home" and a personal memoir in 1966. In 1976 she
became mayor of Sausalito.
(SSFC, 12/8/02, p.D6)
1940s-1974 In the Antioch area the park district took
over the 3,700-acre area encompassing the old coal and silica mines.
(SFC, 3/4/99, p.A21)
1941 Jan 29, Frank M. Stanger
(b.1887), a Michigan-born farm boy, opened a small San Mateo museum in
a classroom at San Mateo Junior College.
(Ind, 9/21/02, 5A)
1941 Jan, The Southern Pacific
railroad opened its Palo Alto station.
(SFC, 3/23/01, p.A19)
1941 Mar 2, Bechtel received a
telegram from the US Maritime Commission concerning a new shipyard on
the West Coast. Bechtel picked the Sausalito waterfront and signed a
contract ten days later to deliver 34 ships.
(SFEC, 5/9/99, Z1 p.4)
1941 Mar 28, Ground was broken for
the Marinship yard in Sausalito.
(SFEC, 5/9/99, Z1 p.4)
1941 Apr 1, US Navy took over
Treasure Island in SF Bay.
(MC, 4/1/02)
1941 Apr, Henry J. Kaiser at his
shipyard in Richmond had the keel of his first ship laid. The 1st order
called for 30 identical ships for the British.
(SFEC, 5/9/99, Z1 p.4)
1941 Apr, Bechtel built Marin City
to house workers for its Marinship yard. It was planned out in 3 days
and built in a few weeks.
(SFEC, 5/9/99, Z1 p.4)
1941 Jun 27, Bechtel laid the keel
of its first ship at the Marinship yard.
(SFEC, 5/9/99, Z1 p.4)
1941 Sep 26, Bechtel launched its
first ship from the Marinship yard. A total of 18 Liberty ships were
built by Bechtel. The engines were made at the Joshua Hendy Iron Works
in Sunnyvale and shipped in by rail.
(SFEC, 5/9/99, Z1 p.4)
1941 El Cerrito High was built in
the art deco style. In 2005 it was scheduled for demolition and
replacement to meet current standards.
(SSFC, 4/14/02, p.30)(SFC, 5/9/05, p.B1)
1941 San Bruno staged its first
"Tournament of Posies" parade dedicated to children. The Posy Parade
was based on the earlier Admission Day festivities from the 1920s and
set for the 1st Sunday in June.
(SFC, 6/3/00, p.A18)
1941 The San Mateo County
Historical Association established the San Mateo County Historical
Museum located on the campus of the College of San Mateo.
(LaPen, 12/86, p.2)
1941 The Belgian American
Educational Foundation donated a carillon to the Hoover Institution at
Stanford for famine relief efforts during and after WW I. The bells
were placed atop the Hoover Tower.
(SFC, 9/4/99, p.A23)
1941-1945 During WW II some 368 underwater mines were
placed to guard the entrance to the Golden Gate.
(G, Winter, p.2)
1941-1945 Industrialist Henry J. Kaiser, who helped
build the Hoover and Grand Coulee dams, established bay area ship yards
that were able to launch a "Liberty Ship" every 24 hours. He expanded a
health plan begun on his earlier dam projects that grew to become
Kaiser Permanente, the world’s largest health maintenance organization.
The Kaiser Richmond yard built 747 ships.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W31)
1941-1945 Henry Doelger offered his services to the
Army Corp. of Engineers. He was assigned to build defense housing in
the Bay Area and built some 3,000 units in Oakland and South San
Francisco.
(GTP, 1973, p.108)
1942 Jan 18, The transfer of
Treasure Island to the Navy was approved.
(Ind, 1/23/99, p.5A)
1942 Jan 22, The statue of
Pacifica was pulled down by the Navy.
(Ind, 1/23/99, p.5A)
1942 Jan, A Japanese submarine
rammed a US merchant ship 30 miles off the Golden Gate.
(Ind, 1/27/01, 5A)
1942 Feb 24, Some 1,600 Pittsburg
residents of Italian descent were evacuated.
(SSCM, 10/21/01, p.11)
1942 Apr 27, The 1st convoys of
Japanese detainees arrived at the Tanforan detention center. The
assembly center remained in operation for 169 days after which
detainees were transferred to relocation camps. Most of the Tanforan
detainees were transferred to Abraham, Utah.
(Ind, 2/2/02, 5A)
1942 Apr, Workers arrived at the
119-acre Tanforan race track to begin construction of barracks and 13
mess halls to house a potential 8,000 Japanese detainees.
(Ind, 2/2/02, 5A)
1942 Jun, Merchant Marine training
began on a 26 acre area of Coyote Point.
(Ind, 12/30/00, 5A)
1942 Aug 16, The US Navy L-8
patrol blimp crash-landed at 419 Bellevue St., Daly City, Ca., after
drifting in from the ocean. The ship’s crew, Lt. Ernest Dewitt Cody
(27) and Ensign Charles E. Adams (38), were missing and no trace of
them was ever found.
(GDCH, 1986, p.17)(Ind, 5/3/03, p.5A)
1942 Sep, Japanese detainees from
the California assembly center at Tanforan race track began their
transfer to Abraham, Utah, 140 miles south of SLC.
(Ind, 2/2/02, 5A)
1942 Moffet Field received its 1st
squadron of blimps, non-rigid airships.
(Ind, 1/27/01, 5A)
1942 Saunders Samuel King (d.2000
at 91), Oakland gospel singer, made a hit with "S.K. Blues." It was the
same year that his wife, Margie King, killed herself.
(SFC, 9/4/00, p.B4)
1942 The Stanford basketball team
won the NCAA championship.
(SFC, 3/27/98, p.A1)
1942 The US Army dog training
facility, Dogtown, the War Dog Reception and Training Center, was
established in San Carlos.
(Ind, 6/14/03, p.5A)
1942 Max Friedman opened The Marin
Town and Country Club on property purchased from the Marin School for
Boys in 1940.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.A19)(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A24)
1942 Roderick McLellan began
selling orchids and by 1998 over 3,000 orchids were registered with the
Royal Horticultural Society in England.
(PI, 1/24/98, p.5)
1942 Thousands of Mexican arrive
in the Bay Area to work on agricultural and railroad jobs under the
Bracero Program.
(SFEC, 9/20/98, Z1 p.5)
1942 Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond
set a ship construction record by building the Robert E. Peary Liberty
Ship in 4 days and 15 hours. A total of 747 ships were built at the
Richmond facility. The improved Victory ships were developed late in
the war and in 1998 the Red Oak Victory cargo ship was de-mothballed
for exhibit at the Richmond Point Molate Naval Station.
(SFC, 7/13/98, p.A12)
1942 Fred Korematsu, a shipyard
welder from Oakland, refused to obey the US government internment
order. He was arrested, convicted of a felony and interned in Utah. He
reopened the case in 1983 and got his conviction reversed.
(SFEC, 3/8/98, p.W27)
1943 Construction workers in
Millbrae uncovered elephant bones that dated back 100,000 years.
(Ind, 9/21/02, 5A)
1944 Jul 17, An explosion at Port
Chicago, now the Concord Naval Weapons Station in Ca., killed 320
seamen when a pair of ammunition ships exploded. 10,000 tons of
ammunition exploded. 202 of the victims were black enlisted men. The
Navy court-martialed 50 black sailors for refusing to go back to work
after the catastrophe. They were released from prison in 1946 with
dishonorable discharges and reductions in rank. The story was later
described by Robert Allen in his 1989 "The Port Chicago Mutiny." In
1999 Pres. Clinton issued a pardon to Freddie Meeks, one of the last
living convicted African American sailors.
(SFEC, 3/2/97, z1 p.3)(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A15)(SFC,
12/24/99, p.A1)(SSFC, 2/6/05, Par p.6)
1944 Nov 9, The 455-foot Red Oak
Victory ship was launched from Richmond. It was named after an Iowa
town with the highest number of casualties per capita in WW II. The
Victory ships were successors of the Liberty ships.
(SFC, 9/16/98, p.A20)
1944 Nov 30, A US Navy
reconnaissance plane crashed into the south face of Mount Tamalpais, in
Marin County, Ca. 8 Navy fliers were killed.
(SSFC, 11/29/09, p.A1)
1944 The US Navy built the Midway
Village housing complex in Daly City, Ca., next to the former PG&E
gas plant site off Bayshore Blvd. Plant residues were used to fill the
marshland of the complex site.
(SFC, 1/19/00, p.A4)(SFC, 3/2/09, p.B1)
1944 Seaport opened in Richmond as
a cluster of apartments to house war workers. It bordered the SF Bay
and a Stauffer’s chemical plant. In 1956 it was torn down to make way
for commercial development and I-580.
(SFC, 8/31/04, p.A11)
1944 The first US viral
diagnostic laboratory was established in Berkeley.
(SFC,12/17/97, p.A2)
1944 Pan American seaplane
operations moved to a lagoon at San Francisco Airport.
(Ind, 5/1/99, p.5A)
1944 Roderick McLellan registered
his 1st hybrid orchids with the Royal Horticultural Society in England.
(SSFC, 7/7/02, Par p.14)
1945 Nov 9, FBI agents staked out
a house in Berkeley to watch George Eltenton, a suspected Soviet spy.
In 1946 Eltenton admitted that he had tried to obtain secret data on
Berkeley’s radiation lab. Eltenton moved to Britain in 1947.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F2)
1945 Oct, Henry and Ellis Stoneson
formulated plans to build Broadmoor Village, one of the 1st major
post-war subdivisions. The 1,500 homes were surrounded by Colma and
Daly City.
(Ind, 11/30/02, 5A)
1945-1946 Al Ruffo (d.2003 at 94) served as mayor of
San Jose. He helped launch the SF 49ers football team in the
All-American Football Conference in 1946. The team joined the NFL in
1949.
(SFC, 2/12/03, p.A24)
1946 Mar 23, Gilbert N. Lewis
(b.1875), UC Berkeley chemist, died in his lab while working on an
experiment with liquid hydrogen cyanide. In 1916 Lewis discovered the
covalent bond.
(SFC, 8/5/06,
p.B5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_N._Lewis)
1946 May 2-1946 May 4, A two-day
riot [3-day siege] at Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay ended after
five people were killed. Six inmates took 9 guards hostage. Inmate Joe
Cretzer shot the 9 hostages but killed only one. He and 2 compeers were
later shot and killed. 2 inmates were executed for their part and one
served out a life sentence.
(AP, 5/4/97)(SFC, 8/11/97, p.A12)(G, Winter, p.3)
1946 In northern California the
coast batteries around the SF Bay were deactivated.
(SFC, 6/13/08, p.A22)
c1946 After the war Henry Doelger
built homes along MacArthur Blvd. between Oakland and San Leandro.
(GTP, 1973, p.108)
1946 Rev. Carl Anderson (d.2000 at
82) founded his St. John Missionary Baptist Church at 14th and Magnolia.
(SFC, 9/16/00, p.A22)
1946 Pan American removed its
flying boats from operations.
(Ind, 5/1/99, p.5A)
1946 Rod McClellan parachuted
thousands of gardenias to patrons of the Bay Meadows race track.
(Ind, 7/6/02, 5A)
1946 William E. Moore (1917-2004)
founded Kelly-Moore Paint in San Carlos, Ca., with William Kelly, his
former retired boss at Glidden.
(SFC, 11/25/04, p.B5)
1946 Edgecourt, the Hillsborough
home of George Pope (d.1942), was destroyed by fire.
(Ind, 6/7/03, p.5A)
1947 Sep, Classes at San Mateo
Junior College moved to the Merchant Marine buildings at Coyote Point.
(Ind, 12/30/00, 5A)
1947 The 1st families began moving
into Broadmoor Village.
(Ind, 11/30/02, 5A)
1947 In Oakland Harry Yaglijian
began operating a hot dog stand, later known as Original Kaspar’s Hot
Dogs, on a triangle of land bounded by 46th St., Shattuck and
Telegraph. In 1998 his son used a handgun to fend off robbers.
(SFC, 1/31/98, p.A15)
1947 The Hewlett-Packard Company
was incorporated and reported revenues of $1.5 million.
(SFC, 3/3/99, p.A11)
1947 Nick De John was found
stuffed in the trunk of his car in a mob-related murder.
(SFC, 2/1/02, p.G6)
1947-1962 Robert Koshland served as the president of
the Peninsula Hospital District.
(Ind, 10/3/98, p.5A)
1948 Jul 1, Charles D. Harrold,
radio pioneer, died in Oakland, Ca. He broadcast the 1st radio
entertainment program in 1912.
(TV)
1948 Dec 3, Sam Shockley (b.1909)
and Miran Edgar Thompson (b.1917), 2 Alcatraz inmates, were executed at
the San Quentin gas chamber for a 1946 escape attempt in which 2 guards
and 3 prisoners were killed.
(SFC, 6/27/09,
p.B4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcatraz_escape_attempts)
1948 Henry and Ellis Stoneson
began construction of the SF Stonestown shopping Center.
(Ind, 11/30/02, 5A)
1948 Dr. Gordon F. Williams
(d.2002 at 84) founded the Menlo Medical Clinic in Menlo Park.
(SFC, 2/1/02, p.A31)
1948 H. Myrl Stearns (1916-2006)
joined the founding team of Varian Associates in San Carlos, Ca. Sigurd
Varian (1901-1961) had co-invented the klystron tube with his brother,
Russel.
(SFC, 10/19/06, p.B5)
1948 Foundations were laid for the
$2 million Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City. It was completed in 1951.
(Ind, 11/30/02, 5A)
1948 Francis J. Violich
(1911-2005) and T. J. Kent, co-founders of Telesis, laid the groundwork
for the creation of UC Berkeley’s Dept. of City and Regional
Planning. With Telesis they tried to integrate principles of social
activism into new approaches to city planning.
(SFC, 8/26/05, p.B7)
1948 A Point Reyes landowner
purchased some fallow and axis deer from the SF Zoo and released them
in West Marin. In 2005 the National Park Service released plans to
eliminate them by 2017.
(SFC, 2/4/05, p.A1)
1948 Charles Templeton Crocker
(b.1885), multi-millionaire, died.
(Ind, 7/14/01, 5A)
1949 Jan, Electric streetcars quit
operating along the Peninsula.
(Ind, 1/9/99, p.5A)
1949 Apr 15, The Berkeley radio
station KPFA-FM began broadcasting over on a 550-watt surplus
government transmitter. Lewis Hill made the first broadcast over the
first listener-supported radio station in the US. Eleanor McKinney
(d.2000 at 81) helped found KPFA-FM in Berkeley. In 1966 McKinney
authored "The Exacting Ear: The Story of Listener Sponsored Radio."
(SFC, 4/7/99, p.A21)(SFC, 8/24/00, p.A23)
1949 Apr 20, Jockey Bill Shoemaker
won his 1st race, in Albany, California.
(MC, 4/20/02)
1949 May 7, Diane Hobart Crocker
married John Redington at St. Matthews in San Mateo. Diane was the
great-granddaughter of railroad builder Charles Crocker. John was the
grandson of John Hoby Redington, founder of the pharmaceutical house
Redington & Co.
(Ind, 2/27/99, p.5A)
1949 Jul, Henry Doelger began
construction of Westlake’s first 32 homes. The 1st model listed for
$9,000, and sold in 1950 within 30 minutes on the market. Edward
Hageman (b.1916) designed the Westlake homes. Over his career with
Doelger he designed some 5,000 homes.
(Ind, 11/30/02, 5A)(SFC, 7/16/05, p.F1)
1949 Sep 27, HUAC held hearings on
alleged communist infiltration of the Radiation Laboratory at UC
Berkeley.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F2)
1949 Nov 22, Russian born Maestro
Aaron Sten (Stankevich: 1910-1994), recently moved to San Carlos,
conducted the first concert of the Peninsula Symphony at the Sequoia
High School auditorium.
(Ind, 10/24/98, p.5A)
1949 George R. Stewart authored
"Earth Abides," a novel that imagined the SF Bay Area after humans are
driven away by plagues.
(SSFC, 10/27/02, p.M1)
1949 David D. Bohannon began
construction of the 41.5 million, 140-unit, 11-story Da Sabla
apartments at Baldwin Ave. and el Camino.
(Ind, 11/30/02, 5A)
1949 The first Eichler prototype
homes were built in the Bay Area. Architect Robert Anshen, a disciple
of Frank Lloyd Wright, designed the initial homes for developer Joseph
Eichler.
(SFC, 9/29/99, Z1 p.7)
1950 Sep 2, In Oakland the
Children’s Fairyland opened at Lake Merritt. 6,000 children streamed
through the instep of Old Mother Hubbard's Shoe. Walt Disney based his
theme park on Fairyland and stole away the first director, Dorothy
Manes, with a higher salary. It was reconstructed in 1998.
(SFEC,12/21/97, p.B5)(SFC, 3/18/98, p.A15)(SFEC,
10/31/99, p.C1)
1950 Sep, A secret US Army and
Navy experiment spread Serratia marcescens bacteria, because of its red
pigment, and Bacillus globigii, because of its formed spores similar to
anthrax, off the coast of San Francisco Bay from a mine laying ship for
6 days. The bacteria was thought to be harmless, but the germs sent 11
people to hospitals and killed one person. Edward J. Nevin, from a
heart infection. In 1977 Senate subcommittee hearings the Army revealed
that it had staged the mock biological attack.
(SFC, 2/21/98, p.A15)(WSJ, 10/22/01, p.A1)(AH, 6/03,
p.49)
1950 The Jepson Herbarium was
founded at UC Berkeley for the study and collection of California flora.
(SFC, 7/4/01, p.D4)
1950 Morris Ross (d.1997 at 87)
opened his first retail store, The Ross Department Store, on San Mateo
Ave. in San Bruno. It was the precursor of the Ross Dress-For-Less
discount chain.
(SFC,12/5/97, p.B8)
1950 Countess Lillian Remillard
Dandini, the divorced daughter of an Oakland brick maker, purchased the
Chateau Carolands. She kept it for 2 decades and called it the Chateau
Remillard.
(Ind, 2/26/00, p.5A)
1950 Evangelist C. Thomas Patten
(d.1958) was convicted of defrauding followers. He served a 3 year
sentence for 5 counts of grand theft. His wife Bebe Patten (d.2004)
continued the Pentecostal ministry and in 1961 moved 4 of their
institutions from downtown Oakland to the Fruitvale neighborhood.
(SFC, 1/28/04, p.A17)
1950 Berkeley, Ca., 1st noted smog
damage to vegetation.
(SFC, 2/18/05, p.F4)
1950s Federal officials returned
the former PG&E plant side east of Cow Palace to PG&E. The
military housing was deeded to San Mateo County.
(SFC, 3/10/98, p.A14)
1951 Apr 13, Edward Joseph
Carrigan, US Marshal, was arrested for accepting a $2,000 bribe from
millionaire auto dealer Phil Davis of Oakland. Davis hoped to buy a
soft jail term.
(SFC, 4/13/01, WBb p.3)
1951 May, A Teamsters Union
dispute with 14 Northern California dairies led the Associated Farmers
group to block delivery of milk to Alameda County. The boycott was
lifted Oct 26.
(SFC, 10/26/01, WB p.7)
1951 Jun 9, The Navy transport
Clymer dropped anchor in the Bay and severely damaged the underwater
transbay cables of Pacific Telephone and Telegraph.
(SFC, 5/24/02, p.G8)
1951 Jul 21, Some 9,000 telephone
operators in Northern California went on strike including 5,000 at
PT&T in the Bay Area.
(SFC, 7/20/01, WBb p.7)
1951 Jul, David D. Bohannon
released plans for a $15 million, 200-store shopping complex in
Hillsdale.
(Ind, 11/30/02, 5A)
1951 Sep 1-10, The 40-person
Soviet delegation to the peace treaty signing in SF stayed at the
Uplands mansion in Hillsborough.
(Ind, 9/8/01, 5A)
1951 Oct 5, The World Series was
telecast on the West Coast. The NY Giants defeated the NY Yankees 5-1.
(SFC, 10/5/01, WB p.6)
1951 Oct 5, A preliminary plan for
an underground parking garage at Civic Center Plaza called for a $5.78
million 2,075-car garage.
(SFC, 10/5/01, WB p.6)
1951 Oct 6, Construction began on
a new $6.77 million south terminal at the airport.
(SFC, 10/5/01, WB p.6)
1951 Nov 3, All Bay Area Chinese
lotteries halted operations because of a new federal gambling tax that
required 10% of gross receipts for the government.
(SFC, 11/2/01, WB p.6)
1951 Nov 18, Two 4-engine Korean
airlift planes collided above Oakland Municipal Airport. One plane
crashed and the crew of 3 were killed. The other made an emergency
landing at SFO.
(SFC, 11/16/01, WB p.G4)
1951 Dec 1, A tempest raged over
SF and forced the first-ever closure of the Golden Gate Bridge. The
bridge closed for 3 hours.
(SFEC, 2/1/98, p.A1)(SFC, 11/30/01, WB p.G8)
1951 St. Ann’s Chapel in Palo Alto
was built by diplomat Clare Booth Luce as a memorial to her daughter, a
Stanford student, who was killed in a car crash.
(SFC, 8/12/98, p.A19)
1951 A 42-acre canyon park near
Canada College was donated to Redwood City by the Morris Stulsaft
Foundation. The city allowed a company to mine mercury ore from the
site during the 1950s and 1960s after which a playground was erected.
The grounds were closed in 1999 due to high levels of mercury and
chromium.
(SFC, 1/26/99, p.A17)
1952 Feb 6, The SF Chronicle
reported that Tom Keen, manufacturer of racetrack tote boards, was
blown to bits gangland style at his San Mateo home when he pushed the
starter on his Cadillac Fleetwood sedan.
(SFC, 2/1/02, p.G6)
1952 Feb 17, Residents of the SSF
Southwood district voted 174 to 28 to exclude Sing Sheng (25) and his
Chinese American family from the all white area. Sheng suggested the
vote following objections to his purchase of a house on West Orange Ave.
(SFC, 2/15/02, p.G8)
1952 Feb 20, Gov. Earl Warren sent
a letter to Sing Sheng and his family denouncing the vote of the
Southwood residents to exclude them.
(SFC, 2/15/02, p.G8)
1952 Apr 1, Some 12,000 AFL
carpenters in SF, Alameda, San Mateo and Marin went on strike
(SFC, 3/29/02, p.AG4)
1952 Jun 8, Oakland celebrated its
100th birthday with a parade that stretched for 15 blocks.
(SFC, 6/8/02, p.G8)
1952 Jul 1, Clark Kerr was
appointed to be the 1st chancellor for UC Berkeley.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F2)
1952 Sep 13, John Melville,
federal housing administrator, announced that all adults living in San
Francisco Bay Area federally aided public housing will be asked to sign
a loyalty affidavit under the Levering Act. Refusal would be grounds
for eviction.
(SFC, 9/13/02, p.E2)
1952 Dec 11, Stanford scientist
demonstrated the new $1,750,000 linear electron accelerator. Its
200-foot barrel fired electrons at 99.99% the speed of light.
(SFC, 12/6/02, p.E16)
1952 Dec 11, The outbound
Norwegian ship Fernstream was sliced open by the inbound SS Hawaiian
Rancher under heavy fog inside the Golden Gate. The Fernstream sank in
30 minutes but all passengers escaped.
(SFC, 12/6/02, p.E16)
1952 The Sausalito Arts Festival
started with some 2 dozen artists. Voters shifted responsibility for
the city-funded show to the Chamber of Commerce in 1981.
(SFEC, 9/3/00, p.C3)
1952 Stanford asked Prof. John
Herriot (d.2003 at 87) to lead a new Computation Center following the
acquisition of its 1st computer, an IBM Card Programmed Calculator.
(SFC, 4/14/03, p.A1)
1952 David and Alice Schwartz
started Bio-Rad in West Berkeley. They created custom methods of
separating proteins and other contents of living cells from each other.
They took the company public in 1966. In 2005 revenue reached $1.2
billion.
(SFC, 2/18/02, p.E1)(SFC, 8/22/06, p.E4)
1952 The Levy brothers opened a
new San Mateo store at 4th and B St. with the 1st up escalator in the
country.
(Ind, 11/7/98, p.5A)
1952 Roy Cloud, educator, died at
age 75.
(Ind, 9/30/00,5A)
1953 Feb 12, An explosion at the
Hercules Powder Co. near Pinole, Ca., killed 12 employees.
(SFC, 11/21/03, p.E4)
1953 Mar 22, UC Pres. Robert
Gordon Sproul addressed a Charter Day banquet and contended that
faculty members who support the Communist Party do not deserve
membership in a university faculty.
(SFC, 1/21/02, p.E3)
1953 Apr 29, Joseph Magnin (87),
pioneer SF merchant, died in Hillsborough.
(SFC, 4/25/03, E4)
1953 May 2, Twenty new Alcatraz
inmates rioted for 2 days. They objected to being placed opposite or
adjacent to cells housing black convicts.
(SFC, 5/2/03, p.E3)
1953 Jul 17, Stanford University's
trustees voted to move the Medical School from SF at Clay and Webster
to the Stanford campus in Palo Alto.
(SFC, 7/11/03, p.E6)
1953 Oct 29, A British airliner
with 11 passengers and 8 crew crashed into Kings Mountain, 10 miles
west of Redwood City, Ca., and all aboard were killed. William Kapell
(b.1922), genius pianist, died in the crash. He was returning from a
tour in Australia when his airplane crashed into a mountain outside San
Francisco. A set of his 1944-1953 recordings was released in 1998 by
RCA. In 1999 BMG released "The William Kapell Edition," a nine-disk set.
(SFC, 10/24/03, p.E10)(SFEC, 11/29/98, DB p.44)(WSJ,
2/1/99, p.A19)(WSJ, 5/24/08, p.W12)
1953 Nov 6, Albert Croxson (35)
and Donald Hogan (35) were killed when their 25-ton steel and timber
scaffold tore loose from beneath the Golden Gate Bridge. They were part
of a 28-man crew installing lateral bracing beneath the roadway of the
bridge.
(SFC, 11/7/03, p.E3)
1953 Nov 21, Over 3 tons of
blasting powder exploded at the Hercules Powder Co. near Pinole, Ca.,
and 2 men were killed.
(SFC, 11/21/03, p.E4)
1953 Nov 21, The Univ. of
California football team tied Stanford 21-21 in the Big Game before a
crowd of 92,500 at Stanford.
(SFC, 11/21/03, p.E4)
1953 Nov 22, The Ford Motor Co.
planned to spend an estimated $40 million to build an assembly plant in
Milpitas, Ca.
(SFC, 11/21/03, p.E4)
1953 Alfredo Santos (26), San
Quentin inmate, won a contest to paint murals on dining hall walls. He
completed 6 murals of California history over the 2 years and was
paroled in 1955.
(SSFC, 7/27/03, p.A25)
1953 Mario Gaidano (1914-2003)
designed the Marin Joe's restaurant in Marin, Ca.
(SFC, 9/20/03, p.A20)
1953 The McLellan flower business
was renamed to "Acres Of Orchids."
(PI, 1/24/98, p.5)
1953 The House Committee on
Un-American Activities held hearings in the Bay Area. Paul Sidney Chown
(d.1997 at 80), a supporter of the old Independent Progressive Party,
defied the committee and described its witnesses as "paid,
professional, hopped-up informers."
(SFC, 6/23/97, p.A22)
1953 In California Roberts
Regional Recreation Area opened in the Oakland Hills.
(SFC, 6/1/07, p.B9)
1953 W.W. Dixon (b.1883),
storybook home architect, died. Most of his homes were built in the
East Bay of the SF Bay Area.
(SFC, 8/20/05, p.F1)
1954 Jan 24, A winter storm
brought snow to the Bay Area Hills.
(SFC, 1/23/04, p.E3)
1954 Feb 6, A US Air Force
4-engine RC-121 Super Constellation, one of the new flying radar
stations, crashed in the shallows of San Pablo Bay. All 13 crew members
survived.
(SFC, 2/6/04, p.E12)
1954 Feb 15, The 1st bevatron went
into operation in Berkeley, California.
(440 Int’l., 2/15/99)
1954 Mar 1, Peninsula Hospital and
Medical Center opened after 2 years of construction. It was build over
23 acres of the old Mills estate.
(Ind, 10/3/98, p.5A)
1954 Apr 23, It was reported that
the US Army Corps of engineers planned to spend $5 million on secret
projects in the Bay Area. It was presumed that this included Nike
Guided Missile defense installations.
(SFC, 4/23/04, p.F5)
1954 May, The US Coast Guard began
around the clock patrols outside the San Francisco’s Golden Gate to
guard against ships that might smuggle nuclear bombs into SF Bay. The
patrols were made public in Feb 2, 1955.
(SFC, 1/28/05, p.F7)
1954 Jun, The Darius Ogden Mills
mansion burned down.
(Ind, 10/3/98, p.5A)
1954 Jul 1, The Round-Up Club of
Rodeo published “The Round Up of Rodeo History.”
(SFCM, 5/30/04, p.4)
1954 Jul 8, The raft Lehi with 5
amateur sailors was towed out of SF Bay to attempt a 2,200 drifting
voyage to Hawaii. Mormon elder DeVere Baker (38) led the expedition.
The freighter Metapan rescued the crew on July 14.
(SFC, 7/9/04, p.F5)
1954 Sep 25, Jack La Lanne,
professional muscleman from Oakland, became the 1st man to swim the
Golden Gate underwater. He crossed in 45 minutes using flippers, a
rubber suit and air tanks.
(SFC, 9/24/04, p.F9)
1954 Nov 4, Frank “Lefty” O’Doul
announced that he will return to the Bay Area from San Diego and manage
the Oakland Oaks for owner C.L. Laws in 1955.
(SFC, 11/5/04, p.F7)
1954 Nov 6, Marion Olson swam the
6 and 7/8-mile Gold Gate in a record 25 minutes and 42 sec. The old
record was set in 1917 by Katherine Flaherty.
(SFC, 11/5/04, p.F7)
1954 cNov 9, The San Mateo County
Supervisors voted to allow the coastal communities Linda Mar, Pedro
Valley and rockaway Beach to cast ballots for or against incorporation.
(AP, 11/6/04)
1954 Nov 19, The Univ. of
California defeated Stanford 28-20 in Berkeley in the 57th Big Game.
(SFC, 11/19/04, p.F2)
1954 Dec 3, The Public Housing
Administration announced rent increases in federally owned war housing
throughout the Bay Area. Average cost including utilities would be $49
a month.
(SFC, 12/3/04, p.F8)
1954 Dec 23, Safeway stores in the
Bay Area announced they will stop welling comic books and pocket-size
books due to their emphasis on horror, crime and sex.
(SFC, 12/24/04, p.F2)
c1954 John Diebenkorn, California
artist, painted his work "Berkeley." It sold for $1.8 million in 1998.
(WSJ, 5/15/98, p.W12)
1954 US missile silos were built
in the Marin, Ca., headlands. They were decommissioned in 1974. In 1975
the area became home to the non-profit Marine Mammal Center.
(SFC, 9/2/08, p.E1)
1954 Greenmeadow, a development of
270 homes by Joe Eichler, opened off San Antonio and Alma in Palo Alto.
(SFCM, 8/22/04, p.4)
1954 Sturgeon fishing re-opened in
SF Bay for sport anglers with rod and reel.
(SSFC, 10/19/03, p.A22)
1955 Feb 3, AFL grocery clerks
struck against the 400-members of the Retail Grocers Association and
began picketing 2 stores in SF. Negotiations had broken down over union
demands for $3 per week wage increase. An employer’s lockout soon
closed at least 100 stores.
(SFC, 2/4/05, p.F9)
1955 Apr 28, Stephanie Bryan (14)
failed to return home from school at Willard Jr. High in Berkeley. She
was kidnapped by Burton Abbott, a married accounting student at Cal.
[see Jul 20]
(SFEC,12/28/97, p.D5)
1955 Jun 3, Barbara Graham was
executed at San Quentin. John Santo and Emmett Perkins were executed
later the same day. They had been convicted in the 1953 murder of
wealthy Burbank widow Mabel Monahan.
(SFC, 5/20/05, p.F9)(SFC, 6/3/05, p.F2)
1955 Jun 28, It was reported that
Henry J. Kaiser had agreed to purchase the 7-acre site of the College
of Holy Names overlooking Lake Merritt for $2,560,000. He planned a new
headquarters for his industrial empire.
(SFC, 6/24/05, p.F7)
1955 Jul 8, Gov. Goodwin Knight
signed legislation creating a 6-county SF Bay Smog Control District.
(SFC, 7/8/05, p.F6)
1955 Jul 8, Plans were announced
for a double-decked section of the Eastshore Freeway along Cypress
Street in Oakland. The $7 million job was expected to be finished in 2
years.
(SFC, 7/8/05, p.F6)
1955 Jul 9, Gov. Goodwin Knight
vetoed an omnibus park and recreation bill. This prompted Santa Cruz
Lumber Co. to begin intensive logging operations in the Butano forest,
the last stand of virgin giant redwoods in the Bay Area.
(SFC, 7/29/05, p.F7)
1955 Jul 10, Jack LaLanne in
handcuffs swam from just south of Alcatraz to Fisherman’s Wharf in 56
minutes, where he knocked of a dozen one-handed pushups.
(SFC, 7/8/05, p.F6)
1955 Jul 15, Georgia Abbott, a
beautician, found Stephanie Bryan’s red purse in the basement of her
Alameda home. Police and FBI dug up the basement floor the next day and
found Stephanie’s books, glasses and a brassiere. Burton Abbott still
denied any knowledge of the crime.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W20)
1955 Jul 20, The body of Stephanie
Bryan was found in Trinity County where Burton Abbott owned a fishing
cabin. Burton W. "Bud" Abbott, an ex-GI, was later convicted and
executed for her murder. The story is covered in the 1997 book:
"Shallow Grave in Trinity County" by Harry Farrell.
(SFC, 12/2/97, p.D5)(SFEC,12/28/97, p.D5)
1955 Jul 22, Burton Abbott was
arraigned in Berkeley for the murder of Stephanie Bryan (14).
(SFC, 7/22/05, p.F3)
1955 Jul, Weldon Kees, poet,
painter and artist, jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge. Kees had
recently completed a short film called “Hotel Apex,” which showed the
destruction of a hotel near his home in Point Richmond.
(SFC, 6/8/06, 96 Hours p.41)
1955 Aug 12, William Grami (28),
AFL Teamsters Union official, was kidnapped, bound and beaten near
Sebastopol, Ca. He was leading a drive to organize apple plant workers
in the area.
(SFC, 8/12/05, p.F3)
1955 Sep 12, A new toll schedule,
effective Sep 30, on the SF Golden Gate Bridge charged 25 cents for
vehicles and 10 cents for bicyclists and pedestrians.
(SFC, 9/9/05, p.F5)
1955 Sep 26, The Bay Area Rapid
Transit Commission (BART) called for a billion-dollar network of rapid
transit facilities.
(SFC, 9/23/05, p.F3)
1955 Oct 9, The Federal Bureau of
Roads approved plans for a new California freeway down the center of
the SF Peninsula, around the Bay and north through Dublin and Walnut
Creek to Vallejo.
(SFC, 10/7/05, p.F2)
1955 Oct 14, In SF, Ca., a US Navy
attack bomber crashed on the eastern shore of Yerba Buena Island. Pilot
Gilbert David Reeve died in the wreck.
(SFC, 10/14/05, p.F2)
1955 Oct 16, In SF, Ca., Dick Poe
(9) swam the Golden Gate channel in 38 minutes accompanied by his
father Rupert Poe.
(SFC, 10/14/05, p.F6)
1955 Oct 17, Federal narcotics
agents in California arrested Oakland grocer Chin Yick Gee after
discovering 100 bundles of opium concealed in a rented room.
(SFC, 10/14/05, p.F6)
1955 Oct 18, Ernest O. Lawrence,
Univ. of California Radiation lab. director, announced the discovery of
the existence of an anti-proton, an atomic particle postulated in 1928.
(SFC, 10/14/05, p.F6)
1955 Oct 23, A 4.5 Richter scale
earthquake hit the SF Bay Area.
(SFC, 10/21/05, p.F6)
1955 Nov 4, August Vollmer (79),
father of modern police science, shot himself to death in Berkeley, Ca.
He was afflicted with Parkinson’s Disease late in life, and also
cancer, and he refused to be bedridden or a burden to others. Vollmer
was a pioneer in the use of radio and fingerprints for police work.
(SFC, 11/4/05,
p.F6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Vollmer)
1955 Nov 18, The Stanford Univ.
football team defeated UC Berkeley 19-0 in the 58th Big Game. This tied
the series with 24 victories and 10 ties each.
(SFC, 11/18/05, p.F2)
1955 Dec 30, Snow covered the SF
Bay Area peaks but quickly melted after sunrise.
(SFC, 12/23/05, p.F4)
1955 Joseph Eichler created the
$10 million Eichler Highlands west of San Mateo.
(Ind, 11/30/02, 5A)
1955 The Burlingame Club moved to
its 5th quarters at New Place, the former mansion of William H. Crocker.
(Ind, 5/12/01, 5A)
1955 Gov. Goodwin J. Knight vetoed
a bill to purchase the 12,000 acres of the Butano forest in southern
San Mateo County. 1,200 acres were declared a State park in 1961.
(Ind, 9/22/01, 5A)
1955 William Schockley,
co-inventor of the transistor, arrived in Silicon Valley in 1955 with
funding from Beckman Instruments.
(SFEC,12/14/97, p.A12)
1955 Prof. John Herriot (d.2003 at
87) began teaching Stanford's 1st programming course, Math 139: Theory
and Operation of Computing Machines.
(SFC, 4/14/03, p.A1)
1955 Pasteurized potting mix first
appeared in the McLellan catalog. It was developed in joint research
with the Univ. of Calif. and was later named "Supersoil."
(PI, 1/24/98, p.5)
1955 Los Altos High School opened.
(SFCM, 5/8/05, p.8)
1955 The US Navy turned over the
Midway Village, Daly City, site to San Mateo County, Ca., for public
housing and schools.
(SFC, 1/19/00, p.A4)(SFC, 3/2/09, p.B1)
1956 Jan 5, Engineering
consultants recommended the construction of a 123-mile network of
high-speed electric trains to serve the Bay Area. The 6-county BART,
the SF Bay Area Rapid Transport system, was estimated to cost $716.5
million.
(SFC, 12/30/05, p.F2)
1956 Jan 23, Fremont, Ca., became
a city of 22,000 residents following the incorporation of 5 separate
townships, Irvington, Mission San Jose, Centerville, Warm springs, and
Niles.
(SFC, 1/23/06, p.B5)
1956 Jul 9, Tom Hanks, actor
(Bossom Buddies, Forrest Gump, Phila), was born in Concord, Calif.
(MC, 7/9/02)
1956 Jul 9, Fred and Pat Cody
opened Cody’s bookstore in Berkeley, Ca. In 1977 they sold the
operation to Andy Ross. In 2005 Ross planned to open a store in Union
Square, SF. In 2006 Ross sold the company to a Japanese firm. Cody’s
closed its last store in Berkeley on June 20, 2008.
(SFC, 1/7/05, p.C1)(SFC, 6/23/08, p.A7)(SFC,
6/23/08, p.A7)
1957 Aug 1, Lewis Hill (b.1919)
committed suicide in Duncan Mills, Sonoma County, Ca. He had helped
found Pacifica Radio (KPFA).
(SFC, 7/22/99,
p.E5)(www.ringnebula.com/folio/Issue-12/Conversation_Joy_Hill.htm)
1956 Aug 20, The Republican
Convention opened at the Cow Palace.
(SFEC, 5/16/99, Z1 p.4)
1956 Aug 22, President Eisenhower
and Vice President Nixon were nominated for second terms in office by
the Republican National Convention in San Francisco.
(AP, 8/22/97)(Ind, 11/3/01, 5A)
1956 Sep 1, The Richmond-San
Rafael bridge was opened and the Richmond-San Rafael Ferry Co. went out
of business.
(SFC, 8/8/97, p.A20)(SFEC, 5/16/99, Z1 p.4)
1956 Oct 14, The San Carlos
Babylon Club was burned down. It had begun as the Ohio Building in the
1915 SF Panama-Pacific Expo and was towed to San Carlos in 1916.
(Ind, 6/30/01, 5A)
1956 Joe’s of Westlake was built
in Daly City.
(SFC, 3/28/01, Food p.5)
1956 Cubberley High School opened
in the Greenmeadow development of Palo Alto. It closed in 1979.
(SFCM, 8/22/04, p.4)
1956 Most of the Folger estate,
Hazelwood Hills, was sold to Martin Wunderlich, a Danish contractor.
His plan to subdivide the property derailed due to the proximity of the
San Andreas fault. He later deeded the property to San Mateo Ct. for
use as a public park.
(Ind, 5/26/01, 5A)
1956 William Schockley,
co-developer of the transistor, founded Schockley Semiconductor
Laboratory in Palo Alto. Two of his hires, Robert Noyce and Gordon
Moore, later went on to start Intel Corp.
(SFEC, 8/17/97, BR p.4)
1956 Lockheed Corp. began moving
engineers to Sunnyvale, Ca., lured by offers of land and talent from
Stanford Univ.
(SFC, 9/15/06, p.D3)
1956 Edward (d.1984) and Violet
(d.2002) Daly moved the headquarters of World Airways to Oakland Int’l.
Airport from New Jersey. They had purchased the airline in 1952.
(SFC, 2/2/02, p.A18)
1956 Stanford began developing a
shopping mall in Palo Alto, Ca. Major interest was sold to Simon
Property in 2003 for $333 million.
(SFC, 7/2/03, p.B1)
1957 Mar 15, Burton Abbott was
executed in San Quentin’s gas chamber for the 1955 murder of Stephanie
Bryan (14). Burton claimed innocence to his death.
(SFC, 12/2/97, p.D5)
1957 Mar 22, An earthquake,
centered in Daly City, Ca., hit the SF Bay Area and caused extensive
damage to Mary’s Help Hospital.
(Ind, 8/11/01, 5A)(CW, Winter 04, p.45)(DCFD,
Centennial, 2007)
1957 May 3, A low flying Navy
bomber, while practicing evasion maneuvers, sheared two high-voltage
lines in the East Bay of San Francisco causing a power outage in SF and
the Peninsula.
(SFC, 5/4/09, p.B2)
1957 Sep 19, Eight engineers, who
had recently left Shockley Semiconductor, signed papers to form
Fairchild Semiconductor in Santa Clara County. Jean A. Hoerni
(1925-1997) was one of the "Fairchild Eight." He was credited with
building the bridge from the transistor to the integrated circuit.
Eugene Kleiner (d.2003), another co-founder, helped found the Kleiner
Perkins Caufield and Byers venture capital firm in 1972. The other
engineers included Julius Blank, Jay Last, Victor Grinich (d.2000 at
75), Gordon Moore, Robert Noyce and Sheldon Roberts. NYC bankers Arthur
Rock and Bud Coyle helped the engineers start Fairchild Semiconductor.
(SFC, 2/5/97, p.A20)(SFC, 11/11/00, p.A26)(SFC,
11/26/03, p.D1)(SSFC, 9/30/07, p.F1)
1957 Nov, William E. Schirmer
(b.1891), SF Bay Area architect, died in a car crash along with his
wife when a drunk driver crossed a center line.
(SFC, 8/2/08, p.F6)
1957 Stanford Prof. Edward
Gintzton (d.1998 at 82) wrote his textbook "Microwave Measurement." He
was a pioneer in the development of medical linear accelerators for the
treatment of cancer and co-founded Varian Associates (1948).
(SFC, 8/18/98, p.A18)
1957 The Gothic St. Matthew
Episcopal Church in San Mateo, designed by Willis Polk, was pulled
apart to allow for 160 more pews.
(Ind, 9/1/01, 5A)
1957 Rev. Cecil Osborne (d.1999 at
94), pastor of the First Baptist Church in Burlingame, founded
Yokefellows Inc., a group counseling center. Osborne wrote 13 books 2
of which were best sellers: "The Art of Understanding Yourself" and
"The Art of Understanding Your Mate."
(SFC, 3/31/99, p.C2)
1957 Lloyd Neale Cobbledick Jr.
(d.1997 at 75) helped form the Glass Management Association designed to
negotiate fair contracts with the Glaziers Union.
(SFEC, 6/22/97, p.D8)
1957 San Mateo County voters
approved a bond issue for a new San Mateo Junior College campus.
(Ind, 12/30/00, 5A)
1957 Alvin Leonard (d.2008 at 90)
began serving as the public health director of Berkeley, Ca., and
continued there until 1970.
(SFC, 5/29/08, p.B5)
1957 Coastal residents in north
San Mateo County incorporated as the City of Pacifica.
(Ind, 1/23/99, p.5A)
1957 The Hewlett-Packard Corp.
went public and began operating its new site at Stanford Research Park.
(SFC, 3/3/99, p.A11)
1957 In South San Francisco
Alphonse Seubert (1916-2006) began planting trees on the southern slope
of San Bruno Mountain. He continued for 40 years and ultimately oversaw
the planting of some 35,000 trees.
(SFC, 4/11/06, p.B5)
1957 Bernard Maybeck (.b1862),
architect, died. Most of his Arts and Crafts style homes were done in
Berkeley, Ca., where he lived.
(SFC, 1/29/03, p.F7)
1958 Feb, Anna Cucchiara opened
Ann's Café on Fruitvale Ave. in Oakland. Frances Bienati, her
daughter, continued to run it until 2000.
(SFC, 2/17/00, p.A17)
1958 Apr 19, The last Key System
train left Oakland for SF. Ferry service from the Ferry Building ended
the next day when the Southern Pacific "Eureka" made its last crossing
from SF to Oakland.
(SFC, 8/10/98, p.A5)(SFC, 9/4/98, p.A25)(SFC,
8/7/07, p.A6)(SFC, 4/18/08, p.B1)
1958 Apr 20, The last Key System
train left San Francisco for Oakland. Ferry service from the SF Ferry
Building ended when the Southern Pacific "Eureka" made its last
crossing to Oakland. Train tracks were taken off the lower deck of the
Bay Bridge and the lanes were paved in for car traffic.
(SFC, 8/10/98, p.A5)(SFC, 9/4/98, p.A25)(SFC,
8/7/07, p.A6)(SFC, 4/18/08, p.B1)
1958 Apr 27, Billy Graham began a
6-week Bay Area crusade at the Cow Palace in Daly City, Ca. Some 18,000
crowded inside as another 5,000 stood in the parking lot. Graham began
a 3-day revival crusade at the Cow Palace that drew nearly 700,000
people.
(SFC, 10/1/96, p.D1)(SSFC, 4/27/08, DB p.58)
1958 Sep 29, Clark Kerr (47) was
inaugurated as UC’s 12th president after serving 6 years as chancellor.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F2)
1958 The "Film Quarterly" began
publishing from UC Berkeley under editor Ernest Callenbach. In 1999
Brian Henderson and Ann Martin edited "Film Quarterly: Forty Years - A
Selection."
(SFEC, 3/7/99, BR p.3)(SFEC, 8/22/99, BR p.5)
1958 The El Cerrito Plaza was
completed.
(SFC, 3/29/02, p.A17)
1958 A 2nd eastern Carquinez
Bridge opened over the Sacramento River between Crocket and Vallejo.
The 1st cantilever bridge was built by American Toll Bridge Co. in 1927.
(SFC, 1/29/00, p.A19)(SFC, 6/24/02, p.B3)
1958 Pres. Eisenhower gave the
green light for the Corona project, which would create satellites to
spy on the Soviet Union. The new Lockheed Corp. facility in Palo Alto,
Ca., quickly became involved in the program, which remained classified
until 1995. Satellites equipped with parachutes kept tabs on the
Eastern Bloc from 1960-1972.
(SFC, 9/15/06, p.D3)
1958 T. Jack Foster, a land
developer from Texas, purchased Brewer Island and several square miles
of march for $200,000. He dredged the wetlands for 6 years to form 230
acres of lagoons and pumped 18 million cubic yards of mud and sand on
to the island, raising it slightly above sea level. He planned a SF Bay
Area, scientifically controlled community that became known as Foster
City. George Gatter served on the planning team for Foster City. By
2006 Foster City had grown to some 29,000 residents.
(Ind, 8/4/01, 5A)(SFC, 8/31/06, p.B7)(SFC, 6/14/09,
p.H2)
1958-1970 Jeffery Cohelan served as congressman from
the Oakland-Berkeley district.
(SFC, 2/18/99, p.C4)
1959 Jan 16, Brennan’s Restaurant
opened in Berkeley near the foot of University Ave. John P. Brennan,
contractor, opened it to cater to the working man.
(SFC, 11/2/04, p.B5)(SFCM, 1/23/05, p.4)
1959 Mar 3, A SF Bay Area
earthquake measured 5.5 on the Richter scale in Berkeley.
(SSFC, 3/1/09, DB p.50)
1959 Mar, In California 22 college
kids of St. Mary’s in Moraga stuffed themselves into a telephone booth.
Their effort was captured by a Life Magazine photographer. A South
African team had set the world record of 25 1958. In 2009 St. Mary’s
students attempted to break the campus record, but failed when a
plexiglas wall popped.
(http://tinyurl.com/c9et4a)(SFC, 3/27/09, p.F2)
1959 Jun 5, In the San Francisco
Bay Area 40 teachers were subpoenaed by the House Un-American
Activities Committee. Hearings were to open on June 17. The ACLU said
it would do everything it can to block the San Francisco hearings.
(SSFC, 5/31/09, DB p.50)
1959 Aug 5, Eugene A. Doran, a
Hillsborough police officer, was gunned down during a traffic stop at
Bunker Hill Drive. Alexander Robillard XIV, was convicted and executed
2 years later. In 1969 the high bridge over I-280 near the Crystal
Springs Reservoir was named in his honor.
(SFC, 1/26/98, p.A11)(Ind, 6/24/00,5A)
1959 The band "The Blue Velvets"
made their debut performance at a sock hop at El Cerrito High. The John
Fogerty band went on to become the Golliwogs and then Credence
Clearwater Revival.
(SSFC, 4/14/02, p.30)
1959 Patrick Henry (d.1999)
founded the Bay Area KJAZ-FM radio. He sold the station to Ron Cowan in
1980 and it went off the air in 1995 when Cowan sold the frequency to
KZSF, a Spanish language station.
(SFEC, 12/12/99, p.C6)
1959 Moe Moskowitz opened Moe’s
Books on Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley, Ca.
(SFC, 10/3/08, p.C3)
1959 A state law identified the
state highways forming El Camino Real, which included Highway 1,
Highway 101 and Highway 82.
(SFC, 4/10/99, p.A19)
1959 The Reichardt Duck Farm on
Old Mission Rd. was forced to close for development of the El Camino
High School. The farm was moved to Petaluma.
(Ind, 4/17/99, p.5A)
1959 William Emerson Ayer (d.1998
at 76) founded Applied Technology Inc. of Palo Alto, Ca. He established
success with a device that warned combat pilots when they were under
enemy radar surveillance.
(SFC, 2/14/98, p.A21)
1959 The new Shane Telescope was
installed at the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton under director
Albert E. Whitford (d.2002 at 96). The Whitford Reddening Curve
quantified the interstellar absorption of light and helped map the
distribution of stars in the Milky Way.
(SFC, 4/4/02, p.A19)
1960 Feb 19, UC Regents retracted
the following question from an English aptitude test for high school
applicants: "What are the dangers to a democracy of a national police
organization, like the FBI, which operates secretly and is unresponsive
to public criticism." FBI director J. Edgar Hoover had organized a
covert public relations campaign and put pressure on Gov. Brown to
retract the question.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F3)
1960 Mar 2, FBI director J. Edgar
Hoover received a 60-page report on the "political complexion" of UC
Berkeley.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F3)
1960 May 2, Convicted sex offender
and best-selling author Caryl Chessman was executed at San Quentin
Prison in California. SFC crime reporter Bernice Davis (d.2002 at 97)
later authored "Desperate and the Damned," an account of the Chessman
case.
(AP, 5/2/97)(SFC, 2/8/02, p.A25)
1960 May 13, Bill Mandel was
brought before a committee at SF City Hall concerning his broadcasts at
KPFA radio and KQED TV about press and periodicals of the Soviet Union.
His TV show was cancelled but he continued broadcasting at KPFA.
(SFEC, 7/26/98, p.D1,4)
1960 Sep 20, David Park (b.1911),
a SF Bay Area figurative painter, died at 49. His work included: "Man
in a T-Shirt" and "Untitled" (1958), "Torso" (1959). He made the
1st serious break with Abstract Expressionism in his 1950
painting "Kids of Bikes."
(SFEC, 12/1/96, DB p.21)(SFC, 8/23/97, p.A20)(SFEM,
9/21/97, p.31)(WSJ, 12/3/01, p.A17)
1960 The US Army completed
Capehart Housing, some 30 duplexes in the Marin Headlands.
(SFCM, 10/3/04, p.14)
1960 The Woodside Community Church
was built in Woodside, Ca. It was designed by Donn Emmons (d.1997 at
87).
(SFC, 9/3/97, p.A20)
1960 The new King Estates Middle
School opened in Oakland, Ca.
(SFC, 10/31/00, p.A1)
1960 Ralph Stackpole presented the
new city of Pacifica, Ca., with 2 working models of his 1939 Expo
statue of the same name.
(Ind, 1/23/99, p.5A)
1960 The Oakland Raiders began
play in the fledgling American Football League at Youell Field, Kezar
Stadium and the new Candlestick Park.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W39)
1960 The SF Bay was reduced to 548
sq. miles by silting, diking, draining and filling.
(SFC, 11/4/98, p.A29)
1960 Developer T. Jack Foster, to
finance the development of Foster City, persuaded California state Sen.
Richard Dolwig (R.-Redwood City) to pass a bill creating the Estero
Municipal Improvement District, which was authorized to issue over $85
million in bonds through 1967.
(SFC, 6/14/09, p.H2)
1960 A fire swept the old Madden
& Lewis boatyard in Sausalito, Ca., and devastated the studio of
David Morris (d.1999 at 88). Morris had served as the head of the arts
section of the WPA in the 1930s.
(SFC, 2/25/99, p.C2)
1960s-70s Developers dodged rattlesnakes and
bulldozed farmland in Pinole to make way for new subdivisions.
(SFC, 11/16/98, p.A17)
1961 Mar 8, The San Mateo Board of
supervisors signed a contract for the construction of a $100,000 museum
at the new campus of San Mateo College. In 1998 the museum was moved to
the old San Mateo County Courthouse.
(Ind, 9/21/02, 5A)
1961 Apr 26, Alexander Robillard
XIV was executed for the 1959 murder of Hillsborough police officer
Eugene A. Doran.
(Ind, 6/24/00,5A)
1961 Jun 12, A state Senate
fact-finding sub-committee of Un-American Activities issued a report
that charged UC Pres. Clark Kerr "had opened the campus gates to
communists."
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F4)
1961 The development of the land
for Foster City began with the leveling of Brewer Island. Dairyman
Frank M. Brewer had drained and diked the land at the turn of the
century and used it for pasture.
(Ind, 8/4/01, 5A)
1961 The Association of Bay Area
Governments was formed following the efforts of UC Prof. Victor Jones
(d.2001 at 92).
(SFC, 4/12/01, p.A25)
1961 Sylvia McLaughlin, Kay Kerr
and Esther Gulick founded the Save the Bay Association in an effort to
stop plans by the city of Berkeley to create 2,000 new acres by filling
in shallow bay waters. Their efforts led to the 1965 McAteer-Petris
Act, which placed a moratorium on filling the SF Bay.
(SFCM, 10/5/03, p.13)(SFC, 5/10/04, p.B5)
1961 John Houlihan was elected
mayor of Oakland. In 1966 he was indicted for embezzlement.
(SFC, 2/12/03, p.A25)
1961 The Oakland Zoo moved to its
new Knowland Park location.
(SFC, 4/6/98, p.A17)
1961 1,200 acres of the Butano
forest in southern San Mateo County were declared a state park.
(Ind, 9/22/01, 5A)
1961 The Audubon Canyon Ranch was
established in Marin County. Aileen Pierson (d.2003 at 91) was a
co-founder.
(SFC, 2/6/03, p.A20)
1961 Dr. Leo Postman (d.2004)
founded the Institute of Human Learning at UC Berkeley and served as
director until 1977. His books included “The Psychology of Rumor.”
(SFC, 5/7/04, p.B7)
1962 Mar 23, Pres. John F. Kennedy
visited San Francisco and spoke at UC Berkeley on the 100th anniversary
of the Morrill Act. “For this university and so many other universities
across our country owe their birth to the most extraordinary piece of
legislation this country has ever adopted, and that is the Morrill Act,
signed by President Abraham Lincoln in the darkest and most uncertain
days of the Civil War, which set before the country the opportunity to
build the great land grant colleges of which this is so distinguished a
part. Six years later this university obtained its Charter.”
(http://tinyurl.com/6fbdog)
1962 Mar 30, M.C. Hammer, [Stanley
Kirk Burrell], rapper (Hammer Time), was born in Oakland, Ca.
(MC, 3/30/02)
1962 Jun 11, Frank Lee Morris,
John Anglin and Clarence Anglin escaped from Alcatraz and disappeared
into the SF Bay. Their fate was never resolved. The 1979 film "Escape
From Alcatraz" with Clint Eastwood was based on this event.
(SFC, 7/9/96, p.A20)(SFEC, 3/8/98, p.W38)(SFC,
12/1/98, pA3)
1962 Joel Hedgepeth (1912-2006),
marine biologist, authored “Introduction to Seashore Life of the San
Francisco Bay Region.”
(SSFC, 8/13/06, p.B6)
1962 The Marin Civic Center in San
Rafael, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and Aaron Green (d.2001 at 84),
was completed.
(SFEM,10/19/97, p.22)(SSFC, 6/10/01, p.A27)
1962 In Berkeley, Ca., 4
Protestant seminaries formed the Graduate Theological Union. In 1964
theologian John Dillenberger (1918-2008) became its first president.
(SFC, 2/19/08, p.B3)
1962 Ground was broken for the new
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center at Stanford Univ., Ca. Atom smashing
began in 1966. [see Dec 11, 1952] US Congress had approved funds in
1961. The project was led by Wolfgang K.H. Panofsky (1919-2007).
(SFC, 9/30/02, p.A5)(SFC, 9/26/07, p.B7)
1962 Alameda and Contra Costa
counties got their own Catholic diocese and bishop.
(SSFC, 7/27/03, p.A22)
1962 John Patrick Whooley (d.2003
at 82) founded the Irish Herald, a monthly newspaper for Irish
immigrants to the West Coast of the US.
(SSFC, 6/28/03, p.A31)
1962 The Philadelphia Warriors
basketball franchise with star Wilt Chamberlain moved to the Bay Area.
(SFC, 10/13/99, p.D4)
1962 Boyd Stewart, a Marin, Ca.,
cattleman, helped create the Point Reyes National Seashore on 70,000
acres of grassland.
(SFC, 1/1/05, p.A14)
1962 The Richardson Bay Foundation
was created to purchase and preserve tidal marshes threatened by
development. It was spearheaded by Dr. David Steinhardt (d.2005) and
effectively stopped plans, drawn up in the 1950s, to fill in Richardson
Bay for housing development.
(SFC, 12/7/00, p.A27)(SSFC, 7/17/05, p.A25)
1962 A surprise snowfall hit the
region.
(GDCH, 1986, p.14)
1963 Mar 21, The Alcatraz federal
prison island in San Francisco Bay was emptied of its last inmates at
the order of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.
(SFC, 6/29/96, p.E4)(SFC, 5/19/96,City Guide,
p.7)(SFC, 8/11/97, p.A12)(AP, 3/21/97)(HN, 3/21/98)
1963 Jul, Home construction began
on Foster City. The masterplan called for 5,000 single family homes to
sell for between $20,000 and $28,000, 1,600 apartments, 1,000 town
apartments, and 1,000 garden apartments.
(Ind, 8/4/01, 5A)
1963 Oct 22, Brian Boitano, figure
skater (Olympic-gold-1988), was born in Mountain View, Calif.
(MC, 10/22/01)
1963 Angel Island was declared a
state park.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W37)
1963 Al Davis (33) took over as
head coach of the Oakland Raiders.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W39)(SFC, 1/22/03, p.A10)
1963 Cal State Hayward opened its
ridgetop campus in Hayward.
(SFC, 10/7/04, p.B1)
1963 The new San Mateo Junior
College opened.
(Ind, 12/30/00, 5A)
1963 The Proctor & Gamble
Company purchased the SF based Folger Coffee. In 1994 P&G closed
the Folgers plant in South San Francisco, the brands last presence in
the Bay Area.
(SFC, 6/28/97, p.D2)(SFC, 6/5/08, p.C2)
1963 Herb Sandler, a NY lawyer,
and Marion Sandler, a Wall Street analyst, bought the 2-branch World
Savings and Loan Association (later Golden West Financial corp.) of
Oakland, Ca., for $3.8 million. They sold the company in 2006 to
Wachovia for $24.2 billion.
(SFC, 5/9/06, p.C1)
1964 Mar 9, A group of 5 Lakota
(Sioux) Native Americans occupied Alcatraz Island in a peaceful
protest. They declared that it should be a Native American cultural
center and university.
(SFC, 5/19/96,City Guide, p.7)(G, Summer ‘97, p.4)
1964 Apr, In Marin County, Ca.,
Danny Nowell (11) was caught by the hand on a hot-air balloon rope and
went airborne for about 10 minutes and 2 miles before being
rescued.
(SFC, 10/20/09, p.A1)
1964 May 7, A disturbed man
entered the cockpit of a Pacific Airlines flight and killed pilot Ernie
Clark (52). All 44 people aboard the Fairchild F-27A died as the plane
crashed in San Ramon, Ca.
(SFC, 10/9/09,
p.D12)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Air_Lines_Flight_773)
1964 May, Gertrude Kavesh Jones
(43) went missing in Mill Valley, Ca. Bruce Jones, her husband
(d.1987), reported her missing and soon showed up with a new wife from
Tahiti. In 2008 DNA testing identified her bones, found in a shallow
grave near her home.
(SFC, 4/10/08, p.B1)
1964 Aug 12, Charles Ogle, land
investor, vanished after flying out of Oakland, Ca., en route to Reno,
Nevada.
(SFC, 9/10/07, p.A1)
1964 Sep 14, UC Berkeley officials
announced a new policy prohibiting political action at the campus
entrance at Bancroft Way and Telegraph.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F5)
1964 Oct 1, The Free Speech
Movement was launched at the University of California at Berkeley.
Mario Savio (1943-1996), UC Berkeley physics student, began the Free
Speech Movement to fight prohibitions against students distributing
political brochures and other materials such as civil rights. The
incident began when police arrested Jack Weinberg for setting up an
unauthorized table in Sproul Plaza. Students surrounded the police car
in a standoff that lasted 32 hours. In 1998 a Free Speech Movement Cafe
was planned. In 2002 Robert Cohen and Reginald E. Zelnik edited "The
Free Speech Movement: Reflections on Berkeley in the 1960s."
(SFC, 11/6/96, p.B2)(AP, 10/1/97)(SFC, 4/30/98,
p.A18)(SSFC, 12/29/02, p.M5)
1964 Dec 2, Mario Savio (d.1996)
made a speech on behalf of the Free Speech Movement that caused
hundreds of students to take over Sproul Hall in Berkeley. Gov. Pat
Brown ordered police to arrest students occupying Sproul Hall. Police
moved in the next day and arrested 780, which prompted a student
strike. "There comes a time when the operation of the machine becomes
so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part, you
can’t even passively take part. And you’ve got to put your bodies on
the gears, and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the
apparatus, and you’ve go to make it stop." In 2002 Robert Cohen and
Reginald E. Zelnik edited "The Free Speech Movement: Reflections on
Berkeley in the 1960s."
(SFC, 12/3/97, p.A21)(SSFM, 4/29/01, p.13)(SSFC,
6/9/02, p.F5)
1964 Dec 3, Police arrested 824
students at the University of California at Berkeley, one day after the
students stormed the administration building and staged a massive
sit-in as part of the Free Speech Movement. It was the largest mass
arrest in US history.
(AP, 12/3/98)(SSFC, 12/29/02, p.M5)
1964 Dec 4, Some 10,000 people
attended a protest rally at Sproul Hall, UC Berkeley, and speakers
included Willie Brown and John Burton.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F4)
1964 Dec 7, UC Pres. Clark Kerr
held an unprecedented campus-wide meeting at the Greek Theater to
propose a compromise that fell short of campus free speech demands.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F4)
1964 Dec 18, The UC Regents
affirmed that university rules should follow the US Supreme Court
decisions on free speech.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F4)
1964 In Martinez the 12-story
Contra Costa County McBrien Administration Building opened. In 1998 it
was slated for demolition when supervisors learned that it would cost
more to repair than to replace.
(SFC, 1/9/99, p.A15,17)
1964 A third bore was opened for
the Caldecott Tunnel under the Oakland-Berkeley Hills.
(SFC, 9/12/98, p.A21)
1964 The US Berkeley Wurster Hall,
a high-rise housing the College of Environmental Design, was
constructed.
(SFC,10/24/97, p.A15)
1964 The US Berkeley Barrows Hall
was constructed.
(SFC,10/24/97, p.A15)
1964 The 1st homes of Foster City
were completed. The Charles Zerbe family were the first to me in at 613
Pilgrim.
(Ind, 8/4/01, 5A)
1964 The SF Bay Area city of
Tiburon, Ca., was incorporated.
(SFC, 12/14/05, p.B7)
1964 In California the prison gang
Aryan Brotherhood was founded at San Quentin State Prison. Members held
the credo “kill or be killed.” In 2006 the US Justice Dept. hoped to
destroy the organization through capital prosecutions. On July 28,
2006, 4 leaders were convicted for using murder and intimidation to
protect their drug-dealing operations behind bars.
(SFC, 3/14/06, p.A1)(SFC, 7/29/06, p.A3)
1964 KCSM Channel 60 was licensed
to the San Mateo County Community College District. The analog signal
ended in 2004 due to increased transmitter costs.
(SFC, 6/5/04, E1)
1964 David Glickman, attorney
turned Bangkok gem salesman, purchased the 6-acre Red Rock Island near
the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, for $50,000. In 2001 the island went on
sale for $10 million.
(SFC, 6/7/01, p.A19)
1964 Thomas W. Ford (d.1998 at 77)
acquired 16 acres at the top of Sand Hill Road near the proposed
Highway 280 and began his Ford Land Co.
(SFC, 12/1/98, p.A18)
1964 The Tanforan racing complex
burned. Work on a new shopping center at the site began in 1969.
(Ind, 8/17/02, 5A)
1965 Jan 3, UC Berkeley officials
announced a new campus policy that allowed political activity on campus.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F5)
1965 Mar 12, The SF FBI sent
bureau headquarters a secret 33-page report on Mario Savio, leader of
the Berkeley Free Speech Movement.
(SFCM, 10/10/04, p.18)
1965 Aug 31, The Beatles stayed at
the 8-story Cabana Hotel in Palo Alto. It was later renovated as the
Crowne Plaza Cabana Palo Alto and in 1999 Room 810 was set aside as the
Beatles Room.
(SFC, 8/30/99, p.A17)
1965 Oct, The submarine Mariano G.
Vallejo was built and launched from Mare Island. It was the 40th of the
Polaris/Poseidon missile submarines for a fleet that was called
"Forty-One for Freedom." It was decommissioned in 1995.
(SFC, 7/3/99, p.A16)
1965 Dec 10, The Warlocks band,
renamed as the Grateful Dead, made their debut under the new name at
the Fillmore Auditorium. The band began life as a Palo Alto area jug
band and moved to the Haight Ashbury in 1966.
(SFEC, 5/23/99, Z1 p.4)(SFEC, 8/29/99, BR p.6)
1965 Dec 10, The Kamehameha
submarine, launched at Mare Island in Jan 1965, was commissioned. It
was decommissioned in 2001.
(SFC, 9/7/01, p.A21)
1965 Dick Cavett performed as a
young stand-up comedian at Enrico Banducci’s "hungry i."
(SFEM, 9/24/00, p.12)
1965 Ken Kesey, author of
"Sometimes a Great Notion," and 13 pals, that included Neal Cassidy,
were arrested in La Honda for growing Marijuana.
(SFC, 5/24/97, p.A8)
1965 India-born Eknath Easwaran
(d.1999 at 88) founded the Nilgiri Press in Berkeley. In 1978 he
published "Meditation." His 8-point meditation program was taught by
the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation established in 1961 in Tomales.
(SFC, 11/1/99, p.A23)
1965 The US Army returned the land
leased for the Benicia Arsenal and gave most of the rest to Benicia.
(SFEC, 8/29/99, p.A14)
1965 The SF Bay Conservation and
Development Commission (BCDC) was established by the state legislature
as a regional agency by the McAteer-Petris Act and was charged with
minimizing landfill in the bay and safeguarding public access to the
water.
(SFC, 11/4/98, p.A29)(SFEC, 2/27/00, p.B3)
1965 There was an unsuccessful
proposal to slice off the top of San Bruno Mountain for airport
landfill. 200 million cubic yards from the mountain were proposed to
fill in the Bay for airport expansion. This led to the founding of the
Committee to Save San Bruno Mountain.
(Ind, 4/27/99, p.A1,11)
1965 In Berkeley, Ca., a groups of
native plant enthusiasts banded together to save a Berkeley native
plant botanic garden from being sacrificed for development. This gave
birth to the California Native Plant Society (CNPS), dedicated to the
preservation and enjoyment of native plants.
(www.ebcnps.org/)
1965 Carr Jones (b.1885), SF Bay
Area architect, died. His work was rooted in the 19th century Arts and
Crafts tradition.
(SFC, 9/13/03, p.E1)
1966 Feb 20, Chester W. Nimitz
(80), US admiral (WW II), died at home on Yerba Buena Island (Treasure
Island) in SF Bay.
(MC, 2/20/02)(Ind, 11/9/02, 5A)
1966 Mar 30, The Union City
6-screen drive-in theater opened at the intersection of I-880 and
Alvarado-Niles Rd. In 1998 it closed to make way for a 25-screen "Union
Landing" multiplex with seating for 5,000.
(SFC, 3/7/98, p.E1)
1966 May 12, Ronald Reagan told a
crowd at the Cow Palace that a 153-page report by the Burns committee
accused UC Pres. Kerr of fostering an atmosphere that turned the
university into a haven for protesters and sex deviants.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F6)
1966 May 21, The new $114 million
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center at Stanford Univ., Ca., began
smashing atoms.
(SFC, 9/30/02, p.A5)(SFC, 9/26/07, p.B7)
1966 Jul 24, Oakland-born golfer
Tony Lema (32), while flying with his wife Betty to an exhibition match
in Chicago, Illinois, crashed on the seventh hole of a golf course in
Lansing, Illinois, after their chartered twin-engine Beechcraft Bonanza
ran out of fuel. All four people on board were killed.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Lema)
1966 Aug 18, The Japanese Garden
at San Mateo’s Central Park was dedicated.
(SFC, 8/2/01, p.D3)
1966 Aug 20, Ronald Reagan
announced a plan for a new anti-crime academy to be located in Berkeley.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F6)
1966 Oct 15, The Black Panthers
wrote their Ten Point Program at the Office of Economic Development
Corp. in Oakland, Ca. It called for adequate housing, jobs, education
and an end to police brutality. The Black Panther Party was founded by
Merritt College students Huey Newton and Bobby Seale. In 2006 Flores A.
Forbes authored “Will You Die With Me: My Life and the Black Panther
Party.”
(SFC,10/24/97, p.A15)(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W31)(SSFC,
7/9/06, p.M1)
1966 Oct 16, Joan Baez and 123
other anti-draft protestors were arrested in Oakland.
(MC, 10/16/01)
1966 Artist Frank Cieciorka
(1939-2008) created his image of a black panther, which became a symbol
for the Black Panther Party, formed in Oakland, California. The image
first appeared in the SNCC’s newspaper, the Movement.
(SFC, 5/19/96, p.C-9)(SFC, 11/29/08, p.B5)
1966 The Oakland Ballet Co. was
founded by Ronn Guidi. The company closed in 2006.
(SFC, 2/8/06, p.E1)
1966 The US Berkeley Hildebrand
Hall, home of the chemistry labs and offices, was constructed.
(SFC,10/24/97, p.A15)
1966 The Oakland Coliseum Complex
opened under public ownership. It included a 62,500 seat stadium and a
19,200 seat indoor arena. Robert Nahas (d.2002) was the driving force
behind it and getting the Oakland Athletics to come from Kansas City in
1968.
(SFC, 5/28/98, p.A1)
1966 Stephen Edward Epler
(1909-1997) founded Ohlone College in Fremont.
(SFC, 7/25/97, p.A18)
1966 John Reading (d.2003),
Oakland City Council member, was appointed mayor after Mayor John
Houlihan was indicted for embezzlement. Reading was later elected 3
times until defeated by Lionel Wilson in 1977.
(SFC, 2/12/03, p.A25)
1966 The US Navy submarine
"Vallejo" was christened at Mare Island.
(SFC, 2/24/99, p.C4)
1966 In Berkeley, Ca., police
raided the first lab of Owsley Stanley and confiscated a substance they
said was methedrine. It turned out to be something else and Owsley sued
for the return of his lab equipment. It was later estimated that his
Bear Research Group made 1.25 million doses of LSD between 1965-1967,
essentially seeding the psychedelic movement. During this period he
also served as the sound engineer for the Grateful Dead. In the 1980s
he moved to northern Australia.
(SFC, 7/12/07, p.A13)
1966 Alfred Peet (1920-2007)
opened Peet's Coffee and Tea on Vine St. in Berkeley. He expanded to 5
shops and sold the operation in 1979. Baldwin and Bowker of Starbucks
then acquired Peet's in 1983.
(SFEM, 8/1/99, p.8)(SFC, 9/1/07, p.C2)
1966 Lucius Beebe, social
commentator and writer, died in his Hillsborough home at 804 Vista Way.
(Ind, 6/29/02, 5A)
1967 Jan 20, Clark Kerr, president
of the UC system, was fired by Gov. Reagan and the UC Regents for being
too soft on student protesters at Berkeley. In 2003 Kerr authored vol.
2 of his memoir: "The Gold and the Blue: A Personal Memoir of the Univ.
of California.
(SSFC, 2/17/02, p.M6)(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F6)
1967 Oct 29, In Oakland, Ca.,
police made a traffic stop on Black Panther leader Huey Newton
(d.1989). In a gun battle Newton was wounded and police officer John
Frey was killed. Newton was convicted of voluntary manslaughter but the
conviction was overturned. Gene McKinney (d.2000 at 58) and Newton had
driven out for takeout feed following a Black Panther Party fundraiser
when they were pulled over. McKinney commandeered a passing car to get
Newton to a hospital.
(SFC,10/24/97, p.A15)(SFC, 9/23/00, p.A19)
1967 Oct, John Lion (d.1999 at 55)
staged "The Lesson" by Eugene Ionesco as his UC thesis project. The
play moved to the Steppenwolf Bar in Berkeley and inspired Lion to open
his Magic Theater.
(SFEC, 10/5/97, DB p.43)(SFC, 8/4/99, p.E1)
1967 Sly & the Family Stone
released the first of their 8 albums. The group was led by Sylvester
Stewart, aka Sly Stone, an African American from Vallejo, Ca. In 2008
Jeff Kaliss authored “I Want To Take You Higher: The Life and Times of
Sly & the Family Stone.”
(SFC, 11/24/08, p.E2)
1967 The new San Mateo-Hayward
Bridge was constructed.
(SMBP, 2004)
1967 The Sunvalley Shopping Center
opened off I-680 in Concord.
(SFC, 12/14/04, p.B1)
1967 The Mill Valley Center for
the Performing Arts was founded by Sali Lieberman and performed in the
Mill Valley Golf Club clubhouse.
(SFEC, 3/8/98, p.W29)
1967 The Renaissance Pleasure
Faire was first held. Its last season at Black Point in Novato was in
1998.
(SFC, 7/22/98, p.D1)
1967 The US Berkeley Evans Hall
was constructed.
(SFC,10/24/97, p.A15)
1967 In Oakland 3 museums merged
to form the Oakland Museum and J.S. Holliday was hired as executive
director.
(SFEC, 1/11/98, DB p.39)
1967 In Marin County, California,
Donald McCoy (1932-2004), a houseboat developer, used inheritance money
to lease a 700-acre estate at Rancho Olompoli and recruited others,
including activist Frank Cerda (1913-2007), to join him at a 22-room
mansion there. Commune leaders became known as “the Chosen Family.”
(SSFC, 10/24/04, p.B7)(SFC, 8/4/07, p.B5)(SFC,
1/14/09, p.B12)
1967-1982 Pete McCloskey served in the US House of
Representatives for the San Francisco peninsula. He was co-chairman of
the first Earth Day in 1970 and co-wrote the Endangered Species Act of
1973. In 1972 he ran against Richard Nixon for the Republican
nomination for president.
(Econ, 6/3/06, p.30)
1968 Apr 6, Black Panther member
Bobby Hutton (17) was killed in a gun battle with police in West
Oakland, Ca., and Eldridge Cleaver was arrested.
(SFC,10/24/97, p.A15) (SFC, 4/25/98, p.A13)
1968 May 8, Catfish Hunter of the
Oakland Athletics pitched the first perfect game in the American League
in 47 years before a crowd of 5,000 at the Oakland Coliseum.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W39)
1968 May, The Lawrence Hall of
Science opened in the Berkeley Hills. It was built in honor of Ernest
Orlando Lawrence, who developed the cyclotron. The octagonal shape
represented the 8 branches of physical science.
(LHS, 2/12/1998)
1968 Apr 6, Black Panther member
Bobby Hutton (17) was killed in a gun battle with police in Oakland, Ca.
(SFC,10/24/97, p.A15)
1968 Oct 30, Luis W. Alvarez
(1911-1988) of UC Berkeley won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work
on the bubble chamber.
(SFC, 10/10/96,
p.A1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Walter_Alvarez)
1968 Nov 17, NBC outraged football
fans by cutting away from the final minutes of a New York Jets-Oakland
Raiders game to begin a TV special, "Heidi," on schedule. The jets led
32-29 with one minute remaining. Viewers were deprived of seeing the
Raiders come from behind to beat the Jets, 43-to-32.
(AP, 11/17/98)(SFC, 11/14/03, p.I8)
1968 Dec 20, The first known
murder by the Zodiac killer took place. Two teenagers, David
Farraday and Betty Lou Jensen, were shot to death in a parked car on
Lake Herman Road outside Vallejo, Ca. The California Zodiac killer
later identified himself with a letter to the Times-Harold in Vallejo.
After that he claimed to have killed 37 people but the police connected
him to only five deaths.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiac_Killer)(SFEC,
3/1/98, p.W20)(SFC, 10/2/00, p.A19)(SFC, 4/7/04, p.A7)
1968 Edwin Hawkins recorded his
arrangement of “Oh Happy Day” on a 2-track tape machine for the
Northern California State Youth Choir. An album was made with Century
Records to help finance a trip to a church youth conference in
Washington DC. In 1969 Abe Kesh at KSAN-FM began playing the song,
which featured the voice of Dorothy Morrison. The album was soon
re-issued by Buddah Records.
(SFC, 10/23/09, p.F1)
1968 The Berkeley Repertory
Theater was founded by Michael Leibert on College Ave.
(SFEC, 3/8/98, p.W29)(WSJ, 5/8/01, p.A24)
1968 The Hillbarn Theater,
co-founded by Robert Brauns (d.2001 at 87) opened on East Hillsdale
Blvd in Foster City. The original outdoor theater, had been in the
corral of the old Pingrey estate overlooking El Camino Real near the
Belmont city line.
(SFC, 3/31/01, p.A21)
1968 David “Moses” Berg of
Oakland, Ca., founded the Children of God. He combined the free love of
the sexual revolution with the fervor of the American evangelical
movement [see May, 2, 1978].
(SSFC, 2/27/05, p.A1)
1968 Yusuf Bey (d.2003) created
“Your Black Muslim Bakery” in Oakland, Ca.
(SFC, 11/30/05, p.A16)
1968 The Industrial Center
Building at 480 Gate Five Rd. in Sausalito, Ca., became a haven for
artists.
(SFEM,11/30/97, p.10)
1968 Mary Moore (d.2001 at 73)
founded Mandrake’s nightclub at University and 10th St. in Berkeley.
The club folded in 1974.
(SFC, 12/28/01, p.A34)
1968 Canãda College opened
in Redwood City, Ca.
(SFEC, 3/15/98, p.W20)
1968 US Federal agents raided the
Marin, Ca., home of Frank Werber (1929-2007), the original manager of
the Kingston Trio, and seized 258 pounds of Mexican marijuana. He
served a 6-month sentence in Marin County, Ca. In 1972 he retired on
160 acres of wilderness in New Mexico.
(SFC, 6/8/07, p.B7)
1968 Myth has it that the Nuestra
Familia prison gang was organized after a stolen shoe incident at San
Quentin prison. It set the Mexican Mafia, a gang rooted in East Los
Angeles, against the Familia based in San Jose.
(SFEC, 6/29/97, Z1 p.1)
1968 Architect Henry Schubart
(d.1998 at 81) moved his family to Salt Spring Island in British
Columbia due to his opposition to the Vietnam War. He had designed the
campus buildings of the Dominican College in Marin, Ca., the St. Louis
Bertrand Church in Oakland and the Holy Names Church in SF among other
works. In BC he introduced the use of skylights.
(SFC, 2/20/98, p.A23)
1968 Sears Point Raceway began
operating in Marin County, Ca.
(SFC, 12/15/99, p.A21)
1968 The Kansas City Athletics
under owner Charlie Finley moved to Oakland, Ca., and began playing in
the new Oakland Coliseum.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W39)
1968 The last of the hog farms in
Colma, Ca., closed. Some 10,000 garbage-eating pigs were raised along
the Hillside Blvd. farm
(Ind, 7/15/00,5A)
1968 T. Jack Foster, the developer
of Foster City, Ca., died. His sons continued his project and sold out
to Centex Corp. in 1970.
(Ind, 8/4/01, 5A)
1969 Jan, A 50-cent one-way toll
became permanent on the Golden Gate Bridge following efforts to reduce
congestion by Bruce Goecker (1919-2006), former mayor of Corte Madera.
Soon toll bridges around the world began following suit.
(SFC, 9/14/06, p.B5)
1969 Feb 2, In Marin County, Ca.,
a fire destroyed a 22-room mansion at Rancho Olompali occupied by
members of “the Chosen Family” led by Donald McCoy (1932-2004).”
(SSFC, 10/24/04, p.B7)(SFC, 1/14/09, p.B12)
1969 Feb 4, John Madden was named
head coach of NFL's Oakland Raiders.
(MC, 2/4/02)
1969 Apr 6, In Oakland there was a
shootout between Black Panthers and 2 police officers. David Hilliard
was convicted for assault in 1971 and served time in state prison. In
2000 he ran for a seat on the Oakland City Council.
(SFEC, 5/16/99, p.D6)
1969 Apr, The reef and beach at
Moss Beach became part of the San Mateo County parks and Recreation
Division.
(Ind, 7/1/00,5A)
1969 Apr, A university owned lot
was turned into People’s Park.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F7)
1969 May 15, Univ. of California
officials fenced People’s Park and planned to build dormitories. This
prompted some 3,000 protesters to try to seize it back. Gov. Reagan
placed Berkeley under martial law and dispatched tear gas-spraying
helicopters and riot police who shot and killed one man.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F7)
1969 May 26, An open house was
celebrated for the newly completed Eugene A. Doran Memorial Bridge on
I-280 over San Mateo Creek.
(Ind, 6/24/00,5A)
1969 Jul 4, Darlene Ferrin (22), a
waitress, was shot and killed at the Blue Rock Springs Golf Club in
Vallejo. She was parked with Michael Mageau (19), who survived the
shooting. The Zodiac killer reported the shooting within an hour from a
pay phone.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W20)(SFC, 10/2/00, p.A19)
1969 Jul 31, The Zodiac killer
sent a poorly-spelled letter to the SF Chronicle, Examiner and Vallejo
Times-Herald and took responsibility for the July 5 shootings along
with a portion of a cipher.
(SFC, 10/2/00, p.A19)
1969 Sep 27, The Zodiac killer
pulled a gun on two teenagers, Brian Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard,
picnicking at Lake Berryessa. He stabbed them repeatedly and killed the
girl.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W20)
1969 Sep 22, Susan Nason (8) of
Foster City, Ca., was bludgeoned to death. Her body was found 2 months
later near Crystal Springs. In Dec 1989 Nason's neighbor and
schoolmate, Eileen Franklin-Lipsker, told police that she suddenly
remembered seeing her father batter her friend and hide the body. In
1990 George Franklin was convicted in the first case to use
recovered-memory testimony. Franklin was released after 6 1/2 years
when a federal judge ruled a mistrial. DNA evidence showed Franklin was
not responsible.
(SFC, 2/4/00, p.A21)(SSFC, 2/8/04,
p.A28)(http://tinyurl.com/9hl2at)
1969 Oct 11, The Zodiac killer
shot and killed SF cab driver Paul Stine (29) at Cherry and Washington
in Presidio Heights. This was his last known murder. His last
authenticated communication was in 1974.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W20)(SFC, 10/2/00, p.A19)
1969 Oct 13, The SF Chronicle
received a letter containing a bloody swath of Stine’s shirt along with
a threat to shoot children on a school bus.
(SFC, 10/2/00, p.A19)
1969 Oct 29, Researchers sent the
first inter-node message between two sites on ARPAnet. The first e-mail
message crossed the Arpanet as a team under Professor Leonard Kleinrock
of UCLA communicated with a team under Douglas Englebart at Stanford.
The US Dept. of Defense’s Advanced Research and Projects Agency
(ARPANET) launched a self-healing computer network with TCP/IP
(Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol) [see Sep 2].
(http://tinyurl.com/lpq766)(WSJ, 1/14/99,
p.A1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARPANET)
1969 Nov 9, A group of American
Indians occupied Alcatraz Island. The story is told in the 1996 book
"The Occupation of Alcatraz Island, Indian Self-Determination and the
Rise of Indian Activism" by Troy R. Johnson.
(SFC, 6/14/96, p. H2)(SFEC, 1/5/97, BR p.8)
1969 Nov 10, The SF Chronicle
received a letter from the Zodiac killer containing detailed plans for
a "death machine" to blow up a school bus.
(SFC, 10/2/00, p.A19)
1969 Nov 20, A group of 80 Native
Americans, all college students, seized Alcatraz Island in the name of
"Indians of All Tribes." The occupation lasted 19 months. They offered
$24 in beads and cloth to buy the island, demanded an American Indian
Univ., museum and cultural center, and listed reasons why the island
was a suitable Indian reservation.
(SFEC, 3/8/98, p.W38)
1969 Nov, Moss Beach was
designated as the James V. Fitzgerald Marine Reserve. Fitzgerald was
the president of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors instrumental
in winning the reserve status.
(Ind, 7/1/00,5A)
1969 In Marin County, Ca., the
Mill Valley Public Library was built. It was designed by Donn Emmons
(d.1997 at 87).
(SFC, 9/3/97, p.A20)
1969 In San Mateo County, Ca.,
work on the new Tanforan Shopping Center began. It replaced the race
track the 1st opened in 1899. The center opened in 1970.
(Ind, 8/17/02, 5A)
1969 The 43-acre Shelter Creek
development in San Bruno, Ca., was constructed. In 1999 water mains to
the complex began breaking.
(SFC, 2/2/99, p.A14)
1969 Credence Clearwater Revival
put out its "Willy and the Poorboys" LP. The cover featured a photo of
the band in front of the Duck Kee Market in Oakland, Ca.
(SFC, 9/12/98, p.A19)
1969 In northern California the
Concord Jazz Festival began.
(SFC, 6/10/97, p.D3)
1969 Loni Kuhn (d.1997 at 65)
started her school, Loni Kuhn’s Cook’s Tour in SF. Her
great-grandfather started the San Jose Normal School (now San Jose
State Univ.) and her grandfather helped found the First National Bank
of San Jose (now Bank of the West).
(SFC, 6/26/97, p.A22)
1969 The medical volunteer
organization Interplast, specializing in reconstructive surgery, was
founded at Stanford Univ. by Dr. Donald Laub.
(SFEC, 2/8/98, Z1 p.1,4)
1969 In the SF Bay Area Nello
Bianco (1928-2006) was appointed to the BART board of directors. He was
re-elected 4 times and served a board president 3 times.
(SFC, 9/14/06, p.B5)
1969 Skyline College in San Bruno,
Ca., opened.
(SFEC, 3/15/98, p.W21)
1969 In northern California a
breach at the Sherman Island levee left part of Highway 160 submerged
for 6 months.
(SFC, 1/10/05, p.B1)
1969 In the SF Bay Area the Albany
Bulb, east of Golden Gate Fields, began as a site for industrial
dumping. It later was turned into a public space area and artists
constructed numerous works from debris that washed ashore. In 2007
plans called for incorporating it into the East Bay Regional Park
District and removing the art work.
(SFC, 4/13/07, p.B9)
1970 Jul 26, The SF Chronicle
received a letter from the Zodiac killer with an unsubstantiated claim
of killing 13 people.
(SFC, 10/2/00, p.A19)
1970 Feb 28, Bicycles were
permitted to cross the Golden Gate Bridge.
(www.goldengatebridge.org/research/dates.php)
1970 May, The US government shut
off power and stopped fresh water supplies from the Native American
Indians on Alcatraz Island. A fire broke out and each side blamed the
other.
(G, Summer ‘97,
p.5)(www.nps.gov/alca/historyculture/we-hold-the-rock.htm)
1970 Aug 7, At a hearing for the
"Soledad Brothers," Jonathon P. Jackson (17), the younger brother of
George L. Jackson, attempted an armed rescue attempt at the Marin Civic
Center. A shootout in the parking lot followed and 4 people were killed
and 5 injured. Among the dead were Jackson, Judge Harold Haley, Black
Panther James McClain, and convict William A. Christmas. Angela Davis
was charged with murder, kidnapping and conspiracy, but was acquitted
in 1972 after spending a year in jail. An attempt by black militant
James David McClain to escape his trial in Marin County, California,
ended in a shootout with police that claimed the lives of McClain, two
of three cohorts, and Judge Harold J. Daley, one of several hostages.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W21)(SFC, 8/19/98, p.A18)(AP,
8/7/00)
1970 Aug 20, Ronald Tsukamoto
(b.1942), a Berkeley, Ca., rookie police officer, was shot and killed.
In 2004 Don Juan Warren Graphenreed (54) was arrested as a suspect in
the murder, but was released without being charged. In 2005 police
arrested Styles Price (56), a retired Oakland schoolteacher for the
killing. Graphenreed was again arrested at Corcoran State Prison, where
he was held on a drug charge. Price was soon freed and the case against
Graphenreed was dropped due to “insufficient corroborating evidence.”
(SFC, 5/26/04, p.B3)(SFC, 6/16/04, p.B5)(SFC,
8/11/05, p.B1)(SFC, 8/13/05, p.B1)
1970 Susan Lydon (1943-2005)
authored the feminist essay “The Politics of Orgasm” in the Rolling
Stone rock magazine.
(SSFC, 7/24/05, p.A19)
1970 Yasundo Takahashi
(1912-1996), professor at UC Berkeley, wrote his textbook "Control and
Dynamic Systems." It became a standard reference in the field of
control engineering, the study of how machines work.
(http://tinyurl.com/6qjaoo)(http://catalog.library.ksu.edu.sa/digital/153142.html)
1970 The submarine Drum was
launched at Mare Island. It was the last ship produced there.
(SSFC, 8/11/02, p.C5)
1970 The UC Berkeley Art Museum on
Bancroft Way was constructed.
(SFC,10/24/97, p.A15)
1970 The Palo Alto Research Center
(PARC) of Xerox opened on the outskirts of Palo Alto. George Pake
(1924-2004) ran the center until 1978. It was founded by Dr. Jacob
Goldman.
(www.mit-forum.org.il/2000events/tenyears_eng.htm)(SFC, 10/25/00,
p.D1)(SFC, 3/11/04, p.C5)
1970 Madge Short (d.1998 at 80)
and Jane Saunders (50) co-founded The Body Shop in Berkeley. The name
was sold to Britain’s Anita Roddick in 1987 for $3.5 million.
(SFC, 1/5/99, p.A20)(SSFC, 5/16/04, p.F6)
1970 Ron Dellums (34) was elected
as representative of the East Bay’s 7th Congressional District. He was
later re-elected by the 9th District and stayed in Congress for 27
years.
(SFC,11/17/97, p.A1)
1970 A 10-cent walkway toll on the
Golden Gate Bridge was eliminated. In 1998 a $1 walkway toll was
proposed for pedestrians and bicyclists.
(SFC, 2/20/98, p.A19)
1970 The Golden Gate Bus and Ferry
Transit system began operating with one ferry and 4 leased busses.
Ferry service to Sausalito was inaugurated. The ferryboat Golden Gate
was retired in 2004.
(SFC, 12/2/99, p.A36)(SFC, 3/26/04, p.A1)
1970 The Marine Science Institute
was founded in Redwood City to monitor the South Bay.
(SFC, 7/22/03, p.A12)
1970s Eden Housing, a nonprofit
housing organization, began to purchase and renovate housing for low
income people in the Bay Area.
(SFC, 2/25/99, p.A15)
1970s Melvin Carter confessed to
terrorizing over 100 women over 9 years in the College Terrace rapes in
Palo Alto, Berkeley and other cities before he was arrested. He was
paroled in 1994 to public outrage.
(SFC, 8/23/97, p.A1,15)
1970s "Stinky ," the smelly rapist
of Berkeley, was never caught.
(SFC, 8/23/97, p.A15)
1971 Apr 9, Demonstrators
occupying the Stanford Univ. Hospital administration offices clashed
with police and 9 Palo Alto officers were injured. Police later raided
the Stanford Daily to recover photos of the demonstrators.
(SFC, 1/17/03, p.E8)
1971 Jun 10, Federal marshals, FBI
agents and special forces swarmed Alcatraz Island and removed the
Native American occupiers: 5 women, 4 children and 6 unarmed men.
(www.nps.gov/alca/historyculture/we-hold-the-rock.htm)
1971 Jul 12, Kristi Tsuya
Yamaguchi, figure skater, was born in Hayward, Cal. In 1992 she won an
Olympic gold medal.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristi_Yamaguchi)
1971 Aug 21, Three prisoners and 3
guards were killed during an attempted prison escape at San Quentin,
California. George Jackson after meeting with his lawyer, Stephen
Gingham, pulled a hidden automatic pistol from his hair and began to
release other prisoners. Jackson’s prison letters were published as
"Soledad Brother."
(WUD, 1994, p. 1688)(SFC, 8/25/96, z1 p.5)
1971 Oct 21, Half Moon Bay, Ca.,
held its 1st Art and Pumpkin Festival. The 1-day event was thought up
by Dolores Mullin to raise money for the Main Street Beautification
Committee to buy trees. John Minaidis of Half Moon Bay won with a
132-pound pumpkin. Terry Pimsleur (d.2008 at 77), public
relations executive, helped develop the fair.
(Ind, 9/29/01, 5A)(SFC, 10/10/06, p.B3)(SFC,
9/26/08, p.B9)
1971 The film "Harold and Maude"
with Ruth Gordon was produced. The opening scene was filmed at in the
music room of Rosecourt, a Burlingame, Ca., home built by SF Chronicle
publisher George Cameron for his wife Helen, a daughter of Michael de
Young.
(SFEC, 10/11/97, DB p.36)(PI, 3/21/98, p.5)
1971 The 14-story Great Western
Building went up in Berkeley, Ca.
(SFC, 4/28/98, p.A12)
1971 The Int’l. Bird Rescue
Research Center was founded by Alice Berkner in Berkeley, Ca.
(SFC, 8/17/96, p.A17-18)
1971 The Berkeley-Oakland Support
Services program began. It was renamed in 1996 to Building
Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS).
(SFEC, 12/22/96, Z1 p.2)
1971 Sue Rugge (d.1999 at 58)
co-founded Information Unlimited, an independent research firm based in
Berkeley, Ca.
(SFC, 6/16/99, p.B4)
1971 The SF Bay Area Reporter
(B.A.R.), a gay community publication, was begun by Bob Ross (d.2003 at
69) and Paul Bentley.
(SFC, 12/12/03, p.A29)
1971 Journalist Don Hoefler,
editor of the Electronic News, coined the term Silicon Valley to
describe the technology base in the southern San Francisco Bay Area.
(SSFC, 10/30/05, p.J4)(Econ, 12/16/06, p.67)
1971 Alice Waters (b.1939) opened
Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, Ca.
(SFEC, 3/8/98, p.W35)
1971 Foster City, Ca., was
incorporated. After 8 years of controversy the Foster City lagoon was
polluted and residents paid the highest property taxes in San Mateo
County to cover bond debt. Over developer’s objections, residents
incorporated and established a city council.
(Ind, 8/4/01, 5A)(SFC, 6/14/09, p.H2)
1971 Dominican College in San
Rafael, Ca., began to admit male students.
(SFC, 6/26/00, p.A17)
1971 Stanford Univ. opened up
about 700 acres for development and Hewlett-Packard was among the
earliest tenants.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W6)
1971 Stanford Prof. Philip
Zimbardo conducted a psychology experiment that randomly assigned
college-age men to roles as prisoners and guards. The experiment turned
into a nightmare and was soon called off. In 2007 Zimbardo authored
“The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil.”
(SSFC, 4/29/07, p.M1)
1971 Mary Bowerman (1908-2005) and
Art Bonwell co-founded the Save Mount Diablo group and were
instrumental in expanding the boundaries of the northern California
Mount Diablo state park from 6,788 acres to over 20,000 acres in 2006.
In 1944 Bowerman published her doctoral thesis: “Flowering Plants and
Ferns of Mount Diablo.”
(SFC, 8/25/05, p.B7)(SFC, 12/29/06, p.B1)
1971 Albert H. Bowker (1919-2008),
8-year chancellor of City Univ. of New York, was named chancellor of
California’s UC Berkeley.
(SFC, 1/25/08,
p.B9)(www.nndb.com/people/673/000167172/)
1972 Jan 8, Kenneth Patchen
(b.1911), American poet, died in Palo Alto, Ca. He was bed-ridden in
his later years from a debilitating spinal injury. His works included
"Before the Brave" and "Hurrah for Anything."
(HN, 12/13/99)(SFC, 3/24/00,
p.D6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Patchen)
1972 Jul, Robert Metcalf (b.1946)
at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) combined packet switching
from the Arpanet and single wire broadcasting to lay the foundations
for computer networks. This system was called Ethernet and marked the
first Internet message. The IEEE committee 802.3 later defined the
Ethernet standard. He later fixed May 22, 1973, as the birthdate of
Ethernet, a day on which he circulated a memo about his ideas to PARC
colleagues.
(WSJ,11/14/94, p.R26)(SFEC, 3/28/99, Z1 p.8)(Econ,
6/12/04, p.26)(Econ, 12/12/09, p.23)
1972 Oct 12, US House Resolution
16444, establishing the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA),
was passed by Congress and was signed by President Richard Nixon 15
days later. The island of Alcatraz was incorporated into this park.
California Congressman Phillip Burton pushed through legislation
preserving thousands of acres of forested hills, valleys and rugged
shoreline. Burton got Congress to agree to transfer the Presidio in San
Francisco to the park service if the army ever pulled out.
(www.sftravel.com/Alcatraz1950on.html)(SFEC,
6/27/99, Z1 p.1,4)(SFCM, 4/25/04, p.18)(SFC, 10/4/96, p.A21)
1972 Oct 22, The Oakland Athletics
beat the Cincinnati Reds 3-2 in a 7th game to win the World Series,
bringing home the first Bay Area’s baseball world championship.
It was the first of 3 in a row.
(SFEC, 3/1/98,
p.W39)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_World_Series)(SFC, 12/28/99,
p.A1)
1972 Oct 27, Federal legislation
established the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in the Bay Area of
SF. The park was expanded from 870 acres in 1948 to 6,300 acres by 1972.
(http://usparks.about.com/library/miniplanner/blgoldengatenra.htm)(SFEC,
6/27/99, Z1 p.1,4)(SFCM, 4/25/04, p.18)
1972 Roy W. Fairchild (d.1998 at
77) co-founded the Lewis Marshall Lloyd Center for Education and
Counseling as an on-campus teaching facility at SF Theological Seminary
in San Anselmo, Ca.
(SFC, 12/17/98, p.C11)
1972 Kermit Lynch opened Kermit
Lynch Wine Merchant in Berkeley, Ca. He focused on importing
small-production French wines. In 2005 the French government announced
that he would be awarded the insignia of Chevalier de la Legion
d’Honeur.
(SFC, 12/22/05, p.F5)
1972 In northern California the
Marin Town and Country Club was closed after area residents passed a
ballot measure that required voter approval prior to any new
development.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.A19)
1972 The See family sold their
South San Francisco, Ca., chocolate and candy business to Warren
Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Buffet named Charles
Huggins as See’s Candies top officer. Huggins retired at the end of
2005.
(SSFC, 1/15/06,
p.D6)(www.ifa.com/Library/Buffet.html)
1973 May 22, Robert Metcalf
(b.1946), at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), circulated a
memo about his Ethernet ideas to PARC colleagues. He later fixed this
day as the birthdate of Ethernet. Metcalf had combined packet switching
from the Arpanet and single wire broadcasting to lay the foundations
for computer networks.
(Econ, 12/12/09, TQ p.23)
1973 Oct, The US National Park
Service welcomed the first visitors to Alcatraz Island.
(www.alcatrazcruises.com/website/history-national-park.aspx)
1973 Nov 6, The Symbionese
Liberation Army (SLA) assassinated Marcus Foster, the 1st black
superintendent of the Oakland school district, and wounded Robert
Blackburn, his assistant. The SLA warned against a proposed student ID
program. Russell Little and Joseph Remiro were arrested following a
shootout in Jan, 1974. Little’s eventual conviction was reversed Feb
28, 1979, due to errant jury instructions. Remiro was sentenced to life
in prison.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W22)(SFC, 1/23/01, p.A13)(SFC,
9/17/02, p.A20)(SFC, 11/14/02, p.A17)
1973 Richard and Christina Milner
authored “Black Players: The Secret World of Black Pimps.” The book was
the product of an anthropological study regarding both the lifestyles
and subculture of San Francisco Bay Area pimps and their prostitutes.
(www.amazon.com/Black-players-Secret-World-pimps/dp/0316574112)
1973 Bananas, a nonprofit
organization dedicated to supporting families in northern Alameda
County, Ca., was founded.
(SSFC, 10/19/03, p.E1)
1973 BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit)
opened a station in downtown Walnut Creek, Ca.
(SFC, 7/17/06, p.B5)
1973 Santa Clara County, Ca.,
bought 2,455 acres of the New Almaden mine land and named it the
Almaden Quicksilver Equestrian Park.
(SSFC, 12/22/02, p.A26)
1973 American President Lines
moved from SF to the port of Oakland. The line became a subsidiary of
Singapore’s Neptune Orient Lines in 1997.
(SFEC, 11/22/98, p.B1)
1973 Dorothy Turner Everett
(1932-2007) started a barbecue business in Oakland, Ca., that grew to
become the Everett & Jones chain of barbecue restaurants.
(SFC, 10/12/07, p.B11)
1973 The Good Guys, a retail store
home entertainment products, was founded in Alameda, Ca. In 2003 the
chain of 71 stores in California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington was
sold to CompUSA. In 2005 CompUSA announced the closure of Good Guy
stores in California and Hawaii due to waning demand.
(SFC, 10/6/05, p.C1)
1969 Larry Lee Hillblom co-founded
DHL Corp. upon graduation from the Univ. of California, Berkeley, at
Boalt Hall law school. The original idea was to help cargo ships save
wharf charges by air-delivering freight documents before the ships
reached port. The D was for co-founder Adrian Dalsey (1914-1994) and
the L was for Robert Lynn.
(SFEC, 1/11/98, p.A16)(SFC, 9/6/99,
p.A24)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DHL_Express)
1973 The first Magnetic Resonance
Image was published and the first study performed on a human took place
on July 3, 1977. Lawrence E. Crooks and Jerome Singer, professors at UC
in SF and Berkeley, invented Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
technology along with about 20 other univ. employees.
(SFC, 12/2/97,
p.A18)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_Resonance_Imaging)
1974 Feb 4, Newspaper heiress
Patricia Hearst (19) was kidnapped in Berkeley, Calif., by the
Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA). Her boyfriend Steven Weed was beaten.
Patty Hearst ran away to join an underground revolutionary group, the
Symbionese Liberation Front.
(TMC, 1994, p.1974)(SFC, 2/8/97, p.A7)(AP,
2/4/97)(AP, 2/4/97)(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W22)
1974 Feb 12, The SLA sent a letter
a tape with the voices of Patty Hearst and "general field marshal
Cinque" to KPFA. They demanded free food to the poor of the Bay Area,
prison reform and social justice. Symbionese Liberation Army asked the
Hearst family for $230 million in food for the poor.
(HN, 2/12/97)(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W22)
1974 Feb 16, Rev. Cecil Williams
of Glide Memorial Church received a tape from the SLA wherein Cinque
said a "reasonable" food giveaway would be acceptable as a condition
for the release of Patty Hearst.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W22)
1974 Feb 18, In California
Randolph Hearst was to give $2 million in free food for the poor in
order to open talks for his daughter Patty.
(HN, 2/18/98)
1974 Feb 19, Randolph Hearst
announced a $2 million food program called People in Need.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W22)
1974 Feb, William F. Knowland,
former Cal. state senator and Oakland Tribune newspaper publisher and
editor, committed suicide. In 1998 Gayle B. Montgomery and James W.
Johnson, in collaboration with Paul G. Manolis, published the biography
"One Step from the White House: The Rise and Fall of Senator William F.
Knowland."
(SFEC, 5/17/98, BR p.5)
1974 Apr 3, A tape from the SLA
announced Patty Hearst’s decision to "stay and fight" with the SLA.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W22,23)
1974 Apr 15, SLA members including
Patty Hearst robbed the Sunset Branch of the Hibernia Bank of more than
$10,000. The wounded 2 passersby as they fled.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W23)
1974 May 16, SLA members William
and Emily Harris were identified with Patty Hearst in LA during a
shoplifting attempt at a sporting good store. They escaped in a stolen
van with an 19-year-old kidnapped victim.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W23)
1974 May 17, LA police and FBI
agents engaged in a gun battle with SLA members in a bungalow. The
house caught fire and 6 bodies were recovered that included Cinque and
William Wolfe. Patty Hearst was not there.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W23)
1974 Jul 8, The SF Chronicle
received the last verified letter from the Zodiac killer.
(SFC, 4/7/04, p.A7)
1974 Nov 24, Susan Murphy,
3-months pregnant, was killed in her Oakland home on her 19th birthday.
In 2002 DNA evidence identified and arrested Ellis Lorenzo Lockett for
the murder.
(SFC, 7/19/02, p.A23)
1974 Henry A. Rosso (d.1999 at 81)
and his wife, Dottie, founded the Fund Raising School in San Rafael. It
later became part of the Indiana Univ. Center on Philanthropy.
(SFC, 2/26/99, p.A25)
1974 The Disney film "Escape to
Witch Mountain" with Eddie Albert and Ray Milland was set at the
Peninsula School, the Menlo Park home of James V. Coleman.
(PI, 3/21/98, p.5)
1974 Oakland held the first annual
Black Cowboys Parade, the only one of its kind in the country.
(SFEC, 9/20/98, Z1 p.6)
1974 Ken Behring, a Florida land
developer, and his partners agreed to donate 2,052 acres near Danville
to the state park system in exchange for the right to build 2,400 homes
that became the Blackhawk community. The last 511-acre parcel was
transferred in 1999. In 1975 Dan Van Voorhis (1939-2005), East Bay
attorney, and Sandy Skaggs formed a new law firm to help develop the
Blackhawk project.
(SFC, 5/14/99, p.A21)(SFC, 3/17/05, p.B7)
1974 The FBI counterintelligence
program, known as Cointelpro, was directed against Marxist and
student-radical groups. Charles W. Bates (d.1999 at 79) led 8 full-time
employees in the SF Bay Area and 22 informants worked the local
campuses.
(SFC, 2/26/99, p.A25)
1974 Kathleen Smith (17), a
prostitute, was killed on a north Oakland street corner. Huey Newton
was later arrested and tried for the murder. In 1979 charges were
dropped following 2 mistrials.
(SFC, 9/24/04, p.F9)
1975 Mar 5, The Homebrew Computer
Club, founded by peace activist Fred Moore, held its first meeting in
Menlo Park, Ca. It was an outgrowth of the store-front based People’s
Computer Co. The meeting inspired Steve Wozniak (24) to design and
build the first Apple computer.
(SSFC, 4/23/05, p.B1)(Reuters, 9/27/06)
1975 Jun, In California Sonya
Higginbotham (19) was raped and stabbed to death in her 98th Ave.
Oakland home. DNA evidence in 2002 identified Charles Jackson, a
recently deceased Folsom inmate, as her killer.
(SFC, 3/19/02, p.A10)(SFC, 9/30/05, p.B5)
1975 Aug, In, Oakland, California,
Ann Johnson (27) was raped and stabbed to death in her Montclair
District home. DNA evidence in 2002 identified Charles Jackson, a
recently deceased Folsom inmate, as her killer.
(SFC, 3/19/02, p.A10)
1975 Sep 18, Police and FBI
arrested Patty Hearst, William and Emily Harris, and Wendy Yoshimura in
SF. Hearst was convicted of bank robbery and served over 22 months in
federal prison. Pres. Carter commuted her sentence in 1979.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W23)
1975 The 12,400 seat Concord
Pavilion was built. In 2000 it was renamed the Chronicle Pavilion of
Concord.
(SFC, 3/21/00, p.A19)
1975 The Oakland Youth Chorus was
founded.
(SFC, 5/10/97, p.A17)
1975 The Elizabeth Terwilliger
Nature Education Foundation was founded in Corte Madera, Ca., to
provide nature programs for Bay Area schools. It was named after
environmental teacher Elizabeth Terwilliger (1909-2006).
(SFC, 11/30/06, p.B7)
1975 Visitacion Associates,
co-owners of 3600 acres of San Bruno Mountain with the Crocker Land
Co., proposed a major development of over 8,500 residential units and 2
million square feet of office and commercial space. Residents began
lobbying county officials against the development.
(Ind, 4/27/99, p.11A)
1975 Beryl Buck, philanthropist,
left a $10 million estate to benefit "all mankind" from a Marin base.
By 1999 the trust had grown to $850 million and The Buck Center for
Research in Aging opened.
(SFC, 8/24/99, p.E1)
1975 Richard J. Elkus (d.1999 at
88) and his wife Ruth (d.1991) donated 630-650 acres in Half Moon Bay
to the Univ. of California Cooperative Extension with the condition
that it be used to educate children. Elkus was also the author of
"Alamos: A Philosophy in Living."
(SFC, 3/20/99, p.A21)(DCR, 3/20/99, p.6)
1975 Mrs. Roth, daughter of Capt.
William Matson who founded the Matson Steamship Navigation Lines, gave
her Filoli estate to the National Trust for Historic Preservation along
with $2.5 million.
(Ind, 12/26/98, p.5A)
1975 The Marine Mammal Center in
Sausalito, Ca., began treating marine mammals rescued along the
California coast.
(SFC, 11/11/05, p.B3)
1975 The New Almaden mine south of
San Jose, Ca., was closed. It had mined mercury for over 120 years. In
the 1980s it was placed on the state’s list of Superfund cleanup sites.
(SSFC, 12/22/02, p.A26)
1975 Chiura Obata (b.1885),
Japanese-born Bay Area painter, died. He was a prof. of art at UC
Berkeley for 20 years.
(SFC, 9/25/00, p.F5)
1975-1983 In San Jose Janet Gray Hayes served as the
city’s first woman mayor.
(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A17)
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