Oakland Underfoot

786 Prospect Street

The San Francisco firm of Lewis M. Merlo Inc. was founded shortly after the 1906 earthquake and is still going strong. They occupy the same address, 1336 Grove Street, today and have the same phone number they acquired in the late 1950s. Their addresses have changed over the years, from 1767 24th Avenue in the early 1950s to 1358 Divisadero in the late 1950s; they were at 1336 Grove, a former livery stable built in 1900, as of 1970. This utility lid and the sidewalk around it must date from that time period.

Details of the life of Lewis Michael Merlo (1913-1982) are scant. San Francisco directories in the mid-1930s list him with various menial occupations; the 1940 census records him as a concrete contractor with his brother Mario Elito Merlo (1917-2013). The 1950 census lists him as a concrete contractor at the 24th Avenue address, age 37, with his wife Erma as bookkeeper. The obituary of a man by the name of John Louis Merlo (1913-1982), with a wife named Erma, called him a founder of the firm. I can only guess that Lewis changed his name or a strange mistake was made. Also, the 1906 founding date must refer to an earlier practice that Lewis M. Merlo acquired in the late 1930s.

This entry was posted on 3 June 2025 at 8:26 pm and is filed under  Streetscape. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.