Oakland Underfoot

1537 Carleton Street, Berkeley

I include this mark for three reasons: first, it’s a variant of the 1913 mark with a dash, rather than a slash, between the month and year. Second, it’s a replacement for my original 1913 Jepsen Bros. mark, which was destroyed long ago. And third, just to highlight this stretch of Carleton, which is full of good old early 1900s stamps, including some that I don’t document because they don’t appear anywhere in Oakland. Anyone setting out to thoroughly cover Berkeley the same way I’ve done Oakland would do well to start here.

2412 26th Avenue

Natale Lena (1885-1977) and William G. Helling (1888-1973) were Alameda residents. Lena was a former employee of Alexander LaPlant’s firm; Helling I know nothing about.

Props to Ken Z. for spotting this excellent mark, one of a pair at this address.

Plymouth Street at 83d Avenue

8100 Birch Street

This date is awfully obscure, but it’s definitely not 1912.