Oakland Underfoot

5205 Telegraph Avenue

F. E. Flaherty paved part of the sidewalk in front of the Alden Branch (Temescal Branch) of the Oakland Library. The Alden district was named for Solomon Alden, founder of what is today Children’s Hospital Oakland and a distant relative of mine. There’s more information on a plaque on the new building at 4801 Telegraph Avenue. The building now housing Barlata Tapas was until recently the Hotel Alden. Barlatas is a fine place, but I miss the seedy, ramshackle hotel or at least the idea of it.

5429 Telegraph Avenue

After seeing hundreds of Fitzmaurice marks all over Oakland, perhaps more than a thousand, this is the first one I’ve found with a date.

438 44th Street

I have another mark by N. Lena from this year here with the old design. Apparently 1934 was the year Mr. Lena took on his new identity as Nat. But if I find that the two designs overlap in other years, I will assume that Nat. Lena was N. Lena’s son.

Another thing: Early on, Nat Lena used a period: “Nat. Lena” while in the 1940s he dropped the period.

479 44th Street

444 50th Street

3031 East 12th Street

Nat Lena was pretty lazy about updating his template; in 1934 he was still using a form that said “192    “.

5125 Miles Avenue

Riechel & Bredhoff marks are scarce, but the work is of high quality. I’ll bet there are a lot of these around Alameda.