Oakland Underfoot

Broadway Terrace at Route 13

Right next to the Hayward fault trace, at the entrance to Lake Temescal Regional Park, this mark sits out in the middle of the road.

Lindgren & Swinerton was the name of a company founded in 1888 by Charles Lindgren, an immigrant Swedish brickmason, and going strong today under the name Swinerton, Inc.. It adopted this name in 1923 to acknowledge the role of Alfred Swinerton, a pioneer in the use of reinforced concrete in the days before the 1906 earthquake proved its worth in spectacular fashion. The name lasted until 1942.

Lindgren was no relation to C. J. Lindgren.

1744 101st Avenue

This mark shows how carefully F. E. Flaherty did his handiwork, drawing a guideline and using a straight tool of some sort. Only the curves threw him. Oddly, just a few weeks earlier he used a different technique and had no trouble. His work was fine, but his brand wasn’t very good. I think he should have kept his old racetrack-format stamp instead of giving it up in 1935, but maybe it was stolen or something.

1952 100th Avenue

10212 Walnut Street

This appears to be the first year F. E. Flaherty abandoned his old racetrack mark. Sometimes he used his initials, sometimes not.

9432 Cherry Street

1106 88th Avenue

This is a superior strike of this date. It also shows a glitch, evident in the other example too, wherein the “6” in the date is superimposed on a “1.”

6126 Monadnock Way

An unusual hand-drawn mark by Ryan.