Oakland Underfoot

2222 Lincoln Avenue, Alameda

Marks by this maker are very scarce in Oakland; I’ve found only a handful. This one takes the firm’s history back another year.

3955 Magee Avenue

Whoever made this cared more about the occasion than his identity.

3809 Whittle Avenue

I’m always unduly excited to find a 1970s date.

3943 Everett Avenue

A lousy mark, but a rare date.

1108 Wellington Street

The 1970s are a real black hole in Oakland sidewalk stamps. I blame Richard Nixon. This is the first legitimate stamp I’ve found from 1971 (but do check out the other two I’ve found). Fortunately, this block has several of these, so it won’t soon go extinct.

Alicia Street

Alicia Street is too small to have any properties with street numbers. This appears to say something like “Brown Hot Wheel” and is dated 7/16/71.

1281 30th Street

Hard to read this, but with a little Google help I see that it says “Cal Sideweld Bag Co / D. Myers Owner.” The 1969 Oakland City Directory lists the California Sideweld Bag Company at 1275 30th Street, with Dana Meyers as the proprietor. Sideweld bags are a widely used construction for inexpensive plastic bags.

This address is the former home of Acme Warehouse, which seems to be defunct and more’s the pity.