Oakland Underfoot

Webster Street at 3rd Street

Now this is a puzzle: What is a San Francisco Water Department gate-pot doing over here in Oakland? And how have I missed this after walking over this intersection hundreds of times?

I was in Phoenix in 2019 and saw some sidewalk stamps, and though I wasn’t documenting them this one really caught my eye. Oakland has WPA marks from 1939, 1940 and 1941 but not 1936.

I spent two nights in this central coast county seat and spotted a few sidewalk stamps. These are arranged roughly old to new.

Morganti is attested in a newspaper piece in 1909, a pair of brothers. Presumably one of them used this stamp later than that.

It’s odd, and probably a coincidence, that Oakland’s Frank “Borax” Smith was named Francis Marion Smith.

The next three are WPA work, from the Depression years.

A worthy destination for sidewalk freaks.

709 Broadway

Andrew J. McNicoll started his elevator company in 1886, in San Francisco, and the company was acquired by the Otis Elevator Co. after the 1906 earthquake. That year, Otis, McNicoll and seemingly every other elevator company in America were involved in a historic district court case in which the companies agreed to compete honestly in the elevator business. It established a precedent, for better or worse, of settling disputes by consent decrees instead of expensive trials that can unearth embarrassing facts, like guilt.

McNicoll’s steel was handsome and sturdy, although the elevator, which once served the building hosting the Have a Heart dispensary, probably doesn’t work any more.

1606 San Pablo Avenue

William F. Wilson (1839-1912) was once a major name in San Francisco. He was born in Germany, presumably with a different name. According to a laudatory article in the San Francisco Examiner in 1891, Wilson came to California in 1856 and soon made his name in San Francisco as a highly competent provider of plumbing services in large, prestigious building projects. Later he served on the Board of Health but was removed by new mayor P. H. McCarthy in a late-night coup in 1910. He died in 1912, leaving a large estate. His company was liquidated in 1933.

1427 Broadway

I spot-checked Oakland and San Francisco directories plus the newspapers and found nothing whatsoever about this guy.