2321 Ninth Street, Berkeley
My example from Oakland is pretty poor; this one is pretty fine.
1906 – Contra Costa Construction Co.
1 October 20251906 – Blake & Bilger
29 September 2025
2394 Ninth Street, Berkeley
This is as good an impression as you’ll ever get. The stretch of concrete here, some 120 years old, is worthy of “heritage sidewalk” designation.
2025 – Cooper Construction & Engineering
30 August 2025
1960 Adeline Street
The stamp isn’t dated, but the work was still wet.
Cooper Construction & Engineering is a small family firm headquartered in Oakland.
Mueller Co.
6 August 2025
36th Avenue at Foothill Boulevard
The Mueller Company traces its history back to 1857, but its brass business dates from 1927.
Out of town: Modesto, California
4 July 2025
I was just stopping for lunch in the older part of town and was pleased to find this. Sears & Baker was mentioned in the local papers from 1905 to 1933.
Shand and Jurs
30 June 2025
12th and Fallon Streets
Shand and Jurs was founded in 1922 by Reginald Cuthbert Shand (1886-1934) and Albert Ernest Jurs (1886-1964), manufacturing industrial tank equipment as the Threaded Products Company with a plant at 917 Carleton Street, in a building now gone. They became Shand and Jurs in 1928. Today their brand is part of L & J Technologies, a much younger firm headquarted in Hillside, Illinois. Amongst their many products was a line of bulb-headed fire hydrants that have an honored place in hydrant history.
These lids are next to each other at the county courthouse.
Out of town: Mariposa, California
18 June 2025Mariposa was named for its abundance of butterflies, and sure enough the town displays them everywhere in photos, paintings — and concrete. I spent a fine warm evening strolling around, on and off the main drag, and spotted many examples of these two marks.
And I also found this dated sidewalk in the old town, which I believe is authentic.
Don’t visit Yosemite without stopping in Mariposa.
Oakland Underfoot 