Oakland Underfoot

5842 Virmar Avenue

This little street off Broadway is mislabeled “Miramar” on the Walk Oakland map.

5315 Thomas Avenue

I’m not sure how long Frank Salamid kept “& Co.” on his marks. Some from the 1920s seem to have the ghost of it, like this one, but the marks are generally so shallow that it’s hard to tell.

5348 Thomas Avenue

5934 Taft Avenue

Napa Street near Belgrave Place

This is a wicked Cotterill mark, on one of those rugged driveway surfaces they used to make. Normally I think of those as Mottino jobs, but they might also be Cotterills. I think that car tires must have gotten better, because driveways from the 1930s and later are not textured any more.

5869 Keith Avenue

I am guessing that M. B. Wiggins is the contractor who later became part of Wiggins & Kaiser.

5800 Mendocino Avenue

This stamp is on the property, not the sidewalk. The concrete work on individual home stairways and walks is rarely stamped by the makers—I can think of a Paul Schnoor walkway on Forest Street—but this home, on a corner with a commanding site, was worth the effort for the Catucci firm, whose large brick building still stands on East 12th Street and 18th Avenue. The mark is found in at least two places on the property.

There’s another 1916 mark just down 63d Street from Cole Coffee.