4127 Emerald Street
This Fred Austin mark differs from my other 1912 mark in its curving date and text placement.
1912 – Fred H. Austin
23 October 20081912 – J. C. Estey
23 October 2008
5844 Ocean View Drive
J. C. Estey marks are invariably poor. I only learned the full name from one at 497 48th Street, nine months after posting this one. This is the only one I’ve found with a date so far.
1911 – Esterly Con Co
22 October 2008
5685 Keith Avenue
A double-sided Esterly mark. There’s another 1911 mark, somewhat more degraded, at 5678 Ocean View Drive. I didn’t have my umpire’s brush to sweep it clean, so you see this au naturel.
J. C. Zweigle
21 October 2008
5288 College Avenue
An unobtrusive mark in the College Corner block.
Sidewalk maker: James H. Pedgrift
20 October 2008
James Henry Pedgrift (1877-1948) was born in England and came from Surrey to the U.S. in 1883, arriving with his mother and siblings in Los Angeles around 1890. He landed in San Francisco in 1902 as an independent contractor and was active in Oakland through the 1930s. He married Ina Belle Ormsby in 1903; they had three kids. His offices were downtown at 565 16th Street and he was always closely involved with the city government as a contractor and an industry figure. From 1910 through the 1920s he was a big wheel in the Builders’ Exchange of Alameda County along with J. H. Fitzmaurice. In 1924 he sidelined as an appraiser for Prudential Insurance.
He clearly had energy and a gift for business politicking, but for the last four years of his life he was an invalid. The Pedgrift firm was active as of 1947 but seems not to have survived him. He’s buried at Mountain View, in the Ormsby plot. His last address was 518 Apgar Street.
This mark is on 41st Street at Broadway, the old Anderson Carpet building, and the firm probably did the interior concrete too. The Julia Morgan building at 40th Street and Piedmont Avenue also has one. Few of them have dates, and those are all scrawled by hand. They range from 1930 to 1940.
John Conti
18 October 2008
356 41st Street
Conti used the same lozenge, or stylized pavement square, as A Salamid. I’ve only seen a couple of Conti marks, whereas A Salamid is everywhere.
J. Bowen
17 October 2008
339 41st Street
I’ve retraced a few blocks that I covered some months ago, collecting even the obscure and understated marks like this J. Bowen guy.
