Oakland Underfoot

2704 Derby Street, Berkeley

Schnoor Bros. made a statement here at this significant building in the Elmwood.

2019 Derby Street, Berkeley

I spent some time with my fingers making sure of this date.

1435 Derby Street, Berkeley

My interpretation of this weird mark is that the first Schnoor Bros. stamp had a hard 1915 date on it, and for a few years they coped with it by altering it with tool marks. Later on they mostly hand-drew the dates or carried a set of numbers.

2130 Derby Street, Berkeley

A new year for John Olaf Adler.

1806 Derby Street, Berkeley

I’m thinking this was hand-drawn. The oldest formal stamp I’ve found is from 1911.

2400 block Ward Street, Berkeley

C. Rapella marks are scarce; dated ones are quite rare.

2340 Ward Street, Berkeley

This stamp gives me a third year for the early version of The Oakland Paving Co. mark. It has the backward N’s, much more common than the correct N’s.