SIDEWALK SECRETS

C. Aparicio

2011-07-21T01:29:00.000-07:00

corner of delmas and hull, san jose

Fugel Bros.

2011-06-26T23:03:00.000-07:00

448 sunnyslope ave, oakland

Sandin & Swanson

2011-06-26T23:01:00.000-07:00

448 sunnyslope ave, oakland

N.J. Lindstrom

2011-06-26T22:44:00.000-07:00

448 sunnyslope ave., oakland

R.D. Stoecker

2011-06-26T01:05:00.000-07:00

22534 mission boulevard, hayward

corner of mission and A street, hayward

WOW

2011-06-26T00:58:00.000-07:00

This comment left on Oakland Sidewalks last night is incredibly rich with details about several local contractors. Amazing! Moments like these make me absolutely love what the internet can do for communities. From Rich Pease:

"I found you concrete stamp collection fascinating. My son’s maternal grandfather was LJ Lorenzetti for whom I worked when I got out of service in 1970. My father-in-law learned his trade from Nat Lena who was his mother’s cousin. Nat Lena came to this country from Italy in the early 1900s. He started in the concrete business eventually becoming a general contractor. one of his buildings is Corpus Christi Catholic Church on Park Blvd in Oakland. Lino J Lorenzetti left Nat Lena’s employ in the early 1950s and worked out of Alameda. Lino was also born in Italy but came to the US with his parents when he was an infant. His father Giorgio worked for Nat until Lino became a contractor at which time he went to work for his son Lino. I believe that Angelo Sposetto also worked for Nat Lena at one time. another name that you will see in Oakland and in the East Bay is Jardine. George Jardine also learned his trade while working for Nat Lena. He too later became a concrete contractor and had his business in Alameda. Another Alameda contractor was Aldo (AJ) Ferraro. His real love was making cement sculptures. All these men knew each other, were good friends, and when needed would help each other with jobs. My father-in-law Lino called them “his friendly competitors.” i would be remiss if I did not mention the Apodaca Brothers who were also from Alameda. The one brother who had his contractors license had worked for the City of Alameda, and I believe that is where he learned the trade. Just one final thought – all sidewalks and flat concrete work on public property had to be stamped with the contractor’s name and the date the concrete was laid. That was generally the very last thing that was done. I worked with all the above individuals except the Apodaca brothers. I worked full-time with my father-in-law LJ Lorenzetti from 1970 – 1971. In 1971 I went to work for the Alameda Police Dept and became self-employed but still worked in the concrete business when I had the chance."

Take a look at the work of the contractors mentioned here by clicking on the links below!

Alameda Stamps, Part 3

2011-05-22T00:18:00.000-07:00

Alameda Stamps, Part 2

2011-05-22T00:16:00.001-07:00

Alameda Stamps

2011-05-21T23:21:00.000-07:00

These were all taken in the 23-2500 blocks of Santa Clara Avenue, and the 14-1600 blocks of Park Street.

T.A. Ryan

2011-05-12T11:16:00.000-07:00

2325 Ivy Street, Oakland

A Concrete Co.

2011-05-12T11:13:00.000-07:00

3284 martin luther king at alcatraz, berkeley

Nat Lena

2011-04-08T18:04:00.001-07:00

1328 curtis, berkeley

J. and F. Peterson

2011-04-08T17:58:00.000-07:00

1923 curtis, berkeley

1344 curtis, berkeley

These are almost identical, except for the initial... maybe a son who took over the business from his father?

C.W. Werner

2011-03-25T14:02:00.000-07:00

1822 francisco, berkeley

I need to go back and get a better picture of the date, but Lincoln Cushing has a more clear version here.

J.C. Zweigle

2011-03-25T14:00:00.001-07:00

SW corner of sacramento and cedar, berkeley

H. Sutherland

2011-03-25T13:59:00.001-07:00

SW corner of grant and francisco, berkeley

Ed Doty

2011-03-25T13:54:00.000-07:00

1619 cedar, berkeley

Griset

2011-03-25T13:51:00.001-07:00

sacramento, between cedar and rose, east side, berkeley

1710 cedar, berkeley

Southwestern Stamps

2011-03-22T14:21:00.000-07:00

I took a trip to Austin for SXSW last week and found some great stamps there, as well as en route, in Marfa, Scottsdale, and Phoenix.

marfa

scottsdale

austin

phoenix

Madsen

2011-03-08T19:57:00.000-08:00

1217 stannage, berkeley

N.J. Lindstrom

2011-03-08T19:45:00.000-08:00

1133 allston, berkeley
This is different from the other Lindstrom marks I've found, from the late 1920's and 1930's. Andrew has one from 1912 that dates this around that time.

Burnham Co.

2011-03-01T22:35:00.001-08:00

corner of lincoln and california, berkeley

L.E. Parks

2011-03-01T22:33:00.001-08:00

1639 lincoln, berkeley

The Oakland Paving Co.

2011-03-01T22:28:00.000-08:00

corner of lincoln and mcgee, berkeley

J.H. Green

2011-03-01T22:19:00.001-08:00

1357 northside, berkeley

1427 northside, berkeley

P.K. Van Valkenburgh

2011-02-24T02:10:00.001-08:00

2720 8th street, berkeley

Burua Concrete

2011-02-24T02:08:00.001-08:00

2547 8th street, berkeley

S. Avena & Sons

2011-02-24T02:05:00.000-08:00

2439 8th street, berkeley

W.E. Ensor

2011-02-24T02:03:00.001-08:00

2427 8th street, berkeley

Contra Costa Construction Co.

2011-02-24T02:00:00.000-08:00

2483 8th street, berkeley

Affectionately referred to as CoCo CoCo...

N.J. Lindstrom

2011-02-24T01:59:00.000-08:00

2216 9th street, berkeley

Pacific Trenchless

2011-02-24T01:46:00.000-08:00

1917 9th street, berkeley

Blake & Bilger Company

2011-02-24T01:38:00.000-08:00

1647 9th street, berkeley

NE corner of hearst (formerly bristol) and 9th street, berkeley

2417 8th street, berkeley

Ransome Randle Co.

2011-02-24T01:27:00.000-08:00

NE corner of 9th and camelia, berkeley

This is interesting: Lincoln Cushing has a stamp for Hutchinson & Ransome, while Andrew has a very similar stamp for the Ransome Construction Co. here (1902), as well as ones for Ransome Crummey Company (based in Oakland, circa 1915), and then the Ransome Company (based in Emeryville, circa 1939), and finally, the Ransome Construction Company (based in San Leandro as of 2002). It looks like Mr. Ransome worked first with Mr. Hutchison (who went on to work under Hutchison Co. into the 1920's), and then Randle, before branching off on his own and starting what would become a multi-generational family business. That would mean that my stamp and Andrew's undated stamp date from around 1905-1910. I wonder whatever became of Mr. Randle?

R. Appleby

2011-02-24T01:25:00.000-08:00

1623 ninth street, berkeley

Oak. Concrete T&M Co.

2011-02-24T01:22:00.000-08:00

cedar at san pablo, south side (in front of genki restaurant), berkeley

Spring Construction Co.

2011-02-24T01:20:00.000-08:00

SE corner of byron and cowper, berkeley

R.C. Malone

2011-02-24T01:17:00.000-08:00

2149 byron st., berkeley

Louis Lambretti

2011-01-17T10:32:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I photographed a stamp by Louis Lambretti in Mill Valley, and yesterday I heard from his grandson Rick, who gave me a little more information about Louis and sent along these amazing pictures of his original brass stamp. Pretty cool!

According to Rick, Louis Lambretti

"... emigrated from Italy in the early 1900's, settled in MV and started his business. He also built stone bridges in the Napa valley and laid sidewalks all over Marin and Sonoma Counties. Unfortunately not many remain. He and his wife built a home at 275 E. Blithedale and raised four sons there. The stone retaining wall surrounding the property was built by him and is still standing over 100 years later, without a single crack in it!

...notice the dings on the back? Quite often the cement was a little too hard and we had to beat on it to set the imprint. FYI - the stamp weighs in excess of 9 lbs!"

Tracy & Windhurst

2010-12-28T22:47:00.001-08:00

2703 college ave., berkeley

Troy Wilson

2010-12-28T22:45:00.001-08:00

2700 block of college ave., east side, berkeley

Berkeley Cement, A. Fadelli Sons

2010-12-28T22:42:00.000-08:00

2601 college ave., berkeley

P. Schnoor

2010-12-28T22:32:00.000-08:00

2601 college ave., berkeley

This is an exciting find! P. Schnoor (aka Paul) and his Sons paved huge portions of Albany and West Berkeley, and I have seen marks from "P. Schnoor and Son" (1910's) and the later "Schnoor Bros." (1920's) all over my neighborhood, but this is the first stamp I have found from his solo efforts. Based on what Andrew has over at Oakland Sidewalks, it appears that this is a very early mark for Paul, and is also my earliest (dated) mark to date!

T.J. Garvey

2010-12-28T22:29:00.001-08:00

2703 college avenue, berkeley

G.B. Daniels

2010-12-28T22:21:00.000-08:00

633 talbot

A&B Concrete

2010-12-28T22:17:00.000-08:00

monroe, by the valley fair mall, san jose, ca

Thanks to my friend Ian for finding this one!

Downtown Oakland by Day

2010-11-12T01:04:00.001-08:00

Here are some more marks I found walking in and around downtown Oakland this afternoon.

webster between 11th and 12th, east side

webster at 11th, NE side

348 18th street

harrison at 15th, NW side

harrison at 17th, NW side

1901 harrison

9 glen eden

Downtown Oakland by Night

2010-11-06T11:43:00.001-07:00

Here are some less-than-ideal shots from my Friday night meanderings. I am pretty sure that these stamps are from PM Henning, A1 Concrete/ JJ Silva, and C&D Paving & Construction Co..

franklin at 20th, oakland (west side)

franklin at grand, oakland (west side)

2406 webster, oakland

J.A. Hulling & Co./ The Flint Stone Works

2010-10-17T21:57:00.000-07:00

280 4th street at clement, san francisco

Louis Lambretti

2010-10-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

sunnyside between throckmorton and miller, mill valley

Mill Valley has such pretty stamps!

Tony Brabo

2010-10-16T13:58:00.000-07:00

corner of throckmorton and blithedale, mill valley

As it turns out, Tony Brabo is 97 years old and has been a resident of Marin County his entire life. You can read more about him and his wife Mary (99) in this article, published last year. You can also see historic pictures of him and his crew working in 1953, here.

R.C. Malone

2010-10-15T00:07:00.000-07:00

NW corner of curtis and addison, berkeley

At first I thought this was a Lovisone mark but after checking it against Andrew's key on Oakland Sidewalks, I was able to identify it as R.C. Malone. Believe it or not, this is my first mark from 1920, and it's always exciting to find a new contractor in my neighborhood- I like to think I've seen them all!

Spring Construction Co.

2010-10-14T23:59:00.001-07:00

This is so exciting! My first fully legible Spring stamp! I've become accustomed to their cement mix of choice (slightly pink and full of large pieces of quartz) and can often identify it without any present markings, but I've never found a stamp quite so clear, or dated! Judging by the typeface (sans serif) and the different type of cement, I would say this is a newer mark than I'm used to, but I'm not sure... Unfortunately, I failed to capture the address where it is located, so I can only say that it was on Bonar, between Addison and University.

R.D. Stoecker

2010-10-13T15:26:00.001-07:00

917 east a street, hayward

Last night I went on a date in Hayward with a Lutheran accountant who does musical theater, and had been described by the people setting us up as "edgy." I hardly need to tell you that we had very little in common, so the highlight of the evening for me was discovering a stamp as I was walking to my car at the end of the evening. The lighting is terrible in this picture (I really need to improve on my night photography skills), but in person it was clear that the stamp was from 1956, the same year that R.D. Stoecker placed an advertisement for his services in the Police and Peace Officers' Journal of the State of California, which you can leaf through here (Stoecker's ad is on page 51!). Pretty cool!

J.H. Green

2010-10-08T10:34:00.000-07:00

1234 evelyn

Albany Concrete Co.

2010-10-08T10:31:00.000-07:00

1234 evelyn
Hard to see the date on this one. My guess is that it's sometime in the late 1930's like the others I have seen.

Schnoor Bros.

2010-10-08T10:27:00.001-07:00

1234 evelyn
I love the way the last cement company preserved this when they re-paved. Too bad they didn't add their own stamp.

Triberti & Massaro

2010-09-25T17:43:00.000-07:00

3238 grand avenue, oakland

Davis & Sons Concrete Inc.

2010-09-16T11:16:00.000-07:00

724 san pablo
Another not-so-great nighttime shot...

Flinn & Treacy

2010-09-12T14:27:00.001-07:00

corner of ivy and laguna, san francisco

Ensor H. Buel

2010-09-11T22:53:00.000-07:00

fourth at bancroft, berkeley

Hanson Concrete Products

2010-09-11T22:47:00.001-07:00

channing at fourth, berkeley

I was so excited to find this stamp because my last Hanson stamp was almost illegible. It's good to find out that my deciphering of it was correct.

C. Valenzuela Con.

2010-09-04T12:20:00.000-07:00

4101 howe, oakland

Chas. Somers & Sons

2010-09-04T12:12:00.000-07:00

4123 howe, oakland

J. McGettican

2010-09-04T12:09:00.000-07:00

4149 howe, oakland

Apodaca Bros.

2010-08-29T20:13:00.000-07:00

1113 lincoln, alameda

F.A. Mero

2010-08-20T18:15:00.000-07:00

allston at byron, southeast side, berkeley

2126 curtis, berkeley

Burnham Co.

2010-08-20T18:11:00.001-07:00

2128 curtis, berkeley

Chas. Somers & Sons

2010-08-17T21:23:00.000-07:00

1703 chestnut, berkeley

A. Salamid

2010-08-17T21:16:00.000-07:00

1920 chestnut, berkeley

According to the very interesting comments discussion on this Oakland Sidewalks post, A. Salamid was Angelo, the younger brother of Frank Salamid, whose stamps I've featured before.

J. Mottino

2010-07-21T18:05:00.001-07:00

751 47th street, oakland

Love & ?

2010-07-14T22:55:00.000-07:00

corner of geary and powell, on the pedestrian island, san francisco

I really wish this said Love & Hate...

J. Mottino

2010-07-02T01:08:00.000-07:00

4535 martin luther king, oakland

S.A. Chase

2010-06-29T22:49:00.001-07:00

corner of julian and 14th, san francisco

Le Troittoir

2010-06-17T10:17:00.000-07:00

So, Barcelona (nor any town in northern Spain that we visited) has no sidewalk stamps, which makes sense since the majority of their sidewalks are cobbled. In Paris, the ones that aren't cobbled are paved in asphalt, and it seems that whenever new asphalt is laid, the workers inscribe it, or stamp it, with a date. Here are some examples:

Larry Frye

2010-06-05T00:45:00.000-07:00

1107 lincoln, alameda

S.A. Chase Artificial Stone, D.C. McCabe & Son

2010-05-29T20:14:00.001-07:00

These two were side by side on Steiner Street.

140 steiner, san francisco

Bay Area Paving

2010-05-29T20:11:00.000-07:00

stambaugh street, in front of saver's, redwood city

W.E. Ensor

2010-05-28T00:00:00.001-07:00

2638 russell, berkeley

Downtown Oakland

2010-05-23T16:34:00.001-07:00

1734 franklin, oakland

449 15th, oakland

We bought sandwiches and shortcake at the new Bakesale Betty and had a picnic in the Kaiser Center rooftop garden a couple of weeks ago. I spotted these along the way.

Fredrickson & Watson Construction Co.

2010-05-23T16:31:00.001-07:00

broadway terrace at hwy 13, oakland

Found this while waiting for a tow truck just above Lake Temescal. Yes, it's true: on the same day my phone and internet stopped working, my car's engine died. Not such a good day, but I love this stamp!

Roy Kendall

2010-05-23T16:29:00.000-07:00

10538 san pablo, el cerrito

Catching Up

2010-05-23T15:52:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned on my other blogs, I've been dealing with some internet issues for the past few weeks (namely, efax accidentally took over my phone number from AT&T and it took two weeks to recover the number, plus another week to get things running properly), so I have quite a stockpile of sidewalk stamps to post. I was in New York last week and am incredulous that I didn't find a single stamp, in spite of having walked miles and miles of sidewalk. I guess New York has different rules about concrete installation, which is too bad because it's such an old city. Anyways, to kick us off, here are a few I found yesterday while walking to the Cheeseboard for some Ossau-Iraty cheese in preparation for my next trip. Do they have sidewalk stamps in Spain? Stay tuned to find out!

vine street near shattuck, berkeley

1930 rose, berkeley

near 1839 Rose, berkeley

1739 rose, berkeley

1457 hopkins, berkeley

Stevenson

2010-04-28T22:00:00.000-07:00

corner of martin luther king and 46th, NW side, oakland

O.C. Jones & Sons

2010-04-27T00:32:00.000-07:00

corner of dwight and telegraph, berkeley

Oakland by Night

2010-04-20T23:02:00.001-07:00

Terrible photos, I know- I'm going to try to go back and take better ones soon.

ridgeway at howe, in front of st. leo's hall, oakland

81 linda, piedmont

linda near grand?, oakland

433 linda, oakland

S. Golden

2010-04-20T18:32:00.001-07:00

santa fe, under the bart tracks

I haven't posted this before because I wasn't sure if it was a contractor's mark or not, but I'm pretty sure it is.

J. Anderson

2010-04-18T16:56:00.000-07:00

385 26th street, oakland

Also!

2010-04-16T01:06:00.000-07:00

Here is the 1909 City of San Francisco Municipal Report, which lists all the sidewalks being paved, and the contractors working on them, starting on page 572, including D.C. McCabe, who was then paving 3rd and 4th Avenue, as well as part of Harrison Street.

Related...

2010-04-16T00:48:00.000-07:00

I was doing some research on C.C.W. Haun, one of the contractors whose stamps I found yesterday in San Francisco, and discovered this photo, which is part of an incredible collection of air vent by Flickr user some.accesss. It's interesting that this contractor, who advertised "Art Stone" in his cement stamp (below), also did plumbing work. Also interesting: the cement marking listed C.C.W. Haun's address at 413 28th, while the air vent shows it at 313 28th.

San Francisco Stamps

2010-04-16T00:21:00.000-07:00

corner of 24th and portrero
(not sure exactly what this one says... "deccotti & son"? "geo. cotti & son"?)

corner of 23rd and shotwell

581 valencia

corner of gurrero and cumberland

J. Triberti & F. Massaro, A. Soda Co.

2010-04-13T00:44:00.000-07:00

Until now I've been maintaining one post per contractor on this site, so that you can visit, say, the A. Soda Co. post and see a chronology of the stamps I've found from that company. But that means that unless I find stamps from "new" (to me) contractors, I never get to create new posts. So I've decided to take advantage of the labels in the right-hand column and start posting stamps as I find them, regardless of who made them. From now on, if you see a post such as this one and you are curious to see more stamps from the featured contractors, you can simply click on the corresponding labels below each post, or in the column to the right. You can also search this way by date, or by city if you like.

all from 1145 65th st., oakland

Los Angeles Inspector Stamps

2010-04-13T00:22:00.001-07:00

Most of the stamps I noticed around Los Angeles this weekend were inspectors' stamps rather than contractors' ones, and often the inspector and contractor would have made their stamps at the same time, as you can see here. This is definitely different than the way things were done in the Bay Area!

massachusetts at veteran, north side, los angeles

11408 ohio, los angeles

veteran between ohio and massachusetts, west side, los angeles

Janss Investment Company

2010-04-13T00:15:00.000-07:00

It seems that Janss Investment Company paved the majority of the West LA/Westwood neighborhood. Some research indicates that the Janss family owned the land that now houses UCLA and after selling the property to the city of Los Angeles, they developed the surrounding area for commercial and residential use in the 1920's. It's interesting that the sidewalks were stamped with their mark rather than the cement contractor's.

1749 ensley, los angeles

1621 veteran, los angeles

1528 veteran, los angeles

NE corner of veteran and massachusetts, los angeles

Los Angeles Stamps

2010-04-12T23:58:00.001-07:00

veteran between ohio and massachusetts, los angeles
Here are some stamps from around West LA and Brentwood (and a couple from Santa Monica as well). You can see some more LA stamps here.

1547 4th street, santa monica

veteran at ohio, SW side, los angeles

san vicente at darlington, southeast side, los angeles

11408 ohio, los angeles

ohio between cotner and beloit, los angeles

T.J. Garvey

2010-03-28T09:42:00.001-07:00

2407 fourth st, berkeley

Handwritten Dates- 1900's-1930's

2010-03-27T00:48:00.000-07:00

This is the first dated, pre-1940's amateur marking I've found. Check out other dated amateur markings under the handwritten label in the right-hand column.

The Oakland Paving Co.

2010-03-27T00:44:00.001-07:00

1739 lincoln, berkeley

National Builders of California

2010-03-27T00:42:00.000-07:00

mcgee at vine, berkeley

Couldn't make this one out, but Andrew identified it as National Builders of California!

Chicago Stamps

2010-03-23T18:44:00.000-07:00

I was in Chicago this weekend and I found these stamps in Hyde Park.

1214 53rd Street, Chicago, IL

53rd at Greenwood, Chicago, IL