C. Aparicio

corner of delmas and hull, san jose

R.D. Stoecker

22534 mission boulevard, hayward


corner of mission and A street, hayward

Southwestern Stamps

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

Louis Lambretti

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!"

A&B Concrete

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

Thanks to my friend Ian for finding this one!

Louis Lambretti

sunnyside between throckmorton and miller, mill valley

Mill Valley has such pretty stamps!

Tony Brabo

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.D. Stoecker

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!

Le Troittoir

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:

Bay Area Paving

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

Roy Kendall

10538 san pablo, el cerrito

Los Angeles Inspector Stamps

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

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

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

Chicago Stamps

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


1214 53rd Street, Chicago, IL


53rd at Greenwood, Chicago, IL

In Half Moon Bay

behind sam's chowder house on highway 1.