Revisiting Sidewalk Archaeology

                           Sidewalk Archaeology Revisited

       Last year in March I published a blog with a Piedmont Avenue neighborhood walking tour featuring imprints of sidewalk dates.  With the onset of reliably good weather, this is a good time to revive it and to add a couple of new sites.

       Instead of starting the tour at Kingston and Linda as we did last year, go one more block up Kingston to Echo and find another imprint, this one from the 1940s.

       Now follow last year's directions till you come to the end.  At the end of the tour, on Piedmont Avenue, go back to Monte Vista.  Follow Monte Vista to Harrison.  When you’ve caught your breath at Harrison, turn right.  Before you get to MacArthur, you’ll find another early imprint. 

      Using these imprints as guidelines, you can begin to sense a timeline of how the neighborhood grew.  It’s an interesting way to acquaint yourself with an expanding city.   Now here is the tour from last year.

      Last year's directions:

      History is as close as your feet if you know how to look for it.   Sidewalk contractors often stamp their logo into the wet cement when they finish a job and it is there for all to see until that stretch of walk is repaired or replaced.  Watching where you walk can tell you a lot about the history of a neighborhood.  Let’s take a short walk around Piedmont Avenue and see what we find.       

       The tour begins at the corner of Linda and Kingston, very near to the #12 bus stop, where we find our first marker.  1910, F. E. Nelson, it says.  Knowing that stretch of sidewalk was installed (poured?) by a contractor whose name was F. E. Nelson in 1910 gives a starting point to discovering the urbanization of that part of the neighborhood.

         Walking down Kingston toward Monte Vista for more information, we find what may be the only stretch of brick sidewalk in Oakland just past Monte Cresta,  If you know of others, please let me know. Now continue, crossing Monte Vista and turning right.  At Fairmont, the first street, turn left and cross.  Look for #685 and 687.  You’ll find the name of another company – Douglas & Wolff and 1938.  So this part of the neighborhood developed later than Linda/Kingston.  Follow Fairmont to the downhill paved path at Rio Vista and hang onto the rail as you walk the steep downslope.  Between #38 and 20, find the date 1911 stamped in the pavement and again closer to #20.  These marks were put there by the Esterby Con. Co.

          Cross Piedmont Ave. at 40th Street.  Not far from that corner, beside Ferrari’s deli, you’ll see heavy glass circles in the pavement.  That dates the construction to before 1920.  Space prohibits an in-depth explanation of this, (at one time the glass was clear), but we’ll cover it in a future issue.

          Cross Piedmont Avenue again and in front of 4014, find a well preserved mosaic in the doorway, inviting you into Pearson’s Hardware, which is no longer there – a remnant of time past.  Follow Piedmont Ave. and almost at the entrance to Piedmont Market, find a difficult to read marker M. Medis - --27 Scenic Ave. 19.  We can only guess why there are no numbers after the 19, but the space before the 27 seems to be worn way.  Clearly, this spot has had a lot of foot traffic.  The next stop in this block is between the last two display windows for Piedmont Market, where we find 1950.

          The last impression on our tour is outside the tobacco store near the corner of Linda and Piedmont Ave.  No date, only the name of the contractor.  And it will be for you to discover what that date is as you take your own sidewalk tour.