EXACTLY OPPOSITE The Newsletter of the Berkeley Historical Society Volume 28, Number 1 Spring 2010 Editor’s Note: In 1923 two young girls, one from Portland and the other from Ukiah, traveled to Berkeley to enter the university’s freshman class. They immediately became friends and remained so through out their lives. Both married, settled in Berkeley and became active members of the com- munity. The stories below are from a memoir, The 4-Year Stretch, about their college years that they wrote for their families. Coming to Berkeley FLORENCE JURY JACOMENA MAYBECK As soon as I had graduated know it was Sonoma. I knew only 1923 – the year of the Berkeley ing through miles of redwoods and from high school early in June of that it was California and those fire, the year the Stadium was ded- the hop fields and pear orchards of 1923, all my thoughts turned to the golden hills, just emerging from icated, the year Flo and I became the Ukiah Valley. wonderful adventure which was darkness, were beautiful beyond freshmen at U.C. Berkeley, Cali- Our brothers put us on – Piet, to come. The business of being a se- imagining. fornia. And I was 22 – real old, be- Huntington, George, Kenelm. The nior, and classes, and last minute My mother and I were met at the cause I had to work for a few years train gave a sigh and moved. We parties had kept my mind in the dock in San Francisco by my Aunt first. The hills at the ranch near were on our Adventure! If you sat present. Then came two months Jessie and we went across the Bay to Ukiah were hot and brown; garden down hard, a slight puff of dust of waiting. I played tennis and the Oakland side on a ferry boat. For sprinklers made tiny oases. Tea in rose. Never mind – the seats were read and tried on the clothes my twenty exciting minutes I watched the garden with the Dutch tea set red velvet. We wished we were mother was making for me. I was the East Bay hills draw closer and was a time for my mother and me richer and could buy chocolate so excited that even the thought of closer. Somewhere over there was to talk, to plan. from the “peanut butcher.” He was leaving my dear little dog who had Berkeley, the place of my dreams. She helped me pack. I must have a very old man with a basket of been my companion for years did Common courtesy kept me at had something to pack. We had goodies and a dialect all his own. not disturb me. my aunt’s home in Oakland until dreamed and planned this for the The train clopped along tooting At last I was standing at dawn the next morning. She told me how two years I taught at the county through the tunnels and the little of a July morning at the port rail of to get the Number 6 street car on school. Fourteen students. I saved towns of Hopland, Cloverdale, the Cuba – an electrically driven Broadway, not far from her house. every dime. I earned $135.00 a month Healdsburg, Santa Rosa, San Ra- passenger vessel out of Portland. My mother was apparently loosen- and I felt rich and held it tight. Or fael. It was here the smell and color It had been a delightful voyage, ing the reins. She suggested I go out rather the bank did. I had two choic- changed. Until San Rafael, then my first. Unlike a good many of to Berkeley alone and find my way. es for college – Pomona – Berkeley. suddenly the sharp pierce of euca- passengers, I was not seasick. I felt Berkeley was nearer the ranch and I got off that big, lumbering lyptus and a mysterious breath of quite grown up because the purser less costly. I had $2,400.00 and it street car at Haste and College. My fog on the skin. The City sparkled had danced almost every dance had to do for four years. boarding house-to-be was a very – the ferry from Sausalito to San with me the two evenings we were short distance down Haste from My brother drove me down to Francisco rocked us. The gorgeous aboard. I didn’t allow myself to the College Avenue corner. It was the train on narrow country roads Ferry Building was willing to re- think it was because I was the only the Episcopal Training School for dangerous with logging trucks. ceive us and send us off on another young person who was not miser- Deaconesses [St. Margaret’s House]. Mary’s brothers brought her. The ferry to Oakland and waiting ur- ably stretched out in a bunk. Sister Superiorso and my mother station was peanut butter tan – ban trains. That dawn we were off the So- had felt that such a place would only came alive three times a day. noma coast, though I did not then CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 The train arrived dusty from com- CONTINUED ON PAGE 5 Coming to Berkeley 1 In Memoriam, Ken Cardwell 3 The WPA in Berkeley 8 Thank you to our Supporters 2 Calendar of Events 8 Letter from the Presidents The History Center is located in the Veterans Memorial Building 1931 Center St., Berkeley, CA 94704 Mailing Address PO Box 1190 Berkeley, CA 94701 Hours: 1-4 pm Thursday - Saturday 510 848 0108 Margot Lind NEWSLETTER EDITOR Dale Smith DESIGN AND PRODUCTION As the end of our term as co-presidents all of you to continue or to begin taking Board of Directors of the Society approaches, we wish to ex- part in the communal work of preserving press our appreciation of the work of our Berkeley’s history. Margot Lind Carl Wikander fellow board members and of the many CO-PRESIDENT CO-PRESIDENT There is much to do, and the Society con- volunteers who give their time, energy, tinues to be a grass roots organization Steven Finacom Buz Cardoza and talents to further our mission. We relying on local, private support. Finally, FIRST SECOND have had wonderful exhibits and events VICE PRESIDENT VICE PRESIDENT we would like to remember the passing of during the past couple of years, new oral Phil Gale three of the “greats” of the Berkeley his- Judy Kennedy histories and others in the works, com- TREASURER SECRETARY torical scene: Carl Wilson, John Stansfield puter infrastructure upgrades, and (fin- and Ken Cardwell. We will greatly need John Aronovici Ed Herny gers crossed/breaths held) a new Web such talents and dedication in the future. Buz Cardoza Dale Smith site in the very near future. Nearly all See you at the Annual Meeting, April 11, Tom Edwards Allen Stross of these accomplishments are due to the Steven Finacom Bart White at the Berkeley History Center. efforts of volunteers and we encourage John Hammond Some Recent Donations to Our Archives Ken Duffy - Recording of Charles Keeler reading his poetry Sara Van Young - WWII bomb pamphlet and two rations books Thank John Underhill - Two post-1923 fire passes to go through fire lines Steve Greenberg & Liz Yarnhagen Buzz Cardoza - WWII air raid warder block record book for their life membership You donation Mary Cardwell - Collection of Ken Cardwell’s architecture books of $500 Tony King- Book: Musings of a Merchant by Lester Hink Eugene & Patricia Angel, John & Katherine Casida, Yukiyo Hayashi, What is in your attic (or wall) that could Ms. Patricia Kales, John & Louise Rasmussen and JM Sharp for their membership donation of $50. donated to the BHS archives? Horst Bansner for his $10 contribution to the LL Stein Endowment Fund Frederic and Lois Duperraul Membership Rates and James Martin for their $100 Individual $20 Family $25 contribution and Susan Cerny for her $30 in the memory Contributor $50 Sponsor $250 of Ken Cardwall Life member $500 2 Berkeley Historical Society Newsletter Spring 2010 In Memoriam, Kenneth Harvey Cardwell Kenneth Harvey Cardwell, Bay Area architect and Professor Emeritus of Architecture at UC Berkeley, died on January 11, 2010 in Oakland at age 89. Born in Los Angeles in 1920, his ancestors on the paternal side were owners of Spanish- Mexican land grants in Southern California. He served with distinction during WWII as Second Leutenant in the 35th Fighter Squadron and later chronicled his wartime efforts in a book called “How Father Won the War.” A long-time Berkeley resident, Cardwell was a UC Berkeley alumnus (1947), majoring in architecture. He first worked in private practice firms and then became principal archi- tect in the firm Kolbeck, Cardwell and Christopherson. In 1949, he began his teaching career at UC where he created courses in architectural history and historical preserva- tion. An authority on renowned architect Bernard Maybeck, whom he first befriended as a student at UC, Cardwell wrote the acclaimed “Bernard Maybeck: Artisan, Architect, Art- ist” (1977, 1996). He was elected a Fellow of the American Scene” and “One Hundred Years of Artists in Berkeley;” and leading a variety of walk- ing tours. He leaves behind many friends and associates in that organization. A com- prehensive oral history focusing on the life of Kenneth Harvey Cardwell is in-progress at the Berkeley Historical Society. A memorial service was conducted at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in North Berkeley on Saturday, January 16, followed by a reception at the Cardwell family home in Berkeley. Cardwell is survived by his wife Mary Elinor (Sullivan) Cardwell, five children, nine grandchildren and one great- grandchild. -Contributed by Therese Pipe Institute of Architects for his services to the organization and to the profession.