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• On the article Column: The Lost Tribe of Albany

  

  Karen Sorensen

  1:28 pm on Sunday, August 5, 2012

  Michael,
  It's a common misunderstanding in Albany that the Key Route trains ran here (and for good reason, given Key Route Blvd.). I'm not a train expert, but my understanding of the Key Route is that they wanted to extend their line through Albany to Richmond, and went as far as establishing Key Route Blvd. before financial difficulties forced them to abandon the idea. The Key System did have a line that extended to and ended at Westbrae. (The primary electric train cars we had in Albany were the Southern Pacific "Red Trains" which ran down Solano Ave.) So I believe that the community "line" of the tracks that longtime residents refer to is associated with the tracks of the former Santa Fe train that ran along Masonic (following today's BART tracks).

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• On the article Column: The Lost Tribe of Albany

  

  Karen Sorensen

  4:26 pm on Saturday, August 4, 2012

  A more general comment about community “lines”: I find it interesting to look at where these lines get established. Sometimes it's along a creek, or a boulevard or freeway, and I’ve come across more than one instance where it’s the train tracks. This may or may not pertain to more recent decades in Albany, but during the early years of the city, there is some evidence that a line existed along the tracks. As part of my historical research of Albany, longtime Albany residents have described the Santa Fe train tracks that existed along Masonic Ave. as a community line. One of these residents who grew up in Albany west of the tracks in the 1930s and 40s said this: “If you lived above (east of) the tracks you were high class. If you lived below (west of) the tracks you were inferior.” My father grew up on the San Francisco Peninsula during the same time period and said a similar situation existed there (directions reversed). He recalls children were quite aware if they were from “the wrong side of the tracks.”

  Early non-white families of Albany I’ve talked to have said it was more difficult to buy homes or settle in the eastern part of town than the western section. I’m glad Carol brought up the deed restrictions. More investigation of that would certainly be interesting.

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• On the article Albany's Forgotten Garbage War

  

  Karen Sorensen

  7:15 pm on Wednesday, July 25, 2012

  Dave Gilson rightly pointed out that there isn't enough information online about Albany's early 20th century garbage war with Berkeley, which led up to the incorporation of Albany. If you'd like to know more about this, you can now read about it at the Albany Historical Society website (http://www.albanycahistory.org/id15.html).

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• On the article How Albany Hill Survived Name Changes, Development Plans and Dynamite

  

  Karen Sorensen

  5:57 pm on Wednesday, July 25, 2012

  On the subject of Albany history: one of the last Turning Back the Clock articles, by Dave Gilson, was about the early 1900s Berkeley garbage wars. If you’d like to know more about this, and its connection to Albany’s incorporation, you can now read about it on the Albany Historical Society website (www.albanycahistory.org). (Thanks to Dave for pointing out we need more information about this online.) While you’re there, check out the recently installed historical plaque about Albany Hospital (yes, Albany used to have its own).

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• On the article Albany's Forgotten Garbage War

  

  Karen Sorensen

  9:59 pm on Tuesday, April 3, 2012

  One other point of clarification I’d like to add: confusion sometimes occurs between the Berkeley “Ocean View” and the Albany “Ocean View.” The original settlement that formed in the 19th century along Berkeley’s waterfront was called “Ocean View,” and existed until it was included in the incorporation of Berkeley in 1878. This area was subsequently called “West Berkeley” and the rural pre-Albany area north of the town of Berkeley became known as the district of “Ocean View.” When this district incorporated in 1908, the city was first called “Ocean View” until a year later when the name was changed to “Albany.” Hence, the pre-Albany Ocean View district did not need to “officially secede” from Berkeley.

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• On the article Albany's Forgotten Garbage War

  

  Karen Sorensen

  8:54 pm on Monday, April 2, 2012

  Dave, thank you for adding great background, especially on the Berkeley protests (I believe these are separate, but related to the pre-Albany Ocean View protests). I love the quotes and headlines from the old articles. And since people brought up the third grade play, I also want to acknowledge Karen Fox-Reynolds, the teacher who to my knowledge created this play for Albany schoolchildren. The kids do a unit on local history in third grade and twice now I’ve had the pleasure of seeing some of them perform the play. I think they get a lot out of it and they seem to love taking on the roles of various characters from the past.

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• On the article Albany's Forgotten Garbage War

  

  Karen Sorensen

  5:15 pm on Monday, April 2, 2012

  I agree that there hasn’t been much coverage of the garbage wars (at least that I’ve come across) in various accounts of Berkeley’s history. I researched this extensively a few years ago when working on the Albany history book Marsha mentions, and wrote an article that was published (pre-Patch :) ) in The Journal and The Berkeley Voice on the 100th anniversary of the April 1, 1908 event that led to the incorporation of Albany. What was most interesting to me (and somewhat forgotten) was the real reason for the garbage wars: there was a scare of the plague in the Bay Area at the time, and no one wanted garbage and the rats it attracted. (To my knowledge, 1907 was the second time the plague broke out in the Bay Area, the first being in 1900.) There were anti-rat campaigns going on all over the Bay Area. Hence, Berkeley lost its long-term garbage dump at the county line and was rejected from wherever it tried to subsequently dump, including its own West Berkeley neighborhood (Dave gives great detail on the protests there) and areas like Suisun. As I recall, Berkeley did eventually use a garbage incinerator, but establishing this was also controversial.
  I also have several of these newspaper headlines (I added one here) which I show in the history presentations I occasionally do in Albany. Sorry, Dave that you thought this was forgotten!

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• On the article Preschool Poll: And the Winner is...

  

  

  Karen Sorensen

  9:34 pm on Tuesday, March 6, 2012

  I feel the same as Jenny. Albany Preschool is a great way to get to know the community.

• On the article The Peralta Park Hotel and its Notorious Builder

  

  

  Karen Sorensen

  8:12 pm on Wednesday, August 31, 2011

  I have heard that Fleurange Ave. was named for a character in Curtis' play.

• On the article The Peralta Park Hotel and its Notorious Builder

  

  Karen Sorensen

  2:39 pm on Wednesday, August 31, 2011

  People often ask me about the location of St. Mary's College High School (which was established at the site of the Peralta Park Hotel). Although the school uses a Berkeley address (the primary entrance to the school is at the end of Berkeley's Albina Ave.) much of the school site itself is in Albany.

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