![\"This](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/VOJ-Z-HISTORY-COL-0424-1-1.jpg\")
This handsome touring car was featured in Berkeley newspaper ads a century ago. The sale price shown equals about $16,200 today, according to an online inflation calculator. (photo courtesy of the Berkeley Historical Society and Museum)\u00a0<\/p>\nThe Berkeley Chamber of Commerce a century ago placed its stamp of approval on April 23, 1926, on a proposal from the Berkeley Manufacturers Association to pave Seventh Street in West Berkeley, the Berkeley Daily Gazette reported, and turn it into a route that heavy trucks would use coming and going between Emeryville, Oakland and Berkeley factories.<\/p>\n
Readers may recall that people who lived along Seventh Street, particularly north of Dwight Way, had hotly opposed the proposal on grounds that turning their street into a truck route would damage their quality of life. The chamber and the industrial leaders were undeterred, though, and the interests of Berkeley\u2019s factory district would come first.<\/p>\n
I haven\u2019t done a review of where people lived in that era, but I suspect that most of the local industrialists and other business people who supported the plan lived far away themselves, in what were then called \u201chigh-class\u201d residential districts and would find routing big trucks down their blocks unthinkable.<\/p>\n
In other Chamber business, they also endorsed a proposal for creation of a \u201csunshine school\u201d in Berkeley.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Sunshine School program \u2026 provides for outdoor classrooms, for periods of rest and relaxation and for special nourishment,\u201d the Gazette reported, so that children would \u201cnot only gain in weight and in general health but also improve in their studies and \u2026habits. By these simple precautions \u2026 many children are saved from tuberculosis and develop into strong, healthy adults.\u201d<\/p>\n
New cars: Automobile advertisements were common in the Gazette a century ago. An ad for the Berkeley Star Motor Co. praised the features of their new Star Six car including \u201cheavy, natural wood, artillery wheels \u2026 a special exclusive Japanese Blue lacquer finish \u2026 (and) genuine Spanish leather upholstery.\u201d<\/p>\n
On sale for $895, the new car was featured in a drawing showing a countryside excursion, pointing up the growing popularity of \u201ccar camping\u201d and automobile touring.<\/p>\n
This handsome touring car was featured in Berkeley newspaper ads a century ago. The sale price shown equals about $16,200 today, according to an online inflation calculator. (photo courtesy of the Berkeley Historical Society and Museum)\u00a0<\/p>\n
Heat wave: \u201cHeat Engulfs Whole State,\u201d the Gazette headlined on April 26, 1926. Temperatures had soared to 86 degrees in Berkeley on the afternoon on April 25 and were expected to set a record the next day of more than 91 degrees. San Francisco was also sweltering.<\/p>\n
Dig discoveries: Berkeley\u2019s famed archaeologist, the Pacific School of Religion\u2019s Dr. William Frederick Bade, was in the news April 26 after he reported by cablegram and letter the discovery of \u201cthree early Bronze Age tombs \u2026 of those who ruled in the dawn of history\u201d at Tellen-nashbeh, Palestine. Bade was on a trip to conduct scientific excavations of Biblical sites.<\/p>\n
Oldest student: Berkeley\u2019s \u201coldest school girl\u201d was featured in a Gazette story on April 24, 1926. She was Mrs. Martha A. McKenzie, age 71, of 2411 McGee Ave., who attended the Berkeley Evening High School.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t believe one ever is too old to learn,\u201d she told the Gazette.<\/p>\n
Born in Vermont, McKenzie\u2019s formal education had ended when her father died. She worked in publishing for years, came west in the 1880s and lived in Portland, Oregon, before relocating to Berkeley for health reasons. She was involved in social welfare philanthropy and an opponent of smoking.<\/p>\n
Liquor bust: On April 23 \u201cfor the second time in the same number of days the corner of Durant and Telegraph avenues has proven the Waterloo of the alleged bootlegging fraternity\u201d the Gazette reported. Two young men were arrested there in police sting operations when they drove up and sold \u201ca few pints of gin\u201d to a woman customer who proved to be a police decoy.<\/p>\n
Sea Scouts: A group of Berkeley boys was planning to organize a Sea Scout troop and had met April 23 to take the first steps in applying for a charter, the Gazette reported.<\/p>\n
Bay Area native and Berkeley community historian Steven Finacom holds this column\u2019s copyright.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Berkeley Chamber of Commerce a century ago placed its stamp of approval on April 23, 1926, on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278709,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[14174,14173,418,1071,143,145,144,149],"class_list":{"0":"post-278708","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-100-years-ago","9":"tag-berkeley-daily-gazette-archives","10":"tag-history","11":"tag-local-government","12":"tag-oakland","13":"tag-oakland-headlines","14":"tag-oakland-news","15":"tag-uc-berkeley"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}