4995 Broadway c1926

Description:
Woman in small dry goods store at 4995 Broadway, Temescal district, Oakland, Calif."Evelyn Ollino is photographed inside this modest sized retail store that served upper Temescal and the crew from the [Bilger] quarry directly across the street. The building was demolished when 51st Street was widened." [Ray Raineri note]51st Street was widened in the early 1970s to create a feeder route between Pleasant Valley Road and the new Grove-Shafter Freeway (Highway 24).

Date of Document:
c1926

Document Author:
Unknown

Geographic Location:
4995 Broadway, Oakland, Calif.

Context:
Immigrants from northern Italy had begun to settle in Temescal well before the turn of the 20th century. However, it was the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire that brought a significant influx of Italian Americans to Temescal, eventually transforming it into the East Bay s Little Italy. So many came many fleeing San Francisco s North Beach neighborhood that by the 1930s, most Temescal s stores, markets, banks, restaurants, and bars along Telegraph Avenue were Italian American owned. It was said that Temescal s commercial district so diverse was its businesses provided everything one might need. Broadway marked the eastern edge of Temescal, and this store was representative of the commercial businesses that could be found along it.