Barbershop 4826 Telegraph c1920

Description:
Interior of the barbershop at 4826 Telegraph Avenue, Temescal district, Oakland, Calif. The barber on the right is Joseph Basso (c.1870-1953), owner of the shop and the building it occcupies (which includes two apartments on the second floor). Sometime in the 1920s, the commercial space was home to a dry goods store, and later became Breschi's Department Store. [from Donald Hausler and Ray Raineri notes]

Date of Document:
circa 1920

Document Author:
Unknown

Geographic Location:
4826 Telegraph Avenue, Temescal district, 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.