El Cerrito Historical Society

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El Cerrito Historical Society

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05/05/2026

Join us for an afternoon of good stories and great company!

Local history is full of incredible stories, and we bet you know a few. Come share them at the El Cerrito Historical Society’s first ever History Bee — a casual get-together where we’ll eat, drink, and swap fun stories of the town we love.

For our inaugural Bee, the society suggests a theme: Making Mischief in El Cerrito.

Maybe the mischief is yours. (Did you ride go-karts down Moeser, as a kid? Hunt for tadpoles in open storm drains? Wreak havoc at Camp Herms?)

Or perhaps you know a tale of bygone shenanigans too good to keep to yourself (like how a 1930s gambling czar got the best of authorities who wanted to close his nightclub inside the adobe).

Either way, come with a fun story — or an appetite to listen! We’ll provide the snacks, drinks, and seats.

Saturday, May 9, 2026
3:00 PM 4:30 PM
Veterans’ Memorial Building
6401 Stockton Avenue, El Cerrito

02/16/2026

Thanks to all who came out yesterday to the society's annual meeting. Highlights included the election of a new board member, Patricia Kazmierowski, and a discussion on writing family history with local luminary Linda Hamilton. Linda shared some incredible stories from her career as a family and personal historian at Stories to Last (storiestolast.com), as well as tips about how to get started chronicling your own family's history.

02/13/2026

This Sunday at 3PM, learn how to document your family’s history!

The El Cerrito Historical Society will hold its annual membership meeting at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 15 in the Garden Room of the EC Community Center. Our program will feature a conversation with Linda Hamilton, who helps people tell their family histories through her Oakland company Stories to Last. (http://storiestolast.com/)

A former teacher, Hamilton describes herself as an author, storyteller and publisher. Her advice to anyone considering documenting their family history? Don’t wait. She will talk about overcoming hesitations, getting relatives to open up and how to get it all down for future generations. The meeting will begin with a short business meeting, including election of board members for the coming year. Light refreshments will be served.

The free event is open to the public; 3 PM Sunday, Feb. 15, El Cerrito Community Center Garden Room, 7007 Moeser Lane.

02/12/2026

MYSTERY SOLVED?! The young woman whose family photos we posted last month has been tentatively identified by Rosemary Alonso, who writes, “I was digging around on ancestry and found a photo match for [one of the men in the photos]: George Matthew Bunter, 1896-1932. The wedding photo you posted helped make the connection! My suspicion is she is Gertrude Marie Dawe!

"When Gertrude Marie Dawe was born on December 19, 1900, in North Platte, Nebraska, her father, Benjamin, was 35, and her mother, Jane, was 35. She died on August 24, 1967, in Santa Cruz, California, at the age of 66.”

Hats off to Rosemary for her superior sleuthing!

02/06/2026

Ever wonder why El Cerrito is doubly blessed by BART? The answer involves Albany...

01/28/2026

NOW RESCHEDULED TO MARCH 7TH! See our website for details:

https://www.elcerritohistoricalsociety.org/societyevents/yesteryears-book-club-season-of-the-witch

***

Announcing the seventh meeting of Yesteryears, El Cerrito Historical Society's book club about the California history you *didn’t* learn in school.

Murder sprees, terror campaigns, political assassinations, riots, and a terrifying sexual epidemic: when San Francisco exited the 1960s, it plunged into an unparalleled stretch of calamities.

In Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Terror and Deliverance in the City of Love, David Talbot chronicles how the tumultous years of 1967-1982 almost destroyed the city across the bay—but also birthed the “San Francisco values” that undergird modern American progressivism.

The conversation about this book will be hopping! Come join us at 4pm on Saturday, March 7th, at Hana Gardens (10860 San Pablo Ave). Our discussion will be followed at 5pm by a reception. All readers are welcome!

01/26/2026

Q: 🎶 "When there’s something strange / in your neighborhood / who you gonna call?” 🎶
A: The Fairmont School Safety Patrol (ca. 1944-1945)!

In fact, school safety patrols were established to combat a far more mundane danger than ghosts: that of the automobile.

In the 1920s, as car ownership soared, so too did pedestrian deaths. Safety campaigns were launched across the country, many of them poignantly highlighting the particular danger to children.

School safety patrols offered one way to combat the threat. Student volunteers worked as traffic monitors and crossing-guards, helping younger children to safely negotiate public streets.

The program was a nationwide success. In March 1968, President Johnson noted that over “almost half a century, more than sixteen million youngsters have given freely of their time that their fellow students might walk to school safely.”

Sources:
1. Norton, P. (2022, June 10). When Cities Made Monuments to Traffic Deaths. Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-06-10/how-cities-responded-to-traffic-deaths-100-years-ago
2. Johnson, Lyndon B. (1968, March 29). Proclamation 3838—National School Safety Patrol Week, 1968. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/proclamation-3838-national-school-safety-patrol-week-1968

Photo: EC Historical Society collection. (Three names are noted on the back of this photograph: Charles Lewis, Mrs. Esther Woods, and Marianna Paulson.)

Text: Meredith McGuire.

01/23/2026

Washout: After a hard rain just around Christmas Day in 1955, there was a lot less to this vacant lot at the corner of Carquinez and Jordan avenues. The arrow points to the inside of the street curb. Much of the dirt and rock washed away by the torrent ended up in the yard of Roy Carter, who lived at 6128 Jordan Ave. This photo was taken on Dec. 27.

Photo: EC Historical Society collection.
Text: Jon Bashor.

01/21/2026

The view from Balra Drive: Except for Albany Hill in the distance and the Golden Gate Bridge at far right, not a lot of features seen in this photo are still around. Taken from Ed Meister’s home at 428 Balra on April 20, 1946, the surrounding hillside is largely undeveloped. In the middle, partially hidden behind the tree is the original El Cerrito High School. Over the years, the school was expanded, then in 2005 it was demolished to make way for the new campus. Just to the left of the base of Albany Hill stands the grandstand from the greyhound race track. Look closer and you can make out the travel trailers parked at the track grounds to provide housing for wartime workers. But soon enough, more houses would be built, sidewalks poured, landscaping added and the El Cerrito Plaza shopping center would fill the site of the dog track.

Photo: EC Historical Society collection.
Text: Jon Bashor.

01/19/2026

Two Mondays ago, we shared a charming photo of an unidentified girl. Then our extraordinary archival volunteers uncovered several more photos of her and her family. We're sharing the rest of the photos today, in the hopes that someone might help us put names to all these faces. Please send your tips to [email protected].

Photos: EC Historical Society collection.
Text: Meredith McGuire.

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El Cerrito, CA

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http://elcerritohistoricalsociety.org/

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