Discover

Discover the stories and pictures that follow the Cannery from its days as the Pacific Coast Canning Company to its rebirth as the Pacific Cannery Lofts. This online gallery brings together some of the best imagery from the different stages of the Cannery's life.

The building flourished 100 years ago with over a thousand workers, provided shelter for refugees of the 1906 earthquake, and was a source of food for troops during World War I. While it closed up during the Great Depression, the legacy of the Pacific Coast Cannery lives on.

It's history has never been forgotten as nearly 40 family members of the original founder, Lew Hing, were at the Cannery for a tour just a week ago. The family has not only provided great support to the rebirth of the building, but they have also played an integral role in helping us be able to hone and tell the story of Lew Hing and the Pacific Coast Cannery.

Again, I encourage to take a minute and enjoy the online gallery.

Brewery set to rekindle Oakland's heyday

Headquarters for the Linden Street Brewery is in a historic warehouse along the city's industrial waterfront, a few blocks north of Jack London Square, that manufactured underground street-lighting cables in the late 1800s.

The Linden Street brew space dates back to 1890, the year four breweries were turning out 35,000 barrels of beer annually ...

"We're just a couple of guys out in West Oakland," he added. "As long as the future of Oakland embraces us we'll be OK."

The gatherings, a brewery tradition, help create community — something Lamoreaux said West Oakland could use more of.

Indeed. Sitting there, it was easy to imagine West Oakland when it was a neighborhood of Portuguese, Italians, Greeks, East European Jews and African Americans, including the illustrious Capt. William Shorey, known for its public-mindedness. That was before the Nimitz highway sliced through West Oakland's main arteries and BART went for the jugular.

Lamoreaux said he plans to focus on the brewing and getting Linden Street beers into the city's outlets. The Fireside Lounge in Alameda's West End and The Trappist Belgian beer pub already carry Linden Street's flagship Common Lager, which is made in the old-fashioned steam method that was typical of Bay Area breweries, according to Lamoreaux.

That's all for now, ladies and gentlemen. But if you have a cool shindig e-mail me at awoodall@bayareanewsgroup.com or visit the Night Owl blog http://www.ibabuzz.com/nightowl for more events and oddities.

Full Oakland Tribune Article, click here

Free food and free beer Friday nights at Linden Street Brewing in Oakland

Bottled Up

Continuing our thread on found historical treasures on the PCL site, we came across another interesting bottle that survived with the history of the Pacific Coast Canning Company. Although plain to the naked eye, the label found on the bottom of the bottle reveals some further insight into the daily life of those who inhabited the Cannery before us.

Founded in 1884, Puritas water was one of the first to introduce and deliver bottled distilled spring water to a consumer market. As the predecessor to today’s Arrowhead water company, Puritas’ history began in Los Angeles and was predominantly sold in that area. Puritas’ first cold-water spring was found in the San Bernardino Mountains where a giant arrowhead adorned the face of the mountain in which the original Hot Springs were found.

It was believed that the innate qualities of the water found in the Arrowhead Hot Springs were substantial enough to cure ailments. Hotels proliferated the surrounding area and travelers from all over the United States came to witness the natural wonder of the spring as well as the water. Coincidently, these hotels would serve as the first venue for the bottling of Arrowhead Spring Water.

Salvaging Historic Equipment

Last week Jeff Miller – Pacific Cannery Lofts’ landscape architect and landscape sub contractor – salvaged the historic ice making equipment that will become a feature piece at the west entry to the building. Jeff describes the process:

“Thought you would all be interested in our underground work to capture the ice making equipment from the dungeon of the Icehouse building. Quite the task indeed, but very exciting to handle such tonnage... The wheel is cast iron and I estimate its weight to be 4000 lbs. The motor seems to be just about 2500 lbs itself. My thought at this time is to assemble a single large wheel and its motor in north side of the west entry ramp. The wheel will be mounted on its stainless steel axle set on a concrete base at the bottom of the ramp and the engine will sit on a concrete plinth at the top of the ramp. We will use all of the original mounting structures and bolts in the reassembly. This arrangement resembles the original positioning - the wheel sat in a channel pit in the floor of the basement. My thought is that we will gain ground space on the low end of the ramp, much like the channel pit. The diameter of the wheel is 8'-0" and it will be quite an imposing sculptural element - the motor is impressive as well and will project 5'0" into the ramp area.

Since the room that they have been living in is quite small, my assumption is that they were possibly installed first and then the building was constructed around them... I can't imagine how they got in there otherwise... It has been quite the struggle to move them out of their habitat...”

Left Behind

Who consumed the pepsi from this late 1950's/early 1960's tin pepsi can found during the initial grading at the Pacific Cannery Lofts. The Cannery, after 25 years of operation, closed during the depression so this can did not quench the thirst of one of the many ethnically diverse cannery workers employed by Cannery Founder Lew Hing. Mystery unsolved....see if the phrases below bring back any memories.

Pepsi Phrases

The Pepsi marketing phrase has also changed many times. The marketing folks at the company felt free to invent new phrases whenever they thought the public would be receptive to the change.

1909-1939:	Delicious and Healthful
1939-1950:	Twice As Much For A Nickel Too
1950-1963:	The Light Refreshment
1953-1961:	Be Sociable
1961-1963:	Now It's Pepsi For Those Who Think Young
1963-1967:	Come Alive! You're In The Pepsi Generation
1967-1969:	Taste That Beats The Others Cold
1969-1973:	You've Got A Lot To Live, Pepsi's Got A Lot To Give
1973-1975:	Join The Pepsi People Feelin' Free
1975-1978:	Have A Pepsi Day
1978-1981:	Catch That Pepsi Spirit
1981-1982:	Pepsi's Got Your Taste For Life!
1983-1983:	Pepsi Now!
1984-now:	Pepsi, The Choice Of A New Generation

More Unburied Treasures at PCL

Among the treasures found at the Old Pacific Coast Canning Co., soon to be the Pacific Cannery Lofts, is a large scale Murphy Cardinal Scale used, I am guessing, to weigh the cans of fruit being loaded onto the trucks for distribution. The Cardinal Scale Manufacturing Company(see wmbedded image of its headquarters in the 1950's) is located in Webb City, Missouri at the base of the Ozarks. Founder William H. Perry started the new company as a result of customer need for a line of special-capacity scales rising out of Americas' construction era boom. The new scale line proved to be so successful that Perry had to resign from Webb in 1956 and devote his full attention to his new and rapidly growing company. And so, Cardinal Scale was born. As a new scale manufacturing entity, Cardinal was in need of its own heavy-duty scale line. With this in mind, Perry began discussions with Sacramento, California's L.R. Murphy Company, a well-known west coast player in the large-capacity scale business. It was L.R. Murphy who pioneered all-steel, large scale design... a major revolution in the weighing industry.

Up until that time, all large-size scales had been laboriously constructed of cast iron in designs that could not easily have been changed. Nor could these scales be easily transported from their sites of manufacture on the east coast.

Steel was readily available to Murphy on the west coast as a result of the construction explosion that began there in the 1930's. He gained a competitive edge with its use, and it was this advantage that made sense as Perry and Murphy began talking about a partnership that could be mutually beneficial.. particularly in terms of product distribution.

In 1958 an agreement was reached, and the two companies began working together, marketing all-steel, welded motor truck and axle-load scales to all parts of the country. The companies were closely associated for 15 years, and then in 1973, Cardinal acquired Murphy Scale and completely integrated the operation, with full-service plants in Webb City, Sacramento and Denver.

Six Degrees of Separation...Loft Style

In researching the history of the Pacific Coast Canning Co. we were able to get our hands on a number of historic items through some local family members of the founder Lew Hing. (Stayed tuned for that amazing story in the days to come!) The piece of note paper seen here is from the Cannery but look closely at the image in the bottom left hand corner. This note paper was printed in San Francisco at the Schmidt Lithograph Co. previously located in the what is now the Clocktower Lofts, developed by Holliday Development in the early 1990s. Do Do Do Do(humming the Twilight Zone song!) For more information on the Clocktower check out the blog entitled Deja Vu All Over Again and the Holliday Development Website Clocktower page.

Found Treasures on PCL Site

While clearing the way to start construction on the PCL site, we found some bottles left by those who occupied the space before us, many of which date back as far as the late 1800s. Still in excellent condition, these historic bottles offer us a glimpse into the lifestyles and culture of the Pacific Coast Cannery, and intrigued us to do some further research on the significance of these found treasures.

The first of the bunch is a bottle labeled as Dr S Pitcher's Castoria, later known as Fletcher's Castoria. This may sound familiar since Castoria is still being sold today under the pharmaceutical company Mentholatum. The contents of Pitcher's Casotria, a combination of senna, sodium bicarbonate, essence of wintergreen, taraxicum, sugar and water, creates an oral remedy made to soothe the stomach of children.

Aside from its cathartic qualities, Castoria was the subject of one of the most significant campaigns in early mass advertising, many of which are still visible today on the streets of New York. In fact, during the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge, it was said that Castoria ads were visible on virtually every blank wall in sight. It seems that this effective advertising made it all the way to our neighborhood in Oakland!

It's Oakland's Turn...Jerry Brown wasn't crazy.

San Francisco magazine has made these assertions in their current issue regarding development in and around downtown Oakland. I couldn't agree more with SF magazine's assessment. Seven years ago I bought the main Oakland Train Station and 25 acres of vacant land that surrounded it. When I bought the site I decided to delve directly into the neighborhood and learn more about the hopes and aspirations of the residents. I spent time in the local barbershop where I heard many stories of the rich history of the area. I also became aware of a very deep frustration with the lack of progress in getting new buildings and new residents to the area....the neighbors were saying that "It's Oakland's Turn"....isn't it??

One of the most interesting people I met in the early days is my counterpart in the photo above. his name is Marcel Diallo and he shared his vision for bringing back the neighborhood by organizing creative young folks like himself....he's was in his middle 20's at the time......and getting them to focus on a few blocks in West Oakland known to locals as the "Lower Bottom". His vision is to create an opportunity for entrepreneur's like himself to re-create the lost culture of the Black community.

As a 54 year old "white guy" I was intrigued at how we might work together to start the process of re-building this amazing neighborhood. This blog is designed to tell our story in real time as the buildings come to life. Our first building ...the Pacific Coast Cannery is scheduled for completion this spring 2008. I hope you find this story interesting and compelling and that you participate in Marcel's and my effort to redevelop this special neighborhood the right way....by reaching out and including ALL interested parties and blending ALL of their hopes and aspirations. This is the Bay Area's oldest neighborhood...the Station was the end of the trans-continental railroad in 1870...it has been called "Ellis Island West" by local historians as it was the landing point for all new residents to Northern California. I will post at least once a week to update you on our progress.