Oakland Tribune from Oakland, California · 17

7 r t f . i - ff ' " r T J jg ty uowaqer or Lower Broaawav uax ana s oia nan or xecoras win be razed aj. ' -v.. Old Hall To Come Tumbling Down JLION IS TYPICAL OF HALL ORNAMENTATION '. 89-year-old structure is of brick1.Jiniestone :y By HA VELOCK HUNTER The Ancient Dowager of Lower Broadway has been presiding over the corner with decaying dignity these past few years. Soon ignoble death will overtake her, too, as it did her life- time companion in 1950 -. For her owners, the County of Alameda, decreed yesterday that this old lady of Fourth and Broadway, the Hall of Records, is to be razed by wreckers. Such was the fate of the old .Courthouse across the way, leveled to make way for new public buildings. In letting a contract for erection of a $2.5 million Probation Center on the Hall of Records site the Board of Supervisors ordered the demise of a building erected in 1875. The resulting shambles of tumbling brick and limestone walls will signal the passing of a landmark that directly links Oakland to its beginning as the county seat. Since Alameda County government settled in a frontier store in Alvarado in 1853, Oakland had fought to obtain the prize." San Leandro won first, however, and in 1856 housed the county seat in a brick Courthouse.. But its hold started slipping after a great 1868 earthquake leveled the building. : Brooklyn Township, today East Oakland, next was chosen as the seat of government. Oakland blocked the erection of any county buildings there and by 1874 got the legislature to declare Oakland the county seat. The metropolis, anticipating its success, got the county to settle on a P e r a 1 1 a Grant site, the Washington - Franklin Plaza be tween Fifth and Fourth StreetsJ One - lot on the. west side of Broadway was for the Courthouse; the east side of the street for the Hall of Records, v . The Hall site had been the pa rade ground of the" Oakland Guard from 1865. Architect Henry H.v Meyers designed ' the ornate Hall, complete with entrance columns, leaded glass windows and a great rotunda. TREASURE-HOUSE The building housed the treas urer, clerk, recorder and Board of Supervisors. It became a treasure - house of Alameda County's history. With the Courthouse it shared much of the romantic color of the famed political figures. Situated as they were in the early hub of the town, they were backdrop to the past which marched with the history of city and county. Much of the legal tug-of-war went On inside their walls: : Horace Carpentier's waterfront development ... Dr. Samuel P. Pleasant Hill Keeps Same Street Name MARTINEZ - The 2.5 mile strip between Mt. Diablo Boulevard and Geary Road will re main Pleasant Hill Road, the board of supervisors ruled yes terday. In leavintr the name un changed, -the board turned down recommendations by the public works denartment that the road be named Taylor Boulevard Ifrom.Mt. Diablo Boulevard to Tavlor Boulevard for 1.78 miles and Geary Road from Taylor Boulevard to Geary uoaa, a distance of .72 miles. The department planned the name change to eliminate con fusion. The move was protested hv the Citv of Pleasant Hill, the Acalanes Union High School District and by property owners. Pleasant Hill officials said the name helps retain the identity of their citv. The board agreed, noting that people who live in the area are laminar witn pres ent road names. $AVE Peerlessly! HAYWARD TO OAKLAND ONLY 30e SanUondre only 25 m-fil!l!lI'l'lKB' Merritt's struggle as early mayor for civic improvements, lnclud-ingjpresenation of the lake that bears his name '. . . - v Part of the Legislative compromise that led to the extension of the transcontinental railroad to its waterfront terminus m 1879 . . ' The traction company operations of F. M. Borax Smith in obtaining rights of way i . i- BROADWAY PAGEANTS There were even the pageants of Broadway including the 1880 visit of President Rutherford B. Hayes, who was overshadowed by the accompanying presence of the Civil War hero, Gen. William T. Sherman. , And down, past' the. buildings marched the commuters bound for Mayor Davis' "Nickel Ferry" in the 1890s 'when the battle was on over transbay fares? "' On through history, well into the 20th century, the Hall" and. Courthouse served. The county clerk became the clerk of Superior Court in addition to being clerk of the board and sealer of weights and njeasur'es. So his Yanks Await Verdict In Spain Murder Trial deputies, in green eyeshades and paper - wrapped sleeves, had to hustle back and forth across busy Broadway. ' The Hall got a south wing in 1900 and a north wing in 1916. It was even remodeled in 1945 when the welfare and school de- partmentsook overrwell -after the "new" Courthouse, by Lake Merritt became the under-one-roof replacement. r. ENGINEER'S REPORT The supervisors finally gave up overhauling the. building, in 1957 when a structural engineer's report revealed nothing .more could be added without the building collapsing. So as time progressed the county school department was s h u n t e d out to Hayward and a new welfare building was built on the site of the old Courthouse. The Hall was left deserted, saved for some storage. There was. a note of irony in the long tenancy of the Hall and C o u r t h o u's e on the Peralta "Grant." The county, had not legally acquired the land and it was not until 1933 that title was definitely settled in the county's favor. By that time, however, the county had "squatters' rights" as the county seat here.' And the Hall of Records was far into a career that now is at an end. BARCELONA, Spain, '(UPI) -The "eatnik" murder and rob bery trial of six persons, among them an American facing a pos sible death sentence by garrot- ing, ended tday with a court announcement that the verdict will be. given Monday. The trial opened last Wednes day. This morning's session was taken up by final arguments from Miguel Rodes, defense counsel for Joan douglas Bry-den, 22, of Northampton, Eng land, who faces a prison sen tence of six years and a day if she is found guilty m connec tion ith the murder of Spanish businessman, Francisco Rovi-rosaClosas. Defense counsel for the othe" five defendants gave their final arguments yesterday. Facing possible' death"" Sentences are James Bell Wagner, 22, of Union Branch, N.J., described-by the prosecutor asthe "material author of the crime," and Mrs. Maria Pilar Alfaro Velasco, a 23-year-old Spanish woman from Barcelona. The other three accused are James Stephen Johnson, 31, of Framingham, Mass., John Joseph Hand, 40, of Southfield, Mich., and his sister-in-law, Mrs. Nancy Karen Hand, 25t also of Southfield. They are charged as accomplices in the murder and could receive prison terms ranging "from 12 to 20 years. County to Dedicate New Office B u ildi n g Dedication of Alameda Coun--ty's new $4.5 million Administration Building was set today for March 19. Kent D. Pursel, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, will preside at .ceremonies starting at 1:45 p.m. in the patio at the entrance to the structure. The building will be dedicated to the late Superior Judge Ralph Hoyt, who served Alameda County in the district attorney's office nd on the bench from 1919 until his death in 1961, A plaqtie will be placed in his honor. Former Sen. William F. Know-land will deliver the dedication address. Presiding Judge Don ald Quayle and Dist. Atty. J. ! Frank Coakley will also speak. Pursel aid the. public is in vited to attend the ceremonies and participate in an open house and tour of the building. Refreshments wil. be served and parking will be free of charge in the adjoining County Garage. Occupying the -entire block bounded by Oak, Madison, 12th, and 13th Streets; the administration building is the middle of three county structures. POLICE PANEL TO DISCUSS LOCAL CRIME "Crime in Our Neighborhood" will be discussed by North Oakland residents at 8 p.m. tomorrow during a community meeting in the Golden Gate School, 6200 San Pablo Ave. Sponsored by the North Oakland Community Council, the program will feature talks by three members of the Oakland Police Department, Lt. John Haubner, Sgt. Howard Dilsaver and Sgt. John Lothrop. it leaves you breathless! Smirnoff-filtered through a "mountain" of charcoal What makes Smirnoff so crystal clear, uniquely smooth, so remarkably free of taste or odor? Every drop is filtered through 7 tons of activated charcoal. That's why it's dryer in a" Martini, smoother on-the-rocks, blends so perfectly in a Screwdriver or a Bloody Mary. In f act, Smirnoff nixes with anything that pours. And it leaves you breathless. Qmimoffj Always ask for ' ' S If VODKA rot 100 PfipOf. DISTIttEDTROM GRAIN. CSTE. PIERRE SMIRNOFF FL3. DIV. OF HCUBLEIN). HARTFORD. CONN.. 196 rail LJSLi .9- - . It is connected with. the Courthouse and the Countv Garace bv an underground tunnel which brings parkmg within . s,hort "walking distance "of all "county offices and courts. The administration' building is the most costly ever built bv trie county. It contains 200,000 square feet of space and will house offices of the assessor, auditor-controller, tax collector treasurer, civil. service, admin istrator, purchasing, acricul ture.'the data processing center, chambers and offices of the board of supervisors, and six superior courts. . A . considerable area of the building was left unfinished, available for future needs. Fishing Court SKOKOMISH, Wash. fUPI)-Mrs. Anne Pavel, 33, a registered nurse, serves as judge of the Tribal Fishing Court here. Organized by the Skokomish Tribal Council and. the U. S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, the court is believed the only one of its kind in the United States. Mrs. Pavel conducts court on the Skokomish Indian Reservation. She is a full-blooded Skokomish Indian. 0aUan&2lCribuAe Wed:, March 11, E 17. Servehte New Fir Chief in Alameda ALAMEDA Ernest Servente, 22-year .veteran of the Alameda Fire Department, has been ap pointed -fire-chief succeed -Chief William L. Hilbish, who retires May 1. , : - The appointment was an- nounced yesterday by City Manager H. D. Weller, who said Servente "will do an outstanding job . . . and will receive the co operation of every member of the department and the respect of the public." Born and schooled in Alameda Servente joined the department in -1942; rose to lieutenant m 1945, captain in 1946 and has served in his present position of assistant chief since 1953. -Servente,. 46, lives at 1626 Ver sailles Ave., with his wife, Con-suelo, his three daughtersj, Christine, 17, twins Ann and Cathleen, 4, and son Marco, 2. Author of 'Calories' Bookjndicted WASHINGTON lAP) A federal grand jury indicted Dr. Ierman Taller today on charges tnat Jils' toest-selling book ""Calories Don't Count," was part 'of a fraudulent weight - reducing scheme perpetrated across the nation. ,: Atty." Gen. Robert F. Kennedy saij the indictment, returned, in U.S. District Court, Brooklyn, N.Y.r charges that the-scheme involved the sale of "CDC" capsules to be used in weight reduction according to the instructions in the book. , - . The grand jury also indicted three officers of CDC Pharmaceutical, Inc., of Glen . Cove, Long Island, manufacturer of the capsules. The firm is a subsidiary of Cove Vitamin & Pharmaceutical, Inc., also of Glen Cove. Both firms also were listed as defendant. ' Of the; 49 counts in the indict ment, 45 charged mail fraud. three charged mislabeling in vi olation . of the Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act, and one charged conspiracy. r;- - s ERNEST SERVENTE Named Alameda fire chief Ex-Sheriffs Aide Sued for Annulment Arresjts in Nepal . KATMANDU, Nepal (UPI) Former Prime. Minister Dr. K. I. Singh and deposed Nepali Con gress Home Minister S, P. Up- -adhyaya are under house arrest. it was officially announced today. - MARTINEZ Former under-sheriff John J. Jagard. 53, was sued for annulment today in Contra .Costa County SOpeinr Court. Mrs. Anna Mae Jagard, 41, said in her complaint that she . discovered m-Jun6-L-4963T4Rat her former husband had not obtained .a -final divorce decree, .. "as he had alleged." , She and Jagard were married 1 in Oroville on March 21, .1962. Jagard, a former Richmond and San Pablo officer, was un- dersheriff during Harry A. Brown's term. He resigned in September, 1958. The annulment action was filed through attorney Douglas R. Cage. Free X-Rays Offered Pittsburg Residents PITTSBURG - Free chest X-, rays for area residents 15 years of age and older will be available here Friday at the county ' office building, 45 Civic Ave., from 2 to 5 and 6 to 7:30 p.m. The Contra Costa Health Dept. mobile unit will be open to food service personnel desiring to complete requirements for health permits. ; The free X-rays are part of the county's tuberculosis control program. THE WHITE HOUSE KAI SER CENTER, OAKLAND - sit back . . . relax . . . catnap . . . ZZZZZz EYE -OPENING VALUES ON FAMOUS SERTA STUDIOS SINGLE STUDIO Smart, trim contemporary styling in wipe-clean supported plastic. Double back bolster; sleeps one. Choose tan, turquoise or persimmon. STUDIO DIVAN ' Tailored in easy-to-clean supported plastic with two Joose bolsters for relaxing comfort; sleeps two. Black, brown .or green. Terrific value! $ 59 $ 79 t - - Sleep Shop, Third Floor. : - - -- SORRY, NO MAIL OR PHONE ORDERS PLEASE Nothing down take months to pay ". Shop Monday and Thursday hights 'tif 9 " .--.'