February 2024 - History Corner

Once Upon A Hillside: 25, 50, 75, 100, and 125 years ago

February 1899

Feb 4: The Hillside Club will meet next Tuesday, February 7th, at 4pm at the residence of Mrs. Breck, 1531 Arch Street, near Cedar.

Feb 20: The Hillside Club will meet tomorrow afternoon at 4pm at the home of Mrs. Gray, 1725 Le Roy Avenue. “Made-Over Houses” will be the subject of discussion.

February 1924

[The Hillside Clubhouse was destroyed in the Berkeley Fire of 17 September 1923]

Business Meeting, Feb 4: Miss Augusta Alexander will tell of her trip to Java. Mrs. W. H. Marston, home again after three months spent in Nevada and Arizona, will speak of her work in organizing PTA associations in “Carrying a Message to Nevada.”

Directors Meeting, Feb 11: Moved and seconded that Mrs. Hale and Mr. McFarlan be a committee to plan for the laying of the cornerstone [for the new Clubhouse] or whatever stone would serve as such.

Social Meeting, Feb 25: The meeting was postponed one week so as not to conflict with the program of the Town and Gown Club. [The Hillside Club met at the T&GC until the new Clubhouse was completed.] The evening was spent in “No Man’s Land,” a vaudeville-style entertainment consisting of an amusing group of marionettes performed by several Club ladies and a trio of Club daughters, two dances by Miss Gail Martin, several readings by Mrs. Foulds, “Three Little Maids are We” from Gilbert & Sullivan’s “Mikado,” sung by the ladies of the Club, and the short play “A Master of Husbands.”

February 1949

Fireside Meeting, Feb 7: The international Relations Section will present Dr. Peter H. Odegard, Dean of the Department of Political Science at the University of California. Dr. Odegard, whose talks on international relations have gained nationwide acclaim, will give us the Walter Shepherd Memorial Address, entitled “Frontiers of Freedom,” which he delivered at Ohio State College last year.

Evening of Music, Feb 21: Music is the international language, and the Evening of Music is one which appeals to all members. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Mors have arranged an interesting and enjoyable program of violin, vocal, and piano music.

February 1974

Fireside Meeting, Feb 11: The Photographic Arts Section will provide entertainment for this evening’s fireside—two slide shows dealing with the Berkeley area. First, Lois Tomlinson will present a color-slide show called “Weather Moods Across the Bay,” depicting some of her favorite Kodachromes of unusual cloud formations photographed from their hillside home. Edward Cassady will follow with a photo-essay called “Greater Berkeley,” a slide sequence of wild and domestic animals and plants, of characteristic buildings and works of art, and of people, photographed in an area of Berkeley and its immediate surroundings—Tilden Park, Richmond, Albany, Emeryville, and Oakland.

Evening of Art, Feb 18: The Clubhouse will be transformed this evening into a bit of Bohemia as Hillside artists display their works covering a variety of forms. Tables with red and white tablecloths will be laden with breads and cheeses and a variety of “wines,” and rollicking music will pour forth from the accordion of a strolling young player. Already volunteered are such works as oil and watercolor paintings, wood carvings and inlays, rubbings, ceramics, weavings, woodblocks, batiks, bonsai, puppets, and photographic prints.

February 1999

The Club’s archive of printed monthly newsletters ended with the May 1994 issue. If you know of a source for any newsletters between 1994 and the Club’s renaissance in the early 2000s, your historian would love to hear about it!