Nostalgia & History > SP Oakland in the 50's

1) Fruitvale Bridges (old & new) 1954

2) Fruitvale 1955

3) 1st & Broadway 1953

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In the first photo....Chevy, Chrysler, Plymouth?

Yummy!

Dang John!! Those sure bring back memories. In '55, as a 10 yr old kid, I fished off the rocks on the Alameda side of the Fruitvale bridge. I also used to live a block from the bridge in the early 70's when I was working for Wells Fargo in Alameda (Remember Wells John????).

LarryB @ mp320, UP Canyon Sub

LarryB Wrote:
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> I also
> used to live a block from the bridge in the early
> 70's when I was working for Wells Fargo in Alameda
> (Remember Wells John????).

*I* can remember when there were three W-F branches in Alameda!

And for your dose of Really Obscure Trivia for today, during the late Seventies / early Eighties, the branch manager of the bank on Park Street was the wife of an SP Oakland Trainmaster. Two of her sons, one daughter, and a daughter-in-law would go on to have careers with SP. One's currently a Corridor Manager for UP, and one's an engineer for Amtrak (although I'm not sure if he's currently working, following his *blind* leap of faith).

topper Wrote:
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> LarryB Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> > I also
> > used to live a block from the bridge in the
> early
> > 70's when I was working for Wells Fargo in
> Alameda
> > (Remember Wells John????).
>
> *I* can remember when there were three W-F
> branches in Alameda!
>
> And for your dose of Really Obscure Trivia for
> today, during the late Seventies / early Eighties,
> the branch manager of the bank on Park Street was
> the wife of an SP Oakland Trainmaster. Two of her
> sons, one daughter, and a daughter-in-law would go
> on to have careers with SP. One's currently a
> Corridor Manager for UP, and one's an engineer for
> Amtrak (although I'm not sure if he's currently
> working, following his *blind* leap of faith).


Actually, there were four WF's in Alameda, Park St, Webster St, So Shore and NAS.
The gal the worked at Park St was Betty and her husband who worked for SP was Earl Friend. I was Asst Mgr at that branch of Wells at the time.

LarryB Wrote:
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> Actually, there were four WF's in Alameda, Park
> St, Webster St, So Shore and NAS.

Interesting. Never knew there was one at NAS, but that makes sense. I'm told there also used to be a Baskin-Robbins near the PX.

> The gal the worked at Park St was Betty

Betty's alive and well, and living in southern New Brunswick. After they retired, she and Earl moved to Maine, then came back to Alameda shortly before Earl died. Afterwards, she moved back to Maine and opened a B&B. Eventually sold that and moved to Canada.

Her daughter-in-law (who's a Corridor Manager for UP) tells me Betty will be down here in the Lower 48 visiting the kids over the Thanksgiving Day weekend.