Berkeley, a Look Back: City part of a 'milk war' a century ago
Berkeley was part of a "milk war" a century ago. This was a dispute between milk producers and San Francisco-based distributors. "Gun clashes on lonely highways between armed guards of milk trucks and men endeavoring to hold up shipments of milk to the East Bay cities were reported early today," the Berkeley Gazette wrote Nov. 17, 1924.
"Headlights were shot out of trucks and unprotected trucks were held up and milk dumped, according to complaints." Police guards were stationed at some Berkeley creameries. Berkeley's milk supply was cut by 60%, and fewer bottles distributed to homes, although school and hospital supplies were said to remain stable. Many retail stores had a limited or non-existent supply that day.
Fraternity party: Another controversy erupted in Berkeley that month when the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity held a dance party on the night of Nov. 14/15, 1924. Neighbors complained about noise from the event, and police responding to the house at 2620 Bancroft Way said they found "about 200 persons of both sexes present and half that number were under the influence of liquor and about 20 of both sexes were dead drunk."
One officer said "this was the most disgraceful affair I have ever witnessed." Two students were arrested and taken to the Berkeley Police station, but charges were dropped the next day. On that day after a number of students also went to the Dean of Students at UC and left statements that "the rumors concerning the party have been grossly exaggerated...all of these persons who witnessed the affair state that the party was noisy but that rumors of drunkenness or other wild forms of revelry were untrue."
The Gazette editorialized on Nov. 17 that "there still are a few of the old-fashioned type of parents who want to feel that their children are in fairly safe surroundings when attending the university. Berkeley, while having its share of bootleggers and all that goes with the especially bad liquor of this day, is still sufficiently far removed from the real hotbeds of dissipation to cause patterns of university students little worry on that score."
Fire break: Nov. 15, 1924, "City Manager John N. Edy today announced that, after several months of negotiation with officials of the East Bay Water Company the company has agreed to construct a fire break along the easterly city limits of Berkeley and upon the west and south portion of the water company's property adjacent to Berkeley. This fire break will be constructed by clearing an area 100 feet wide and work will be done at the expense of the water company."
Chinese home: The Chung Mei Home for Chinese Boys in Berkeley celebrated its first anniversary on Nov. 16, 2024. Located at 3000 Ninth St., the home housed 27 boys with another 25 on the waiting list. An expansion was planned.
"The home was organized under the auspices of the Bay Cities Baptist Union to care for orphans, half orphans, boys from broken homes and other needy Chinese boys."
Water bonds: In the November 1924, election voters in the East Bay approved the sale of 39 million in bonds to build the Mokelumne river water project. The vote was about 82,000 to about 32,000. Two-thirds approval was required.
Telephone building: Nov. 14, 1924, the Gazette reported that riveting of the steel "skeleton" for the new Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company building in Berkeley had been completed. The next step involved encasing the support columns in concrete, followed by construction of floors and "the outer walls of brick and terra cotta erected."
Bay Area native and Berkeley community historian Steven Finacom holds this column's copyright.
