Toveri Tupa – Finnish Hall Marker

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Berkeley in Alameda County, California — The American West (Pacific Coastal)

Toveri Tupa – Finnish Hall
August Trille, Designer, 1908
— Listed on the National Register of Historic Places —

Toveri Tupa – Finnish Hall Marker Photo, Click for full size

By Barry Swackhamer, March 21, 2012

1. Toveri Tupa – Finnish Hall Marker

Inscription. City of Berkeley Landmark
designated in 1979
Toward the end of the 19th-century, a large Finnish immigrant community was located in west Berkeley. Together they constructed this wooden building which integrates traditional Finnish and American vernacular elements. An auditorium with stage, a kitchen and dining hall, a library, and a sewing room helped make Toveri Tupa (“Comrades’ Lodge”) a center of community life.

Vigilante mobs vandalized the building after striking workers were fed here during the West Coast General Strike in 1934. In 1935, ideological divisions led to the construction of a separate Finnish Brotherhood Hall on Chestnut Street. This building then became known as “Red Finn Hall.” Sold in the 1970s, the Hall continues in use as a cultural and community center.

Erected 2000 by Berkeley Historical Plaque Project.

Location. 37° 52.245′ N, 122° 17.626′ W. Marker is in Berkeley, California, in Alameda County. Marker is on Tenth Street south of Delaware Street, on the right when traveling south. Click for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 1819 Tenth Street, Berkeley CA 94702, United States of America.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance

Toveri Tupa – Finnish Hall Photo, Click for full size

By Barry Swackhamer, March 21, 2012

2. Toveri Tupa – Finnish Hall

The marker is on the building behind the bush to the left of the steps.

of this marker. Church of the Good Shepherd (about 400 feet away, in a direct line); Bowen’s Inn/Higgins Grocery (approx. 0.2 miles away); Workingman’s Hall (approx. ¼ mile away); Delaware Street Historic District (approx. 0.3 miles away); Fullen Market Building (approx. 0.3 miles away); Harpoon Cannon (approx. 0.4 miles away); Spenger’s Fish Grotto (approx. 0.4 miles away); American Photoplayer Co. (approx. 0.4 miles away). Click for a list of all markers in Berkeley.

Also see . . . The Finnish-American Labor Movement - An Historical Outline. Finnish workers began to participate in the struggling American labor movement which was trying to organize workers in collective action for social and economic justice. (Submitted on March 23, 2012, by Barry Swackhamer of San Jose, California.)

Credits. This page originally submitted on March 23, 2012, by Barry Swackhamer of San Jose, California. This page has been viewed 190 times since then. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on March 23, 2012, by Barry Swackhamer of San Jose, California. • Syd Whittle was the editor who published this page.