Arts and culture have always been a part of El Cerrito. The City's Arts and Culture Commission, the El Cerrito Arts Association, and many businesses and organizations throughout the City work to engage, promote and celebrate El Cerrito's thriving . . . — — Map (db m94184) HM
The Cerrito Theater opened Christmas Day, 1937. Architect William B. Davis included Art Deco elements and fanciful murals in the theater. The theater closed in 1966 and was restored forty years later by the El Cerrito Redevelopment Agency. — — Map (db m94120) HM
This attractive building, El Cerrito's first City Hall, was built in 1926 and replaced in 1961. It housed the City offices, both Fire and Police Departments, and even a small jail. The Council Chambers/Public Hall was upstairs, as was an apartment . . . — — Map (db m94185) HM
With an inventory of fifty books, El Cerrito's first public library was opened in the local post office in 1913. It moved several times before expanding and relocating to Stockton Avenue in 1949, becoming the first postwar library built in the Bay . . . — — Map (db m91361) HM
El Cerrito became a city on August 23, 1917. Businessman Philip Lee lead the incorporation effort and raised bonds for essential services, including fire and police protection. Lee was elected to the City Council multiple times and served as mayor . . . — — Map (db m94106) HM
Both El Cerrito's and Richmond's populations quadrupled between 1941 and 1945 due to the massive influx of wartime shipyard workers. These workers brought new musical styles, such as blues, western swing and country. This musical melting pot . . . — — Map (db m94129) HM
From the late 1920s until the early 1950s, El Cerrito and nearby unincorporated areas were popular destinations for people to play the slots, high-low games, numbers and more while enjoying fine food and entertainment. — — Map (db m94100) HM
Fairmont School was originally built about 1903 and was El Cerrito's second school. Fires claimed many structures in early El Cerrito, including Fairmont School, which burned down in 1924. A new school was built at the same site on Stockton between . . . — — Map (db m91358) HM
El Cerrito was once a town of farms and dairies. The mild weather, lush fields, and many creeks coming down from the hills made for excellent dairy farming. Over the years, there have been about 25 dairies located in El Cerrito. — — Map (db m94131) HM
The Festival of the Holy Ghost was started in Portugal by Queen Izabel to celebrate the end of a famine in 1296. Since the 1920s, Portuguese Americans have gathered in El Cerrito in late June to carry out this annual tradition with a parade, the . . . — — Map (db m94192) HM
In the early 1900s, Japanese immigrants planted the seeds of a remarkable nursery community in El Cerrito and Richmond. These nurseries were located mostly west of San Pablo Avenue and north of Portrero Avenue. After interment during World War II, . . . — — Map (db m94249) HM
Italian immigrants were a major ethnic community in El Cerrito. Establishments in the heart of Little Italy included Tezzi's Italian cooperativa, Fandio Bortolotti's barber shop, Cisi's Dry Goods, Louie's Club, Poloni's Bakery, . . . — — Map (db m94198) HM
Highly regarded French artisan plasterers, Joseph Laleux and Peter Allinio, both lived near here in the early 20th century. Individually, they worked on well-known projects as the Palace of Fine Arts, the Curran and Geary Theaters, and the original . . . — — Map (db m94128) HM
In the early 1900s, El Cerrito became the local center of a thriving "blueschist" quarry industry. Along with some smaller ones, Bates & Borland Quarry and the Hutchinson Quarry were two of the major local quarries that operated up to the 1930s and . . . — — Map (db m94189) HM
Between 1904 and 1979, the Santa Fe Railway line was a busy place in El Cerrito. Santa Fe had two small stations and a three-track yard in the City. In this area, the railroad altered the creek channel. The presence of the railroad eventually . . . — — Map (db m94250) HM
In the early 1900s, streetcars ran the length of San Pablo Avenue. In those days, people could ride from the county line to Grand Canyon Park (now Alvarado Park) or out to MacDonald Avenue to the San Rafael Ferry. — — Map (db m94194) HM
Golden Gate Lanes, El Cerrito's only bowling alley was located near here. Other summer staples included Bardon's Fruit Market, Betsy's Kitchen and Big Boys Barbecue, Motorcycle Hill, the Whoopie Bumps, and Peek-a-Boo Park, an early auto-court . . . — — Map (db m94222) HM
During the Spanish colonial era, the train that would become San Pablo Avenue connected many ranchos across the East Bay. By the mid-1800s, it featured a state line connecting Oakland and Martinez. Today the Avenue remains the center of El . . . — — Map (db m94248) HM
Businesses along San Pablo Avenue and the Santa Fe railroad, such as building materials companies, TEPCO (Technical Porcelain and Chinaware Company), coal dealers, monument companies, several lumberyards, a slaughterhouse, and a few furniture stores . . . — — Map (db m94188) HM
Walt Gatto's "IT" Club, located at Central and San Pablo was named for Clara Bow, the famous cinema "IT" Girl. Redd Foxx, Gypsy Rose Lee, The Vagabonds, Sally Rand, Frank Fontaine, and Johnny Mathis all played the famous "IT" Club. — — Map (db m94122) HM
El Cerrito, Spanish for "the little hill", is named for the hill to the southwest - now called Albany Hill. Like Brooks Island, the hills north Port Richmond, and the hills at China Camp across the bay, Albany Hill is a part of a range older than . . . — — Map (db m94105) HM
The Figone family's "Six Bells" restaurant stood near here for many years. Later Berkeley-born and well-known Major League Baseball player (and later manager) Billy Martin opened "Cerro Square" here in the early 1960s. — — Map (db m94124) HM
After running kitchens in early hotspots such as the "IT" Club and Six Bells, Violet Wong went on to become a culinary pioneer in El Cerrito by introducing Chinese American food. In 1945, Violet and her husband, Albert Wong, opened Violet's Dining . . . — — Map (db m94126) HM
