On the east side of Richmond Street in the 1920's, between Central and Fairmount in the middle of the block, stood the Tony Lombardo Poultry business in the l920's. Tony was a short, stout, gray haired, Italian fellow, and was very active in the city. He had a regular poultry shop where he cleaned and dressed his poultry for market and also sold to people in the surrounding area.

In conjunction with this store, in Oakland he ran a poultry stand in the 6th Street Market several days a week along with his shop in El Cerrito.

When one drove by his building, one would often see a loose duck or chicken running around the yard that had escaped from the crates that were stacked at the rear of the yard. His International flatbed truck would be parked in the driveway loaded with chicken crates and feathers would blow all over, especially on windy days.

Tony later decided to haul in olives, which he crushed in a large press and made olive oil in a small building at the rear of the lot. This he sold either by five-gallon cans or one-gallon jugs to his buyers, but along about 1933 he gave up this business.

He moved to San Pablo Avenue in Albany and opened up a poultry shop, which he ran for a number of years with the help of his wife, son and his daughters.

Tony's son Vincent, who passed away in 1975, played an important part as a witness in convicting the bandits who robbed a Southern Pacific Train at Nobel Station in Albany in 1936. [Editor's Note: The station was named Nobel because in earlier days there were dynamite works in the area.]
Copyright Mervin Belfils, October 1975
Copyright El Cerrito Historical Society, June 2006