El Cerrito Historical Society - History of El Cerrito California, Contra Costa County


	HISTORICAL SOCIETY QUIZ: 2019 Test your knowledge of El Cerrito's history. Questions may have one or multiple correct answers. You may enjoy reading the following notes related to the questions: 1. Fages cited ”the great many bears living around these places.” The party encountered plenty of freshwater, both streams and even a small lake. 2. Pechart was one of the crime bosses who were trying to monopolize gambling throughout Northern California. 3. The upper portion of Moeser Lane was opened to public use in 1970. The city did not have water lines to support standard landscaping, so the Garden Club, working with the Native Plant Society, volunteered to plant and maintain low-water native plants. Their effort won praise, and illustrated articles on the project ran in several national magazines. 4. According to John Fogerty’s autobiography, ”Fortunate Son,” from which all this information is drawn, there were few if any bands in El Cerrito schools that performed regularly or stayed together. He does not report catching music at the It Club, which he probably would have mentioned. 5. Several years later a more liberal council did agree to back Earth Day, and it has become one of the city’s important events. Despite the city not officially supporting Martin Luther King Jr. Day, people from St. Peter CME Church protested, and led a Martin Luther King Jr. march on ”back streets,” recalls Pat Durham, one of the founders of the march. They fought for the city to recognize the celebration, and five years later, the city did. Today it is the longest running Martin Luther King Jr. celebration in the area. In the mid 1980s, the city council discussed such a ban on council consideration of non-city business following Jean Siri’s proposal, but the city attorney determined that would not be legal. 6. Redwood forests were still in parts of the Oakland Hills when Europeans arrived, but not in Berkeley or hereabouts. Today, Murrieta Rock is still at the corner of Arlington and Cutting Boulevards but hard to see because it is engulfed in overgrowth. It is possible that cows roamed the upper hills of what is today Sunset View, but in fact the cemetery was already in business 100 years ago, making it one of the oldest businesses in the area. The description of two saloons and Blind Jim is from El Cerrito’s founding librarian, Fay Breneman.

HISTORICAL SOCIETY QUIZ: 2019

Test your knowledge of El Cerrito's history. Questions may have one or multiple correct answers.

You may enjoy reading the following notes related to the questions:

1. Fages cited ”the great many bears living around these places.” The party encountered plenty of freshwater, both streams and even a small lake.

2. Pechart was one of the crime bosses who were trying to monopolize gambling throughout Northern California.

3. The upper portion of Moeser Lane was opened to public use in 1970. The city did not have water lines to support standard landscaping, so the Garden Club, working with the Native Plant Society, volunteered to plant and maintain low-water native plants. Their effort won praise, and illustrated articles on the project ran in several national magazines.

4. According to John Fogerty’s autobiography, ”Fortunate Son,” from which all this information is drawn, there were few if any bands in El Cerrito schools that performed regularly or stayed together. He does not report catching music at the It Club, which he probably would have mentioned.

5. Several years later a more liberal council did agree to back Earth Day, and it has become one of the city’s important events. Despite the city not officially supporting Martin Luther King Jr. Day, people from St. Peter CME Church protested, and led a Martin Luther King Jr. march on ”back streets,” recalls Pat Durham, one of the founders of the march. They fought for the city to recognize the celebration, and five years later, the city did. Today it is the longest running Martin Luther King Jr. celebration in the area.
In the mid 1980s, the city council discussed such a ban on council consideration of non-city business following Jean Siri’s proposal, but the city attorney determined that would not be legal.

6. Redwood forests were still in parts of the Oakland Hills when Europeans arrived, but not in Berkeley or hereabouts. Today, Murrieta Rock is still at the corner of Arlington and Cutting Boulevards but hard to see because it is engulfed in overgrowth. It is possible that cows roamed the upper hills of what is today Sunset View, but in fact the cemetery was already in business 100 years ago, making it one of the oldest businesses in the area. The description of two saloons and Blind Jim is from El Cerrito’s founding librarian, Fay Breneman.