1940s, courtesy Don Hausler
The Stanford Hotel was a hotel at 1107 Stanford Avenue at the corner of San Pablo Avenue. The building is currently home to the Siddha Yoga Ashram.
Addresses associated with the building include 5707-5717 San Pablo Avenue, and 1101-1123 Stanford Avenue.
Building History
1950 Sanborn excerpt
Note the SPRR Electric tracks on Stanford
The building was constructed c.1925 with a 50 room hotel upstairs and commercial spaces downstairs.
The upstairs was used as a hotel from 1925 until 1970. It sat vacant for a few years (although some neighbors say members of the Black Panthers squatted there for a time) and became rundown. It was purchased by the Ashram in 1975.
In 1929, the hotel was owned by Esther Madden. 1
The 1940 street directory lists Golden Gate Cleaners (5707 San Pablo) and Dick's Inn (1111 Stanford). 3 The 1944 directory lists Golden Gate Cleaners, Acme Trading Company (5717 San Pablo), Dick's Inn, and Joe-Flo-Ann Restaurant (1115 Stanford). 4
A 1940s-era photo shows Golden Gate Cleaners and Paulette's Tiny Tots Shop on the San Pablo Ave. side, with the corner spaces for lease.
According to area historian Don Hausler, in the 1950s the businesses on the San Pablo Ave. side were Golden Gate Cleaners, Chesapeake Fish Market, and Grand Auto. Two bars, Dick's Inn and Wilkie's Tavern, were on the Stanford side.
Golden Gate Cleaners was still there in 1967. 5
End of the Hotel
1967 classified ad
By the 1960s, the hotel was advertising very low rates: $3 a night, or $12 per week. ($3 a night is about $20-$25 in 2017 dollars.)
Then in October 1970, a resident was shot and killed. That appears to have been the last straw, as the hotel can't be found in newspapers or other listings after that.
Shooting Death Here Probed - Oakland Tribune October 6, 1970
"Oakland police today are trying to obtain details of a shooting last night at the Stanford Hotel 1107 Stanford Ave. in which one man was killed and another wounded. Dead is Earl McClure, 17, apparently a resident of the hotel. Officers said he had been shot six times--four times in the back and twice in the chest. He was found in a hallway.
In an adjoining hallway, officers found Thurmond Brooks, 24, a bullet wound in his right foot. He was treated at Highland Hospital and held for investigation."
Shooting Case Figure Freed - Oakland Tribune October 7, 1940
"Thurmond Brooks, 24, has been released by Oakland police as a suspect in the shooting of Earl McClure, 27, at the Stanford Hotel, 1107 Stanford Ave. The investigation is continuing into the gunfire Monday night that left McClure, shot six times, in the hotel hallway and Brooks, wounded in the foot, in another hallway. No guns were found at the scene."
Other History
1926 2
In 1926, during Prohibition, Alvin Gibson, a resident of the hotel, was arrested for selling liquor. The authorities found out because Mrs. Mary Adeline Mahoney tracked her husband's liquor purchase to Gibson, and she turned over the remaining evidence to the police. Mrs. Mahoney then sued for divorce. 2
Links and References
- Hotel Awning Burns, Building Saved Oakland Tribune April 27, 1929
- Wife Sues Over Liquor Oakland Tribune July 23, 1926
- 1940 Oakland street directory
- 1944 Oakland street directory
- 1967 Oakland
