Bill Silveira, Alfred A Mikalow & the Jingletown Scrooge

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Well, it seems the icon, landmark, fixture, whatever, of Jingletown has channeled the ghost of Ebenezer Scrooge as well as his ire!      

For decades I have enjoyed one of the bright spots of Jingletown, Bill Silveira's crane (not a bird a machine). One of the wonders of it is that Bill lights it up for Christmas; it is the Jingletown version of a Christmas tree.

        
       

          
Bill's crane - 2017
Glasscock Street
photo by Styrous®

Bill's crane - 2017

Glasscock Street

photo by Styrous®

So, It seemed to me that the history/legacy of the crane needs to be written down somewhere; thus, this is it.      

What started the whole deal is, I got this email from Cynthia of the JABC via NextDoor: 

On Nov 26, 2017, at 5:39 PM, Cynthia wrote:   

"Neighbors,

I posted this on Nextdoor, so for those of you who wish to remain 'Nextdoor Free',

Well..... We have an art hater in the neighborhood. Someone did a See Click Fix on Bill's crane with it's festive holiday lights. They posted as illegal dumping, REALLY? Who doesn't love Bill's crane? FYI for all neighbors, back in 2009 a rouge parking enforcement officer tried to ticket it. After some discussions with Parking Enforcement and calls to our then Councilperson Ignacio De La Fuentes, the City agreed not to bother with the crane. It does run, and it was moved during the UPRR track improvement in 2009. I am sadden that new residents don't appreciate what makes Jingletown a fun, friendly and unusual place to live.  Cynthia"       

 

Then, I got this follow up email from Cynthia:

On Nov 26, 2017, at 10:39 PM, Cynthia wrote:

"This is from Bill [Bill Silveira of Automania, INC.], the guy who currently owns the crane:

First of all I would like to thank everyone for their support of the crane as it has been a part of this neighborhood since May 4th 1966. Secondly I thought some of you may be interested in learning a bit about the crane's history. The crane began its life in 1936 as a Minneapolis-Moline farm tractor that made its way to Castro Valley CA in the early 1950's. At that time the now unknown owner/builder built a heavy duty four-wheeled truck frame that he installed underneath the tractor before he fabricated the boom as well as installed the winch and rigging for use in his auto wrecking business. I sure would have enjoyed watching that rig in action back in 1957 or so, although I would probably be cringing every time they crushed what today would be considered a classic car.

Fast forward to 1966 when Captain Alfred A Mikalow* from the Coastal Diving School (located at the current Waterpark Lofts site on the water side of Glascock street) came in and bought the crane from the auto wrecker. Captain Al then preceded to get a one-way-trip driving permit from the DMV which would allow him to DRIVE the crane from Castro Valley to Oakland. I can only imagine watching that thing being driven down East 14th street in traffic!

At any rate, Captain Al used the crane for several years to raise and lower small submersibles in the Estuary as a teaching aid in his diving school. I believe he told me the crane was retired in the mid 1970's at which time it was left out to pasture next to one of his many quansit huts on Glascock street. The school closed for good in the early 1990's and in 1999 Al decided to sell everything and retire. At $895,000, I really wanted to buy the land but since that wasn't in the cards I settled for the crane as well as some other oddball items instead.   

After busting the seized motor loose along with installing a set of new spark plugs, a hot battery, some fresh gas as well as getting a few bruised knuckles I was able to get the crane running again. It's been sitting in its current location since 1999 and has been moved a couple of times when the City did a paving job and yet again when they upgraded the drainage system. I don't offhand remember the year I first installed the Christmas lights but I believe it was in 2003 or so.

Oh well, they say the memory is one of the first things to go, but I do remember old Captain Al fondly telling me about how he planted the Mulberry trees along the Estuary that are directly behind what is now the Waterpark Lofts.

Thanks again for your support, I appreciate it. Cheers.

-- Bill"

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photos by  Styrous®

 

      

*In 1952, Alfred A. Mikalow constructed an ADS employing ball and socket joints, specifically for the purpose of locating and salvaging sunken treasure. The suit was reportedly capable of diving to depths of 1,000 feet (300 m) and was used successfully to dive on the sunken vessel SS City of Rio de Janeiro in 328 feet (100 m) of water near Fort Point, San Francisco. Mikalow's suit had various interchangeable instruments which could be mounted on the end of the arms in place of the usual manipulators. It carried seven 90-cubic foot high pressure cylinders to provide breathing gas and control buoyancy. The ballast compartment covered the gas cylinders. For communication, the suit used hydrophones.     
      

diving robot, Al Mikalow (right) and 

Paul Ilsley, a diving instructor 

Source: Press photo - June 1961 

from cyberneticzoo.com (link below)

Viewfinder link:   
    
Jingletown Arts & Business Community (JABC) events           
     
Net links:   
    
The See Click Fix comments        

cyberneticzoo.com ~ Deep-Sea Diving Robot – Al Mikalow     

images for Alfred A. Mikalow           

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

         

 Styrous® ~ Sunday, December 3, 2017      

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