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
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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*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
Merry Christmas, Everyone!
