A century ago, most of Berkeley was proud that one of their leading citizens, Friend W. Richardson, had been nominated as the Republican candidate for California governor.
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In 1922 he no longer owned the Gazette, but the paper reported that locals gave him a rousing welcome when, on Sept. 21, he returned to town for a testimonial dinner at the Hotel Whitecotton (now the Shattuck Hotel). Richardson told attendees he had maintained his voting address in Berkeley and returned to the city on primary day to vote, having some trouble locating the proper precinct.
The dining room was jammed to more than capacity with “neighbors and friends,” the Gazette reported. Richardson “has always been a leader in righteousness, cleanliness and the upbuilding of the community,” meeting Chairman G.B. Ocheltree said in kicking off the event.
UC President David Prescott Barrows served as toastmaster for the tributes. The entertainment started off with songs (one of them including “an original verse dedicated to Richardson”) by a UC Glee Club quartet and others and an original poem.
“It is a fine example to college students to have in a college town a man like Friend William Richardson,” Barrows said, “and as president of the university I am glad for the thousands of students that we have a man here to whom just reward has come for honest endeavor.”
Looking ahead, Richardson would be elected governor in November 1922, defeating the Democratic nominee who was Los Angeles County’s district attorney. After Richardson took office he would follow a program of cost-cutting in Sacramento and opposed or reversed many of the policies previously put into place by Republican Progressives.
Republican Progressives fought back in 1924 and succeeding in getting him defeated for the GOP nomination, denying him a second term. Ironically, the man who won the Republican nomination — and the governorship — in 1924 was Lt. Gov. C.C. Young, yet another Berkeley man (a UC graduate and Berkeley resident) who was seated at the head table with Richardson at the Sept. 21, 1922, testimonial dinner.
You may wonder whether Richardson’s first name was indeed “Friend.” He had been born to Quaker parents as William Richardson. He later added “Friend,” which is a traditional Quaker greeting, and used it all through his adult and professional life.
Berkeley gardens: On Sept. 23, 1922, the Gazette appeared to add a periodic landscaping column on the editorial page.
The first article, written by Allison M. Woodman, began with this statement: “The term ‘home garden’ in a restricted sense usually pertains to the vegetable Garden alone. In a broader sense, it is meant to include everything grown in the garden — flowers, fruits and vegetables — and in an extended sense to include garden ornaments — pergola, summer house, sun dial, etc. — which are as essential a part of the garden as the plants themselves.”
The writer went on to recommend that gardens should always have flowers if they could be grown and that the homeowner should “divide the garden into separate areas, each devoted to a distinct purpose — open lawn, flower garden, vegetable garden, family orchard, service portion, etc.”
Woodman shows up in Berkeley history teaching landscape design and presumably was also a private consultant. I’ll watch for mentions of Woodman in future Gazettes.
Bay Area native and Berkeley community historian Steven Finacom holds this column’s copyright.
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