This speech by Andrew H. Young was delivered at the Town Hall building in Lafayette on November 11, 1981. Addressing a combined meeting of the Friends of the Lafayette Library and the Lafayette Historical Society, he presents a summary of his book, The Developers of Lafayette.
Oral History: Jack Marchant – November 30th, 1984
Summary: Jack Marchant and his brother Paul began building houses together in Kensington and North Berkeley at the end of World War II. They moved to Lafayette to continue this work in 1950. When Lafayette was incorporated in 1968, Jack was a member of the first City Council. The demand for new homes was very […]
From the Archives: LHS Potluck, April 12th, 1977 (Lou Borghesani and Mickey Meyers)
Summary: Lafayette in the 1930s and 1940s – speech by Mickey Meyers and Lou Borghesani to the Lafayette Historical Society, April 12, 1977. Transcript: LHS Annual Potluck 4-12-77 Mickey Meyers (Introduction by Lou Repetto) Lou Repetto: We have with us tonight two gentlemen whom I’ve had the pleasure of knowing for 28 years… that’s my […]
Oral History: Barbara Franke Boyle – March 4th, 2011
Barbara Franke Boyle came to Lafayette from Oakland in 1937, when she was 10. Her family had been using the ranch in the Happy Valley area as a summer place only prior to the that. They raised pears, and Barbara’s father operated the Walnut Creek Cannery. In the years that Barbara was going to grammar […]
From the Archives: Dedication of Peter Thomson’s Anvil
This is a recording of the dedication of Peter Thomson’s anvil that was conducted on May 22nd, 1970. If you stop by the history room, you can see it in person.
Oral History: Gloria Duffy – April 2006
Summary: Gloria Duffy had an illustrious career. She was a pioneer of Bay Area radio, involved in the arts, and was part of a flourishing real estate business in Lafayette from the 1950s to the 1970s. Oral History: Interviewer: This is the interview of Gloria Duffy, broadcasting in real estate, lady of Lafayette, given in […]
Oral History: Patricia Boyer – April 2006
Patti grew up in the Lafayette Horse Show. Her father, George Brooks, was the horse show announcer for many years. Patti won a trophy in the 1939 horse show riding her paint horse Pagero. After growing up in Richmond, Patti moved permanently to Lafayette 1957. Her recollections of early Lafayette are significant in the development […]
A short film called The Park Theatre by Joel Braunstein
Last week we received a short film from Stanley school student Joel Braunstein. He talks and does a couple of interviews about the past and future of The Park Theatre. In case you have seen this somewhere else and the audio was a problem for you, we went ahead and fixed that issue. It should […]
Upcoming Speaker Series: Ships, Bombs and Steel
Stuart Swiedler will be speaking for LHS again! Board a plane or ride the rails to experience the industrial transformation of the north coast of Contra Costa County. We’ll witness the scheme to produce warships, the struggle of a community to fend off the import of bombs and other nuclear weapons, learn the new names […]
Oral History: Russell & Joan Bruzzone – October 2006
Summary: Joan and Russell Bruzzone remember Lafayette in the 1950s. They discuss their ongoing residential and commercial real estate activities which created housing for hundreds of Lafayette families and gave the town its major commercial shopping center. To create the Plaza Shopping Center in the 1960s the Bruzzones removed 200,000 cubic feet of dirt from […]
