Mary Ann Hoisington was interviewed by Mary McCosker on June 19th, 2008 as part of the Lafayette Library and Learning Center project. She grew up in southern California and moved to Lafayette in 1957 when her husband Bill began attending law school in San Francisco. She has been active in community affairs since that time, […]
Oral History: Susan Mott — August 17th, 2015
Summary: Susan was born in Lafayette in 1945 and has lived here, or within 5 miles of Lafayette all of her life. In the 1930s, Ina Schmidt, her grandmother, bought property in Lafayette and developed the Lafayette Garden Estates next to what is now El Charro Restaurant. Susan remembers an area of farms, and walnut […]
Oral History: Mary Machado Ginochio — October 23rd, 2018
Summary: Laura Torkelsen interviewed Mary in October 2018, when Mary was 96. Her daughter Sophie was present. The Machado family has long been associated with the Alta Crest Dairy, which once existed on the former Hamlin property in the Silver Springs area in Lafayette. The dairy was actually started by Mary’s older sister, Cecilia. When […]
Oral History: Fred Ravazza — April 14th, 2014
Fred’s father came to San Francisco from Liguria, Italy, “around the time of the Great Earthquake.” He eventually settled in Lafayette where he and his wife raised two sons. Lafayette had the perfect soil and climate for the same kind of dry farming the family had been doing for 250 years in Italy–dry farming, which […]
Oral History: Mabel Bowbeer — November 14th, 1977
Summary: Mabel Bowbeer and her husband Earl moved to the Daley Ranch in Lafayette in 1928. The entrance to this ranch was located near the El Charro restaurant. The depression hit soon after they settled here, and Mabel recalls that there were usually “extra children” — those whose families were without seated around their table. […]
Oral History: Catherine Sinnott — September 30th, 2011
Catherine Sinnott, who was born in 1924, was on the move most of her life–growing up on a sheep ranch in Sonoma country, studying nutrition at UC Davis, working as a food researcher in Albany, and being on active duty with the Marine Corps women’s Reserve during the latter stages of World War II. Then […]
Oral History: Robert and Sophie Wing — September 28th, 2011
Sophie and Robert Wing, who brought together two old Lafayette families when they married in 1961, were both born in 1930. Sophie was the youngest of 8 children in the Machado family that ran the Alta Crest Dairy in Lafayette. She describes the dairy operations and in particular the roles assigned to her, from a […]
Oral History: Sheila Seagrave — April 27th, 2018
Summary: Sheila was one of the many extraordinary talents who made up the Straw Hat Review. The Straw Hat was started by a group from Cal in the language arts department, circa 1947. They performed three different shows during the summer months at the Town Hall in Lafayette. Oral History: Helene Kremer: Okay, we are […]
Oral History: Louis M. Cosso — February 23rd, 2015
Lou Cosso moved to Lafayette from Oakland in 1951 at age 9. His uncle owned and operated a fruit farm on 55 acres in Happy Valley. Back in Oakland people considered Lafayette, with its small size and lack of commercial offerings, to be a remote outpost. As Lou described it, however, it was a perfect […]
Oral History: Jim Martino — August 2010
Jim Martino was the fourth child of Natale, who bought a house with 100 acres and began farming in the Springhill Valley in 1919. Jim, who helped operate the farm after finishing high school, says that his father won many prizes for his pears and other fruit. Jim also remembers that his father would leave […]
