Summary: Beverly Panfilli Littorno was interviewed by Julie Sullivan in October, 2004. Her father Adolph, who had experience working in commercial fishery, along with her mother Barbara, opened a small fish market on Old Tunnel Road in 1945. It soon became a restaurant as well, called Lafayette Seafood Grotto. This business became one of the […]
Oral History: Ken & Sue Nagel, SFO Helicopter – November, 2004
Summary: Ken Nagel and his wife Sue Nagel were interviewed by Julie Sullivan in November, 2004. Ken was an attorney, and later also a member of the Board of Directors, for SFO Helicopters. This service carried passengers from Lafayette to and from San Francisco International Airport and also six other locations around the Bay Area. […]
Oral History: Dr. Gloria Duffy — May 10th, 2021
Summary: Dr. Gloria Duffy was invited to speak at the May 10, 2021 meeting of the Lafayette Youth Services Commission. She described how she and two other high school seniors had combined their efforts to create the Youth Commission, which was at that time celebrating its 50th anniversary. While members of the founding group had […]
Oral History: Scotty Loucks — April, 2006
Summary: Scotty Loucks was interviewed by Julie Sullivan in April, 2006. Scotty was a trail breaker in her role as an independent insurance broker–she was both the first woman in the Lafayette area to own her own agency and also the first to be president of the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce. She came to the […]
Oral History: Stan Pedder — July, 2021
Summary: Stan Pedder was interviewed by Andree Duggan Hurst in July, 2021. He had just retired after practicing law in Lafayette for 62 years. Stan was born in 1935, 2 years before the Caldecott Tunnel opened, and he has been a close observer of developments in the life and character of the town and its […]
Oral History: Lou Borghesani — April, 1977
Summary: Lou Borghesani spoke about his history as construction foreman on the Lafayette Reservoir dam, and later as operator of an inn, at a Lafayette Historical Society potluck dinner in April, 1977. Lou was born in Martinez in 1902. He had been employed on a construction job in Florida in 1927 when work on that […]
Oral History: Wendell G. Pleis — May 21st, 2021
Summary: Wendell G. Pleis was interviewed by Andree Duggan on May 21, 2021. Mr. Pleis was born in Fairbury, Nebraska, in 1929. He served for three years with the U.S. Air Force in Europe, starting his education and training in electronics during that time. He then continued his studies in this field when he returned […]
Oral History: Mickey Meyers — April, 1977
Summary: Mickey Meyers, who operated Meyers Groceteria on the site of the present-day Starbucks for many years, discussed his history in Lafayette in a speech in 1977. He came to town in 1936. He was originally recruited to help upgrade the main road through town in anticipation of the opening of the Bay Bridge and […]
Oral History: Shigeko and Harry Ide, Jiro Nishimoto, Harry’s Nursery — April, 2006
Summary: Shigeko Ide and Jiro Nishimoto were interviewed by Julie Sullivan in April, 2006. Harry’s Nursery, which had been founded over 50 years earlier by Shigeko and her late husband Harry, was thriving under the management of Jiro Nishimoto. Jiro had begun working at the nursery as a teenager and had been careful to continue […]
Oral History: Mickey MacPherson — August, 2004
Summary: Mickey MacPherson was interviewed by Julie Sullivan in August, 2004. He was very industrious from a young age, hauling and delivering first coal, then gas and diesel to businesses and homes in Alameda County. In 1940 Mickey moved from Oakland to Lafayette where he and and his wife Helen built a house in Happy […]
