January 2026 - History Corner

#196 in an ongoing series about the history of the Hillside Club

Once Upon a Hillside: 25, 50, 75, 100, and 125 years ago

January 1901

On 13 January 1901, a man named Martin Curtis wrote an article in the Sunday San Francisco Chronicle entitled “A Club to Beautify the Hillsides.” The article began with a testy conversation between two neighbors:

“I hear that you are going to paint your house, neighbor. So am I. Suppose that we talk it over together and see if we can decide upon colors that we shall both life, that harmonize and that will, at the same time, improve the appearance of our neighborhood.” So said a member of an odd new club that is pledged to try to influence the building in its locality.

“No indeed,” replied the neighbor, who is not a member of the club. “You paint your house the color you like and I will do the same. You did not consult me when you built your house and, frankly, I don’t like it in the least. Mr. Brown, across the way, is shingling and I hate shingles, but he did not ask my opinion and I am not going to complain. The truth is, Mrs. Hillside Club, I think that if there is one place more than another where a person has a right to suit himself it is in his own house. I don’t mean any offense, but I have wanted an opportunity to speak my mind to your folks who set up to know everything and now I have done it. Good morning.”

A hasty glance might confirm this doughty supporter of individual rights versus public, but not if you look at that portion of Berkeley just north of the University grounds. It lies directly opposite the Golden Gate and a long low range of hills above which rises the stately outline of Mount Tamalpais. For a distance of some two or three miles the land slopes gently upward from the ever-changing, always beautiful bay and terminates quite abruptly in a line of undulating hills that sweeps around to the bay beyond the northern limits of the town.

…

Not long ago, a newcomer to this part of the town who possessed not only fine feelings but the courage of her convictions saw with horror a broad macadamized street cut straight up over a hill. Doubtless every old resident had wondered why the natural outlines were not followed instead, but so accustomed are townsfolk to shifting all responsibility of municipal affairs upon the shoulders of those whom they have elected to office that no one even thought of protesting against such a vandalism except this lady. Out of this protest grew the Hillside Club of Berkeley.

Prejudice is strong for individual rights and tastes, and there are no distinctly hillside architects to aid or guide the public taste. Still the club can point with pride to some instances of its influence, notably a new primary school building, plans for which it submitted to the Town Board. It is a model of artistic beauty and excellence, and that, too, while remembering the axiom in architecture that utility must never be sacrificed to beauty.

[The “newcomer” refers to Margaret Robinson, who organized the Hillside Club in 1898 and was its champion for the next ten years. And your editor would beg to differ with Mr. Curtis about there being “no distinctly hillside architects to aid or guide the public taste.” By 1901, Bernard Maybeck had built several distinctive brown-shingle houses in the Northside neighborhood, including the Charles Keeler house. Curtis himself points out that the new Hillside School was “a model of artistic beauty and excellence.”]

January 1926

Business Meeting, January 4

Did you know Afrikander? The official language of the Parliament of the union of South Africa—on alternate days! A language that has no literature and not even a grammar. The conditions in South Africa, the animosities between the different nationalities and races, and the absurdities bred therefrom, will be discussed by Prof. Herbert J. Webber, Director of the Citrus Experiment Station, and a former Hillsider, who has just returned from a year of travel and study in the lighter portions of the “Dark Continent.” [Unfortunately, the Hillside Club was not immune from racism in its early years. The Fireside Meetings’ focus on immigration and racial issues began with the October 1925 lecture and would continue through April 1926. The Afrikaans language does indeed have a grammar, and remains largely mutually intelligible with Dutch, especially in written form. Herbert J. Webber (1865-1946) was born on a farm in Nebraska and became Professor of Plant Breeding at Cornell University before joining the University of California’s Citrus Experiment Station in the city of Riverside in 1912, a location that would later develop into the UC Riverside campus. Webber’s status as the “greatest living authority on citrus culture” attracted a world-class staff to the Station.]

Social Evening, January 18

The evening’s entertainment will feature the play “Everybody’s Husband,” by Gilbert Cannon.

Notes

The Directors request that in sending in nominations for membership in the Club, you include a letter or letters giving full information regarding the proposed members, thus making simpler the work of the investigating committees and eliminating delay.

May we call your attention to the requirement that EACH GUEST must be provided with a regular guest card of THIS YEAR’S ISSUE.

January 1951

The Hillside Club has a nearly complete archive of monthly newsletters. Unfortunately, there is a gap from October 1949 through January 1951.

January 1976

Fireside Meeting, January 5

“New Zealand in the Spring,” a 30-minute slide program, will be presented by Helen and Don Ball. They visited this delightful country of mountains, pastureland, glaciers, hot springs and fiords in November 1975: late spring is that down-under land.

Civic Affairs, January 12

Councilwoman Shirley Dean will speak on “Programs and Problems of the Berkeley City Council.” She will emphasize the activities of the Neighborhood Group organizations, a cross section of opinions. Mrs. Dean has consented to a question period following her presentation. This should be a lively, informative evening.

Afternoon of Art, January 18

The program will start with afternoon tea at 4:00 and an opportunity to view the various exhibits by club members. The theme will be “Americana” for a period prior to 1918, so the exhibits will relate to early and mid-American arts and crafts. Following tea, Sister Miriam Josephine Clarke, Professor of Art History at Holy Names College, Oakland, will speak on “Highlights in the Development of American Art,” illustrated by slides. Sister Josephine, who has taught art history for many years, will have some interesting comments on “Americana.”

Assembly Dance, January 24

The third Hillside Assembly Dance of the 1975-76 season will again feature the music of the Rich Torre Trio, which will start playing at 9:00pm. As is customary, no-host dinners preceding the dance will be held in homes of Assembly members.

January 2001

The Club’s archive of printed monthly newsletters ended with the May 1994 issue. If you know of a source for any newsletters between 1994 and the Club’s renaissance in the early 2000s, your historian would love to hear about it!