Alameda County Day at PPIE

If I had been around in 1915, I would have gone to the opening day of the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. On February 20th, I would have been there, along with 255,000 of my closest friends.

Later I would have gone as often as I could, maybe every weekend, because there was so much to see in the Palaces and in the Zone. I would have stayed to see the lights and the airplane stunts at night.

And especially I would have gone on June 10th. That was Alameda County Day. I certainly would not have missed it. The Oakland Tribune ran advertisements for weeks telling me that Alameda County Day was coming.

Evening edition, June 10, 1915

I would have had a good breakfast of grape-nuts. There was a lot of walking on the grounds of PPIE.

I might have picked up the Oakland Tribune, morning edition, to pass the time on the train and ferry.

This was the dire headline in the newspaper. Not very good news, for the Lusitania had been sunk a month earlier, on May 7th.



There was one happy note. The price of gas dropped to 8.8 cents per gallon.

And there was the next installment of the Charley Chaplin comic strip that I would have been following.

Notice the odd spelling of Charley in Charlie Chaplin. Was this comic strip not authorized? Charlie Chaplin was making movies in the town of Niles for some months of 1915.

Here's an excerpt from the article in the June 10, 1915 Oakland Tribune interspersed with pictures and ads from that same issue:

Of course you'd want to see the Alameda County exhibit, right?

Alameda County Throngs to Fair

From same issue. Check out the marching cherries!

Nobody home! This literally explains Alameda county's condition today. Alameda County Day at the exposition is by far the biggest of similar events that has occurred since the big show opened in February, and sets a record for attendance, enthusiasm and display which will probably not be surpassed between now and the time the exposition closes its gates on the night of December 4th.  

Alameda county is deserted today. Financially and socially the county has been transplanted from the eastern shores of San Francisco bay and implanted in the fertile soil of Jewel City.

From the first exposition boats of the morning until late this afternoon great crowds made their way to the common center of attraction. Still many more thousands will leave this evening to participate in the joy carnival on the zone tonight. Business is almost an unknown thing on the side of the bay today. Every big store in practically every one of the small stores are closed and have been so all day. Every business house that was compelled by legal procedure or bylaws of necessity to keep its doors open is conducting business with ask scanty a force as possible.

The United States government even recognized the occasion as Postmaster-General Burleson wired from Washington to Postmaster Joseph J. Rosborough granting special permission to close the postoffice at noon. The carriers made but one collection and delivery. The city hall is almost derserted, barely enough clerks being left there to carry on what straggling business is going on The courthouse was fairly active up to noon, but the superior courts were closed at that hour, and the usiness of the county is being conducted by a few deputies.

BLUE AND GOLD RULES


The exposition grounds today are alive with the official colors - blue and gold. All within the gates are decorated with the colors. Further color is added to the scene by the gay dresses of the women and children. The gay trappings of the floats and the colors of the decorated automobiles in the morning parade added a bewildering blaze of vari-colored effects to the scene.


Credit for the unqualified success of today's celebration must be awarded to members of the board of supervisors, to the county exposition commission and to their employes, who wored hard to have installed in time the county's new exhibit in the California building. The exposition commission members are F.A. Leach Jr. (chairman), C.J. Heeseman, A.F. St. Sure, Wells Drury, Theodore Gler, Waour Walker and U.G. Calaghan. A.A. Denison, manager of the Alameda county display, and Fred Parson, superintendent of construction, with Heeseman, St. Sure and Callaghan, superintended the installation of the new county exhibit.


The details of the day's celebration were prepared by a general committee of 300, men and women, representing every civic improvement, commercial and fraternal organization in the county. Edwin Stearns, secretary of the county exposition committee, acted in a similar capacity for the general committee.

INDUSTRIAL PARADE


The celebration began with the start of the industrial parade from the ferry building at the foot of Market street at 10 o'clock. Close to sixty floats, representing everything from a boat to a bolt that is manufactured in Alameda county, and showing the wide and varied range of the industries here, were in the line of march. Battery B preceded the parade. John W. Phillips was marshal. The long line of floats proceeded to Van Ness avenue, and to the entrance of the zone.


Inside the zone, the civic and fraternal organizations' division of the parade had formed, and were there joined to the industrial division Every organization in the county was represented in the waiting divisions. Drum corps, bands, drill teams, marching men and women, and hundreds of decorated automobiles joined the parade, which proceeded down the zone to the Avenud of the Palms, westerly to Adminstration avenue where the marchers went north to the Esplanade, and were dismissed.

You did eat your Grape-Nuts, too?

One of the most impressive exercises of the day was the patriotic flag drill given by 2000 (?) Oakland school children under the direction of G.H. Pfund. These exercises were held at the Marina at 10:20 o'clock. Harry G. Williams was marshal of the parading children.


A.F. St. Sure acted as chairman at short literary exercises whic began at 11:30 o'clock. President C.C. Moore of the Exposition delivered a short address of welcome, in which he declared that Alameda county had the key to the hearts of San Francisco as well as to everything in the Exposition. Repsonse was made by Supervisor D.J. Murphy, chairman of the board, followed by a short address by Superior Judge William H. Donahue. Music was furnished by an Oakland school boys' band of 250 pieces.


SPORTS IN GARDENS


At 1:30 o'clock amateur sports,including a score of different events, took place in the North Gardens of the Exposition grounds. School children from all parts of the county competed. George E. Dickie, Oakland recreation superintendent, had general charge of this feature of the program. W.L. Searight was referee: Otto Rittler, chief clerk: E.M. Vail, starter: E.E. Hall J.B. Nash. E.F. Smyth. Graham Moody. E.H. Ellsworth. Charles Fer, R.M. Scott and George Cark, judges of finish: E.W. Kettinger. L.D. Martin. Guy Smith and E. Hesley. timers.


One of the most notable performances ever held in the Exposition grounds occurred at 2:30 when the Alameda County 1915 Chorus, under the direction of Alex [can't read the next bits which were continued on page 3]


This evening King Zowie and Queen Oomph will take over the management of affairs at the Exposition. They will rule over the Joy Carnival, which will open at 8 o'clock and continue until midnight. After keeping all of Alameda county guessing for a week as to the identity of the reigning sovereigns, the general committee today gave out the names of the royal pair. Police Captain Charles H. Beck made a comely enough Queen Oomph. A. Vander Naillen improvised the jovial King Zowie.

There's more, but I got tired of typing, so you will have to read it, from there on. There's lots of speechy kinds of things. No more on King Zowie and Queen Oomph unfortunately.

There's another article in this edition, "Hayward deserted for Alameda Co. Day", that mentions that Niles, along with other cities, participated in the parade, with floats and decorated autos. The next article from San Leandro says "Even Firemen Leave for the Exposition".

I noticed that the Orpheum was running "The Tramp" starring Charlie Chaplin, released April 11th.  "The Tramp" was filmed in Niles.  Charlie apparently left around the same time as the film was released. He did go to PPIE and you can see him in a movie taken at PPIE (later blog), acting up in line in his Tramp costume. But by June 10, he was probably not a Niles resident.