Photo courtesy of Alameda Museum

Here is the first Alameda Rugs Works structure at Everett and Blanding; it opened for business in 1906.

Significant transformations have marked the history of the property at the northeast corner of Everett Street at Blanding Avenue. It is on the peninsula near where Alameda was once connected to Oakland; then the tidal canal was completed in 1902 bringing the Estuary within a block of the site. From 1906 until 2000, the parcel was the location of two businesses, each founded by an energetic entrepreneur: one the purveyor of rugs, the second the inventor of a merchandise pricing apparatus. After some fallow yet litigious years, the corner of Everett and Blanding is about to be another witness to history, the first ever work-live building in town that will provide studios for seven artists with the lagniappe of a community cultural center.

The place is known affectionately as “The Clamp-Swing Building,” in part because that company’s name was emblazoned across the side in bold white letters on a black background. But before that, the site was home to another Alameda establishment founded in 1906 and located there until the company moved 51 years later. The Clamp-Swing Pricing Company’s tenure on the site was shorter, from 1957 until 2000 when the business relocated to Oakland.

The Alameda Rug Works

After a few years of running a rug business in Pasadena, John A. Osterdock decided to go north to “The Mecca of the West,” according to the Alameda Daily Argus. The year he chose to immigrate here was 1906, and the date was that of the devastating earthquake, April 18. The catastrophe delayed him for a bit, but he persevered, and by May had settled in rooms in Oakland. Soon thereafter he bought the Pioneer Steam Carpet Cleaning Works operated by J.H. Hoag at 2409 Santa Clara Ave. in Alameda. Next Osterdock secured the property at Everett and Blanding, which at the time housed “a two story residence surrounded by fruit trees. The trees were cut down to make room for the rug factory, which was rushed to completion and ready for occupancy on the 1st of July. Then Osterdock moved Hoag’s equipment to the new structure.” It was a two story wooden building with an enormous sign on the front: “Alameda Rug Works, Rugs Made from Old Carpets” with “Pioneer Carpet Cleaning Co.” below. The phone number was Alameda 39, and the address was 2006 Everett Street. Osterdock, his wife Mary, and their children moved into the Victorian house next door at 2004 Everett Street.

By 1911, Osterdock had already earned a fine reputation, with his “unswerving adherence to the policy of providing the best possible article at a reasonable and fair cost.” From a modest beginning with six people, the business expanded until about fifty hands were employed in the various departments. Osterdock also built two factories, one in San Francisco, the other in San Jose, “both thoroughly equipped with the latest modern machinery, most of which is of Mr. Osterdock’s own design.” Another innovation he introduced was the Aero Vacuum Cleaning Wagon, after experimenting with a trial cleaning. “The test was as follows, a newspaper was laid on the floor and covered with dust. A large Wilton rug was laid over it. The rug had a coat of glue sizing on the back so thick that it had the appearance of glass. The Aero Wagon was set to work, and the newspaper was cleaned through the rug without any injury to the rug.”

Osterdock and his crew did everything: made rugs from old carpets, cleaned, laid and altered carpets, and even reconditioned used mattresses. They drove the Aero Wagon on housecalls to clean upholstered furniture, as well as carpets. They also installed a power loom for weaving lace and summer curtains.

The business prospered even during the Depression. In 1931 the family house was pulled down to provide the business with a parking lot, and the wooden factory was replaced with an L-shaped two-story structure at a cost of $14,000. Planning Department records describe it as “brick construction with 12-inch walls throughout, concrete floors and wooden posts. The interior is lit by industrial sash windows. The building is unornamented but is painted with large black and white signs in simple block letters.”

The Clamp Swing Pricing Company

Meanwhile another local inventor was devising a product whose manufacture would eventually affect the brick structure at 2006 Everett Street. David Garfinkle moved here from Poland and established Garfinkle Brothers Groceries on Park Street in 1916. Around the corner in an unassuming brick garage on San Jose Avenue, he experimented and developed “a price-tag holder with a hinge that clamped to the edge of the shelves leaving the price tag hanging down in front of the merchandise,” according to Planning Department archives. He secured a patent for the device and established the Clamp Swing Pricing Company in 1925. The establishment soon outgrew the brick garage that was the inventor’s workshop; a more commodious place was built next door. That brick structure was enlarged three times during the 1920s. It was damaged by a fire in 1957; that same year the address of the Rug Works building was changed from 2006 Everett Street to 2515 Blanding Avenue. Then the rug company moved to 2333 Clement Street, and Garfinkle’s company moved into the brick building on Blanding, claiming the new location with the vivid Clamp Swing Pricing Company sign. The company stayed in business on Blanding until 2000, when it moved to Oakland.

Rhythmix Cultural Work

The current and most exciting reincarnation of the red brick building started in 2004 when musician and performance artist Janet Koike purchased the structure, vacant but still sporting painted signs for both endeavors. She successfully persuaded city officials to let her develop the first “work live” project in Alameda, with studios for artists and spaces for performances, exhibits and classes. Some praised her plan for preserving one of the significant industrial buildings left in the northern waterfront section of the Island. Others worried that letting artists set up living quarters in their work spaces would circumvent Measure A, a 1973 ordinance that prohibits construction of “multiple dwelling units.” Some people argued that the artist quarters would, in fact, become living units. Alameda residents Ed and Matthew Murphy filed suit, lost, and then appealed, attempting to halt the project. In April of this year their last appeal was struck down by the court. Mayor Beverly Johnson, learning of the outcome, said: “I’m pleased that the court agreed with the city of Alameda. Our work live ordinance will help ensure the creative reuse of industrial buildings like the Clamp Swing.”

Judith Lynch is a member of the Historical Advisory Board and a teacher at Washington School