The weather forecasters were calling for some light rain last Wednesday morning before an atmospheric river was to blast the area later in the week. There was still time for our Piedmont Recreation Department’s Walking on Wednesdays walkers to have our weekly walk before the weather got nasty. A weather fearless set of 21 walkers and one K-9 best friend were at the Exedra ready for whatever the weather gods had for them. However, we could play it safe by staying in the central part of Piedmont and walking some nearby “one-block wonder” streets.
Our first destination was Carmel Avenue. We went down Magnolia Avenue and up Bonita. We passed the still under construction aquatics center and the Havens School playground where the kids were busy at play. We crossed Oakland Avenue and went down a block to Carmel.
On a previous walk of Carmel, architect, urban designer, and Piedmont Post columnist Will Adams told the group he had written a column on the “contagious” landscape along Carmel. He had pointed out the front yard of a home with an “Inca quality” stonework wall and drought tolerant landscaping. Will said it had inspired the homeowners next door to do a different, softer architectural treatment of their front wall. Will confessed he was the owner of the second next house, and to ‘keep up with the neighbors,” he had done front yard landscaping of his own. Surprisingly and very sadly, later in the morning, it was learned that Will suffered a stroke at home on Tuesday and died that Wednesday morning. Will was a good man. He will be missed. His passing is a loss for our community.
We came to and went down Blair Avenue. It is named after Walter Blair, the first European settler in what was to become Piedmont. We came to the corner of Blair and El Cerrito Avenues with the top of Dracena Park across the street. This park land was once part of the 8,000 acres Walter Blair owned, and he quarried the land for stone starting in 1852. The material was used to pave early Oakland and Piedmont streets and railways.
In 1873, Blair’s crew, consisting of Chinese workers, struck water from a subterranean creek that turned the bottom of the quarry into a lake some 60 feet deep. Attempts to pump out the water failed. It has been reported that over the years there were drownings in the lake. Others aren’t so sure about the drownings, but the quarry was fenced and locked for more than 40 years. The lake was called “Blair’s Pond” with ducks until at least 1977. In 1976 citizens voted to create a recreational grassy field and park by draining the pond. Around the turn of the century, the park’s tot lot was renovated, and funds were raised to provide swings, a climbing wall, and restrooms. That work was completed in 2006.
We walked down El Cerrito to Ricardo Avenue and took a group photo at the bottom of the park at Artuna Avenue. We walked up this second one-block wonder to a park entrance and went through the park’s redwood grove. This walkway was originally a creek bed but is now an off-leash dog path. The walkers passed under Storyteller Bridge. A plaque said it was Cole Becker’s impressive 2014 Eagle Scout project and replaced the original Storyteller Bridge.
We emerged on our third one-block wonder, the lovely Dracena Avenue. We walked it and made our way up Blair to Waldo Avenue, our fourth wonder. This street marks what was once the back of Walter Blair’s 19th Century house, which fronted on then Vernal, now Highland Avenue. We went up Blair, crossed Highland, and continued up Blair to our fifth one-block wonder, Hardwick Avenue. The leaves on its maple trees were still bright red, but the rain that was starting to come down harder would probably soon take them to the ground.
We continued to Oakland and Highland Avenues. Craig Avenue was our planned six one-block wonder of the morning, but the group decided not to press our luck with the weather. It was time to get back to the Exedra. We were still mostly dry and, as always, full of Piedmont wonder.