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Community Corner

Who's Who in Albany: Lorraine Egenberger

Every weekday we'll feature a brief chat with someone who lives or works in Albany.

Name: Lorraine Egenberger

Occupation: I retired a long time ago. I worked at the Woolworth in the old El Cerrito Plaza, ordering merchandise.

Age: 87

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How long have you lived in Albany? My family moved here when I was 2 years old. I've lived here on and off for 85 years.

How has Albany changed in all that time? The whole thing has changed. There wasn't a house on the hill when I was growing up. Madison was the only street up there. Cornell School was right here [on Solano]. I went to Marin and to Albany High School. The first library I went to was on the other side of San Pablo Avenue, and they had a branch up on Santa Fe inside a store.

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I live on Stannage now. When my husband came home from the Service, we bought a house there in 1947. We had four children at the Albany Hospital, where the Community Center is now.

Southern Pacific owned and ran the red train, which came up Solano and went through the tunnel. Streetcars went up and down San Pablo. You might see one car parked all day on the street. The red train also went down to the Berkeley Pier; then from there we'd take the ferry to San Francisco. We did it all the time. When the Bay Bridge was built, it cost a quarter to cross it.

Centuries ago, the Castros were buried where the Plaza is now. Then there was a dog track, and then motor-movies.

Is there anything you'd like to add? My dad was mayor of Albany at one time, in the early 1940s. My husband was mayor of Albany in the 1960s, '65-ish.

Dad liked being mayor, but it was a small town then. He was mayor when they had the first race at Golden Gate Fields. When the war came along, it was a naval base; they had landing crafts there. Then around 1947 it became a racetrack again.

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