Bauer Apartments - Oakland

2024 CC SA-BY Our Oakland

The Bauer Apartments (sometimes called Bauer Hotel Apartments) at 19th and Broadway opened in 1912. The 5-story reinforced concrete building was constructed 1911-1912 for the heirs of Christian Bauer.

Bauer's children were Flora Bauer (Kramer), Louise Bauer (Koenig), and George Bauer. ¹ Flora's husband Ralph Kramer was the manager of the 44-unit building. The ground floor was built as commercial space; the architects were Righetti & Headman of San Francisco. ³

In 1919, Louis Aber, the president of the board of education, took over as manager. He had previously been manager of the St. Mark Hotel. ⁴

The apartments were home to mayor John L. Davie for several years before he moved to the Hotel Oakland. Some articles around that time refer to the building as the California Apartments; in 1927, numerous residents were accused of violating liquor laws during Prohibition. ⁶ The Bauers sought to end the lease with Mrs. Eda Aber, then manager of the apartments. ⁷

There was a serious fire in 1993 that damaged the upper floors. 90 firefighters rescued the tenants and fought the blaze. ⁵

1911 ²19121911 Sanborn excerpt1950 Sanborn excerptCC SA-BY Our Oakland

Commercial Tenants

There were a wide variety of commercial tenants in the ground-level spaces over the years. There were also a large number of small businesses run out of apartments, mostly showing up in classified ads.

Some of the commercial tenants are listed below. The configuration of the commercial spaces was changed over the years, so not all of the addresses were around all of the years. Most tenants were there only a few years, but Tiny's Waffle Shop was at 1762 for at least 25 years, and the Day and Night Pharmacy was at 1776 for almost 75 years.

c.1913 Cheney Photo Advertising

CC SA-BY Our Oakland

Address	Business	Years	Notes
1762	Becker and Eliel	1912-	real estate and builders
	Oakland Rubber Works	1918-	tires
	Checker Coffee Shop No. 2	1928-
	Tiny's Waffle Shop	1935-1960	California chain; later sold cocktails
	Karl's on Broadway	c.1965	restaurant
1764	M. Pearl, Merchant Tailor	c.1925	Max Pearl
	Coakley's Millinery	c.1927-c.1932	Ella P. Coakley
	Virginia-Made Candies	c.1936
	The Hat Guys	1989-c. 2015
1774	Marshall and Stearns	1920-	wall beds
	American Toll-Bridge Co.	1924-	Antioch and Carquinez bridges
	Walsh Luggage and Leather	c.1929	George Walsh
	Melcier's	1933-	photo studio
1776	Goodyear Tires	1912-
	Peart Inc.	1914-1915	Norman F. Peart tires
	Automobile Tire Co.	1915-1920
	Day and Night Pharmacy	1927-1999	drug store; later Leo's
	Oaksterdam University.	c.2011	cannabis
	Cookies	2019-	cannabis