TEPCO Pottery El Cerrito, CA

Technical Porcelain and Chinaware Company, once a major West Coast producer of restaurant ware, had contracts with the U.S. Navy, Army and Veterans Administration, and was at one time, El Cerrito’s largest employer. Tepco outfitted many local restaurants including the Polynesian themed Trader Vic's, the dinnerware for Berkeley Spangers' Fish Grotto, and Mel's Diner. 

In operation from 1918-1968, designs that were deemed flawed or unfit for sale were dumped into the San Francisco Bay off of Point Isabel. Walking along the shoreline, countless pieces of china fragments can still be found on the beach.  Pictured are pottery patterns green Banana Leaf, Spenger's Fish Grotto, a US Navy mug, Needles & Pine (my patterns at home).

Sharing Snapshots

Last summer I found two 1953 snapshot booklets showing picketing employees of the Downtown Oakland Dress shops Dotty Dean, Hatfield's, House of 9, and Zukor's on Fulton Street. The photos are signed on the back- Polly, Flossie, Grace, Claudine, Uldeen, and Etta. All making a stand for better working conditions and pay.

Slide show of some of the photos