Standard Beverages was a Bay Area beverage company beginning in 1930. They were local bottlers for Nehi beverages, Par-T-Pak beverages, and later Royal Crown Cola, with a plant and offices at 1050 - 39th St. (also known as 3900 Adeline St.) on both sides of the border between Oakland and Emeryville.
The company was started in 1930 by John R. Sousa and Gerald H. Mason. 1 In 1937, they constructed a new, larger bottling plant and expanded the existing building at the site, which had originally been constructed in 1917. 2,3
1936 1
1950 Sanborn excerpt
1935
1936
There are a number of "ghost signs" for Par-T-Pak around the Bay Area, 5 including one on the De Domenico (Plaza) Building on Frank Ogawa Plaza. That sign is also visible in a 1943 photo looking down San Pablo Avenue showing the Esquire Theatre.
1958 sign 6
sign in 2017
The bottling plant was demolished in 2014, after a long approval process for the mixed-use apartment building that now exists on the site. 4 For now, it is still possible to view what the old Standard Beverages building looked like in 2011 through Google Street View.
Links and References
- Oakland Bottling Firm Celebrates Six Years of Progress Oakland Tribune October 12, 1936
- New Bottling Plant Is Installed for Standard Beverages Oakland Tribune August 20, 1937
- 39th and Adeline Mixed-Use Project EIR Chapter IV.C Cultural and Paleontological Resources May 2008 4c-Cultural.pdf
-
Architecturally significant “Acucare” Building at 3900 Adeline Demolished E'ville Eye August 11, 2014
- Par-T-Pak Ghost Sign medium.com November 15, 2015
- ohrphoto.dpoa2.016 Oakland History Center, Oakland Public Library
