Horace Carpentier Dinner
For
several years, Waterfront Action and the Jack London Aquatic
Center proudly presented the Horace Carpentier Dinner,
a celebration of the past, the present, and the future of the
Oakland-Alameda Estuary, recognizing Horace Carpentier as the man who
founded the town of Oakland and became its first mayor. Carpentier,
described as a "scoundrel", leased the entire Oakland waterfront for a
payment of $5.00, three wharves and one schoolhouse. As a condition of
the lease, one of the wharves had to be long enough to reach the ship's
channel.
More than 175 members of the community have attended each previous dinner and
enthusiastically joined in "hissing" Horace, played faithfully
by David Nicolai, Executive Director of the Pardee Home Museum.
Adding to historical context, Jack London has been played by Woody
Minor.
In There, There,
Gary Turchin of the Monclarion provides his commentary on the events and
attendees of the first Horace dinner.
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