The Remar Baking Company
During the 1940s and 50s, there was much in the way of sights, sounds, and smells to stimulate one’s gusto for life in the North Oakland area bordering Emeryville. The old neighborhood was dotted by a wide variety of factories and industries which included laundries, paint and varnish companies, and food processing operations that gave the inhabitants a sense of ongoing Vigor and hustle and bustle.
With the prevailing westerly winds coming off the bay, the pungent odors from the H. J. Heinz Company on San Pablo and Ashby Avenues mixed with the pleasant aromas emanating from the Del Monte cannery on Park Avenue just west of San Pablo. Layered in amongst these smells were the hunger-inducing aromas generated by the magnificent Remar Bakery, at 46th and Adeline Streets generally considered the premier baking company on the West Coast.
“Home-Made Bread Baked Scientifically”
The Remar Bakery’s parent company was the Golden Sheaf Bakery, which dated back to the establishment of the City of Berkeley in 1877. The original Golden Sheaf was located at 2030 Shattuck Avenue in a two-story wooden structure that housed both the baking operation and a restaurant. It was owned by J.G. and J.C. Wright. The company prospered, and in 1905 a striking brick building was opened at 2032 Addison Street to handle storage, with room for expansion. This handsome structure remains standing, and a view of the bold company logo above its entryway is well worth the trip.
In the mid-teens, plans were developed for the construction of a new bakery that would maintain Golden Shears decades-old attention to quality, along with the capacity to distribute over a radius of several hundred miles. The ultimate goal of the new facility was to guarantee a product consistent with the Company’s motto “A home-made bread baked scientifically.” The site selected was on the Emeryville-Oakland border on 46th Street, between Adeline and Linden Streets, adjacent to the Key System’s “E” and “F” commuter trains to the east, and parallel to the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe main line on Adeline Street. This ensured rail access of both deliveries and shipment in and out of the new building.
Remar Bakery
Construction began in early 1919, and the grand opening occurred on June 17th of that same year. The Oakland Enquirer’s account of the event notes:
“The building has been constructed especially for a bakery and the details arranged so that the raw material (flour) is introduced at one point in the building and is forwarded in a progressive scheme until it leaves the building in the furnished state. The flour is received in carload lots on the Adeline Street border of the building and is sent to the storeroom by specially constructed conveyor machinery; it is immediately tagged showing the date of its arrival. By this system flour is used in the rotation in which it is received.
It is then brought by trucks to the sifting room and by an automatic process, well ground and sifted, then conveyed to the mixing room which is probably the most interesting stopping place in the whole operation. This room is equipped with machinery which provides the atmospheric conditions so essential to’ the proper mixing and raising of the bread; a constant temperature of 80 degrees is maintained. and the humidity controlled proportionately. The dough is allowed to remain in this room for a specified time. then is dropped to the machinery on the lower floor, where it is cut into loaf size, and put into pans for the giant ovens. After baking, comes the machinery for wrapping. after which it is delivered to the immense selling organization.”
The Remar name was coined by its founder. J.P. Rettenmayer, who used the first two letters in his name “Re,” the center “ma” and the final “r,” to establish a trademark of a product that by the late 1930’s would be sold through more than 2000 independent retailers. To appreciate the grand scale of the new Remar Bakery, one must note that the structure and equipment cost over $700,000-an enormous sum in 1919. The most notable external feature of the building was a central tower topped by a weathervane, which could be viewed from a considerable distance.
A Believer in Reaching Out
Although the company experienced success during its first fourteen years. it would remain for the dynamic and visionary leadership of Peter Oluf Pedersen, who purchased Remar in 1933. to maximize the full potential of the bakery. Pedersen and his brother Axel had amassed much valuable baking experience. first with their Broadway Bakery and Restaurant at 2209 Broadway. and subsequently by operating the Best Baking Company in Oakland.
A firm believer in reaching out and enhancing the community of which Remar was an integral part, Pedersen began a comprehensive program of bringing large groups of visitors on tours through the plant. He also developed a modern clubroom for club women to gather and discuss recipes and home economics in general. For the youngsters, Pedersen, along with the Company’s Secretary-Treasurer D.V.H. Stearns. developed more than 100 Juvenile Baseball teams that were members of the Remar Juvenile Baseball League.
25 Chevrolet Trucks
Management was not content to merely keep abreast with its competitors; rather. the company set the pace as illustrated by the purchase of 25 new Chevrolet delivery trucks in the late 1930’s. At a cost of over $40.000, such an enormous addition to a bakery’s delivery fleet was unprecedented. A news account in the October 14th. 1937 edition of the Oakland Tribune noted “The new Remar Chevrolet trucks are already in service. and are winning much favorable comment for their fine streamlined appearance.” At this time, deliveries were extended to neighboring counties. including Sonoma. Marin and Solono.
Remar’s role as one of the area’s major employers was continually noted in local publications. At its peak, approximately 250 individuals were employed. and the annual payroll had a positive impact on the city’s growth. Products marketed went well beyond the bread successively labeled Golden Sheaf, Remar, Butter Krust, and finally. Sunbeam.
The Aromas Continue
In 1953. Peter Pedersen sold the Remar Company to Interstate Bakeries and retired. Thus ended an era of remarkable executive leadership wherein a company producing a product to meet a community’s basic need went well beyond that function to reach out and provide both social and recreational activities to enrich the environs. Interstate continued with its production of Sunbeam products until the mid-1950s.
Presently, the old Remar building remains essentially in its original form. with several additions having been constructed in past decades. The south end houses the San Francisco Herb and Natural Food Company. whose products emit a zesty, flavorful aroma reminiscent of Remar’s heyday. On the north, facing 54th Street. Continental Baking Company’s Wonder Bread bakery utilizes storage space for its delivery trucks. Also located in this area is an outlet that appropriately enough sells baked goods. So. after three quarters of a century. the “Bread Connection” continues on the historic site of the old Remar Bakery.
This story originally published in 1996 for the Emeryville Centennial Celebration and compiled into the ‘Early Emeryville Remembered’ historical essays book.
