At 1:42 PM -0800 3/25/99, Jean Day wrote: >Hi... > >Ed Blanchard owned and operated a grocery or merchantile store in Oakland >in the 1920's, 30's and 40's, I believe he also owned a hotel. Can anyone >tell >me how I would go about finding names and locations of these two >businesses. Was there a directory of some kind that would have listed >the name of the business as well as the owner? Often in City Directories a person who owned a business would be listed with their business as well as residence address. City Directories for Oakland are in the Periodical Room of the Main Branch of the Oakland Public Library. I believe there are also some Oakland directories at the San Francisco public library, but --as you might guess--Oakland has a more complete set. If you are far away and don't have access to the library, but do have access to an LDS Family History Center, many of the directories have been filmed. --Laurel