On October 11, 1935, a crowd filled a new Spanish colonial building at 4231 Park Boulevard. It had sweeping rafters and bookcases running wall to wall. Mayor William J. McCracken presided. Officials from Glenview Elementary, from McChesney (the school now called Edna Brewer Middle School) and from Oakland High School came for the opening, according to the LocalWiki entry on the Glenview Branch Library.
Ninety-one years later, the same building is raising money for two of those three schools. Through Saturday, November 14, Glenview parents and local artists are running a pop-up gallery in the empty storefront. The proceeds go to the PTAs at Edna Brewer Middle School and Oakland High School, Oaklandside reported.
Across the street at 4228, a Berkeley chocolatier will mark one year in Glenview over Thanksgiving weekend. The shop has also moved its chocolate-making kitchen here. Taken together, the two storefronts on this block show how the Park Boulevard strip keeps its character. The newest business has made Glenview its workshop, and the oldest civic building is filled by the same kind of neighbor effort that got it built.
A building neighbors asked for, twice
The library started as a request. Around 1926, a small group of Glenview neighbors began petitioning the City of Oakland for a branch. The city approved an ordinance in 1933, and building permit A57581 followed in 1935. Harry P. Fisher, the developer behind most of the Park Boulevard strip, sold or possibly donated the parcel. Architects Archie and Noble Newsom designed the building. City librarian John B. Kaiser credited the branch to the "community's seven-year agitation."
Residents then spent another seven years lobbying to keep it open. The branch closed for good in 1981, after Proposition 13 and the opening of the nearby Dimond branch. A self-serve "deposit collection" ran there from July 1982 through 1994.
The City of Oakland's list of designated landmarks includes the building under two ordinances: Ordinance 9979 on September 30, 1980, and Ordinance 11964 on February 25, 1997. LocalWiki describes the 1997 action as a landmark designation for the interior.
Since the books left
After the library closed, the city granted the property to John Richard Nelson and Billy Gene Davis, who opened a musical organ shop. Later tenants used it as a fitness space. LocalWiki's entry describes Relictree Fitness renovating the building and keeping the original bookshelves around the perimeter of the studio. Directory listings also show Functional Patterns Oakland at the address and mark it permanently closed.
The building has been on the commercial market for lease since February 11, 2026. The listing offers about 2,714 square feet of single-tenant retail space with high ceilings, outdoor space and two restrooms. It places the building "right next to Paulista."
Ten days of art for the PTAs
The pop-up fills the gap between tenants. Oaklandside described it as a group of Glenview parents working with various local artists. Its listing presented the exhibit as a good place to start holiday shopping. The free opening reception was Friday, November 6, from 5 to 8 p.m., and the show runs through November 14.
The fundraiser fits the building's history. The 1935 opening drew officials from McChesney and Oakland High, and in 2026 the money raised under those rafters goes to the PTAs at Edna Brewer and Oakland High.
Across the street, the kitchen moved to Glenview
Casa de Chocolates opened its second location at 4228 Park Blvd. on November 29, 2025, Berkeleyside's Nosh reported. The shop sells handmade bonbons, truffles and other sweets with flavors from Oaxaca and Michoacán. Nosh pointed readers to the Mayan espresso, tequila and chile naranja chocolates.
Casa de Chocolates opened in 2012 as the Bay Area's first Latin American-inspired chocolate shop, founded by Amelia Garcia and Arcelia Gallardo. It is now owned by Linda Sanchez and Jesus Chavez, who started working at the Berkeley shop as UC Berkeley undergraduates. As the East Bay Times reported in June, the Glenview shop houses the company's chocolate-making kitchen, and the Berkeley store focuses on baked goods. The Glenview shop sells bonbons, bars, cookies, cakes, hot or frozen chocolate drinks, and coffee beans from Proyecto Diaz Coffee.
So the chocolate in both shops is made on Park Boulevard. The original store at 2629 Ashby Avenue in Berkeley is still open, and the Glenview storefront is where the company now makes its chocolate.
| 4231 Park Blvd. | 4228 Park Blvd. | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for or opened as | Glenview Branch Library, opened October 1935 | Casa de Chocolates' second shop, opened November 29, 2025 |
| Role on the block today | Landmarked building listed for lease since February 2026 | Production kitchen and retail counter |
| This month | Parent-run pop-up gallery through November 14 | First anniversary on Sunday, November 29 |
| Who it serves right now | Edna Brewer and Oakland High PTAs | Customers of both Casa shops |
The anniversary lands on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Per Casa de Chocolates' website, the Park Boulevard shop is closed Monday and Tuesday. It opens 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.
Paulista, the neighbor with the longest run
The library building's next-door neighbor at 4239 Park Blvd. has the longer track record of the three. Paulista is a Brazilian café, kitchen, restaurant and taproom. Co-owners Alexandre Yamamoto and Jesse Madway announced it in early 2017. Berkeleyside's first look in January 2018 described home-style Brazilian food and craft beer, not a churrascaria-style steakhouse.
Paulista's run here is close to a decade, and Casa's is one year. In between sits a landmark that the city's preservation list protects by ordinance and that neighbors keep finding uses for between leases.
The same pattern in Dimond Park
That neighbor effort extends past the storefronts. Dimond Park's upkeep relies on volunteer groups that post their dates on the City of Oakland's event calendar, and both meet at the park's Historical Scout Hut.
Friends of Sausal Creek runs restoration sessions from 9 a.m. to noon. Volunteers remove non-native plants from the stream banks and upland areas and replant with native species. Friends of Dimond Park holds free monthly gatherings from 9 to 11 a.m.
Here are the dates on and near Park Boulevard from now through December 19:
- Saturday, November 14: Last day of the pop-up gallery at 4231 Park Blvd.
- Tuesday, November 17: Friends of Sausal Creek restoration in Dimond Park, 9 a.m. to noon.
- Saturday, November 21: Friends of Dimond Park gathering, 9 to 11 a.m.
- Tuesday, November 24: Friends of Sausal Creek restoration, 9 a.m. to noon.
- Sunday, November 29: Casa de Chocolates' first anniversary on Park Boulevard, open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Tuesdays, December 1 and 8: Friends of Sausal Creek restoration, 9 a.m. to noon.
- Saturday, December 19: Friends of Dimond Park gathering, 9 to 11 a.m.
The former library is still listed for lease. Through Saturday, it is hosting the pop-up gallery, and the money raised there goes to the Edna Brewer and Oakland High PTAs.
At Robert Jones, we follow the history and changes on Park Boulevard as closely as the homes around it. If you'd like to talk about how a Glenview landmark or a new business on the block fits into your own plans, Let's Connect.
