Aaron Cerf and Family Photo 1887

The quality of this photo is poor because I don't have the original, only a photocopy. Still, it's worth posting.

Family members are (beginning with infant in mother's lap and going clockwise):

Arthur Cerf, infant (1886-1979)
Bernard Cerf (1868-1942)
Phoebe Levy Cerf, mother (1840-1916)
Clotilde Cerf (Rosenberg) (1872-1955)
Felice Cerf (Hofman) (1880-1919)
Clarisse Cerf (Rosenberg) (1867-1932)
Aaron Cerf, father (1824-1908)
Emile Cerf (1877-1944)
Lucien Cerf, holding cane (1874-1957)

This photo was probably taken in early 1887 as Arthur was born January, 1886 (in Oakland, California).

Cerf Trips to Ukiah

After Aaron Cerf left Ukiah and moved his family back to the Bay Area, family members continued to visit Ukiah. Adele Rosenberg, who was married to Al Rosenberg, Aaron's grandson, recalled, "I'll never forget the first time I went to Ukiah. Al and I were engaged, and Cerf and Ida [Al's brother was Cerf Rosenberg and his wife was Ida] had made reservations for one of the watering holes in Hopland [just south of Ukiah] to go up there for a long weekend over like the 4th of July. They wanted Al and I to go along. My mother said that unless she went along to chaperone us, I couldn't go. That was the old standards. Then we rode up to Ukiah so I could see Ukiah. They still had the wooden sidewalks, and the Indians were still sitting on the curbs. It was like an old, old pioneer town. This was 1924. It was a very small town."

Aaron's daughter, Felice Cerf Hofman, died in 1919, leaving behind a daughter, also named Felice, who was still a little girl. Felice Cerf Hofman's husband, Louie Hofman, then married a cousin of the Cerfs on the Levy side named Nannette Lobe. Adele remembered, "Louie and Nannette got married and lived in Ukiah. Everybody used to go up there to visit. They would take their summer vacations in Ukiah, and Ukiah is very hot in the summertime. But the house they owned had a basement which was a rarity in California. They would spend the days downstairs in the basement. That was the coolest spot. And then the boys would go out hunting and fishing."

Adele continued, "Every year we used to go up to Ukiah for Nannette's birthday [after her husband, Louie, had died]. We would stay in a motel. One year we did stay with Felice [the daughter]. Felice had moved there after her divorce. One of Nannette's friends owned a place on Blue Lake. That's where the party was every year. And we'd all ride over to Blue Lake to this party. Blue Lake is an extension of Clear Lake. It's up just above it. It's a very pretty lake, and it wasn't too far from Ukiah."

Blue Lake, Mendocino County, California

"In the younger days the Cerfs used to go hunting and fishing," Adele said. "They all did that. They used to go up to Ukiah, up to the different lakes around there or the river and fish for trout. They all were outdoor people."

Archie and Lucien Cerf at their campsite on Blue Lake

Leo Rosenberg Alexander, Aaron's grandson, remembers going to Ukiah. "The family used to go up to Ukiah on school vacations." Later, when he worked at the Clarion Men's Clothing Store with his uncles, Leo joined the shooting and hunting trips, but he recalled they never talked about work or their families. Leo told one story about a trip they took.

"Archie [Aaron's son] and I drove up after work on Saturday night at 10:00 and camped out in a squatter's area up in the hills out near Napa, up in the mountains. There was a squatter there, and we were after deer. He took us out as a guide early in the morning. He goes along and he opens his parka and takes out some matches. There was a rat nest. He sets fire to that. Archie didn't say anything and I said, 'What's going on?' Here was a squatter and he sets fire to a rat nest up in the mountains. And he goes on to another one and sets another one. And sets another one. And all the wind is coming from the west. And he kept on going down to some city--I forget the name of it--down in the valley. He set the whole thing on fire. And we walked back. I was afraid to say anything. By morning here comes a marshal. I kept still and Archie kept still. He asked the squatter, 'How about the fire? All of a sudden the fire starts here and goes on and on.' The squatter didn't say a word. The squatter was there because he was trying to take over the land. I don't know how Archie knew about this man. He was also acting as a guide for the hunters. This was a fire just like they had over in Berkeley, but it was in the hills. The squatter set the fire because he wanted to burn that so with a new crop coming up from the fence the deer would come up to wherever they are. And this marshal didn't stay very long because he knew he couldn't make any headway. As soon as he left, I said, 'Let's go.' We packed up in five minutes, and we were gone. I didn't want to be involved in it, and Archie didn't want to be involved in it."

References:

Interview with Adele Rosenberg, March 28-29, 1992, San Mateo, California.

Interview with Leo Rosenberg Alexander, December 22, 1991, Watsonville, California.

Photos from Leo Rosenberg Alexander's photo album.

Three Generations of Clothing Merchants

Aaron Cerf set up and relocated many stores throughout Northern California, but he served the town of Ukiah for the longest duration, from about 1887 to about 1897. Aaron's store occupied at least two locations during that time, one on State Street two doors south of the post office, and one under the Grand Hotel. Here are some advertisements for his store:

March 11, 1892 ad.

November 9, 1894 ad.

September 13, 1895 ad.

Emile Cerf, Aaron's son, owned a candy and cigar store in Ukiah around 1895. Later, he owned the men's stylish clothing store called the Clarion, located at Market and 5th in San Francisco. Adele Rosenberg, the wife of Aaron's grandson, Al Rosenberg, revealed in an interview, "Emile was the successful one of the Cerf brothers. He had the Clarion, a men's department store type of thing. He moved to upper Market Street before its time, and they lost everything eventually. But in its heyday, he was the real big shot of the family. He was the one that was successful in a more showy way."

Leo Rosenberg Alexander, Aaron's grandson, remembered, "Emile died in San Francisco at the Clarion during the Depression. That was the store located on Market Street across from Stockton and the merry-go-round. It was right next door to the Emporium. It was a men's and boys' retail store. It was a very large store and went all the way back. The name of the store was the Clarion. And the model on the banner was 'Cash is King.' We didn't have any credit or layaway. It had to be cash."

When asked about why the Clarion eventually failed, Leo said, "The property belonged to the school system, once part of Lincoln High School. And that was eliminated and they put up the building. The building was built by some local people and rented from the city school system. The owners of the building Emile Cerf rented from, which belonged to the City, didn't want to give him another lease. When we had the big Depression, Emile wanted to move to the 600 block on the other side of Market Street, but something happened there. And then he moved out to 18th. They wanted to move the store from downtown. They moved up there and in time failed. They paid $20,000 for moving and all that. And then there was a question among everybody at the store, men who had been salespeople there for a great length of time, what were they going to do."

Emile Cerf employed his brothers, Lucien and Arthur, at the Clarion. Leo Rosenberg Alexander recalled, "Lucien worked in the boys department. Archie was a salesperson, a buyer, and general manager of the men's section." Leo was also brought into the mercantile business at the Clarion at age 18 in 1915. "I started as a stock boy, and I had to learn the clothing business. And learn I did. Emile Cerf was a wonderful teacher. When he was buying, I had to go. I had to know the textile mills, how much it cost to make a coat, vest and pants. I had to know how to alter, learn the machine [used to make alterations]. This was before the war [World War I]. And I had to know the different textile mills, cloth and things of that kind, and the cost of making it. And not that I would be a tailor, but to know how a suit should look and how the alterations should be developed to finish on the customer."

Salespeople at the Clarion worked six days a week and on Saturday they worked an extra long day. Leo said, "Everyone worked from 8:00 until 6:00, and 8:00 until 10:00 on Saturday nights."

Here are two ads for the Clarion:

March 16, 1910 ad.

July 5, 1911

During the Depression, Arthur Cerf, Aaron's youngest son also known as Archie, left the Clarion and bought in as a partner at a boys' and men's clothing store called Summerfield and Haines, which was located at Market and 6th. Leo remembered, "During the Depression, things were very, very bad, and everybody was failing. He [Archie] bought in because one of the partners at Summerfield and Haines had died. So Archie bought in there and left the Clarion.  I think [Emile's not getting another lease for his store] was a part of why Archie stepped out and went up to Summerfield and Haines."

Arthur Cerf

Edgar Cerf, another grandson of Aaron's, remembered, "When Archie left the Clarion where he had been in business with his brother, Emile, the other gentleman who owned Summerfield and Haines--I think his name was Allie Haines--asked Archie to come in and be a partner with him. Archie was the man who knew how to be the glad hand artist and to make a customer feel at home and the ability to win their confidence and to sell. So when Archie finally retired and when he was in his early 90's and he was then living alone, he went to Selix and became a salesman selling and renting tuxedos. And they dearly loved him there. And he had the ability even at this age of life to know how to win the confidence of a customer and sell them. So he was such a joy to be with that we would enjoy our business with Archie. If I ever walked by Selix on Kearney Street, I would go in to say hello. He always greeted you with a big smile."

Arthur Cerf in his 90's

Adele Rosenberg was asked if Summerfield and Haines was successful. "They did very well. I don't think they made a fortune, but they made a very substantial living. They had a very nice shop there on Market Street. It was a very pretty store, but then they were not doing well when the trend was away from Market Street. Then they gave up the business. And that was when Arch went with Selix. He loved every minute of working for Selix. He really did. People would go in, and he knew so many people. The people at Selix were like family to Arch. They were very good to him. They loved having him there. And he had his clientele. He brought a lot of business in there. He was a good salesman."

Although Leo couldn't give any information about his grandfather's store in Ukiah, Leo did recall a store owned by his aunt's [Felice's] husband, Louis Hofman. "They had a store in Ukiah, a large general store at that time. That was really before the famous department store label came out. They were general stores. They carried everything as a department store, even hardware. In the grocery department, the farmers would bring in their product and get credit, a dollar or two, whatever it was. And then when they wanted something, they went over to dry goods or shoes or things like that. And then that was deducted. And then that went on for a great many years."

Leo Rosenberg Alexander went into business for himself in Watsonville, California. He said, "I had a men's store. It had originally been a general store, and then a department store. General stores were really department stores except that the grocery department depended on the farmers. And you did that for them to get credit. They didn't have any money. I will explain so you know some of the history of it. Not Levi Strauss, but Neusteters and some of the others were what was called jobbers or wholesalers. And what they did, they carried merchandise, but they didn't manufacture the merchandise. The merchandise was manufactured in the East. To keep the workers going then at that period, they had these jobbers in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle that placed the orders for shoes or suits or pants and all that with these manufacturers in the East, and they manufactured for these wholesalers. And they were taking a whole year. They manufactured in the summer for the winter. And then they were shipped around the horn. It would take a month for it to reach the west coast. And then they would finance it. If you were a merchant, you go to them and they extend credit and give you the merchandise. And then at the end of the month you pay them and then you got more merchandise. That's how it started. The wholesalers and jobbers were the baggers. And the stores and merchants were the baggers for the farmers. Everything was done on the charge or credit They didn't take money."

Leo Rosenberg Alexander

References:

Interview with Adele Rosenberg, March 28-29, 1992, San Mateo, California.

Interview with Edgar and Clara Cerf, July 13, 1993, San Luis Obispo, California.

Interview with Leo Rosenberg Alexander, December 22, 1991, Watsonville, California.

Clarion newspaper ads from the San Francisco Call via the California Digital Newspaper Collection at dnc.ucr.edu/cdnc.

Ukiah newspaper ads from the Dispatch Democrat [Ukiah, CA], courtesy of the Held-Poage Memorial Home and Research Library, Ukiah, CA.