| Cast-iron base table dates to'20s
Q. What can you tell me about a table that I inherited? Supposedly, it was used at a firehouse where my father volunteered. It has a cast-iron base, oak top and lower shelf and is in good condition. -- Richmond A. It is a cast-iron and wood commercial restaurant table manufactured around 1920. It probably was made in America, although similar ones were made in Europe. The lower tier was added. These often are called ice cream tables because they were used in ice cream parlors, but they also saw wide use in restaurants and taverns. The small tables often were used outdoors Without an embossed or impressed mark on the cast-iron base or other label, it is impossible to identify the maker. Many American foundries made similar ones. It would retail for $175.
Aiken may get quieter
City of Aiken solicitor Richard Pearce brought his antique Victrola phonograph to illustrate his pitch for a tougher noise ordinance during annual Horizons retreat at Rye Patch. (Tony Baughman photo) By TONY BAUGHMAN Staff writer The City of Aiken soon could be an even quieter, more peaceful place to live. City Solicitor Richard Pearce, using an antique Victrola phonograph to illustrate his point, has asked the City Council to consider a revised noise ordinance that takes into the account changes in technology and the decibel levels of various sounds. "What we've found is that we've got a Victrola ordinance in the era of the iPod Nano," Pearce said during Saturday's second day of the annual Horizons planning retreat at Rye Patch.
Picture-Perfect Brides
The day before your wedding is not the time to reinvent yourself with a new look. Bridal magazines have been issuing warnings to that effect since the 1950s. Yet time and again the advice against last-minute experimentation has resulted in disastrous perms, unsightly rashes, puffy lips, and over-baked tans reminiscent of Cheetos. Theres even the story of a bride whose impromptu lasik surgery went awry and forced her to walk down the aisle wearing dark goggles that made her look like a frilly welder. Theres also a tendency for brides of any age to forget that their grooms fell in love with them the way they look normally. A radical makeover - especially involving hair color changes and glittery showgirl makeup could make him suddenly panic that hes standing at the wrong altar.
Gang that couldn't shoot straight has descendants, right here in SF
Starting on Christmas Eve, a ring of thieves -- mistaken by neighbors as a moving crew -- removed $2.5 million in art, antiques and rugs from a Jackson Street mansion in San Francisco's Presidio Heights, taking two truckloads of loot without being detected. It took months of planning to execute but afterward just days to become a perfect mess -- when one of the burglars decided to try to sell back some of the loot to the victim, who happened to be an heir to the Schlage lock company, one of the biggest makers of locks and security systems in the country. The man who police say boasted of being the brains behind the caper, James Reem, 42, was arrested Jan. 12 and is in custody on $100,000 bail on grand theft charges. "This was a not a simple burglary of opportunity -- this is basically a heist,'' said San Francisco burglary inspector Denise Fabbri, who described Reem as a longtime criminal and drug addict who recently relapsed after being sober for five years.
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