What’s New

The Park Theater Trust (TPTT) Needs You For The Park Theater Documentary

Thanks to a generous 2023 Excellence Grant from the Community Foundation of Lafayette, The Park Theater Trust (TPTT), in partnership with the Lafayete Historical Society, will be producing a documentary on the Park Theater’s past, present and exciting future. We are looking for community members who have fond memories of the Park Theater from before […]

Oral History: Chuck Baumann – March, 2024

Summary: Chuck Baumann was interviewed by Andree Hurst in March, 2024. He came to Lafayette in 1955 at age 6 when his father relocated the family to this growing community to establish and run a company that built swimming pools. He discusses growing up in the community with great schools and social activities and he […]

Oral History: Edith Hunt Shirling – June, 1983

Diablo Valley College History 155, covering Local History, has brought back memories of when I was a child of about nine years old. Our family, who lived in Pt. Richmond, Contra Costa County-which also is the city where I was born in 1908–became the proud owners of a new Dort automobile in 1917. It was […]

Oral History: Tony Lagiss – November, 2004

Summary: Tony Lagiss was interviewed by Julie Sullivan in November, 2004. A Port Costa native, his career in the sale and development of Lafayette real estate started when he was 25, in 1946, when he bought twenty acres of “billie goat land” on Deer Hill Road near Pleasant Hill Road. Tony’s timing was good, as […]

Oral History: Sheldon Cook – July, 2005

Summary: Sheldon Cook was interviewed by Julie Sullivan in July, 2005. Dr. Cook set up his office in Lafayette and began to practice pediatrics in 1953. He practiced for the next 28 years, always making house calls–as many as 52 in one weekend. He says that people would recognize his car and request that he […]