Bill's Trading Post and Gem Gallery

BERKELEY HISTORY
BILL'S TRADING POST
AND GEM GALLERY
A.W. Smith, Architect and Builder, 1923
Bill Gulley started "Bill's Model Shoe Shop" here in 1934,
after his previous business enterprise of bootlegging ended
with the repeal of Prohibition. When he died in 1966, his
daughter, Mary Jane "Peggy" Casey, and her daughters created
Bill's Trading Post and the adjacent Gem Gallery. The busi-
ness became nationally known for its handcrafted Native
American jewelry, textiles, ceremonial objects and art, as well
as its support of Native American causes. Mary Jane Casey
(1925-2017) was a leading Berkeley businesswoman and
served as president of the Elmwood Merchants Association.
A.W. Smith was a prolific designer and builder of residential
and commercial properties in Berkeley and Oakland dur-
ing the early part of the twentieth century. This one-story
building follows the pattern of the two-block long Elmwood
commercial district with traditional inset storefronts and
clerestory windows above.
Berkeley Historical Plaque Project
www.berkeleyplagues.org
2018