For several years, Safeway has been trying to get permission to rebuild and expand its Rockridge store at the corner of College and Claremont Avenues. A lot people think the store is in Berkeley, but it is actually a few feet over the city line in Oakland. Many of the neighbors oppose the project because traffic on College Avenue is terrible and there is no practical way of improving it. But – do you know what was at that location before Safeway built the supermarket there? Back in the 1960s, the lot was the site of an auto dealership, Bullwinkel Ford. When I arrived in Berkeley, Clarence Bullwinkel was a well-known local businessman. He owned a number of rental properties in Berkeley, but most people just knew him as the local Ford dealer.

In 1959, a Berkeley real estate agent named Jay Ward created the ‘Rocky & Bullwinkle Show’ He named the main characters in the show after people he knew around town – but not always with their permission. Bullwinkle J. Moose was named after Clarence Bullwinkel, but Clarence Bullwinkel did not like the show, mainly because Bullwinkle Moose was incredibly stupid. Clarence Bullwinkel complained that after ‘Rocky and Bullwinkle’ became a huge hit TV show, people started talking to him as though he had the same I.Q. as Bullwinkle Moose. In order placate the Bullwinkel family and avoid a lawsuit, Jay Ward reversed the spelling of the last 2 letters of the Bullwinkel family name. I sometimes think about Clarence Bullwinkel when I shop at that Safeway store. I am surprised that Safeway has never put a picture of Clarence Bullwinkel on the wall or a statue Bullwinkle Moose at the store’s entrance. Personally, I loved the ‘Rocky and Bullwinkle Show’! My favorite character was Boris Badenov.