South Asian Businesses

• [1916 ★] Vaishno Das Bagai opened a store called Bagai's India Arts and Curios store at 2139 Center Street, near Oxford. There was a large newspaper ad and feature in July, and smaller classified ads in November. The feature reads: "The India Art and Curio Store was opened here on Friday last at 2139 Center street. It handles all kinds of silk and gold embroideries, furs, woolen blankets and curious which are India's own specialty. The silk embroideries are made by village women of different parts of India especially by those of Kashmere, who are cooped up in their little huts during heavy snowy winter months. The gold embroideries have been made by the descendants of those who spent their lives in making dresses for the royal families of India several centuries ago. The hereditary professions are followed with a passion by these handicraftsmen and are never pursued with any calculation of the market value of these products. With great difficulty these art products and curios have been collected and brought over to this country. Everything in the store has a history of its own which is told to visitors whenever asked." Feature: [Berkeley Daily Gazette, July 22 1916 evening, p. 3, col. 3, "New Art and Curio Curio Store Opened Here"] Large ad: [Berkeley Daily Gazette, July 21 1916, page 2, column 2] many small ads e.g. [Berkeley Daily Gazette, November 6 1916, page 5, column 4]
  
• [1916 ★] Boor Singh applies to Berkeley City Council to erect a tent in downtown Berkeley for the business of fortune telling. Council unanimously denies the application. [Berkeley City Council Minutes for July 28 1916, item 12, and August 8, 1916, item 19]
  
• [1955] There are apparently two restaurants serving Indian food in San Francisco: India House (629 Washington Street), and Curry Bowl (4321 Geary). The latter was apparently pretty fancy, but managed by someone named Tommy Lee, presumably non-Desi. [Around the world in San Francisco by Leonard Austin, page 28]
  
• [1960s-1970s? ★] Berkeley's University Avenue business district founded. See Sara Marcellino's 2003 thesis Connecting a heterolocal ethnic community: Berkeley's Asian Indian shopping district for history and details. The Berkeley Historical Society ran a walking tour of the district in 2000.
• [~1970 ★] Bazaar of India opens in Berkeley, run by Neelam and Kirpal Khanna ["The Multi-million Dollar Indian Grocery Business", India West, Feb 16 1979, page 8]
• [1975 ★] Lakireddy Bali Reddy and his family open the Berkeley branch of Pasand Restaurant. ["Pasand Bombay Curries - Unique South Indian Cuisine", India West, 15 July 1977, page 5]
• [1978 ★] Shrimati's opens at 2011 University Ave, Berkeley, as a sari shop, run by Anil Dhupelia, whose family owned 3 sari shops in Durban. ["Two New Businesses Open In S.F. Bay Area", India West, Jan 15 1978, page 5]
• [1981 ★] Anar-Kali restaurant, an Indian and pizza restaurant, opens at 2440 Bancroft Way. It was run by Pakistani American couple Shaukat Mohamadaly and Nargis. ["Two New Restaurants Open in East Bay with Informal Atmospheres", India West, Sep 25 1981, page 11]