I just turned on the news and apparently a fire began at the Wooden Duck today and the whole place is gone. Sad. As many of you know, Cal gave a lot of the wood from the old benches to the Wooden Duck after the renovation of Memorial. They still had a lot of the wood, which they used to craft tables, benches, etc.

Amazingly, the wife and I had discussed heading to the Wooden Duck this weekend to look at some of the old Memorial Stadium wood at the Wooden Duck. We were considering a bench for our entry hall. I guess that is not going to happen.

Dayum.

grandmastapoop;842304162 said:

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I just turned on the news and apparently a fire began at the Wooden Duck today and the whole place is gone. Sad. As many of you know, Cal gave a lot of the wood from the old benches to the Wooden Duck after the renovation of Memorial. They still had a lot of the wood, which they used to craft tables, benches, etc.

Amazingly, the wife and I had discussed heading to the Wooden Duck this weekend to look at some of the old Memorial Stadium wood at the Wooden Duck. We were considering a bench for our entry hall. I guess that is not going to happen.

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I just drove by the fire on the way back from a day with Cal alums. One guy had just bought a stadium wood bench and was about to put in an order for a table... ugghhhh... tragic.

UPDATE: The Wooden Duck survives, for the most part.

http://www.berkeleyside.com/2014/04/12/breaking-huge-fire-on-eastshore-highway/

according to their facebook page their showroom survived and they think the factory largely did as well. Good news! I bought a Cal wood outdoor table that is back in their shop to get refinished after taking delivery in December so really hoping it survived.

Cal gave the Wooden Duck a lot of wood from the old benches? I don't think so. The Wooden Duck purchased the old stadium benches.

run2win;842304474 said:

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Cal gave the Wooden Duck a lot of wood from the old benches? I don't think so. The Wooden Duck purchased the old stadium benches.

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they most definitely did not. owner of Wooden Duck decided to buy all he could. said it took him 24 truckloads to carry all of it back.

I've been told the majority of the wood is stacked and sitting on a coast ranch.
Most of the wood has been containered and sent to China.....so says my source, a local furniture maker, which I have no reason to doubt.

It appears most of the stadium bleacher wood was spared from the flames. According to Berkeleyside:

Readers have been asking about the fate of the Cal Memorial bleachers that The Wooden Duck salvaged and is using to make furniture. Gellerman told Berkeleyside that the majority of it was stored off-site and is safe. Some of the Cal wood was [lost] unfortunately," he said. "[But] most of it is stored in a yard in Oakland and all the completed table tops were down at our warehouse next to Costco in Richmond at the time of the fire so it was safe."

http://www.berkeleyside.com/2014/04/14/after-the-fire/

Olee Berkeley-eye;842304989 said:

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It appears most of the stadium bleacher wood was spared from the flames. According to Berkeleyside:

Readers have been asking about the fate of the Cal Memorial bleachers that The Wooden Duck salvaged and is using to make furniture. Gellerman told Berkeleyside that the majority of it was stored off-site and is safe. Some of the Cal wood was [lost] unfortunately," he said. "[But] most of it is stored in a yard in Oakland and all the completed table tops were down at our warehouse next to Costco in Richmond at the time of the fire so it was safe."

http://www.berkeleyside.com/2014/04/14/after-the-fire/

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My furniture friend read this, chuckled, and cried bull$#it.
His opinion, "most of it" is now in China, the stateside majority is on a ranch and "most" of what is left of that might be as stated. He also stated that Berkeleyside's accuracy of this story is about as accurate as the original story.

Cheers!!

The construction firm was shipping a lot of the benches to China. However, the Wooden Duck did manage to get a bunch of the benches from the guys who were shipping it to China. But the majority did get to China. The wooden duck people did not actually buy from Cal - at least, that was the skinny back when this was all happening two - three years ago.

I have no idea why they (Cal) decided that the old benches were not salable in the US. Love, for example, Pappy's bar.

Oski87;842306011 said:

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The construction firm was shipping a lot of the benches to China. However, the Wooden Duck did manage to get a bunch of the benches from the guys who were shipping it to China. But the majority did get to China. The wooden duck people did not actually buy from Cal - at least, that was the skinny back when this was all happening two - three years ago.

I have no idea why they (Cal) decided that the old benches were not salable in the US. Love, for example, Pappy's bar.

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Yes, wood that the Wooden Duck didn't get was sent to China. On the other hand, wood that the Wooden Duck did get went to China too......at least so says my furniture friend who deals with WD and has been to the ranch to pick up some of the bench wood.

I'm waiting to pick up my table made from the benches, and can confirm that it was made in the factory in Berkeley-- I visited it "in progress."

BTW, they are running low on benches, so if you want something made, now is the time.

Oski87;842306011 said:

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The construction firm was shipping a lot of the benches to China. However, the Wooden Duck did manage to get a bunch of the benches from the guys who were shipping it to China. But the majority did get to China. The wooden duck people did not actually buy from Cal - at least, that was the skinny back when this was all happening two - three years ago.

I have no idea why they (Cal) decided that the old benches were not salable in the US. Love, for example, Pappy's bar.

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The original green paint had lead in it....
Those benches were treated like a hazardous waste from the site, and the easiest was to get rid of much of it to China.
And, as we all know, China seems to LOVE lead in their products!