'Diamont Lill' Recalls City's Silk-Hatted Era Thu, May 8, 1952 – Page 16 · Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) · Newspapers.comCENTENNIAL STORY
'Diamond Lill' Recalls City's Silk-Hatted Era
By VIRGINIA DENNISON
When the Adios Handicap was run at the old Emeryville track in 1911 and the bookies and the fans for once wept together, it was not only taps for the end of racing. It was the last of the dollar bet. And it was about the last of the high living days before Oakland outgrew itself.No more swells with their exclusive rights to the clubhouse. No more spectacular entrances by "Diamond Lill," blonde and handsome, whose genial husband, the famous Joe Dieves, wanted her to be the best dressed woman in Oakland.
It was his gifts of diamonds, showered on his young and pretty bride, which gave "Diamond Lill” her name.
It's been a long time since Mrs. Lillian Dieves has swished into a race track in her own fast rig. Or for that matter, since she's picked a horse by looks and maybe made four or five dollars on the hunch - a good profit in those days.
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| Joseph Dieves sits proudly with bowler in hand and his beloved "Diamond Lill" gazes admiringly at right. This old photo was taken before young Lilian Plitt became Dieves' bride and the best dressed woman in Oakland. It is one of the souvenirs Mrs. Dieves' treasures today. She remembers the woman at left only as a friend at the time. |
RETAINS SPARKLE
But the "Diamond Lill" of half a century ago is still pert and still - at 78 - as full of the life and sparkle which made her one of the toasted figures in that silkhatted yesterday.Mrs. Dieves lives quietly now at 581 Kenwyn Road, one of the last of a generation that remembers when things were really gay, when Oaklanders danced in beer gardens, drove out to the sporty places on San Leandro Road, ate gigantic picnic spreads on what is now a busy East 14th Street, and wagered a bit on the hares or the badgers or the fighting cocks.
There's nothing stodgy about Mrs. Dieves, who once helped to set Oakland on its new-found ear. She still has her cocktail before dinner and memory of other cocktails in a younger and more pleasant time.
She doesn't go much for the cigarets any more - she pronounces them cigareets - but she still lights up when the occasion demands - and remembers the “dead game sport” of the Three Mile House who taught her to smoke after their marriage in 1895.
BOTH HAVE WEDDED YOUTHFUL BRIDES. Wed, Oct 9, 1895 – 11 · The San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco, California) · Newspapers.com
CREATES A STIR
That marriage created quite a stir. Newspaper reports, vastly more personal and more libelously interesting than accounts of today, commented at length that the union of Joseph Dieves to Lillian Plitt, daughter of the “Duke of Pittsville," was a surprise.
Dieves, 48, had been a widower for a year. Lillian, 22, was a friend of his daughter.
The marriage, marked by a simultaneous elopement on the part of Dieves' son united two families who provided the early residents of this area with much of their relaxation. Joseph Peter Dieves, the “Prince of Sports," was born in Germany in 1847, but was only 8 years old when his father brought him to Alameda County.
The senior Joseph Dieves was as popular as his son. He built the Eagle Rock Hotel in San Leandro, the first public house in that section. In 1861 he opened a roadhouse on the old stage road to Stockton. Later he built or operated hotels in San Francisco and Oakland. He was one of the original owners of the Oakland Brewery, amassing a fortune which passed in part to "Young Joe."
FOLLOWS FOOTSTEPS
Young Joe, following in his father's footsteps, opened the Three Mile House "out in the country" on the San Leandro Road, now East 14th Street and 54th Avenue.
For 30 years he catered to the sporting element, to the men who enjoyed a "quiet bout” with the fighting chickens, who liked to watch the hounds chase the hare or the Negro pugilist, Peter Jackson, train for his bouts. [See this post about Three-Mile House and San Leandro Road. - MF]
The popular Joe was a factor in county politics and nobody ran for office without checking to see how it "set" with Dieves. Among Joe's many friends was Justis Daniel Plitt and his wife, Ida, also natives of Germany and gold-rush day settlers. The Plitts had their first hotel "on the narrow gauge” in San Jose, where Mrs. Plitt won a reputation for her skill in mixing drinks. Lillian, born there, was brought to Oakland as a girl of 6 when her father leased the famous Piedmont Springs resort from F. M. (“Borax”) Smith.
When she was 16 or 17, her father gave up the operation of the popular Piedmont Springs and opened the Plittville Hotel ["Plittsville" - MF] about half a mile from the Three Mile House. [Near present-day 41st Avenue and International Boulevard. - MF]
PLITTSVILLE PARK Fri, Aug 4, 1893 – Page 6 · Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) · Newspapers.com
SCENE OF REVELRY
The hotel, surrounded by five acres of picnic grounds, had its dance floor and bar and its carefree groups that gathered on Sundays for roaring picnics on the grounds.
It was Plitt who arranged the match with Dieves. After the wedding, Lillian moved to the Dieves' home, a gingerbready house which still stands on 54th Avenue, near East 14th. [This is about the only home on 54th that is remotely 'gingerbready'. - MF]
Dieves not only taught his bride to smoke. He encouraged her love for horses. She became a racing fan after she won on her first bet, a wager on "Yellow Tail,” Mrs. Dieves recalls. After that, nearly every day during the season, Mrs. Dieves would put on her diamonds and with her friend, Mrs. Robert Olander of Olander's Saloon (on East 12th near 13th Avenue) would drive to the Emeryville track, "loaded" with $20 betting money provided by Dieves.
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| The years haven't dimmed the sparkle in the eyes of Oakland's "Diamond Lill“ nor her memories of the gay life she enjoyed while young. Now 78, she lives quietly at 581 Kenwyn Road, one of the last of a generation that remembers the gaudy and happy days of Oakland's youth. |
RUNS HER STRING
Mrs. Dieves was soon running her own string of ponies and she remembers their names still - Whisky King and his colt, Whisky Toddy; Dandy Bell and Suburban Queen.
But Dieves, meanwhile, ignoring his doctor's orders to lower the flag on his high living, became progressively ill. On July 2, 1901, he died, leaving his widow and a young son, William.
Since then Mrs. Dieves has lived quietly. Her two sisters are dead, most of her friends are gone. Other things are no more, the schoolhouse by Mountain View Cemetery, the beautiful horses, the parties and the picnics. Even the style of writing has changed.
The obituaries when Dieves died included a story of his famous gratitude.
So overcome was he when a friends dog retrieved a hare he had shot, the story read, that Dieves made a typical gesture. He offered his friend his lunch - a hunk of bread - and gave his bottle of whisky to the dog.
Wed, Jul 3, 1901 – Page 9 · The San Francisco Call (San Francisco, California) · Newspapers.com
JOS. DIEVES HAS PASSED AWAY. Tue, Jul 2, 1901 – Page 2 · Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) · Newspapers.com
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