EC High School Students Helping Uncover Hundreds of Historic Images
By Jon Bashor
Pretty much every week since last August, high school juniors Elizabeth Patusco and Zola Grondahl drop by the Shadi History Room in El Cerrito City Hall to seek out and digitize photos and documents found in folders, photo albums, scrapbooks and odd corners of various cabinets.
That translates to hundreds of new images used to build out the historical society’s growing website and increase engagement on Instagram and Facebook. Both young women, now juniors who became friends while in fifth grade at Harding Elementary, have a strong interest in history. But they first met when their parents dragged them along to an appearance by former President Bill Clinton at the Richmond Art Center in 2016.
Friends since their days at Harding Elementary School, Elizabeth Patusco (left) and Zola Grondahl share a strong interest in history and volunteering.
“I like history a lot better than math and I think I’ve taken to it because I’ve had a lot of really good history teachers,” Grondahl said, adding that her father is really into history, especially the Roman empire.
Patusco said her mom grew up in the Philippines and wants to make sure her daughter learns about history, especially low points like Cambodian genocide, to help society not repeat such atrocities.
“I think it’s really fun to help archive things and it would be interesting to do it professionally,” Patusco said. “We get to examine old photos and uncover things I didn’t know about, like the dog racing track in El Cerrito.”
One of her favorite discoveries was a stone mortar and pestle tucked away on the bottom shelf of a cabinet in the Shadi Room. It helped her picture how East Bay indigenous people prepared some of their foods.
One of her bigger projects was using a stablized cell phone to carefully photograph 98 pages of oversized maps showing all of the individual properties in El Cerrito in 1926. The entire set of block-by-block maps is now on the historical society’s website.
Grondahl has scanned a wide range of images, including a view of the city from Albany Hill in the early 20th century. When her dad saw it on the society’s Instagram page, he showed her about where their house would later be built. While leafing through one of several old-school photo albums donated by a former firefighter she found a series of 8x10 photos of a fire that severely damaged the old TEPCO porcelain factory on May 22, 1946. The photos show both firefighters and passersby silhouetted by the flames as they battle the massive fire.
But the history that has most affected her is that of the Japanese flower growing community. Beginning in 1902, local growers built a thriving industry with nurseries, greenhouses and retail stores at the north end of town and in East Richmond. “I didn’t know about them and was surprised by how many there were and in places that I know,” she said.
Launching a high school history club
At the start of the 2025-26 school year, Patusco decided to start a history club at the high school. She filled out the paperwork, recruited a faculty sponsor and the History and Heritage Club was formed. She’s the president and Grondahl is VP. The club is working with two other clubs – the Student Athletes Union and Women in Sports Empowerment – to create displays showcasing the wide range of sports at the school. They also hope to invite former students to talk about areas of historical interest and mark the 85th anniversary of the opening of the high school in January.
In November, the two students spent a day volunteering in the Oakland Museum’s White Elephant Sale warehouse, gathering images to make videos promoting the annual month-long sale, which starts at the end of January. Here they look over an antique photo album; in front of them is an edition of the San Francisco Chronicle announcing the end of World War II. Photo by Jon Bashor.
But their interest in history isn’t always serious: they enjoy historical fiction and admit to being obsessed with the genre in elementary school. As 11-year-olds, they were also part of a small circle of friends who were so captivated by “Hamilton” they would get together, act out various parts and sing the entire program.
Grondahl got the idea of volunteering with the society from Abby Yee, a friend of her family who graduated in June 2025 and also wrote an article for The Forge about the history and current state of Depression-era projects in El Cerrito. When Grondahl mentioned volunteering to her friend, Patusco signed up the next week.
“Zola and Liz truly rejuvenated our archival efforts this year,” said EC Historical Society Vice President Meredith McGuire, who is also the lead for the society’s website and social media accounts. “Their enthusiasm, curiosity and knack for finding hidden gems in the corners and cabinets of the Shadi Room is remarkable. Posting these finds online fuels unprecedented levels of engagement and help us reach a whole new audience of history buffs."