Fireside Meeting - October 2026

The Hillside Club Fireside meetings are held on the first Monday of most months (January, February, March, April, May, June, September, October, and November).

They are open to the public and admission is free to members, with a suggested donation for non-members. No one is turned away for lack of funds. The meetings begin with social time for members, a brief Club business meeting, followed by a featured speaker.

Monday, October 5th will feature:

6:30pm Member Social Time

7:00pm Club Business Meeting

7:30pm Talk with David Mostardi - Paul Elder: Publisher, Bookseller, and Berkeleyan

For seventy years — from 1898 until 1968 — Paul Elder was the leading bookseller in San Francisco. And, for the first twenty of those years, Elder was also the major publisher in the city, issuing over 400 titles. His books were praised as works of art and are still collected today as art objects. In addition, Elder created a new kind of bookstore with a well-earned reputation for carefully-crafted artistic ambience, where his “books beautiful” were displayed on equal footing with pottery, metalwork, paintings, prints, and jewelry. The store was profitable when many other bookstores were failing, and his novel sales approach gained both national attention and imitators.

Elder also had connections to the Berkeley Hillside Club. Indeed, Elder lived in Berkeley for most of his adult life, quietly commuting to San Francisco on the ferry. Elder published several works by the Club’s two best-known members, Charles Keeler and Bernard Maybeck, including Keeler’s The Simple Home, which became the Club’s de facto manifesto. David Mostardi, longtime club member and Hillside Club Historian, will present a photographic overview of Elder’s career, his bookstores and publications, and his family life here in Berkeley.

Members come early for social time at 6:30 p.m. and the Club business meeting at 7 p.m., followed by the Fireside presentation at 7:30 p.m. for what promises to be an engaging and insightful event.

Fireside Meetings are for civic engagement, a good way to see the club and get to know the members. Club members, our neighbors, and the general public are encouraged to attend.