Berger Hardware on 30th St. (Facebook)
Retail | North Park

‘Did You Know…’

By Frank Sabatini Jr.

…that North Park’s oldest business on record is Berger Hardware, and that it is still run by the same family that opened it in 1912?

Specializing in hardware for doors, cabinets and bathrooms, the store was long ago operated by Hayden Robertson Sr., who ultimately passed the torch to his sons Hayden Jr. and Richard—and grandsons Craig and Stuart.

“There has always been a Robertson in the building,” the family states on its web site.

So why not Robertson Hardware?

The family humorously admits that “Berger” simply has a better ring to it. To some, it perhaps beckoned to the respectful reputations of famed L.L. Berger department stores or prestigious music composers of American and European origins bearing the Berger surname (think Arthur, Henri, Ludwig, Wilhelm and others.)

Though as the story goes, there is an actual connection to a real-life “Berger.” It was the last name of a man who Hayden Sr.’s mother fell in love with after divorcing her former husband and upon moving to San Diego around 1910. The lovebirds went into business together; she fronted the money, and he loaned his name.