After more than three decades painstakingly engraving names for the dearly departed, Oakland artist Manuel Alvarez is packing up his hammer and heading into the sunset — leaving a legacy of more than 20,000 customized urns in his wake at Oakland’s Chapel of the Chimes.
“I’m going to frame it someday,” Alvarez said, handling the wooden engraving hammer he crafted for himself around 1984 when he started the job — and still uses today.
Alvarez retired this week after 34 years
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