In 1966, Michael Delacour and Liane Chu opened the Red Square Dress Shop at 2507 Dwight Way. Chu was an undergraduate, the former Miss Chinatown San Francisco and an arrestee during the Free Speech Movement. She was a seamstress and had been working at Yarmo, a dress shop on Telegraph between Haste and Dwight. Delacour had come to Berkeley a few years earlier, following a career in the mechanical and technical areas of the San Diego defense industry. In Berkeley, he had been active with the Vietnam Day Committee while making a living as a boilermaker. At Red Square, Chu and Delacour made hippie chic clothes, mostly using natural fabrics, and worked the store. They lived in the back of the shop. Chu also sold one-off clothing made by others on commission.

On April 15, 1969, Red Square took a step into history. Delacour called for an organizing meeting at Red Square about building a park bounded by Haste and Dwight and by Telegraph and Bowditch. Perhaps a dozen people attended, including future People’s Park leaders Wendy Schlesinger and Stew Albert. Albert took the idea of a park to the pages of the Berkeley Barb, writing under the name “Robin Hood’s Park Commissioner.” Wendy Schlesinger solicited financial contributions from Telegraph Avenue merchants.

On April 20, the first People’s Park “work day” took place. Chu remembers it as one of the great days of her life. There weren’t enough tools, so people waited their turn. There were no bosses, “Nobody supervises, and the trip belongs to whoever dreams.” There was no plan. You did what you were inspired to do.”

When Chu and Delacour parted ways in 1969, Red Square didn’t feel the same to her. She had given the store three years and wasn’t interested in continuing it on her own. She reached out to the women who had made clothing on consignment and offered them the store. A group took her up on the offer, turning the store into a cooperative. After a while, they moved south half a block to C.J.’s Old Garage at 2566 Telegraph. They dropped the name “Red Square” and went with “By Hand” – changing times. The store eventually moved to Solano Avenue until closing some years later.
Red Square has two places in Berkeley history: the birthplace of People’s Park and a maker and seller of high-end hippie clothes.