Alameda, California
Encyclopedia
Alameda is a city in Alameda County
, California
, United States
. It is located on Alameda Island and Bay Farm Island, and is adjacent to Oakland
in the San Francisco Bay
. The Bay Farm Island (also known as Harbor Bay) portion of the city is adjacent to the Oakland International Airport
. At the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 73,812. Alameda is a charter city
, rather than a general law city, meaning that the city can provide for any form of government. Alameda became a charter city and adopted a council-manager government
in 1916, which it retains to the present.
connected to Oakland. Much of the peninsula was low-lying and marshy, but on higher ground the peninsula and adjacent parts of what is now downtown Oakland were home to one of the largest coastal oak forests in the world. The area was therefore called Encinal, Spanish for "oak grove". Alameda is Spanish for "grove of poplar trees" or "tree-lined avenue", and was chosen in 1853 by popular vote.
The inhabitants at the time of the arrival of the Spanish in the late 18th Century were a local band of the Ohlone
tribe. The peninsula became part of the vast Rancho San Antonio granted to Luis Peralta by the Spanish king who claimed California. The grant was later confirmed by the new Republic of Mexico
upon its independence from Spain.
Over time, the place became known as Bolsa de Encinal or Encinal de San Antonio.
The city was founded on June 6, 1853, and originally three small settlements were located in the town. "Alameda" referred to the village at Encinal and High Streets, Hibbardsville was at the North Shore ferry and shipping terminal, and Woodstock
was on the west near the ferry piers of the South Pacific Coast Railroad
and the Central Pacific
. Eventually, the Central Pacific's ferry pier became the Alameda Mole
, featuring transit connections between San Francisco ferries and local trollies, Key System buses, and Southern Pacific
(formerly Central Pacific) commuter lines.
The first post office opened in 1854. The San Francisco and Alameda Railroad
opened the Encinal station in 1864. The Encinal area was also known as Fasskings Station in honor of Frederick Louis Fassking. Encinal's own post office opened in 1876, was renamed West End in 1877, and closed in 1891. The West End area was originally called Bowman's Point in honor of Charles G. Bowman, an early settler.
The Alameda Terminal
was the site of the arrival of the first train via the First Transcontinental Railroad
into the San Francisco Bay Area on September 6, 1869. The transcontinental terminus was switched to the Oakland Mole two months later, on November 8, 1869.
The borders of Alameda were made co-extensive with the island in 1872, incorporating Woodstock into Alameda.
In 1917, an attraction called Neptune Beach
was built in the area now known as Crab Cove. Often compared to Coney Island
, the park was a major attraction in the 1920s and 1930s. The original owners of the facility, the Strehlow family, partnered with a local confectioner to create tastes unique to Neptune Beach. It is not widely known that both the American snow cone
and the popsicle
were first sold at Neptune Beach. The Kewpie doll
, handpainted and dressed in unique hand-sewn dresses, became the original prize for winning games at the beach – another Neptune Beach invention. The Strehlows owned and operated the beach on their own, even filling in a section of the bay to add an additional Olympic-size swimming pool and an exceptional roller coaster which must have given riders a tremendous view of the bay. The Cottage Baths were available for rent.
Neptune Beach's two huge outdoor pools hosted swimming races and exhibitions by famous swimmers such as Olympian Johnny Weismuller, who later starred as the original Tarzan, and Jack LaLanne
, who started a chain of health clubs. The park closed down in 1939 because of the Great Depression
, the completion of the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge, people circumventing paying the admission price and in general, the rise of car culture. Once the Bay Bridge was complete, the rail lines, which ran right past the entrance to Neptune Beach on the way to the Alameda Mole and the Ferry, lost riders in droves. People began using their cars to escape the city and the immediate suburbs like Alameda and traveling further afield in California. Alameda lost its resort status as more distant locations became more attractive to cash-rich San Francisco tourists. Youngsters in town became aware of ways to avoid paying the dime for admission to the park. Strong swimmers or even waders could sneak in on the bay side, just by swimming around the fence.
Some of the resort homes and buildings from the Neptune beach era still exist in present-day Alameda. The Croll Building
, on the corner of Webster Street and Central Avenue, was the site of Croll's Gardens and Hotel, famous as training quarters for the some of the greatest fighters in boxing history from 1883 to 1914. James J. Corbett, Bob Fitzsimmons, Jim Jefferies, Jack Johnson, and many other champions all stayed and trained here. Today this beautiful preserved building is home to Croll's Pizza and the New Zealander Restaurant. Neptune Court, just a block away on the corner of Central Ave. and McKay Ave., provides another glimpse of what resort life was like in Alameda in the 1920s. A short walk near Crab Cove will reveal many more historic gems.
The vast majority of the Neptune Beach structures – the hand-carved carousel from the world-famed Dentzel Company, the Ferris wheel
, the roller coaster, and other rides – were auctioned off in 1940 for mere pennies on the dollar of their original cost. Today, Alameda resident Michael Schiess seeks to preserve some of the historic artifacts from the Neptune Beach era at the Neptune Beach Amusement Museum. A consequence of the Neptune Beach closing around 1940 was a total dearth of quality, clean swimming facilities in town. A grass roots effort to create swimming pools at two high schools and two city parks would continue into the early 1960s.
When the railroad came to town in the 1860s Park Street developed into the major thoroughfare of the city and the location of the main Alameda train station, residents of Old Alameda pulled up stakes and moved across town to the new downtown. The street's location was chosen by two landowners who wished to attract tenants and development to their land. As a result they designated their mutual property line as Park Street.
The need for expanded shipping facilities led to the dredging of a canal through the marshland between Oakland and Alameda in 1902, turning Alameda into an island. Most of the soil from the canal was used to fill in nearby marshland. The area of Alameda called Bay Farm Island is no longer an island, but is attached by fill to Oakland. In his youth, author Jack London
was known to take part in oyster pirating in the highly productive oyster beds near Bay Farm Island, today long gone. The Alameda Works Shipyard
was one of the largest and best equipped shipyards in the country. In the 1950s, Alameda's industrial and ship building industries thrived along the estuary, where the world's first-ever, land-based, containerized shipping crane was used. Today, the Port of Oakland
across the estuary serves as one of the largest ports on the West Coast, using the shipping technologies originally experimented with in Alameda. As of March 21, 2006, Alameda is a "Coast Guard City," one of seven in the country.
In addition to the regular trains running to the Alameda Mole, Alameda was also served by local steam commuter lines of the Southern Pacific (initially, the Central Pacific) which were later transformed into the East Bay Electric Lines
. Southern Pacific's electrified trains were not streetcars, but full-sized railroad cars which connected to the mainland by bridges at Webster Street and Fruitvale (only the latter bridge survives today). The trains ran to both the Oakland Mole
and the Alameda Mole. In fact, one line which ran between the two moles was dubbed the "Horseshoe Line" for the shape of the route on a map. Soon after the completion of the Bay Bridge, Alameda trains ran directly to San Francisco on the lower deck of the bridge, the ferries having been rendered unnecessary. Alameda was the site of the Southern Pacific's West Alameda Shops where all the electric trains were maintained and repaired.
In the 1930s Pan American Airways established a seaplane
port along the fill that led to the Alameda Mole. This was the original home base for the famous China Clipper
flying boat.
In 1929, the University of California established the San Francisco Airdrome located near the current Webster Street tube as a public airport. The Bay Airdrome had its gala christening party in 1930. The airfield was a busy place, as an early home base for Coastal Air Freight, Varney Air Lines, West Coast Air Transport, Western Air Express, the transbay Air Ferries, and Boeing's Pacific Air Transport. The Airdrome was closed in 1941 when its air traffic interfered with the newly built Naval Air Station. With the advent of World War II, a vast stretch of the marshy area southwest of the Alameda Mole was filled and the Naval Air Station Alameda
established. This major Naval facility included a large airfield, as well as docks for several aircraft carriers. It closed in 1997.
In the late 1950s the Utah Construction Company began a land fill beyond the Old Sea Wall and created South Shore.
, the city has a total area of 23 square miles (59.6 km²), of which, 10.6 square miles (27.5 km²) of it is land and 12.3 square miles (31.9 km²) (53.79%) is water.
Although Alameda's nickname is "The Island City" (or simply "the island"), the current city occupies two islands as well as a small section of the mainland. Today, the city consists of the main original section, with the former Naval Air Station (NAS) at the west end of Alameda Island, "Southshore" along the southern side of Alameda Island, and Bay Farm Island, which is part of the mainland proper. The area of the former NAS is now known as "Alameda Point." The Southshore area is separated from the main part of Alameda Island by a lagoon; the north shore of the lagoon is located approximately where the original south shore of the island was. Alameda Point and Southshore are built on bay fill.
Not all of Alameda Island is part of the City of Alameda. Although nearly all of the island is in Alameda city limits, a small portion of a dump site west of the former runways at Alameda Point pokes out far enough into San Francisco Bay that it is over the county line and part of the City and County of San Francisco.
Coast Guard Island
which is a small island between Alameda Island and Oakland is also part of Alameda and is the home of Integrated Support Command Alameda
was 3,214.9 people per square mile (1,241.3/km²). The racial makeup of Alameda was 37,460 (50.8%) White, 4,759 (6.4%) African American, 426 (0.6%) Native American, 23,058 (31.2%) Asian, 381 (0.5%) Pacific Islander, 2,463 (3.3%) from other races
, and 5,265 (7.1%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8,092 persons (11.0%).
The Census reported that 72,316 people (98.0% of the population) lived in households, 857 (1.2%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 639 (0.9%) were institutionalized.
There were 30,123 households, out of which 9,144 (30.4%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 13,440 (44.6%) were opposite-sex married couples
living together, 3,623 (12.0%) had a female householder with no husband present, 1,228 (4.1%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 1,681 (5.6%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships
, and 459 (1.5%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 9,347 households (31.0%) were made up of individuals and 2,874 (9.5%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40. There were 18,291 families
(60.7% of all households); the average family size was 3.06.
The population was spread out with 15,304 people (20.7%) under the age of 18, 5,489 people (7.4%) aged 18 to 24, 21,000 people (28.5%) aged 25 to 44, 22,044 people (29.9%) aged 45 to 64, and 9,975 people (13.5%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.7 years. For every 100 females there were 91.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.5 males.
There were 32,351 housing units at an average density of 1,409.0 per square mile (544.0/km²), of which 14,488 (48.1%) were owner-occupied, and 15,635 (51.9%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.1%; the rental vacancy rate was 5.7%. 37,042 people (50.2% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 35,274 people (47.8%) lived in rental housing units.
of 2000, there were 72,259 people, 30,226 households, and 17,863 families residing in the city. The population density
was 2,583.3/km² (6,693.4/mi²). There were 31,644 housing units at an average density of 1,131.3/km² (2,931.2/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 56.95% White
, 6.21% Black
or African American
, 0.67% Native American
, 26.15% Asian
, 0.60% Pacific Islander
, 3.29% from other races
, and 6.13% from two or more races. 9.31% of the population were Hispanic
or Latino
of any race.
There were 30,226 households out of which 27.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.7% were married couples
living together, 11.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.9% were non-families. 32.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 3.04.
In the city the population was spread out with 21.5% under the age of 18, 7.0% from 18 to 24, 33.6% from 25 to 44, 24.6% from 45 to 64, and 13.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 92.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.5 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $56,285, and the median income for a family was $68,625. Males had a median income of $49,174 versus $40,165 for females. The per capita income
for the city was $30,982. About 6.0% of families and 8.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.4% of those under age 18 and 6.1% of those age 65 or over.
There is a large Filipino
community; and also major Portuguese
community, from which Tom Hanks
' mother came and where Lyndsy Fonseca
was raised for some time. Alameda also has a historic Japanese American
community and had a small Japanese business district on a portion of Park Street prior World War II
, when the city's Japanese population was interned. A Japanese Buddhist church is one of the few remaining buildings left of Alameda's pre-war Japanese American community.
, Fruitvale Avenue
, and High Street Bridges), as well as the two one-way Posey and Webster Street Tubes
leading into Oakland's Chinatown. Connections from Alameda to Bay Farm Island is provided via the Bay Farm Island Bridge for vehicular traffic as well as the Bay Farm Island Bicycle Bridge (the only pedestrian/bicycle-only drawbridge in the United States),. California State Route 61
runs down city streets from the Posey and Webster Street Tubes, across the Bay Farm Island Bridge, and south to the Oakland Airport.
Public transportation includes the AC Transit
buses (which include express buses to San Francisco) and two ferry services — the Alameda/Oakland Ferry and the Alameda Harbor Bay Ferry
. Both ferry services may soon be transferred to the Water Transit Authority
. The island is also close to the BART train service, with the closest stations being Lake Merritt
, near the exit to the Posey Tube, and Fruitvale
, near the Fruitvale Bridge.
Even though the island is just minutes off Interstate 880
in Oakland, the speed limit for the city is 25 mph (40 km/h) on almost every road. Many unaware drivers fail to slow down after exiting the highway. Groups like Pedestrian Friendly Alameda and BikeAlameda advocate stronger enforcement of speeding laws.
Alameda has also featured prominently on automotive blog
Jalopnik
, with their "Down on The Street" segment consisting of cars found on the streets of Alameda. Jalopnik has nicknamed it "The Island That Rust Forgot".
Due to its proximity to the Bay, wind surfers
and kite surfers can often be seen along Crown Memorial State Beach and Shoreline Drive. From the beach there are also views of the San Francisco skyline and the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge.
One of the recent attractions is the aircraft carrier
USS Hornet
, a museum ship
now moored at the former Naval Air Station as the USS Hornet Museum
. This ship was originally named the USS Kearsarge, but was renamed in honor of the previous Hornet CV-8 (famous for the Doolittle raid
), which was lost in October 1942.
Alameda is known for its Victorian
houses; 9% of all single-family houses (1500) in Alameda are Victorian, and many more have been divided into two to four-unit dwellings. It is said that Alameda has more pre-1906 earthquake era homes than any other city in the Bay Area.
Alameda is home to the official offices and training facility of the Oakland Raiders
American football
team, which is located on Bay Farm Island. The facility is also home to The Raider Image, the merchandise arm of the franchise, which the public can visit.
At the turn of the 19th century, the city of Alameda took a large chunk of Charles Froling's land away to build a street. Froling had planned to build his dream house on the plot of land he received through inheritance. To spite the city and an unsympathetic neighbor, Froling built a house 10 feet (3 m) wide, 54 feet (16.5 m) long and 20 feet (6.1 m) high on the tiny strip of land left to him. The Froling spite house
is still standing and occupied.
Alameda is also known for its Fourth of July parade, which is advertised as the second oldest and second longest Fourth of July parade in the United States. It features homemade floats, classic cars, motorized living room furniture, fire-breathing dragons, marching bands, and large crowds. The parade route is about 3 miles (5 km) long.
(NAS) was decommissioned in 1997, and now is in process of being turned over to the City of Alameda for civilian development. The area of the former NAS is now known as Alameda Point. Portions of this area are now in commercial use, but the transfer process has been slowed down by disputes between the Navy and the city regarding payment for environmental cleanup of the land. In late July 2006, the City of Alameda announced a deal with the Navy that would turn the land over to the city for $108M. The preliminary development concept calls for 1700 housing units to be developed at Alameda Point.
In September 2006, the developer, Alameda Point Community Partners, withdrew from development of Alameda Point. In May 2007, the City selected the SunCal Companies as the Master Developer of Alameda Point and, in July 2007, the parties were negotiating terms for a development agreement. In August 2010, the Alameda City Council voted unanimously to deny SunCal's development proposal for Alameda Point. Many reasons were cited in the staff report including a developer-initiated ballot measure that was defeated in February 2010 by a margin of 85%
After two previous failures, voters in the city passed a ballot measure in 2000 authorizing a bond measure for construction of a new library to replace the city's Carnegie library
, damaged during the Loma Prieta earthquake
. The city also received state funds for the new library and opened the doors to the new facility in November 2006.
Celera, UTStarcom
and BioTime are among the companies based in Alameda.
Race was won by Golden Gate Yacht Club racing team BMW Oracle, founded by Larry Ellison
. One possible use of the air station would be an alternate or partnered site with San Francisco for 34th America's Cup
.
Within 2 weeks of the Golden Gate Yacht Club winning the America's Cup, Alameda city council with local support sent a unanimous letter of support to hold AC 34 in San Francisco Bay Area.
Estates.
In December, 2007, St. George Absinthe Verte, produced by St. George Spirits became the first brand of American-made absinthe
to be legally produced in the United States since a ban was enacted in 1912.
City officials continue to seek ways to spur economic development on the island, including the restoration of the historic Art Deco
city landmark Alameda Theatre. The theater restoration project included a multiplex to make the project financially feasible and a parking structure to accommodate patrons of the theater and avoid excessive impact on parking in the Park Street area. Following some setbacks during construction the public opening was May 21, 2008, with a gala event.
The South Shore Mall Twin Cinema opened in 1969 and served as a prominent theater on the island until its closure in 1998. In 2002, the building was demolished and its former site is now a parking lot.
Alameda also had one other operating movie theater, Central Cinema. The theater opened in December 2004 and closed in June 2008. It was a 42-seat house at 842 Central Avenue (near the western end of Webster Street). The building had previously been both a community center and a mortuary, and the operator of the movie theater was able to use a quirk of the site zoning to legally operate a movie theater. The theatre had only one screen, but featured couches and armchairs for seating.
, wrote political and historical articles for the Alameda papers. Later, Knowland owned the powerful Oakland Tribune. Around 1900, the Daily Argus began to fade in importance and east and west papers The Times and The Star combined to take the leading role as the Alameda Times-Star in the 1930s. The Times-Star was sold to the Alameda Newspaper Group in the 1970s.
In 1997, the Hills Newspaper chain was bought by Knight Ridder
, at the time, the second-largest newspaper chain in the U.S. Following the buyout, former Hills Newspapers employees recognized the lack of a local community voice in Alameda, and again formed a new locally-based newspaper, the Alameda Sun, in 2001. In 2006, Knight Ridder announced its impending sale to McClatchy Corp.
, a Sacramento-based publishing firm. McClatchy Corp. has put the Contra Costa Times, which under the Knight Ridder reorganization included all five of the original Hills Newspapers, up for sale. The current owners of the Alameda Times-Star, MediaNews, Inc.
, based in Colorado
, have announced a strong interest in buying both the Contra Costa Times chain and the San Jose Mercury News
, consolidating the daily newspaper market of the East Bay, effectively under one owner.
The Alameda community is currently served by two weekly newspapers, the Alameda Journal, owned by the MediaNews Group, and the Alameda Sun.
in 2008 but continues to provide telecommunication service at Alameda Point.
During the California electricity crisis
of 2000 and 2001, Alameda Municipal Power did not raise electricity rates, while residents in most of the state endured significant price increases.
(AAC) serves as the local Alameda City arts council
.
The Alameda Museum, on Alameda Avenue near Park Street, features displays on the history of Alameda. There is also an active monthly lecture series on topics of local interest.
Alameda Women Artists holds yearly shows at the Alameda Museum and has many active artists exhibiting around the Island City.
Rhythmix Cultural Works, founded by Janet Koike, is located on Blanding Avenue. It is a combination live/work studio, gallery, and performance space and has hosted events from musical and theatrical productions to religious services and birthday parties. According to Rhythmix' web site, "Rhythmix Cultural Works (RCW) opened its doors (on June 2), 2007. The 501(c) (3) was established in 1999 as the umbrella for RhythMix world music ensemble and RCW cultural exchange programs. From 1999-2002, RCW coordinated six successful cultural exchange trips to Cuba and Japan. During this same period, the RhythMix ensemble (now Maze Daiko) reached thousands of children through San Francisco Symphony Adventures in Music, Young Audiences and Bread & Roses programs. Inspired by these experiences, Artistic Director-Janet Koike, spent five years renovating an industrial space in Alameda to provide a home for RCW..."
The Frank Bette Center for the Arts defines its mission as "... a place for meetings, readings, showings, and other creative doings," based on the late artist/poet Frank Bette's intention to have his home become an art center after his death. The FBCA offers classes, poetry reading events, and a rotating "Endless Call for Art" that encourages creatives of many disciplines to display and market their work. Events and classes include figure drawing, watercolor, beading, photography, Artist Trading Card swaps, poetry for teens, poetry readings and slams, and more. The FBCA is home to an annual "Plein Air Paint-Out" hosting plein-air artists from all over the world, who are invited to paint outdoors in Alameda's amazing range of light and temperate climate. The FBCA is also home to the West Coast's only regularly scheduled Body Art Jam. Professional and amateur body artists - including body painters and henna artists - from all over the San Francisco Bay Area come to practice and share knowledge at these jams, held the 2nd Wednesday monthly.
The Alameda Art Association has about 80 members as of January 2011, and has a gallery space at South Shore Center mall. The Association began in 1944.
Bridgehead Studios, located on Blanding Avenue, hosts the monthly Estuary Art Attack gallery crawl on the second Friday of every month. Helmed by photographer Chuck diGuida, Bridghead Studios is housed in a repurposed propellor factory. The facility is divided into small and large studio spaces used by photographers, artists, fashion designers, and at one time, a shark-diving expedition company.
The annual benefit, Circus for Arts in the Schools, is held at Kofman Auditorium on Central Avenue. The brain child of acclaimed clown Jeff Raz, this circus is a professional-level display of humor, silliness, skilled movement, and acrobatics that has delighted audiences since its first performance in April 2004. The Circus has raised thousands of dollars to bring teaching artists into classrooms in the Alameda Unified School District.
Pacific Pinball Museum is a nonprofit center on Webster Street, dedicated to teaching about the art, science, and joy of pinball. www.pacificpinball.org
Alameda has been home to many movie sets. Some of the movies filmed on the island have included Bicentennial Man, The Net, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix: Revolutions, Bee Season
, the original 1968 Your, Mine and Ours and the movie musical Rent
. Parts of Alameda High School were animated for the Animatrix episode "Kid's Story". A massive hangar at the former Naval Air Station Alameda was used to film special scenes requiring computer-generated imagery
for movies such as Bicentennial Man, Flubber, What Dreams May Come
, Mission: Impossible II
and many scenes from the Matrix
trilogy, including the signature bullet time
scene. The open space of the decommissioned naval base often hosts MythBusters
more dangerous experiments.
Photo-realist Robert Bechtle
has painted numerous Alameda subjects, including "Alameda Gran Torino," which was acquired by SFMOMA in 1974 and remains one of Bechtle's most famous works.
Alameda was briefly the home of Robert Louis Stevenson
. Benjamin Reed's novel The Bow Tie Gang takes place almost entirely in Alameda circa 1961.
-style musical productions was founded in 1996. It closed in 2010.
Dance Arts Project has always offered ballet, children’s creative movement and modern dance. Recently, the school added classes in ballroom dance.
In 2002, Dance Arts Project expanded its facility to include a second studio, Deux.
Today, Dance Arts Project has six teachers working with hundreds of dancers every day, inspiring and encouraging self-esteem, creativity and the love of dance.
, China. Also, the city participates in a sister city with Arita
, Japan.
Another sister city is Lidingö
, Sweden. The initiative came from Alameda in 1959 and was part of President Eisenhower's
people-to-people-movement
, whose purpose was to develop better understanding among people from different countries after World War II. Both Alameda and Lidingö are islands with a bridge connecting them to a big city.
Park street Art & Wine fair that is the end of every July.
has the same boundaries as the City of Alameda, but has a separately elected board to oversee its operations, and its funding comes directly from the county and state governments without oversight by the city council. The AUSD educates approximately 10,000 students each year, in eight elementary school
s, three middle school
s, two traditional high schools, three alternative learning schools including ACLC
, one continuation school - Island High, and one high school within the College of Alameda. The Elementary Schools include Bay Farm Elementary, Earhart Elementary, Edison Elementary, Haight Elementary, Lum Elementary, Otis Elementary, Paden Elementary, Ruby Bridges Elementary, and Washington Elementary. The Middle Schools are Lincoln Middle, Wood Middle, and Chipman Middle(Now Academy of Alameda, AOA.) Most high school students attend Encinal High or Alameda High. The district also operates an Adult School and a Child Development Center. Two elementary schools were closed at the end of the 2005–2006 school year. However, a new elementary school, Ruby Bridges
, opened for the 2006–2007 school year.
, China
Arita
, Japan
Lidingö
, Sweden
Alameda County, California
Alameda County is a county in the U.S. state of California. It occupies most of the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 1,510,271, making it the 7th most populous county in the state...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is located on Alameda Island and Bay Farm Island, and is adjacent to Oakland
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
in the San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
. The Bay Farm Island (also known as Harbor Bay) portion of the city is adjacent to the Oakland International Airport
Oakland International Airport
Oakland International Airport , also known as Metropolitan Oakland International Airport, is a public airport located south of the central business district of Oakland, a city in Alameda County, California, United States...
. At the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 73,812. Alameda is a charter city
Charter city
A charter city is a city in which the governing system is defined by the city's own charter document rather than by state, provincial, regional or national laws. In locations where city charters are allowed by law, a city can adopt or modify its organizing charter by decision of its administration...
, rather than a general law city, meaning that the city can provide for any form of government. Alameda became a charter city and adopted a council-manager government
Council-manager government
The council–manager government form is one of two predominant forms of municipal government in the United States; the other common form of local government is the mayor-council government form, which characteristically occurs in large cities...
in 1916, which it retains to the present.
History
The island that Alameda occupies was originally a peninsulaPeninsula
A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....
connected to Oakland. Much of the peninsula was low-lying and marshy, but on higher ground the peninsula and adjacent parts of what is now downtown Oakland were home to one of the largest coastal oak forests in the world. The area was therefore called Encinal, Spanish for "oak grove". Alameda is Spanish for "grove of poplar trees" or "tree-lined avenue", and was chosen in 1853 by popular vote.
The inhabitants at the time of the arrival of the Spanish in the late 18th Century were a local band of the Ohlone
Ohlone
The Ohlone people, also known as the Costanoan, are a Native American people of the central California coast. When Spanish explorers and missionaries arrived in the late 18th century, the Ohlone inhabited the area along the coast from San Francisco Bay through Monterey Bay to the lower Salinas Valley...
tribe. The peninsula became part of the vast Rancho San Antonio granted to Luis Peralta by the Spanish king who claimed California. The grant was later confirmed by the new Republic of Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
upon its independence from Spain.
Over time, the place became known as Bolsa de Encinal or Encinal de San Antonio.
The city was founded on June 6, 1853, and originally three small settlements were located in the town. "Alameda" referred to the village at Encinal and High Streets, Hibbardsville was at the North Shore ferry and shipping terminal, and Woodstock
Woodstock, Alameda, California
Woodstock is a neighborhood in Alameda in Alameda County, California. It lies at an elevation of 13 feet . It was one of the original three settlements on Alameda island out of which the city of Alameda was formed in 1853....
was on the west near the ferry piers of the South Pacific Coast Railroad
South Pacific Coast Railroad
The South Pacific Coast Railroad was a narrow gauge steam railroad running between Santa Cruz, California and Alameda, with a ferry connection in Alameda to San Francisco. The railroad was created as the Santa Clara Valley Railroad, founded by local strawberry growers as a way to get their crops...
and the Central Pacific
Central Pacific Railroad
The Central Pacific Railroad is the former name of the railroad network built between California and Utah, USA that formed part of the "First Transcontinental Railroad" in North America. It is now part of the Union Pacific Railroad. Many 19th century national proposals to build a transcontinental...
. Eventually, the Central Pacific's ferry pier became the Alameda Mole
Alameda Mole
The Alameda Mole was a facility, no longer existing, that served as a transit and transportation artery for ferries landing in the San Francisco East Bay. It was located on the West end of Alameda , and later became part of the Alameda Naval Air Station...
, featuring transit connections between San Francisco ferries and local trollies, Key System buses, and Southern Pacific
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....
(formerly Central Pacific) commuter lines.
The first post office opened in 1854. The San Francisco and Alameda Railroad
San Francisco and Alameda Railroad
In 1863 A. A. Cohen, a prominent San Francisco attorney, together with Charles Minturn, an operator of river steamboats and bay ferries, E. B. Mastick, a prominent Alameda landowner, and others incorporated the San Francisco and Alameda Railroad to provide passenger and freight ferry-train service...
opened the Encinal station in 1864. The Encinal area was also known as Fasskings Station in honor of Frederick Louis Fassking. Encinal's own post office opened in 1876, was renamed West End in 1877, and closed in 1891. The West End area was originally called Bowman's Point in honor of Charles G. Bowman, an early settler.
The Alameda Terminal
Alameda Terminal
Alameda Terminal was a railroad station located in Alameda, California on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay.It was built in 1869 by the Central Pacific Railroad as part of the First Transcontinental Railroad project and was designated the western terminus of the line.The Pacific Railroad Act...
was the site of the arrival of the first train via the First Transcontinental Railroad
First Transcontinental Railroad
The First Transcontinental Railroad was a railroad line built in the United States of America between 1863 and 1869 by the Central Pacific Railroad of California and the Union Pacific Railroad that connected its statutory Eastern terminus at Council Bluffs, Iowa/Omaha, Nebraska The First...
into the San Francisco Bay Area on September 6, 1869. The transcontinental terminus was switched to the Oakland Mole two months later, on November 8, 1869.
The borders of Alameda were made co-extensive with the island in 1872, incorporating Woodstock into Alameda.
In 1917, an attraction called Neptune Beach
Neptune Beach, California
Neptune Beach was an amusement park on the shore of San Francisco Bay in the city of Alameda, California. The park was served by the Southern Pacific Transportation Company and ferries from San Francisco. It operated from 1917 until it closed in 1939....
was built in the area now known as Crab Cove. Often compared to Coney Island
Coney Island
Coney Island is a peninsula and beach on the Atlantic Ocean in southern Brooklyn, New York, United States. The site was formerly an outer barrier island, but became partially connected to the mainland by landfill....
, the park was a major attraction in the 1920s and 1930s. The original owners of the facility, the Strehlow family, partnered with a local confectioner to create tastes unique to Neptune Beach. It is not widely known that both the American snow cone
Snow cone
Snow cones or snow balls are a variation of the shaved ice dessert commonly served throughout North America in paper cones or styrofoam cups...
and the popsicle
Popsicle
Popsicle is the most popular brand of ice pop in the United States and Canada. The first ice pop was created by accident in 1905 when 11-year-old Frank Epperson left a cup of soda on his porch in cold weather overnight. The next morning he went to go get the soda and it was frozen, so he put two...
were first sold at Neptune Beach. The Kewpie doll
Kewpie doll (toy)
Kewpie dolls and figurines are based on comical strip-like illustrations by Rose O'Neill that appeared in Ladies' Home Journal in 1909. The small dolls were extremely popular in the early 1900s. They were first produced in Ohrdruf, a small town in Germany, then famous for its toy-manufacturers....
, handpainted and dressed in unique hand-sewn dresses, became the original prize for winning games at the beach – another Neptune Beach invention. The Strehlows owned and operated the beach on their own, even filling in a section of the bay to add an additional Olympic-size swimming pool and an exceptional roller coaster which must have given riders a tremendous view of the bay. The Cottage Baths were available for rent.
Neptune Beach's two huge outdoor pools hosted swimming races and exhibitions by famous swimmers such as Olympian Johnny Weismuller, who later starred as the original Tarzan, and Jack LaLanne
Jack LaLanne
Francois Henri "Jack" LaLanne was an American fitness, exercise, and nutritional expert and motivational speaker who is sometimes called "the godfather of fitness" and the "first fitness superhero." He described himself as being a "sugarholic" and a "junk food junkie" until he was 15...
, who started a chain of health clubs. The park closed down in 1939 because of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, the completion of the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge, people circumventing paying the admission price and in general, the rise of car culture. Once the Bay Bridge was complete, the rail lines, which ran right past the entrance to Neptune Beach on the way to the Alameda Mole and the Ferry, lost riders in droves. People began using their cars to escape the city and the immediate suburbs like Alameda and traveling further afield in California. Alameda lost its resort status as more distant locations became more attractive to cash-rich San Francisco tourists. Youngsters in town became aware of ways to avoid paying the dime for admission to the park. Strong swimmers or even waders could sneak in on the bay side, just by swimming around the fence.
Some of the resort homes and buildings from the Neptune beach era still exist in present-day Alameda. The Croll Building
Croll Building
The Croll Building, in Alameda, California, was the site of Croll's Gardens and Hotel, famous as training quarters for the some of the greatest fighters in boxing history from 1883 to 1914. James J...
, on the corner of Webster Street and Central Avenue, was the site of Croll's Gardens and Hotel, famous as training quarters for the some of the greatest fighters in boxing history from 1883 to 1914. James J. Corbett, Bob Fitzsimmons, Jim Jefferies, Jack Johnson, and many other champions all stayed and trained here. Today this beautiful preserved building is home to Croll's Pizza and the New Zealander Restaurant. Neptune Court, just a block away on the corner of Central Ave. and McKay Ave., provides another glimpse of what resort life was like in Alameda in the 1920s. A short walk near Crab Cove will reveal many more historic gems.
The vast majority of the Neptune Beach structures – the hand-carved carousel from the world-famed Dentzel Company, the Ferris wheel
Ferris wheel
A Ferris wheel is a nonbuilding structure consisting of a rotating upright wheel with passenger cars attached to the rim in such a way that as the wheel turns, the cars are kept upright, usually by gravity.Some of the largest and most modern Ferris wheels have cars mounted on...
, the roller coaster, and other rides – were auctioned off in 1940 for mere pennies on the dollar of their original cost. Today, Alameda resident Michael Schiess seeks to preserve some of the historic artifacts from the Neptune Beach era at the Neptune Beach Amusement Museum. A consequence of the Neptune Beach closing around 1940 was a total dearth of quality, clean swimming facilities in town. A grass roots effort to create swimming pools at two high schools and two city parks would continue into the early 1960s.
When the railroad came to town in the 1860s Park Street developed into the major thoroughfare of the city and the location of the main Alameda train station, residents of Old Alameda pulled up stakes and moved across town to the new downtown. The street's location was chosen by two landowners who wished to attract tenants and development to their land. As a result they designated their mutual property line as Park Street.
The need for expanded shipping facilities led to the dredging of a canal through the marshland between Oakland and Alameda in 1902, turning Alameda into an island. Most of the soil from the canal was used to fill in nearby marshland. The area of Alameda called Bay Farm Island is no longer an island, but is attached by fill to Oakland. In his youth, author Jack London
Jack London
John Griffith "Jack" London was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone...
was known to take part in oyster pirating in the highly productive oyster beds near Bay Farm Island, today long gone. The Alameda Works Shipyard
Alameda Works Shipyard
The Alameda Works Shipyard, in Alameda, California, United States, was one of the largest and best equipped shipyards in the country. The only building remaining from the yard is the Union Iron Works Powerhouse, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.-History:Established in the...
was one of the largest and best equipped shipyards in the country. In the 1950s, Alameda's industrial and ship building industries thrived along the estuary, where the world's first-ever, land-based, containerized shipping crane was used. Today, the Port of Oakland
Port of Oakland
The Port of Oakland was the first major port on the Pacific Coast of the United States to build terminals for container ships. It is now the fifth busiest container port in the United States, behind Long Beach, Los Angeles, Newark, and Savannah...
across the estuary serves as one of the largest ports on the West Coast, using the shipping technologies originally experimented with in Alameda. As of March 21, 2006, Alameda is a "Coast Guard City," one of seven in the country.
In addition to the regular trains running to the Alameda Mole, Alameda was also served by local steam commuter lines of the Southern Pacific (initially, the Central Pacific) which were later transformed into the East Bay Electric Lines
East Bay Electric Lines
The East Bay Electric Lines were a unit of the Southern Pacific Railroad which operated a system of electric interurban-type trains in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area...
. Southern Pacific's electrified trains were not streetcars, but full-sized railroad cars which connected to the mainland by bridges at Webster Street and Fruitvale (only the latter bridge survives today). The trains ran to both the Oakland Mole
Oakland Long Wharf
The Oakland Long Wharf, later known as the Oakland Pier or the SP Mole was a massive railroad wharf and ferry pier in Oakland, California. It was located at the foot of Seventh Street....
and the Alameda Mole. In fact, one line which ran between the two moles was dubbed the "Horseshoe Line" for the shape of the route on a map. Soon after the completion of the Bay Bridge, Alameda trains ran directly to San Francisco on the lower deck of the bridge, the ferries having been rendered unnecessary. Alameda was the site of the Southern Pacific's West Alameda Shops where all the electric trains were maintained and repaired.
In the 1930s Pan American Airways established a seaplane
Seaplane
A seaplane is a fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing on water. Seaplanes that can also take off and land on airfields are a subclass called amphibian aircraft...
port along the fill that led to the Alameda Mole. This was the original home base for the famous China Clipper
China Clipper
The China Clipper was the first of three Martin M-130 four-engine flying boats built for Pan American Airways and was used to inaugurate the first commercial transpacific air service from San Francisco to Manila in November, 1935. Built at a cost of $417,000 by the Glenn L...
flying boat.
In 1929, the University of California established the San Francisco Airdrome located near the current Webster Street tube as a public airport. The Bay Airdrome had its gala christening party in 1930. The airfield was a busy place, as an early home base for Coastal Air Freight, Varney Air Lines, West Coast Air Transport, Western Air Express, the transbay Air Ferries, and Boeing's Pacific Air Transport. The Airdrome was closed in 1941 when its air traffic interfered with the newly built Naval Air Station. With the advent of World War II, a vast stretch of the marshy area southwest of the Alameda Mole was filled and the Naval Air Station Alameda
Naval Air Station Alameda
Naval Air Station Alameda was a United States Navy Naval Air Station in Alameda, California, on San Francisco Bay.NAS Alameda had two runways: 07-25 and 13-31...
established. This major Naval facility included a large airfield, as well as docks for several aircraft carriers. It closed in 1997.
In the late 1950s the Utah Construction Company began a land fill beyond the Old Sea Wall and created South Shore.
Geography
According to the United States Census BureauUnited States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the city has a total area of 23 square miles (59.6 km²), of which, 10.6 square miles (27.5 km²) of it is land and 12.3 square miles (31.9 km²) (53.79%) is water.
Although Alameda's nickname is "The Island City" (or simply "the island"), the current city occupies two islands as well as a small section of the mainland. Today, the city consists of the main original section, with the former Naval Air Station (NAS) at the west end of Alameda Island, "Southshore" along the southern side of Alameda Island, and Bay Farm Island, which is part of the mainland proper. The area of the former NAS is now known as "Alameda Point." The Southshore area is separated from the main part of Alameda Island by a lagoon; the north shore of the lagoon is located approximately where the original south shore of the island was. Alameda Point and Southshore are built on bay fill.
Not all of Alameda Island is part of the City of Alameda. Although nearly all of the island is in Alameda city limits, a small portion of a dump site west of the former runways at Alameda Point pokes out far enough into San Francisco Bay that it is over the county line and part of the City and County of San Francisco.
Coast Guard Island
Coast Guard Island
Coast Guard Island is in the Oakland Estuary between Oakland and Alameda, California. The island is situated in the historic Brooklyn Basin, now known as Embarcadero Cove. It is within the Alameda city limits, but is accessible, by car, only via a bridge to Dennison Street in Oakland.The Island...
which is a small island between Alameda Island and Oakland is also part of Alameda and is the home of Integrated Support Command Alameda
Integrated Support Command Alameda
Integrated Support Command Alameda is a large operating base of the United States Coast Guard, located on Coast Guard Island in Alameda, California...
Demographics
2010
The 2010 United States Census reported that Alameda had a population of 73,812. The population densityPopulation density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 3,214.9 people per square mile (1,241.3/km²). The racial makeup of Alameda was 37,460 (50.8%) White, 4,759 (6.4%) African American, 426 (0.6%) Native American, 23,058 (31.2%) Asian, 381 (0.5%) Pacific Islander, 2,463 (3.3%) from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 5,265 (7.1%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8,092 persons (11.0%).
The Census reported that 72,316 people (98.0% of the population) lived in households, 857 (1.2%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 639 (0.9%) were institutionalized.
There were 30,123 households, out of which 9,144 (30.4%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 13,440 (44.6%) were opposite-sex married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 3,623 (12.0%) had a female householder with no husband present, 1,228 (4.1%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 1,681 (5.6%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships
POSSLQ
POSSLQ is an abbreviation for "Persons of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters," a term coined in the late 1970s by the United States Census Bureau as part of an effort to more accurately gauge the prevalence of cohabitation in American households....
, and 459 (1.5%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 9,347 households (31.0%) were made up of individuals and 2,874 (9.5%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40. There were 18,291 families
Family (U.S. Census)
A family or family household is defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes as "a householder and one or more other people related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption. They do not include same-sex married couples even if the marriage was performed in a state...
(60.7% of all households); the average family size was 3.06.
The population was spread out with 15,304 people (20.7%) under the age of 18, 5,489 people (7.4%) aged 18 to 24, 21,000 people (28.5%) aged 25 to 44, 22,044 people (29.9%) aged 45 to 64, and 9,975 people (13.5%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.7 years. For every 100 females there were 91.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.5 males.
There were 32,351 housing units at an average density of 1,409.0 per square mile (544.0/km²), of which 14,488 (48.1%) were owner-occupied, and 15,635 (51.9%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.1%; the rental vacancy rate was 5.7%. 37,042 people (50.2% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 35,274 people (47.8%) lived in rental housing units.
2000
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 72,259 people, 30,226 households, and 17,863 families residing in the city. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 2,583.3/km² (6,693.4/mi²). There were 31,644 housing units at an average density of 1,131.3/km² (2,931.2/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 56.95% White
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, 6.21% Black
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
or African American
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, 0.67% Native American
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, 26.15% Asian
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, 0.60% Pacific Islander
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, 3.29% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 6.13% from two or more races. 9.31% of the population were Hispanic
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
or Latino
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
of any race.
There were 30,226 households out of which 27.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.7% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 11.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.9% were non-families. 32.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 3.04.
In the city the population was spread out with 21.5% under the age of 18, 7.0% from 18 to 24, 33.6% from 25 to 44, 24.6% from 45 to 64, and 13.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 92.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.5 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $56,285, and the median income for a family was $68,625. Males had a median income of $49,174 versus $40,165 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the city was $30,982. About 6.0% of families and 8.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.4% of those under age 18 and 6.1% of those age 65 or over.
There is a large Filipino
Filipino American
Filipino Americans are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipino Americans, often shortened to "Fil-Ams", or "Pinoy",Filipinos in what is now the United States were first documented in the 16th century, with small settlements beginning in the 18th century...
community; and also major Portuguese
Portuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
community, from which Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
' mother came and where Lyndsy Fonseca
Lyndsy Fonseca
Lyndsy Marie Fonseca is an American actress known for playing Colleen Carlton on the CBS daytime soap opera The Young and The Restless, Dylan Mayfair on the ABC series Desperate Housewives, and Ted Mosby's daughter on How I Met Your Mother. She also played Katie Deauxma in the 2010 superhero film...
was raised for some time. Alameda also has a historic Japanese American
Japanese American
are American people of Japanese heritage. Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades have become the sixth largest group at roughly 1,204,205, including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity...
community and had a small Japanese business district on a portion of Park Street prior World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, when the city's Japanese population was interned. A Japanese Buddhist church is one of the few remaining buildings left of Alameda's pre-war Japanese American community.
Transportation
Vehicle access to Alameda Island is via three bridges from Oakland (Park StreetPark Street Bridge
The Park Street Bridge is a small drawbridge that crosses the Oakland Estuary in the San Francisco Bay Area. It links the cities of Oakland and Alameda. Because the Port of Oakland no longer uses its facilities south of Jack London Square, the drawbridge is rarely opened...
, Fruitvale Avenue
Fruitvale Bridge
The Fruitvale Bridge is a small drawbridge that crosses the Oakland Estuary. It links the cities of Oakland and Alameda.-Rail Bridge:Immediately adjacent to the Miller-Sweeney road bridge is an out-of service rail bridge...
, and High Street Bridges), as well as the two one-way Posey and Webster Street Tubes
Posey and Webster Street Tubes
Methods Used in the Construction of TwelvePre-cast Concrete Segments for the Alameda County, California, EstuarySubway, in American Society of Civil Engineers, Proceedings, 53 :2675-2692 S. W...
leading into Oakland's Chinatown. Connections from Alameda to Bay Farm Island is provided via the Bay Farm Island Bridge for vehicular traffic as well as the Bay Farm Island Bicycle Bridge (the only pedestrian/bicycle-only drawbridge in the United States),. California State Route 61
California State Route 61
State Route 61 is a California, United States, highway which runs through Alameda and along the Oakland International Airport. The western terminus is with State Route 260 at Webster Street in Alameda, and it runs along east Central Avenue and Encinal Avenue until reaching Broadway...
runs down city streets from the Posey and Webster Street Tubes, across the Bay Farm Island Bridge, and south to the Oakland Airport.
Public transportation includes the AC Transit
AC Transit
AC Transit is an Oakland-based regional public transit agency serving the western half of Alameda County and parts of western Contra Costa County in the western, Bay-side area of the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area...
buses (which include express buses to San Francisco) and two ferry services — the Alameda/Oakland Ferry and the Alameda Harbor Bay Ferry
Alameda Harbor Bay Ferry
Alameda Harbor Bay Ferry is a public transportation service that uses a ferry and operates in Alameda, California and San Francisco, California. Providing weekday rush-hour service, the ferry runs from Harbor Bay Ferry Terminal in Alameda's Bay Farm Island area to the Ferry Building in San...
. Both ferry services may soon be transferred to the Water Transit Authority
San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority
The San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority , is a government entity created by the California state legislature in 2007 by Senate Bill 976. The organization was formerly the San Francisco Bay Water Transit Authority , which the legislature established in 1999...
. The island is also close to the BART train service, with the closest stations being Lake Merritt
Lake Merritt (BART station)
The Lake Merritt Bay Area Rapid Transit station is located in Downtown Oakland on Oak Street near Lake Merritt, Chinatown, Laney College and the Oakland Museum. This station consists of an underground island platform....
, near the exit to the Posey Tube, and Fruitvale
Fruitvale (BART station)
Fruitvale is a Bay Area Rapid Transit station located in the Fruitvale District of Oakland. The station consists of two elevated side platforms with the concourse mezzanine at ground level. The redevelopment of the immediate station area from a parking lot to a mixed-use "transit village" has...
, near the Fruitvale Bridge.
Even though the island is just minutes off Interstate 880
Interstate 880
Interstate 880 is an Interstate Highway in the San Francisco Bay Area connecting San Jose and Oakland, running parallel to the southeastern shore of San Francisco Bay...
in Oakland, the speed limit for the city is 25 mph (40 km/h) on almost every road. Many unaware drivers fail to slow down after exiting the highway. Groups like Pedestrian Friendly Alameda and BikeAlameda advocate stronger enforcement of speeding laws.
Alameda has also featured prominently on automotive blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
Jalopnik
Jalopnik
Jalopnik is a Weblog covering cars, car culture, and the automotive industry. Owned and operated by Gawker Media since 2004, Jalopnik emphasizes irreverent humor....
, with their "Down on The Street" segment consisting of cars found on the streets of Alameda. Jalopnik has nicknamed it "The Island That Rust Forgot".
Attractions
Windsurfing
Windsurfing or sailboarding is a surface water sport that combines elements of surfing and sailing. It consists of a board usually two to four metres long, powered by the orthogonal effect of the wind on a sail. The rig is connected to the board by a free-rotating universal joint and comprises a...
and kite surfers can often be seen along Crown Memorial State Beach and Shoreline Drive. From the beach there are also views of the San Francisco skyline and the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge.
One of the recent attractions is the aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
USS Hornet
USS Hornet (CV-12)
USS Hornet is a United States Navy aircraft carrier of the Essex class. Construction started in August 1942; she was originally named , but was renamed in honor of the , which was lost in October 1942, becoming the eighth ship to bear the name.Hornet was commissioned in November 1943, and after...
, a museum ship
Museum ship
A museum ship, or sometimes memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public, for educational or memorial purposes...
now moored at the former Naval Air Station as the USS Hornet Museum
USS Hornet Museum
The USS Hornet Museum is a museum ship in Alameda, California, USA.It is composed of the aircraft carrier, exhibits from the NASA Apollo moon exploration missions, and several retired aircraft from the Second World War and the transonic and early supersonic jet propulsion period...
. This ship was originally named the USS Kearsarge, but was renamed in honor of the previous Hornet CV-8 (famous for the Doolittle raid
Doolittle Raid
The Doolittle Raid, on 18 April 1942, was the first air raid by the United States to strike the Japanese Home Islands during World War II. By demonstrating that Japan itself was vulnerable to American air attack, it provided a vital morale boost and opportunity for U.S. retaliation after the...
), which was lost in October 1942.
Alameda is known for its Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
houses; 9% of all single-family houses (1500) in Alameda are Victorian, and many more have been divided into two to four-unit dwellings. It is said that Alameda has more pre-1906 earthquake era homes than any other city in the Bay Area.
Alameda is home to the official offices and training facility of the Oakland Raiders
Oakland Raiders
The Oakland Raiders are a professional American football team based in Oakland, California. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
team, which is located on Bay Farm Island. The facility is also home to The Raider Image, the merchandise arm of the franchise, which the public can visit.
At the turn of the 19th century, the city of Alameda took a large chunk of Charles Froling's land away to build a street. Froling had planned to build his dream house on the plot of land he received through inheritance. To spite the city and an unsympathetic neighbor, Froling built a house 10 feet (3 m) wide, 54 feet (16.5 m) long and 20 feet (6.1 m) high on the tiny strip of land left to him. The Froling spite house
Spite house
A spite house is a building constructed or modified to irritate neighbors or other parties with land stakes. Spite houses often serve as obstructions, blocking out light or access to neighboring buildings, or as flamboyant symbols of defiance...
is still standing and occupied.
Alameda is also known for its Fourth of July parade, which is advertised as the second oldest and second longest Fourth of July parade in the United States. It features homemade floats, classic cars, motorized living room furniture, fire-breathing dragons, marching bands, and large crowds. The parade route is about 3 miles (5 km) long.
Economic development
The Naval Air Station AlamedaNaval Air Station Alameda
Naval Air Station Alameda was a United States Navy Naval Air Station in Alameda, California, on San Francisco Bay.NAS Alameda had two runways: 07-25 and 13-31...
(NAS) was decommissioned in 1997, and now is in process of being turned over to the City of Alameda for civilian development. The area of the former NAS is now known as Alameda Point. Portions of this area are now in commercial use, but the transfer process has been slowed down by disputes between the Navy and the city regarding payment for environmental cleanup of the land. In late July 2006, the City of Alameda announced a deal with the Navy that would turn the land over to the city for $108M. The preliminary development concept calls for 1700 housing units to be developed at Alameda Point.
In September 2006, the developer, Alameda Point Community Partners, withdrew from development of Alameda Point. In May 2007, the City selected the SunCal Companies as the Master Developer of Alameda Point and, in July 2007, the parties were negotiating terms for a development agreement. In August 2010, the Alameda City Council voted unanimously to deny SunCal's development proposal for Alameda Point. Many reasons were cited in the staff report including a developer-initiated ballot measure that was defeated in February 2010 by a margin of 85%
After two previous failures, voters in the city passed a ballot measure in 2000 authorizing a bond measure for construction of a new library to replace the city's Carnegie library
Carnegie library
A Carnegie library is a library built with money donated by Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. 2,509 Carnegie libraries were built between 1883 and 1929, including some belonging to public and university library systems...
, damaged during the Loma Prieta earthquake
Loma Prieta earthquake
The Loma Prieta earthquake, also known as the Quake of '89 and the World Series Earthquake, was a major earthquake that struck the San Francisco Bay Area of California on October 17, 1989, at 5:04 p.m. local time...
. The city also received state funds for the new library and opened the doors to the new facility in November 2006.
Celera, UTStarcom
UTStarcom
UTStarcom is a Fortune 1000 company that specializes in IP-based networking products for telecommunications companies and service providers. Its core markets are multimedia communications and broadband, including IP and entertainment , next generation broadband networks and optical network solutions...
and BioTime are among the companies based in Alameda.
America's Cup
The 33rd America's CupAmerica's Cup
The America’s Cup is a trophy awarded to the winner of the America's Cup match races between two yachts. One yacht, known as the defender, represents the yacht club that currently holds the America's Cup and the second yacht, known as the challenger, represents the yacht club that is challenging...
Race was won by Golden Gate Yacht Club racing team BMW Oracle, founded by Larry Ellison
Larry Ellison
Lawrence Joseph "Larry" Ellison is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Oracle Corporation, one of the world's leading enterprise software companies. As of 2011, he is the third wealthiest American citizen, with an estimated worth of $33 billion.- Early life :Larry Ellison was born in the...
. One possible use of the air station would be an alternate or partnered site with San Francisco for 34th America's Cup
34th America's Cup
The 34th America's Cup will be sailed in 2013 in San Francisco, California with 72-foot wing-sail catamarans. Golden Gate Yacht Club is the defender of the America's Cup, after their racing team, BMW Oracle Racing defeated the Swiss Alinghi team of Société Nautique de Genève in the 2010 America's...
.
Within 2 weeks of the Golden Gate Yacht Club winning the America's Cup, Alameda city council with local support sent a unanimous letter of support to hold AC 34 in San Francisco Bay Area.
Wine and spirits production
Rosenblum Cellars Winery and St. George Spirits are located at Alameda Point. In 1978, Alameda veterinarian Dr. Kent Rosenblum and his wife Kathy founded Rosenblum Cellars. In 2008, the company was purchased by DiageoDiageo
Diageo plc is a global alcoholic beverages company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest producer of spirits and a major producer of beer and wine....
Estates.
In December, 2007, St. George Absinthe Verte, produced by St. George Spirits became the first brand of American-made absinthe
Absinthe
Absinthe is historically described as a distilled, highly alcoholic beverage. It is an anise-flavoured spirit derived from herbs, including the flowers and leaves of the herb Artemisia absinthium, commonly referred to as "grande wormwood", together with green anise and sweet fennel...
to be legally produced in the United States since a ban was enacted in 1912.
Theaters
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
city landmark Alameda Theatre. The theater restoration project included a multiplex to make the project financially feasible and a parking structure to accommodate patrons of the theater and avoid excessive impact on parking in the Park Street area. Following some setbacks during construction the public opening was May 21, 2008, with a gala event.
The South Shore Mall Twin Cinema opened in 1969 and served as a prominent theater on the island until its closure in 1998. In 2002, the building was demolished and its former site is now a parking lot.
Alameda also had one other operating movie theater, Central Cinema. The theater opened in December 2004 and closed in June 2008. It was a 42-seat house at 842 Central Avenue (near the western end of Webster Street). The building had previously been both a community center and a mortuary, and the operator of the movie theater was able to use a quirk of the site zoning to legally operate a movie theater. The theatre had only one screen, but featured couches and armchairs for seating.
Top employers
According to the City's 2009 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:| # | Employer | # of Employees |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States Coast Guard United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency... |
2,200 |
| 2 | Alameda Unified School District Alameda Unified School District The Alameda Unified School District serves the city of Alameda, California USA.The school district is a "unified" district , meaning that it includes K-8 schools and high schools in the same jurisdiction. As with all California school districts, it is not a part of the city government of Alameda... |
1,068 |
| 3 | Abbott Diabetes Care Abbott Laboratories Abbott Laboratories is an American-based global, diversified pharmaceuticals and health care products company. It has 90,000 employees and operates in over 130 countries. The company headquarters are in Abbott Park, North Chicago, Illinois. The company was founded by Chicago physician, Dr.... |
900 |
| 4 | Alameda Hospital Alameda Hospital Alameda Hospital is a hospital in Alameda, California, United States.... |
692 |
| 5 | City of Alameda | 400 |
| 6 | Wind River Systems Wind River Systems Wind River Systems, Inc. is a company providing embedded systems, development tools for embedded systems, middleware, and other types of software. The company was founded in Berkeley, California in 1981 by Jerry Fiddler and David Wilner. On June 4, 2009, Wind River announced that Intel had bought... |
620 |
| 7 | Bay Ship & Yacht | 370 |
| 8 | College of Alameda College of Alameda College of Alameda is a two-year community college located in Alameda, California.The college is part of the Peralta Community College District and was opened in 1968. The college has been located at its campus at Atlantic Avenue and Webster Street since 1970... |
358 |
| 9 | Safeway Safeway Inc. Safeway Inc. , a Fortune 500 company, is North America's second largest supermarket chain after The Kroger Co., with, as of December 2010, 1,694 stores located throughout the western and central United States and western Canada. It also operates some stores in the Mid-Atlantic region of the Eastern... |
345 |
| 10 | Celera | 330 |
Local newspapers and magazines
Alameda's first newspaper, the Encinal, appeared in the early 1850s and the paper's editor was instrumental in the movement to incorporate the city. Following the Encinal, several other papers appeared along geographic lines, and the Daily Argus eventually rose to prominence. A young Alameda native, Joseph R. KnowlandJoseph R. Knowland
Joseph Russell Knowland was an American politician and newspaper publisher. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from California and was owner, editor and publisher of the Oakland Tribune. He was the father of United States Senator William F...
, wrote political and historical articles for the Alameda papers. Later, Knowland owned the powerful Oakland Tribune. Around 1900, the Daily Argus began to fade in importance and east and west papers The Times and The Star combined to take the leading role as the Alameda Times-Star in the 1930s. The Times-Star was sold to the Alameda Newspaper Group in the 1970s.
In 1997, the Hills Newspaper chain was bought by Knight Ridder
Knight Ridder
Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. Until it was bought by The McClatchy Company on June 27, 2006, it was the second-largest newspaper publisher in the United States, with 32 daily newspapers sold.- History :The corporate ancestors of...
, at the time, the second-largest newspaper chain in the U.S. Following the buyout, former Hills Newspapers employees recognized the lack of a local community voice in Alameda, and again formed a new locally-based newspaper, the Alameda Sun, in 2001. In 2006, Knight Ridder announced its impending sale to McClatchy Corp.
The McClatchy Company
The McClatchy Company is a publicly traded American publishing company based in Sacramento, California. It operates 30 daily newspapers in 15 states and has an average weekday circulation of 2.2 million and Sunday circulation of 2.8 million...
, a Sacramento-based publishing firm. McClatchy Corp. has put the Contra Costa Times, which under the Knight Ridder reorganization included all five of the original Hills Newspapers, up for sale. The current owners of the Alameda Times-Star, MediaNews, Inc.
MediaNews Group
MediaNews Group, based in Denver, Colorado, is one of the largest newspaper companies in the United States. It is privately owned and operates 56 daily newspapers in 12 states, with combined daily and Sunday circulation of approximately 2.4 million and 2.7 million, respectively...
, based in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, have announced a strong interest in buying both the Contra Costa Times chain and the San Jose Mercury News
San Jose Mercury News
The San Jose Mercury News is a daily newspaper in San Jose, California. On its web site, however, it calls itself Silicon Valley Mercury News. The paper is owned by MediaNews Group...
, consolidating the daily newspaper market of the East Bay, effectively under one owner.
The Alameda community is currently served by two weekly newspapers, the Alameda Journal, owned by the MediaNews Group, and the Alameda Sun.
Alameda Municipal Power
Unlike surrounding communities, Alameda has a municipal power service, Alameda Municipal Power (AMP), that delivers services directly to consumers. AMP sold the majority of its telecommunications business to ComcastComcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
in 2008 but continues to provide telecommunication service at Alameda Point.
During the California electricity crisis
California electricity crisis
The California electricity crisis, also known as the Western U.S. Energy Crisis of 2000 and 2001 was a situation in which California had a shortage of electricity caused by market manipulations and illegal shutdowns of pipelines by Texas energy consortiums...
of 2000 and 2001, Alameda Municipal Power did not raise electricity rates, while residents in most of the state endured significant price increases.
Arts and culture
The Alameda Arts CouncilAlameda Arts Council
The Alameda Arts Council is the Alameda, California arts council serving the arts in the Alameda area. This council is under the Alameda County art council Alameda County Arts Commission and the state arts council the California Arts Council....
(AAC) serves as the local Alameda City arts council
Arts council
An arts council is a government or private, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing events at home and abroad...
.
The Alameda Museum, on Alameda Avenue near Park Street, features displays on the history of Alameda. There is also an active monthly lecture series on topics of local interest.
Alameda Women Artists holds yearly shows at the Alameda Museum and has many active artists exhibiting around the Island City.
Rhythmix Cultural Works, founded by Janet Koike, is located on Blanding Avenue. It is a combination live/work studio, gallery, and performance space and has hosted events from musical and theatrical productions to religious services and birthday parties. According to Rhythmix' web site, "Rhythmix Cultural Works (RCW) opened its doors (on June 2), 2007. The 501(c) (3) was established in 1999 as the umbrella for RhythMix world music ensemble and RCW cultural exchange programs. From 1999-2002, RCW coordinated six successful cultural exchange trips to Cuba and Japan. During this same period, the RhythMix ensemble (now Maze Daiko) reached thousands of children through San Francisco Symphony Adventures in Music, Young Audiences and Bread & Roses programs. Inspired by these experiences, Artistic Director-Janet Koike, spent five years renovating an industrial space in Alameda to provide a home for RCW..."
The Frank Bette Center for the Arts defines its mission as "... a place for meetings, readings, showings, and other creative doings," based on the late artist/poet Frank Bette's intention to have his home become an art center after his death. The FBCA offers classes, poetry reading events, and a rotating "Endless Call for Art" that encourages creatives of many disciplines to display and market their work. Events and classes include figure drawing, watercolor, beading, photography, Artist Trading Card swaps, poetry for teens, poetry readings and slams, and more. The FBCA is home to an annual "Plein Air Paint-Out" hosting plein-air artists from all over the world, who are invited to paint outdoors in Alameda's amazing range of light and temperate climate. The FBCA is also home to the West Coast's only regularly scheduled Body Art Jam. Professional and amateur body artists - including body painters and henna artists - from all over the San Francisco Bay Area come to practice and share knowledge at these jams, held the 2nd Wednesday monthly.
The Alameda Art Association has about 80 members as of January 2011, and has a gallery space at South Shore Center mall. The Association began in 1944.
Bridgehead Studios, located on Blanding Avenue, hosts the monthly Estuary Art Attack gallery crawl on the second Friday of every month. Helmed by photographer Chuck diGuida, Bridghead Studios is housed in a repurposed propellor factory. The facility is divided into small and large studio spaces used by photographers, artists, fashion designers, and at one time, a shark-diving expedition company.
The annual benefit, Circus for Arts in the Schools, is held at Kofman Auditorium on Central Avenue. The brain child of acclaimed clown Jeff Raz, this circus is a professional-level display of humor, silliness, skilled movement, and acrobatics that has delighted audiences since its first performance in April 2004. The Circus has raised thousands of dollars to bring teaching artists into classrooms in the Alameda Unified School District.
Pacific Pinball Museum is a nonprofit center on Webster Street, dedicated to teaching about the art, science, and joy of pinball. www.pacificpinball.org
Alameda has been home to many movie sets. Some of the movies filmed on the island have included Bicentennial Man, The Net, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix: Revolutions, Bee Season
Bee Season
Bee Season is a 2000 novel by Myla Goldberg. It follows a young girl as she attempts to win the national spelling bee, and the repercussions of her success on the other members of her family.-Plot summary:...
, the original 1968 Your, Mine and Ours and the movie musical Rent
Rent (film)
Rent is a 2005 American musical drama film directed by Chris Columbus. It is an adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name, in turn based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème. The film depicts the lives of several Bohemians and their struggles with sexuality, cross-dressing, drugs, life...
. Parts of Alameda High School were animated for the Animatrix episode "Kid's Story". A massive hangar at the former Naval Air Station Alameda was used to film special scenes requiring computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
for movies such as Bicentennial Man, Flubber, What Dreams May Come
What Dreams May Come (film)
What Dreams May Come is a 1998 American supernatural drama film, starring Robin Williams, Cuba Gooding, Jr., and Annabella Sciorra. The film is based on the 1978 novel of the same name by Richard Matheson, and was directed by Vincent Ward. The title is taken from a line in Hamlet's To be, or not to...
, Mission: Impossible II
Mission: Impossible II
Mission: Impossible II is a 2000 action film directed by John Woo, and starring Tom Cruise, who also served as the film's producer...
and many scenes from the Matrix
The Matrix
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction-action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving...
trilogy, including the signature bullet time
Bullet time
Bullet time is a special and visual effect that refers to a digitally enhanced simulation of variable-speed photography used in films, broadcast advertisements, and video games...
scene. The open space of the decommissioned naval base often hosts MythBusters
MythBusters
MythBusters is a science entertainment TV program created and produced by Beyond Television Productions for the Discovery Channel. The series is screened by numerous international broadcasters, including Discovery Channel Australia, Discovery Channel Latin America, Discovery Channel Canada, Quest...
more dangerous experiments.
Photo-realist Robert Bechtle
Robert Bechtle
Robert Bechtle is an American painter, born in San Francisco, California, on May 14, 1932. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts from the California College of Arts and Crafts, now the California College of the Arts, in Oakland, California.Except for his military service...
has painted numerous Alameda subjects, including "Alameda Gran Torino," which was acquired by SFMOMA in 1974 and remains one of Bechtle's most famous works.
Alameda was briefly the home of Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
. Benjamin Reed's novel The Bow Tie Gang takes place almost entirely in Alameda circa 1961.
Alameda Civic Light Opera
The Alameda Civic Light Opera, which performed BroadwayBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
-style musical productions was founded in 1996. It closed in 2010.
The Altarena Playhouse
The Altarena Playhouse, which performs comedies, dramas and musicals, was founded in 1938 and is the longest continuously operating community theatre in the San Francisco Bay Area.Dance Arts Project
Dance Arts Project was founded by noted instructor and choreographer Michaela Lynch and has offered classes and performance opportunities for Alameda's children for 20 years. Still under the direction of Ms. Lynch, Dance Arts Project has become a fixture in the community and the premier locality for performance arts training in Alameda. In 1992, Miss Michaela Lynch debuted Dance Arts Project at Harbor Bay Club in Alameda. In that first year, the school had one teacher and an enrollment of 50 dancers. With those 50 students, in July 1993, Dance Arts Project had its grand opening on Chestnut Street, where it still operates today.Dance Arts Project has always offered ballet, children’s creative movement and modern dance. Recently, the school added classes in ballroom dance.
In 2002, Dance Arts Project expanded its facility to include a second studio, Deux.
Today, Dance Arts Project has six teachers working with hundreds of dancers every day, inspiring and encouraging self-esteem, creativity and the love of dance.
Sister cities
Since 2004, Alameda participates in a sister city agreement with WuxiWuxi
Wuxi is an old city in Jiangsu province, People's Republic of China. Split in half by Lake Tai, Wuxi borders Changzhou to the west and Suzhou to the east. The northern half looks across to Taizhou across the Yangtze River, while the southern half also borders the province of Zhejiang to the south...
, China. Also, the city participates in a sister city with Arita
Arita, Saga
is a town located in Nishimatsuura District, Saga, Japan. It is known for producing Arita porcelain, one of the traditional handicrafts of Japan. It also holds the largest ceramic fair in Western Japan, the Arita Ceramic Fair...
, Japan.
Another sister city is Lidingö
Lidingö
Lidingö is an island in the inner Stockholm archipelago, located north east of central Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. It is also the seat of Lidingö Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 44,000 inhabitants in 2011....
, Sweden. The initiative came from Alameda in 1959 and was part of President Eisenhower's
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
people-to-people-movement
People to People International
People to People International was established on September 11, 1956, by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, as part of the U.S. Information Agency...
, whose purpose was to develop better understanding among people from different countries after World War II. Both Alameda and Lidingö are islands with a bridge connecting them to a big city.
Festivals on Webster Street
Webster Street in Alameda has long been the host of many arts, crafts and holiday festivals. During these festivals the city of Alameda will block of a portion of Webster St. for the entertainment of festival goers. Festivals such as the Peanut Butter Jam Festival brings a lot of local and outside visitors to Alameda to enjoy the fun, food and games.Festivals on Park Street
Spring Fling is in April.Park street Art & Wine fair that is the end of every July.
Notable residents
- Albert H. DeWitt, (Deceased) Vice Mayor of Alameda, Albert H DeWitt Community Center named after Al.First African American City Council member and Vice Mayor of Alameda, Was long time member of Alameda chapter of NAACP.
- Alameda native congressman Joseph R. KnowlandJoseph R. KnowlandJoseph Russell Knowland was an American politician and newspaper publisher. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from California and was owner, editor and publisher of the Oakland Tribune. He was the father of United States Senator William F...
was editor and publisher of the Oakland Tribune. - US Senator William Fife Knowland was Student Body President at Alameda High.
- Baseball Hall of FamerNational Baseball Hall of Fame and MuseumThe National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 25 Main Street in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests serving as the central point for the study of the history of baseball in the United States and beyond, the display of...
Willie StargellWillie StargellWilver Dornell "Willie" Stargell , nicknamed "Pops" in the later years of his career, was a Major League Baseball left fielder and first baseman. He played his entire 21-year baseball career with the Pittsburgh Pirates...
, MLBMajor League BaseballMajor League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
BaseballBaseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
player Tommy HarperTommy HarperTommy Harper is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder and third baseman. He played with the Cincinnati Reds , Cleveland Indians , Seattle Pilots , Milwaukee Brewers , Boston Red Sox , California Angels , Oakland Athletics , and the Baltimore Orioles .-High School...
, MLB Baseball player Curtell Howard Motton, 2003 National LeagueNational LeagueThe National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
Rookie of the YearMLB Rookie of the Year AwardIn Major League Baseball, the Rookie of the Year Award is annually given to one player from each league as voted on by the Baseball Writers Association of America . The award was established in 1940 by the Chicago chapter of the BBWAA, which selected an annual winner from 1940 through 1946...
Dontrelle WillisDontrelle WillisDontrelle Wayne Willis , nicknamed "The D-Train", is an American professional baseball pitcher. Willis is notable for his success during his first few years in the league and for his unconventional pitching style, which includes a high leg kick and exaggerated twisting away from the batter...
, 2007 National LeagueNational LeagueThe National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
Most Valuable PlayerMost Valuable PlayerIn sports, a Most Valuable Player award is an honor typically bestowed upon the best performing player or players on a specific team, in an entire league, or for a particular contest or series of contests...
Jimmy RollinsJimmy RollinsJames Calvin "Jimmy" Rollins , nicknamed "J-Roll", is an All-Star and former MVP shortstop, who most recently played for the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball's National League....
, NBANational Basketball AssociationThe National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
Basketball player J.R. Rider, and NFL footballAmerican footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
players Melvin Carver and Junior TautalatasiJunior TautalatasiTaivale Tautalatasi, Jr. is a former American football running back in the National Football League for the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys...
all attended Encinal High SchoolEncinal High SchoolEncinal High School is a public coeducational high school serving grades 9-12. It is located in Alameda, California and is part of the Alameda Unified School District.-Threatened closure:...
. - NBA Star Jason KiddJason KiddJason Frederick Kidd is an American professional basketball point guard who plays for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association. Raised in Oakland, California, Kidd played college basketball at the University of California, Berkeley and was drafted second overall by the Dallas...
and MLB Pitcher Joe Nelson attended St. Joseph Notre Dame High SchoolSt. Joseph Notre Dame High SchoolSt. Joseph Notre Dame High School in Alameda, California is a coeducational Roman Catholic high school. It is one of the few Catholic high schools in the world to possess an on-campus minor basilica, the Basilica of St. Joseph, Alameda. It is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and...
in Alameda. - MLBMajor League BaseballMajor League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
players Ray French (baseball)Ray French (baseball)Raymond Edward French , is a former professional baseball player who played shortstop from 1920-1924.He was later a manager in Minor League Baseball from 1939–1941 and an umpire from 1946-1950....
, "Rowdy Richard" Bartell, Johnny VergezJohnny VergezJean Louis Vergez was a Major League Baseball third baseman. He played all or part of six seasons in the majors, from until , for the New York Giants, Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals. Following his major league career, he continued to play in the Pacific Coast League until .Vergez...
, Andy CareyAndy CareyAndrew Arthur Carey is a former major league third baseman for the New York Yankees , and three other major league teams from 1960 to 1962...
, Billy Serena, Chris SpeierChris SpeierChristopher Edward Speier is a former Major League Baseball player and current bench coach for the Cincinnati Reds. He was drafted second overall in the January secondary 1970 Major League Baseball Draft.-Playing career:...
, and Eric Schullstrum all attended Alameda High SchoolAlameda High SchoolAlameda High School is a public coeducational high school serving grades 9-12. It is located in Alameda, California and is part of the Alameda Unified School District.- History :...
. - One of Alameda's most famous natives was General James DoolittleJimmy DoolittleGeneral James Harold "Jimmy" Doolittle, USAF was an American aviation pioneer. Doolittle served as a brigadier general, major general and lieutenant general in the United States Army Air Forces during the Second World War...
, who won the Medal of Honor for his bombing of Japan during WWII. - Robert L. LippertRobert L. LippertRobert L. Lippert was a prolific film producer and cinema owner who eventually owned a chain of 118 theatres -Biography:...
theatre chain owner and film producer was an Alameda native. - Many people from naval families, including celebrities such as Ann CurryAnn CurryAnn Curry is an American television news journalist and co-anchor on NBC's morning television program Today. She is the former news anchor on Today, a role she began in March 1997, and was the host of Dateline NBC from 2005-2011.Curry is a Board Member at the IWMF .-Biography:Curry was born in...
, Phyllis DillerPhyllis DillerPhyllis Diller is an American actress and comedian. She created a stage persona of a wild-haired, eccentrically dressed housewife who makes jokes about a husband named "Fang" while pretending to smoke from a long cigarette holder...
, Tom HanksTom HanksThomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
, and Jim MorrisonJim MorrisonJames Douglas "Jim" Morrison was an American musician, singer, and poet, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band The Doors...
, have lived in Alameda. - Don PerataDon PerataDon Richard Perata is a California Democratic politician, who was President pro tempore of the California State Senate from 2004 to 2008. He came in second place in the November 2010 ballot for Mayor of Oakland...
, the former President Pro Tempore of the California State Senate, lives in Alameda and once taught at Saint Joseph Notre Dame High, Encinal High and Alameda High, among other Alameda County schools. - Charles Lee TildenCharles Lee TildenCharles Lee Tilden was an attorney and businessman in the San Francisco Bay Area who served on the first Board of Directors of the East Bay Regional Park District...
, for whom Tilden Regional ParkTilden Regional ParkTilden Regional Park, also known as "Tilden" , is a regional park in the East Bay, part of the San Francisco Bay Area in California. It is situated between the Berkeley Hills and San Pablo Ridge....
is named, was a longtime resident of Alameda. Tilden Way at the southeast end of the city is named for him. - OperaOperaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic mezzo-sopranoMezzo-sopranoA mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
Frederica Von StadeFrederica von StadeFrederica von Stade is an American mezzo-soprano. Born in Somerville, New Jersey, she acquired the nickname "Flicka" in her childhood. Von Stade attended the Mannes College of Music in New York City. She made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera in 1970 and in 1971 appeared as Cherubino in The...
still gives performances and supports the arts in local schools, but no longer lives in Alameda. - Katharine GrahamKatharine GrahamKatharine Meyer Graham was an American publisher. She led her family's newspaper, The Washington Post, for more than two decades, overseeing its most famous period, the Watergate coverage that eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon...
, the late publisher of the Washington Post, lived in Alameda as a child, according to Personal History, her autobiography. - Benjamin JealousBenjamin JealousBenjamin Todd Jealous is the current president and chief executive officer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People . He is the youngest ever national leader of the organization.-Early life and education:...
, current President of the NAACP, lived in Alameda. - George P. Miller, congressman from 1945 to 1973.
- Sharon TateSharon TateSharon Marie Tate was an American actress. During the 1960s she played small television roles before appearing in several films. After receiving positive reviews for her comedic performances, she was hailed as one of Hollywood's promising newcomers and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for...
, actress, resident in the mid-1950s. - Debbi FieldsDebbi FieldsDebbi Fields is the founder and current spokesperson of Mrs. Fields Bakeries. Additionally, she has written several cookbooks. She currently lives in Memphis, Tennessee, with her husband, former Holiday Inn and Harrah's CEO, Michael Rose...
, founder Mrs. Fields Cookies, attended Alameda High School and was a cheerleader - Shirley Temple Black, actress and former U.S. ambassador, resident
- Steve BryeSteve BryeStephen Robert Brye is a former outfielder in Major League Baseball who played for the Minnesota Twins, Milwaukee Brewers and Pittsburgh Pirates.-Career:...
, MLB player for the Minnesota TwinsMinnesota TwinsThe Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...
, Milwaukee BrewersMilwaukee BrewersThe Milwaukee Brewers are a professional baseball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, currently playing in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
, and the Pittsburgh PiratesPittsburgh PiratesThe Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...
. - Jim MorrisonJim MorrisonJames Douglas "Jim" Morrison was an American musician, singer, and poet, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band The Doors...
, Lead singer of the Doors, attended Alameda High School in 1958 - Simon RexSimon RexSimon Rex is an American actor, comedian, television host and recording artist. He is known for starring as Jeff Campbell in What I Like About You, during the first season.-Early life:...
, actor and former MTV VJ attended Alameda High School. - John BakerJohn Baker (baseball)John David Baker is an American professional baseball catcher for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball.-Personal:...
, MLB catcher for the Florida MarlinsFlorida MarlinsThe Miami Marlins are a professional baseball team based in Miami, Florida, United States. Established in 1993 as an expansion franchise called the Florida Marlins, the Marlins are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Marlins played their home games at...
. - Harold CampingHarold CampingHarold Egbert Camping is an American Christian radio broadcaster. He served as president of Family Radio, a California-based radio station group that broadcasts to more than 150 markets in the United States, since 1958. In 2011 he retired from active broadcasting following a stroke, but still...
television and radio personality, president and general manager of Family Stations, Inc., and Doomsday Theorist. - Hugo Wilhelm Arthur NahlHugo Wilhelm Arthur NahlArthur Nahl was a German-born artist, daguerreotyper, engraver, portraitist, and landscape painter. Nahl was a painter known for his American Old West paintings of California...
, designer of the Seal of CaliforniaSeal of CaliforniaThe Great Seal of the State of California was adopted at the California state Constitutional Convention of 1849 and has undergone minor design changes since then, the last being the standardization of the seal in 1937... - Albert GhiorsoAlbert GhiorsoAlbert Ghiorso was an American nuclear scientist and co-discoverer of a record 12 chemical elements on the periodic table. His research career spanned five decades, from the early 1940s to the late 1990s.-Early life:...
, nuclear scientist who was a co-discoverer of 12 chemical elements on the periodic table who holds the Guinness Book of World Records for Most Elements Discovered. - Carl RavazzaCarl RavazzaCarl Ravazza , also known professionally as Carl Ravell, was an American violinist, vocalist and bandleader....
, bandleader, born in Alameda, 1910
Community College
- College of AlamedaCollege of AlamedaCollege of Alameda is a two-year community college located in Alameda, California.The college is part of the Peralta Community College District and was opened in 1968. The college has been located at its campus at Atlantic Avenue and Webster Street since 1970...
, a part of the Peralta CollegesPeralta Community College DistrictThe Peralta Community College District is the community college district serving northern Alameda County, California. The district operates four community colleges: Berkeley City College, Laney College and Merritt College in Oakland, and College of Alameda. From 1968 to 1988, non-contiguous Plumas...
Public schools
Like almost all cities in California, the municipal government and the school administration are two separate entities. The Alameda Unified School DistrictAlameda Unified School District
The Alameda Unified School District serves the city of Alameda, California USA.The school district is a "unified" district , meaning that it includes K-8 schools and high schools in the same jurisdiction. As with all California school districts, it is not a part of the city government of Alameda...
has the same boundaries as the City of Alameda, but has a separately elected board to oversee its operations, and its funding comes directly from the county and state governments without oversight by the city council. The AUSD educates approximately 10,000 students each year, in eight elementary school
Elementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
s, three middle school
Middle school
Middle School and Junior High School are levels of schooling between elementary and high schools. Most school systems use one term or the other, not both. The terms are not interchangeable...
s, two traditional high schools, three alternative learning schools including ACLC
Alameda Community Learning Center
The Alameda Community Learning Center , formerly Arthur Andersen Community Learning Center, is a 6th-12th grade charter school located in Alameda, CA, sharing a campus with Encinal High School...
, one continuation school - Island High, and one high school within the College of Alameda. The Elementary Schools include Bay Farm Elementary, Earhart Elementary, Edison Elementary, Haight Elementary, Lum Elementary, Otis Elementary, Paden Elementary, Ruby Bridges Elementary, and Washington Elementary. The Middle Schools are Lincoln Middle, Wood Middle, and Chipman Middle(Now Academy of Alameda, AOA.) Most high school students attend Encinal High or Alameda High. The district also operates an Adult School and a Child Development Center. Two elementary schools were closed at the end of the 2005–2006 school year. However, a new elementary school, Ruby Bridges
Ruby Bridges
Ruby Nell Bridges Hall moved with her parents to New Orleans, Louisiana at the age of 4. In 1960, when she was 6 years old, her parents responded to a call from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and volunteered her to participate in the integration of the New Orleans...
, opened for the 2006–2007 school year.
Sister cities
WuxiWuxi
Wuxi is an old city in Jiangsu province, People's Republic of China. Split in half by Lake Tai, Wuxi borders Changzhou to the west and Suzhou to the east. The northern half looks across to Taizhou across the Yangtze River, while the southern half also borders the province of Zhejiang to the south...
, China
Republic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
Arita
Arita, Saga
is a town located in Nishimatsuura District, Saga, Japan. It is known for producing Arita porcelain, one of the traditional handicrafts of Japan. It also holds the largest ceramic fair in Western Japan, the Arita Ceramic Fair...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
Lidingö
Lidingö Municipality
Lidingö Municipality is a municipality just east of Stockholm in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Lidingö...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
See also
- Islands of San Francisco Bay
- Bay Farm IslandBay Farm IslandBay Farm Island is a district in the city of Alameda, California, though it is separated from the rest of the city by an estuary. It has a zip code of 94502. The location was originally an island in San Francisco Bay, but due to landfill it has become a peninsula and is now connected to the...
- List of California public officials charged with crimes, Alameda
- Earl King, Ernest Ramsay, and Frank ConnerEarl King, Ernest Ramsay, and Frank ConnerEarl King, Ernest Ramsay, and Frank Conner were three merchant seamen convicted of murdering a ship's officer, George Alberts, aboard a freighter anchored in Alameda, California, on March 22, 1936. Their trial, appeals, and terms in San Quentin Prison were a celebrated cause among trade unionists,...
, convicted of murdering a ship's officer in Alameda, 1936