Civic Center, Oakland, California
Encyclopedia
Oakland's Civic Center neighborhood is a residential and public building district on the east side of Oakland's Central Business District. Its borders are roughly Downtown and Harrison Street to the west, the East Lake Neighborhood and Lakeshore Avenue to the east, the Lakeside Apartments District
and 14th Street to the North, and Chinatown
and 11th Street to the South.
Before the end of WWII, Oakland's City Manager at the time, Charles R. Schwanenberger, began raising hopes for renewed development in the district. Revised plans called for a new main public library, a central fire station, police administration building, and a new jail in the area. The long-delayed widening of the 12th Street dam, at the time a traffic bottleneck for motorists, destroyed the Gardens of the Oakland Auditorium, and dashed hopes for a Civic Center at that site. Following the war, a planning document for "Civic Center and Lake Merritt Improvement" was adopted as a part of the city's Master Plan. This plan called for more than a dozen public buildings to be grouped between Harrison and Fallon and between 14th and 10th Streets in a rectangle, continuing past the Oakland Auditorium and the School Administration Building on East 10th Street in a curve around the south end of Lake Merritt.
A moratorium on new construction was imposed on the entire area pending development of the Civic Center, much to the chagrin of property owners.
Today parts of the plan have been realized on solid land on the west side of the lake, to include government office buildings, a courthouse, post office library, community college campus, and museum grounds.
Building on Jackson Street, two Alameda County government office buildings, the Alameda County Law Library, Oakland's Main Library on 14th Street, The Alameda County Courthouse on Lake Merritt, Oakland's historic Fire Alarm Building on Oak Street, the Oakland Museum on 12th Street, and the Kaiser Convention Center anchoring the east end of the neighborhood near the 12th Street Dam.
A new use for the Kaiser Convention Center was proposed in 2006: a redevelopment designed to nucleate a cultural and educational district with the neighboring Oakland Museum of California
and Laney College
. In July 2006, the Oakland City Council approved a bond measure to expand the city's library system and convert the closed Center into a replacement for the city's aging main library, but Oakland voters defeated the library bond measure in the November 2006 election.
.
Coalition of Advocates for Lake Merritt (CALM), an Oakland group proposed an alternative plan involving a remake of the 12th Street Dam halving the number of traffic lanes from six to three in each direction. The underpasses and overpasses were proposed to be eliminated, with stoplights installed where the road intersects with 12th Street and 1st Avenue. The beach was proposed to be widened, with a gently sloping lawn leading up to the roadway, new walking and bike paths in each direction. Crosswalks with pedestrian-activated stoplights were proposed to replace the tunnels under the freeway.
Lakeside Apartments District, Oakland, California
The Lakeside Apartments District neighborhood, also known as The Gold Coast, and simply as The Lakeside, is one of Oakland, California's historic residential neighborhoods between its Downtown district and Lake Merritt...
and 14th Street to the North, and Chinatown
Chinatown, Oakland, California
The Chinatown neighborhood in Oakland, California, is a pan-Asian neighborhood which reflects Oakland's diverse Asian American community. It is frequently referred to as "Oakland Chinatown" in order to distinguish it from nearby San Francisco's Chinatown...
and 11th Street to the South.
History
Since the era of Mayor Francis Mott and later under Mayor John Davie's administration from 1915–1931, various redevelopment plans have been proposed for the district. Davie was fond of the lake, and took to rowing there daily for recreation. Davie attempted to fulfill his original dream of a "Civic Center" at the south end of Lake Merritt. Dredging material was used to fill, and make usable for the project, nearly a 100 acres (404,686 m²) of swampy land from 1st to 7th Streets and from Fallon Street to 5th Avenue. A new museum building was planned, along with an athletic center, an exhibition hall, an opera house, a symphony hall and other facilities.Before the end of WWII, Oakland's City Manager at the time, Charles R. Schwanenberger, began raising hopes for renewed development in the district. Revised plans called for a new main public library, a central fire station, police administration building, and a new jail in the area. The long-delayed widening of the 12th Street dam, at the time a traffic bottleneck for motorists, destroyed the Gardens of the Oakland Auditorium, and dashed hopes for a Civic Center at that site. Following the war, a planning document for "Civic Center and Lake Merritt Improvement" was adopted as a part of the city's Master Plan. This plan called for more than a dozen public buildings to be grouped between Harrison and Fallon and between 14th and 10th Streets in a rectangle, continuing past the Oakland Auditorium and the School Administration Building on East 10th Street in a curve around the south end of Lake Merritt.
A moratorium on new construction was imposed on the entire area pending development of the Civic Center, much to the chagrin of property owners.
Today parts of the plan have been realized on solid land on the west side of the lake, to include government office buildings, a courthouse, post office library, community college campus, and museum grounds.
Residences
The district features the historic Hotel Oakland, now a senior residence, at its west end, and the 1920s Peralta Apartments on Jackson Street. The district also features 2–4 story mixed-use buildings at its southwest corner with apartments above ground-floor retail spaces.Public Buildings
The district is heavily sprinkled with government buildings to include Oakland's historic Civic Center Post Office on the city block bounded by Alice, Jackson, 13th and 12th Streets, the federal Social Security AdministrationSocial Security Administration
The United States Social Security Administration is an independent agency of the United States federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability, and survivors' benefits...
Building on Jackson Street, two Alameda County government office buildings, the Alameda County Law Library, Oakland's Main Library on 14th Street, The Alameda County Courthouse on Lake Merritt, Oakland's historic Fire Alarm Building on Oak Street, the Oakland Museum on 12th Street, and the Kaiser Convention Center anchoring the east end of the neighborhood near the 12th Street Dam.
A new use for the Kaiser Convention Center was proposed in 2006: a redevelopment designed to nucleate a cultural and educational district with the neighboring Oakland Museum of California
Oakland Museum of California
Oakland Museum of California or Oakland Museum is a museum dedicated to the art, history, and natural science of California located in Oakland, California....
and Laney College
Laney College
Laney College is a community college located in Oakland, California, next to the Lake Merritt BART station and the Kaiser Convention Center. Laney is the largest of the four colleges of the Peralta Community College District which serves northern Alameda County.Laney College originally opened in...
. In July 2006, the Oakland City Council approved a bond measure to expand the city's library system and convert the closed Center into a replacement for the city's aging main library, but Oakland voters defeated the library bond measure in the November 2006 election.
'Infill' parcels
The district is also heavily sprinkled with 'infill' parcels which have a variety of daily commercial use. Most are used as parking for the districts drive-in workforce, and nighttime bar and nightclub patrons. One is used as a preschool playground. One parcel at the Southeast corner of 12th and Jackson, which was formerly the site of a retail building, has been leveled, and the dirt lot is being reclaimed by nature as a GreenfieldGreenfield land
Greenfield land is a term used to describe undeveloped land in a city or rural area either used for agriculture, landscape design, or left to naturally evolve...
.
Land Development Activity
In recent years, mid-rise, mixed-use condominium buildings have been planned and constructed on the edges of the district. Several high-rise mixed-use projects ranging from 10-40 stories in height, have been proposed by a variety of developers. Some are still active in various stages of the planning process.2001 Civic Center Cathedral Proposal
In 2001, the Oakland Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church proposed a replacement for the St. Francis de Sales Cathedral, which was damaged in the 1989 earthquake and subsequently demolished. The diocese hired a Swiss architect who designed a grand cathedral featuring curving steel beams coming to a point some fifteen stories high. The diocese proposed situating the cathedral directly in front of the Kaiser Convention Center and surrounding it with a "grand plaza." The plaza would have been elevated, so that both the parking lot and adjacent roads would still have been usable, and it would have extended all the way to the edge of the lake.Coalition of Advocates for Lake Merritt (CALM), an Oakland group proposed an alternative plan involving a remake of the 12th Street Dam halving the number of traffic lanes from six to three in each direction. The underpasses and overpasses were proposed to be eliminated, with stoplights installed where the road intersects with 12th Street and 1st Avenue. The beach was proposed to be widened, with a gently sloping lawn leading up to the roadway, new walking and bike paths in each direction. Crosswalks with pedestrian-activated stoplights were proposed to replace the tunnels under the freeway.
See also
- ChinatownChinatown, Oakland, CaliforniaThe Chinatown neighborhood in Oakland, California, is a pan-Asian neighborhood which reflects Oakland's diverse Asian American community. It is frequently referred to as "Oakland Chinatown" in order to distinguish it from nearby San Francisco's Chinatown...
- Jack London SquareJack London SquareJack London Square is a popular tourist attraction on the waterfront of Oakland, California. Named after the author Jack London and owned by the Port of Oakland, it is the home of stores, restaurants, hotels, an Amtrak station, a ferry dock, the historic Saloon, the cabin Jack London lived in the...
- Lakeside Apartments DistrictLakeside Apartments District, Oakland, CaliforniaThe Lakeside Apartments District neighborhood, also known as The Gold Coast, and simply as The Lakeside, is one of Oakland, California's historic residential neighborhoods between its Downtown district and Lake Merritt...
- Oakland City CenterOakland City CenterOakland City Center is an office and shopping and hotel complex in Downtown Oakland, California. The complex is the product of a redevelopment project begun in the late 1950s. It covers twelve city blocks between Broadway on the east, Martin Luther King Jr. Way...
- OaksterdamOaksterdamOaksterdam is a cultural district on the north end of downtown Oakland, California, where medical cannabis in a variety of competitively priced smokeable and edible preparations is available for purchase in multiple cafes, clubs, and patient dispensaries. Oaksterdam is located on the north end of...
- Uptown OaklandUptown OaklandUptown is a neighborhood in Downtown Oakland, California, located just north of the center of downtown. Its boundaries are ill-defined, but most definitions include the area bounded by Grand Avenue at the north, Telegraph Avenue on the west, City Center plaza on the south, and Harrison Street on...