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    Historic Photos of Oakland
    Historic Photos of Oakland
    Historic Photos of Oakland
    Ebook232 pages45 minutes

    Historic Photos of Oakland

    By Steven Lavoie

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    About this ebook

    Its place directly opposite San Francisco Bay from one of the world’s most visited cities has left Oakland to struggle against comparison from the start. It has greeted that challenge by asserting its identity as an effervescent international port city with a richly diverse, uniquely creative, and highly resilient population.

    Oakland consistently finds itself at the forefront of the rapid pace of change that California has helped to drive, with its history of daring experiments in social, scientific, and cultural innovation.

    The camera has preserved glimpses into the impacts of that change—and the ways in which Oakland has adapted to sustain itself as a charming and welcoming gateway to the Pacific. Historic Photos of Oakland collects a small fraction of the record the cameras have left behind, providing a compelling view of the colorful past of the "second” City by the Bay.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTurner Publishing Company
    Release dateJul 1, 2009
    ISBN9781618584168
    Historic Photos of Oakland
    Author

    Steven Lavoie

    Steven Lavoie is librarian in the Oakland History Room of the Oakland Public Library, the source of most of the photographs published in this book. He formerly served that function at the Oakland Tribune, where he contributed columns, features, and editorials. Lavoie holds two degrees from the University of California, Berkeley and has lived in Oakland since he relocated here from a remote northern suburb to shorten the trip to Oakland A’s games.

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      Book preview

      Historic Photos of Oakland - Steven Lavoie

      HISTORIC PHOTOS OF

      OAKLAND

      TEXT AND CAPTIONS BY STEVEN LAVOIE

      Photographer Carleton Watkins produced this photograph of the nursery of Wright F. Kelsey situated where Telegraph Avenue and 23rd Street now intersect. The image, with its display of the bounty of Kelsey’s land, was published widely alongside articles promoting California’s rich agricultural potential.

      HISTORIC PHOTOS OF

      OAKLAND

      Turner Publishing Company

      200 4th Avenue North • Suite 950

      Nashville, Tennessee 37219

      (615) 255-2665

      www.turnerpublishing.com

      Historic Photos of Oakland

      Copyright © 2009 Turner Publishing Company

      All rights reserved.

      This book or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2009921191

      ISBN-13: 978-1-59652-529-0

      Printed in China

      09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16—0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

      CONTENTS

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      PREFACE

      VISIONS OF A GREAT METROPOLIS (1850S–1899)

      ATHENS OF THE WEST (1900–1928)

      THE SECOND GOLD RUSH (1929–1945)

      OUT OF THE SHADOWS (1946–1970)

      NOTES ON THE PHOTOGRAPHS

      The western terminus of the Transcontinental Railroad, shown here in the 1890s, transformed Oakland from a sleepy cattle town to an international center of commerce and industry.

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      This volume, Historic Photos of Oakland, is the result of the cooperation and efforts of many individuals and organizations. It is with great thanks that we acknowledge the valuable contribution of the Oakland History Room at the Oakland Public Library and the Library of Congress for their generous support.

      ———————

      Sincere gratitude for the work and vision of my predecessors and colleagues at the Oakland Public Library, especially the past and present staff in the Oakland History Room, and to Tony Molatore of Berkeley Giclée.

      —Steven Lavoie

      ———————

      This project represents countless hours of review and research. The researchers and writer have reviewed many hundreds of photographs in numerous archives. We greatly appreciate the generous assistance of the individuals and organizations listed here, without whom this project could not have been completed.

      The goal in publishing this work is to provide broader access to this set of extraordinary photographs, as well as to inspire, provide perspective, and evoke insight that might assist citizens as they work to plan the city’s future. In addition, the book seeks to preserve the past with adequate respect and reverence.

      With the exception of touching up imperfections that have accrued with the passage of time and cropping where necessary, no changes have been made. The focus and clarity of many images is limited by the technology and the ability of the photographer at the time they were taken.

      PREFACE

      Although it sits at dead center of one of the nation’s major metropolitan areas, visible to tens of thousands of travelers moving by car, by sea, by rail, and by air, Oakland remains seldom seen by outsiders. Even its own photographers, some of the most proficient and prolific in the field, have been unable to make scenes of Oakland instantly recognizable such as those of other great cities of the world.

      From its hills, cameras capture spectacular views of one of the world’s most scenic urban landscapes, with views across the San Francisco Bay and out through the Golden Gate to the Pacific Ocean. On its streets, the world’s broad range of human form—and economic circumstance—reveals itself daily. A city plan of great ambition, instituted well ahead of other cities, provided Oakland with a coherent and aesthetic urban core, with busy, colorful, and attractive neighborhood commercial districts and a downtown center rich with architectural treasures.

      Along with its shimmering light and consistent sunshine, Oakland would appear to be a prime source of postcard views to attract the attention of photographers. It has certainly provided photojournalists and documentary photographers an abundance of material, situated at the vanguard of nearly every boom and bust, fad, trend, and social phenomenon to emerge on the West Coast, while history carried on in the events of the day. Watershed moments in aviation, in sports, in commerce, in the literary and visual arts, in women’s rights, and civil rights were taking place in Oakland, obscured too often by the long shadow cast by the high-profile city across the bay.

      Novice photographers, too, had familiar surroundings and interesting if commonplace lives to document with their Kodak Brownies, Instamatics, and Polaroid Swingers. A camera in the hands of an amateur or hobbyist provides a much different angle on the passage of time than it might in the hands of artists and professionals.

      The work of women is unequivocally strong in Oakland’s photographic heritage. At the turn of the twentieth century, Anne Brigman emerged as a leading member of the Pictorialist photographers from her backyard studio in Oakland that would serve the next generation as a gathering spot for the modernists of Group f/64, best known for the work of Ansel Adams.

      Brigman was followed by Imogen Cunningham and Dorothea Lange, who represented far different approaches to their subjects, with Oakland a popular setting for their work. The work of both Brigman and Lange is represented here with images that serve to document important moments of the city’s history.

      The great earthquake of 1906 provided the opportunity for Oaklanders Doc Rogers and Charles Estey

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