Oakland

Less than 3 weeks after I got back from East Asia, it was time to start up my local sightseeing again. I had wrapped up my 1st 2 years of sightseeing around San Francisco by leaving city limits to explore San Jose. My 2nd 2 years of local exploration were exactly the opposite. During 2018 and 2019, I toured all around the San Francisco Bay Area. I only spent 1 of those sightseeing days in San Francisco. The rest of the time, I visited places in an area known as the East Bay and places north of the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County.

Things kicked off across the bay in Oakland, California’s 8th largest city. Oakland has a bit of a reputation for being a rough place. But as I learned when I first visited Oakland in the ’80s, there’s much more to Oakland than what you might think. Okay, I’ve got a LOT of pictures in this post. But Oakland is so much more than you realize.

Oakland Museum of California

My friend John joined me in the morning at the somewhat oddly named Oakland Museum of California. It’s a museum focusing on 3 areas of interest in California–natural sciences, history and art–1 on each floor of the museum.

California Natural Sciences

The California grizzly bear is the state symbol of California. Unfortunately, it was hunted to extinction by the early 20th century.

This Sierra Nevada scene is one of the Oakland Museum of California’s dioramas depicting various regions in the state. This poor jackrabbit had to die so the eagle chicks could soar.

California History

The history of California begins with the culture of Native Americans.

An abalone necklace made by the Miwok people, native to Northern California.

A fish trap made by the Pomo people, another group indigenous to Northern California.

Everything changed when the Europeans came.

A conquistador’s helmet with a big hole blown in it.

*Maidu Walk*, 1980, by Dalbert Castro. The artist is a member of the Maidu people, another indigenous group of Northern California

In 1863, a large number of the Maidu people were forced by the U.S. government to move to a reservation. After they arrived, American settlers attacked them and killed 45 of the native people. The survivors fled to their original home, but they were forced to return to the reservation. This painting depicts the forced return to the reservation. Dozens died or were left sick along the way.

These signs were well known along I-5 in Southern California, warning drivers to watch out for illegal immigrants running across the highway.

California Art

*Falls, Yosemite*, 1858, by Antoine Claveau. This is the earliest-known oil painting of Yosemite Valley.

The Oakland Museum of California has a collection of work from the Gold Rush era.

*California Miner with Pack Horse*, 1887, by Henry Raschen.

*Untitled (Portrait of a Chinese Man)*, circa 1853, daguerreotype by Isaac W. Baker.

As you might expect, the Oakland Museum of California features art from a lot of California artists depicting local scenes.

*Night Fishing on Monterey Bay*, 1936, by John Langley Howard.

The museum holds the personal archives of famed Depression-era photographer Dorothea Lange. She was born a Jersey girl, but she settled in San Francisco and also had a home in Berkeley.

*Andrew, Berkley*, 1949. A portrait of the photographer’s grandson.

*Ross Taylor, Driven and Angry*, 1935. A candid shot of Lange’s future stepson.

The museum has a significant collection of work by the Society of Six, a group of 6 Oakland artists who created works of modern art in the early 20th century.

*Boat and Yellow Hill*, circa 1920s, by Selden Connor Gile.

*Rhododendron Field*, 1915, by Joseph Raphael.

Lake Merritt

Just steps from the Oakland Museum of California, Lake Merritt is probably the prettiest area in the flatlands of Oakland. Technically it’s a tidal lagoon as there’s a narrow channel to San Francisco Bay.

The Camron-Stanford House is the last of the 19th-century Victorian mansions that used to line the shore of Lake Merritt. In 1910, it became home to the predecessor of the Oakland Museum of California.

It looks like there’s a face trapped in this gnarly tree on the shore of Lake Merritt.

Hmmm, does this make Oakland the Venice of Northern California?

The Cathedral of Christ the Light

Just off the northernmost tip of Lake Merritt is the very modern Cathedral of Christ the Light.

The Cathedral of Christ the Light is the Catholic cathedral for the East Bay region, built in 2005-2008 to replace the former cathedral that was destroyed by the 1989 earthquake.

The interior of the Cathedral of Christ the Light.

The 58-foot image of Christ is a digitized copy of a sculpted figure at the Chartres Cathedral in France. 94,000 pixels were transferred to form perforations in aluminum panels that light shines through, creating the image.

This Pietà in the cathedral is a bronze replica made from a cast of Michelangelo’s marble original Pietà. It was on display temporarily at the Cathedral of Christ the Light.

Oakland California Temple

After spending several hours in the area around Lake Merritt, I took 2 buses to get way up into the Oakland Hills. (The Oakland Hills are really just the section of the Berkeley Hills located in Oakland.) Being in the Oakland Hills reminded me of the devastating Oakland Hills fire of 1991. 25 people were killed and thousands of homes were destroyed. Many of the homes belonged to wealthy individuals. I, along with much of the country, was surprised at the time to learn that so many wealthy individuals lived in Oakland. Such is the power of Oakland’s reputation.

View over Downtown Oakland, across San Francisco Bay, to San Francisco from the Oakland California Temple in the Oakland Hills.

I stopped in the visitors’ center at the Oakland California Temple. I was a little nervous I was going to get proselytized, but they were relatively hands-off when I said I was visiting from across the bay in San Francisco and I just wanted to take pictures.

Of course nonbelievers aren’t allowed inside a Mormon temple. Furthermore, the temple was undergoing renovations. So I got as close as I was allowed to get this picture.

Old Oakland

Nicholl Block, built in 1878, on Victorian Row.

From the Oakland Hills, it was 2 buses back down to the flatlands. This time to Downtown Oakland–specifically, Old Oakland. Oakland’s original downtown developed after the Central Pacific Railroad built a terminal nearby. From this point, travelers could take the train east to Sacramento, the initial western terminus of the transcontinental railway. Going in the other direction, travelers could take a ferry to San Francisco. After falling into decline throughout the 20th century, the area now known as Old Oakland was rehabilitated in the 1970s and ’80s.

Henry House, built as a luxury hotel in 1877.

Another attractive block in Old Oakland.

Oakland Chinatown

Directly across Broadway from Old Oakland is Oakland’s Chinatown.

Oakland Chinatown is virtually unknown, compared with its world-famous cousin across the bay. But at over 40 blocks, it’s quite large. It’s also a very busy, booming place.

Oakland’s Chinatown is not as densely packed as San Francisco’s. (Not many places are.) But it’s very vibrant.

Dragon School is an initiative to engage Oakland Chinatown youth in art.

Another dragon mural in Oakland Chinatown.

Hall of Pioneers at Chinese Garden Park. Turns out I don’t have to go to Asia to see the traditional Chinese architecture I love so much!

Jack London Square

Jack London’s Cabin. It’s a replica made with original logs from the cabin where the author lived over the winter of 1897-98, discovered in 1968 by a Jack London enthusiast.

Jack London Square is located on Oakland’s historic waterfront. It’s named, of course, for the famous adventure writer. Jack was born in San Francisco, but he grew up and spent much of his life in Oakland.

I popped into Heinold’s First and Last Chance Saloon for a cold beverage.

Heinold’s has been servin’ ’em up since 1884. Jack London himself was a regular. Stories he heard at the bar ended up in his novels.

Ladies: Please Be Careful of Your Language. Remember, There are Gentlemen at the Bar.

The USS *Potomac*, moored at Jack London Square, was FDR’s presidential yacht. It began service in 1934 as the *Electra*, a Coast Guard cutter. In 1936, the *Electra* was converted and put into service as the *Potomac*.

San Francisco Ferry

In the morning, I had taken BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) across San Francisco Bay, like thousands of people do every day. But I returned to San Francisco in the evening the way Jack London would have–by ferry.

Ferry was the only way to get between Oakland and San Francisco before the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opened in 1936. A light installation on the bridge called *The Bay Lights* creates a visual sensation of motion.

Back home again after a wonderful day in Oakland!

[Factual information is primarily gathered from Wikipedia, so you know it must be true.]