My first stop in this neighborhood, which has been mostly Latino since the 60’s, was Peralta Hacienda Historical Park. I knew the house would be closed but the grounds are still worth a look. They’re part of the 44,000-acre Rancho San Antonio, a land grant from Spain in 1820 that went from today’s San Leandro all the way up to Albany!
The hacienda is a stop on the Anza trail which tracks Juan Bautista de Anza’s expedition to colonize California in 1775. They departed from Sinaloa and Sonora in Mexico and arrived in San Francisco to found the Presidio and Mission Dolores.
The grounds have some interesting interpretive nooks, bear-shaped climbing structures, a garden featuring quite a bit of corn and this cool sculptural seating area created by architecture students from nearby Laney College. The place was full of lounging high school kids when I visited.
I headed to Foothill Blvd. where I found a shop (not the only one) selling all kinds of gear for futbol. The bulletin board mostly lists rooms for rent. Nearby is Achieve Academy with this amazing color scheme. I also walked along Fruitvale Avenue where I passed a store that will ship your boxes to Mexico or Columbia. You can also pick up your mail here.
The Cohen-Bray House was also closed but I’ve visited before and I highly recommend it. It was built in 1882 for Emma Cohen-Bray, who was apparently quite averse to progress which means the house contains all its original furniture, including gas jets for lighting! Her daughter Edith lived in the house till 1988 and also refrained from updating it. Family members now volunteer and assist with maintaining and preserving the house.
I had lunch at one of the Mi Grullense trucks that is widely recommended and I was unimpressed! There are a few trucks and also restaurants with this name. El Grullo is a town in Jalisco and el Grullense is a person from that town. Why it’s associated so strongly here with tacos, I can’t tell you! It also means crane, which is why one is painted on the truck.