I started this expedition near where Expedition 18 left off. Most of the spots I found on LocalWiki, a site I’ve used for quite a few expeditions. It’s a great place to discover the backstory of intriguing buildings. But some are just spots I like, such as the Bear Safety Center and its adorable mascot. American Burial Casket Co. is also not historically significant, but if you zoom in, you’ll see the letters are cut out of plywood.
I passed a number of groovy murals, like this one with a bird carrying a boom box, and one featuring our state bird, the lovely California quail. This apartment building’s blazing sunset mural always catches my eye. I love this intricate metalwork on the front of the former Bohemian Blacksmith Studios, now Daryl Rush Builders.
The 1929 California Hotel is on the National Register of Historic Places, but it doesn’t seem to be in great shape for its current low income residents, sadly. Its club, the Zanzibar Room, was an important jazz and blues venue in its early days and was popular with the neighborhood Black population, despite the fact that Blacks could not rent hotel rooms. Later, it was a popular Latin music venue; Pete Escovedo got started there.
Giant Burger was a local chain, this one opened in 1966 near 53rd and San Pablo. This particular one is an “Xpress,” maybe even faster food? There are 3 or 4 more of these signs around Oakland, mostly just free standing, but some have newer burger restaurants. On Facebook I read that the empty lot below the sign has been taken over by “tweakers” who will destroy it and allow the owners to demolish it. Weird. Update: this morning (August 1) the lot was totally cleared. I guess changes are afoot.)
The Wolfhound Bar was originally the 1940’s Streamline Lounge. New owners in 2014 sensibly kept the amazing tile facade and cool windows (source: E’ville Eye). It’s kind of a dive-y yet community oriented bar.
A few blocks north is the Golden Gate branch of Oakland Public Library. In Expedition 21, I mentioned that Oakland Main is the first Carnegie library in Oakland. Golden Gate was the second. San Diego was the first one in California, preceding the other two by one month in 1899. Andrew Carnegie invented open stacks! Before, you had to request a book from the librarian. He did it to save costs. I could go into more detail but I’ll save that for a future Carnegie library expedition.
The Siddha Yoga Ashram occupies the former Stanford Hotel, built around 1925. It closed in 1970. The ashram’s arrival in the mid 70’s helped the neighborhood, but then it started buying nearby properties.
Shambho meadow is one of many properties owned by the ashram. It doesn’t seem to be publicly accessible except when the Ashram holds chanting sessions. I have mixed feelings about the ashram’s properties because, according to Oaklandside, at least half of them are vacant. This section of San Pablo is not exactly vibrant. Letting the space sit empty, they prevent the arrival of shops, cafes and restaurants that would energize the area.
This Oakland Fire Department building was constructed in 1895! It’s now condos. Across the street, the Crisis Club is a self described “community lowbrow gallery and shop” for Oakland freaks. 🙂
The Wardenclyffe, which borrows its name from Tesla’s Wardenclyffe Tower, which was built on Long Island, New York, in the early 1900’s to transmit messages across the Atlantic. It didn’t work. The front of the apartment building is covered with angled pipes and other steampunky metal elements, many created by artists from American Steel. On the side are murals from nearby Firehouse Art Collective (according to SF Weekly). I’d love to see more fanciful buildings like this!