ALAMEDA COUNTY Transcribed by: Linda Jackson 5/19/2008
The Ideal Place for Your California Home
by Henry Anderson Lafler
Within the boundaries of Alameda County, there are three large cities, having a population of more than 300,000 souls. These three cities are Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda, all lying in the extreme northwestern corner of the county and fronting on the Bay of San Francisco. In fact, the City of Alameda, the smallest of the three, is an island connected with Oakland by bridges across a narrow estuary and tidal canal. The three cities to the stranger would appear as one--in fact, they are one in all respects save their names and governments.
Berkeley and Oakland are contiguous in respect to their southern and northern boundaries. Alameda is separated from Oakland by only a few hundred feet of water. The same street car system serves the three communities and one may ride from the remotest corner of Berkeley to the farthest side of Alameda for five cents.
HOTEL OAKLAND: TERMINAL HOTEL OF LINCOLN HIGHWAY
OAKLAND'S TWO MILLION DOLLAR CITY HALL -- ONE OF THE
MOST ORIGINAL AND STRIKING CIVIC BUILDINGS IN AMERICA.
A
BERKELEY HOME OF CHARACTERISTIC BEAUTY
The separation of the east bay cities into three communities and their proximity to San Francisco have contributed to the lack of realization on the part of people generally of the size and importance of what is essentially a single community on the east shore of San Francisco Bay--a single community with a population equaling that of Kansas City, Minneapolis, New Orleans or Washington, D.C.
The topography of Oakland and Berkeley gives them a unique character, capable of unlimited development in the direction of beauty. Along two sides of these cities is San Francisco Bay with its indentations. Near the Bay the land is level, once well wooded with live oaks--whence the name of Oakland--and is admirably suited to all purposes of manufacture and commerce. On the inland side of this level area is a range of hills, parallel with the shore line of the Bay. These hills slope gently from the plain upon which the business districts of Berkeley and Oakland are situated. But their crests are bold and rugged and reach elevations of one thousand, fifteen hundred and seventeen hundred feet.
THE HOTEL SHATTUCK, BERKELEY, ONE OF A NUMBER OF
SPLENDID HOTELS IN ALAMEDA COUNTY
A GLIMPSE OF CLAREMONT, A RESTRICTED RESIDENCE DISTRICT
OF BERKELEY, WITH THE CLAREMONT HOTEL
IN THE BACKGROUND
On the gentle slopes of these hills, circling above San Francisco Bay and looking straight out through the Golden Gate to the Pacific Ocean, are thousands of the most charming residences of California. Owing to the topography, all the railroads, warehouses, business structures and factories in the cities of Oakland and Berkeley are situated on the level land close to the Bay shore. This leaves all the foothills free for residences, and there you may drive for miles along curving avenues past green lawns, and hedges intertwined with roses, and see not a single unsightly building.