Collection: Oakland California

What's with the end of the railroad? On November 8, 1869 — months after the golden spike at Promontory — the first transcontinental train rolled all the way to the edge of San Francisco Bay and stopped at Oakland. The tracks ran out onto a long wooden wharf, the Oakland Mole, where passengers stepped off the train and onto ferries for the last mile across to San Francisco. Oakland was the western terminus, the literal end of the line that bound the continent together. The railroad chose it for the same reasons everyone did: a deep harbor, flat land, and a straight shot to the bay. That choice turned a quiet oak-grove town into a city almost overnight.

The town the railroad found was named for its trees. The flatlands along the East Bay shore were once a forest of coast live oaks — encinal, "oak grove" in Spanish — and the groves gave Oakland both its name and its nickname, "The Town." The land had belonged to the Peralta family, whose vast Rancho San Antonio, granted in 1820, covered most of the East Bay. As Americans poured in after the 1849 Gold Rush, the rancho was carved up and a town laid out along the waterfront. On May 4, 1852, the state incorporated the Town of Oakland — then a place of barely a hundred people, two hotels, and a wharf.

Even before the railroad, Oakland had a role to play. During the Gold Rush it was the mainland staging point, where passengers and freight crossed between the bay and the Sierra foothills. The transcontinental terminus turned that trickle into a flood. The Central Pacific built the Long Wharf out into the estuary, and within a generation Oakland's population leapt more than twenty-fold. Hotels, warehouses, and rail yards crowded the waterfront; the harbor deepened into one of the great ports of the West. The town that the oaks had named became the place where the country's first railroad met the sea.

As the city grew, one of its mayors gave it a treasure. In 1869 Samuel Merritt dammed a tidal slough at the heart of downtown, turning brackish marsh into a clean saltwater lagoon. The next year, in 1870, the state declared it a refuge for the migrating birds that crowded its shores — the first official wildlife refuge in the United States. Lake Merritt has been the jewel of Oakland ever since, ringed in 1925 by the Necklace of Lights and still alive with herons, pelicans, and the great autumn flights along the Pacific Flyway. A wild lake in the middle of a working city is a very Oakland kind of idea.

Oakland's character grew richer as the city did. The young Jack London prowled its waterfront before he ever wrote a word, and the wharves where he loafed are now Jack London Square. In the 1920s and '30s the city raised two of the finest movie palaces in the West — the Fox Oakland and the great Art Deco Paramount, all gilt and neon. And in 1950, on the shore of Lake Merritt, Oakland opened Children's Fairyland, a storybook park whose whimsy is said to have helped inspire Walt Disney's own. The Town had become a place of theaters, parks, and waterfront stories.

Today Oakland is the anchor of the East Bay — a city of hills and harbor, redwood groves and bay views, looking across the water at San Francisco. Its port, a pioneer of container shipping, is one of the busiest in the country, and the wooded ridges above town still hold stands of coast redwoods, survivors of the forests that once helped build San Francisco. It is a city of neighborhoods and food and art, proud of its diversity and proud of its table. Through every chapter, Oakland has been a crossroads — the western end of the line, where the continent meets the bay.

Our Oakland logo carries the California grizzly and the lone star above "California Republic — Est. 1850," the shared retro emblem of our California towns; the bear and star are the state's own, and 1850 marks the year California joined the Union — the state's birthday, not the town's, which came two years later in 1852. Rendered in worn black-and-white, like a WPA poster or a crate label, it ties Oakland to every other California town we make. What makes this one Oakland is the story behind it — the oak groves, the Necklace of Lights, and the western end of the railroad.

So Oakland gathers oak groves, a wild lake, and the end of the transcontinental line onto the East Bay shore. Our Oakland designs gather that into wearable form. Wear the history. Oakland, California — The Town: oak groves, the Necklace of Lights, and the western end of the line.

Oakland, California — Travel Guide

Visiting Oakland Today

Oakland sits on the East Bay shore of San Francisco Bay, a city of hills, harbor, and culture across the Bay Bridge from San Francisco. Lake Merritt, redwood parks, and a lively waterfront anchor a day here.

Lake Merritt, Theaters & the Waterfront

For visitors looking for things to do in Oakland, California:

• Walk Lake Merritt and the Necklace of Lights, the first U.S. wildlife refuge in the downtown core.
• Tour the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) for art, history, and natural science.
• See the Art Deco Paramount Theatre and Fox Oakland, two restored 1920s-30s movie palaces.
• Stroll Jack London Square on the estuary waterfront, with shops, dining, and ferries.
• Hike Redwood Regional Park in the hills for towering coast redwoods and quiet trails.
• Visit Children's Fairyland on the lakeshore, the storybook park that helped inspire Disneyland.

Why People Visit Oakland

Visitors come to Oakland for a Bay Area city with its own strong character: a wild lake at its center, Art Deco theaters and a historic waterfront, redwood hikes in the hills, and one of the most celebrated food scenes in California. The museums and Jack London Square sit minutes from the lake, and San Francisco is a quick trip across the bay. Equal parts oak-grove heritage and creative energy, Oakland rewards anyone drawn to the heart of the East Bay.

Kindred Cities

Greetings, friends from Fukuoka, Japan (ようこそ) — our partner across the Pacific and our oldest friend abroad.

Oakland and Fukuoka are two harbour cities that have leaned toward each other for sixty years. Fukuoka, the great port and food capital of Japan's Kyushu — its yatai food stalls and Hakata ramen famous nationwide — matches Oakland's own life on the water: a working harbour on San Francisco Bay, a crossroads city, proudly diverse and proud of its table. Two ports that put food and character first.

Oakland made Fukuoka its sister city in 1962, its oldest and one of its most active ties, born of the postwar people-to-people movement. For the 60th in 2022 the two set a mosaic mural in Oakland's Lakeside Park — plum tree and oak entwined.

Come from Fukuoka and Oakland will feel like harbour kin: a port city of real food and real character, a Japanese-American community woven deep, and a moon-viewing party each autumn that would not feel out of place back home. Come and visit us soon.

When you plan the trip, Visit Oakland is the place to start.

For deeper reading on the Oakland history described here — the coast-live-oak groves and the Peralta Rancho San Antonio, the 1852 incorporation, the 1869 western terminus of the Transcontinental Railroad and the Oakland Mole, Lake Merritt as the first U.S. wildlife refuge in 1870, and the city's Art Deco theaters and Jack London waterfront — it may be useful to consult (1) the Oakland History Center at the Oakland Public Library, (2) the California Historical Society, (3) the Oakland Museum of California, (4) the Alameda County clerk's records office, and (5) the Peralta Hacienda Historical Park. For travel and visitor information, it may be useful to contact (1) Visit Oakland, (2) the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, (3) the Oakland Parks and Recreation Department, (4) the East Bay Regional Park District, and (5) the Oakland International Airport information desk.