Wednesday, March 26, 2008

The Island in which I Sell, Born and Raised

Bay Farm Island
Alameda is a small island with a beach that looks to San Francisco. Bay Farm Island is where I grew up and in those days we took a school bus to school, AC transit did not run on the weekends, I took the ferry (the kind that carries vehicles) to San Francisco when I went to the doctor and Bay Farm Island had 3 streets with homes and the rest was the bay and farmland. Right behind Bay Farm Island was a very small airport (Oakland Airport) and now it too has grown! There were no schools and only 1 park. Where the Oakland Raider's headquarters are now, it was the bay.

Bay Farm Island is an area of the city of Alameda, California , near Oakland . It is divided from the main island of Alameda by an estuary and connected by separate drawbridges for both cars and bicycles. Bay Farm Island is adjacent to the Oakland International Airport . In addition to being an affluent neighborhood, it is also the location of a municipal golf course, a high-tech industrial park, a small shopping center and the world headquarters of the NFL football team, the Oakland Raiders.

Also located on BayFarm Island are two public elementary schools: Bay Farm and EarhartElementary Schools. The former is named for the island community that it serves. The latter is named for famed female aviator Amelia Earhart who started many of her flights from the nearby Oakland Airport.

An interesting point to note is that Alameda was once a peninsula and was later divided from the mainland to create an island , while BayFarmIsland was once an island, later to become a peninsula through land reclamation , adjacent to the Oakland Airport.

Once used as farmland, Bay FarmIsland is now home to a the 36-Championship Hole Chuck Corica Golf Complex in addition to its many housing developments. The land mass boasts a chain of lagoons as well as several parks including Shoreline Park, Leydecker, Godfrey, Harrington Field and a greenbelt that surrounds Bay Farm's perimeter.

Wow! Has my town changed!

1 comment:

Douglas Westfall said...

I write and publish books on America's history -- many on California as well as I live here, but I've never heard of Bay Farm Island. It sounds so idelic from your description -- a real piece of Americana. How can I find out more?

Best Always, Douglas Westfall