At a time in the 19th century, Oakland had a larger population than San Francisco did. During that century, Oakland had grown into a thriving commercial center. People lived in classy Victorian neighborhoods. By the 1920's a theater district had emerged in the downtown area. In order to get to San Francisco from the east bay, A person had to go through Oakland. Often, a final destination of Oakland was just as preferable as going to San Francisco. Oakland, at one point in time, was a classy and elegant city.

     In the 1930's a bridge was built connecting the east bay with San Francisco, thus making it easier for people to get from the east bay to San Francisco. Furthermore, the Great depression effected Oakland as it did almost every other city. Additionally, With the advent of the automobile, people began migrating to the suburbs and away from Oakland. This signaled the slow, demise of Oakland. By the late 1950's, Oakland faced the same plight as many large urban centers across the U.S. People had moved out of the inner city and into the suburbs leaving the inner city an improvised ghetto.

     In the 1950's and 60's Oakland did not experience the rebirth that San Francisco did. The new interstate highway system took people through Oakland and into San Francisco instead of taking people into Oakland. People could now leave their nice suburban home and zip into San Francisco in a matter of minutes and completely bypass traveling through Oakland. Furthermore, the construction of the highway system, including the enormous Macarthur Maze, destroyed many of the Victorian neighborhoods and caused noise pollution thought the area. This created a blight on the area. In the 1960's San Francisco was the center of a cultural convergence too. The hippies were busy buying up the San Franciscan Victorians and "restoring" them. Oakland's Victorians sat neglected. San Francisco began a cultural turn around. Oakland, next to the same bay with a view of a certain red bridge to boot, became a wasteland. The final blow in the utter emptying of Oakland was the 1989 earthquake. Many of the buildings down town were made uninhabitable by the quake.

     Today Oakland is a working class town. That is apparent everywhere you look. People, unfortunately, do not go to Oakland to see Oakland. They go there to work. Oakland is trying to turn itself around. Since the early 1990's the city has been attempting to clean up the downtown area. Jack London Square is a pleasant place to eat now. The downtown area has been cleaned up. There is a nice plaza by city hall and outdoor cafés are located near by. Businesses are slowly returning and the port of Oakland is busily expanding. The remaining Victorian homes are slowly being restored bringing a touch of class back to the inner city. If you branch out from the down town area, you have the Rockridge business district which has benefited by is proximity to Berkeley as well as its restaurants.

     Hopefully, this resurgence will continue. The following pictures galleries are to give the viewer an idea of what kind of city Oakland is and can become.

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