Devil's Punchbowl (Oakland, California)

USA / California / Oakland / Oakland, California
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Former clay quarry and biker gang party spot. When the quarry was in active use, a tramway brought crushed rock down to waiting California Railway hopper cars. The five-mile Leona Spur was abandoned in 1937 and the tracks were removed between the 1950s and '60s.

mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/show-mrds.php?dep_id=10260302
quarriesandbeyond.org/states/ca/quarry_photo/ca-alameda...
www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC12RFQ_devils-punchbowl?gu...
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Coordinates:   37°47'33"N   122°10'16"W

Comments

  • Any reference for this name?
  • I heard that it used to be a gravel quarry that after it was abandoned was a hangout for bikers.
  • I don't think any reference to Devil's Punchbowl exists. I believe that the name was something the local's just hung on it, but next time I'm at the Oakland Library, I'll look at some maps and see what I can dig up. It was just a gravel quarry that played out and was abandoned sometime after WWII. As a kid in the early '50s, we used to go up there to explore. Was it a biker hangout? Probably, there were a few bike gangs in the area, so that rumor probably has some validity. Do I have any personal knowledge of that? No!
  • It was the Alma Mine. Circa 1900-30s. Filled in and covered by Merritt college much later.
This article was last modified 8 years ago