Alameda, California

USA / California / Alameda /
 city, draw only border
The incorporated City of Alameda, California, is coterminious with the township of Alameda. Included in it are the main island, Bay Farm Island, and Government Island. Alameda Island lies on the east side of San Francisco Bay, roughly parallel to Oakland. Before 1902 it was a peninsula, connected to the mainland by a mile-wide neck of marshy ground. That neck of land eventually became Park street and the western most of the three bridges. In that year, the completion of the Tidal Canal, a federal harbor improvement project started in 1874, severed Alameda from the east shore of San Francisco Bay. Today Three bridges and two tubes furnish access routes between Oakland and Alameda.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alameda,_CA
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   37°45'30"N   122°16'42"W

Comments

  • This is the first city in Alameda County.
  • Alameda is actually connected by 4 bridges. Park Street, Fruitvale, High Street and the bridge towards Bay Farm and the Oakland Airport.
  • Yup, the Fruitvale bridge exists. I've biked across it many times on the way to Bart. It's also worth noting that "Bay Farm Island" is in absolutely no sense (except a "marketing" sense--in other words, NOT) an island. It shares the same peninsula as the Oakland Airport. Homes there are expensive--and tend to have very good sound insulation. :) The other way people get to and from Alameda is by ferry: There are two ferry terminals, one at the north end of the island, and one on Bay Farm. (I know, saying "on" Bay Farm implies that it is an island, but the folks who live there talk about it that way. Raises the property values, I guess.) I've frequently commuted to San Francisco that way, and let me tell you, it's the ONLY way to commute if you have the option.
  • The main "island" was originally connected to the mainland to the northeast before a shipping channel was dredged. Conversely, Bay Farm Island is not named that way for marketing purposes, but because it was originally an island until connected to the mainland by landfill.
This article was last modified 11 years ago