Irene Walks "Alameda Walks"

I had read all about these walks, and although 9:00 am seemed "frightfully early" I decided to join today's group starting at Jackson Park.  Today's walk focused on A.A. Cohen, early developer who bought the property from Central to the San Francisco Bay through Jackson Park.  Cohen studied for his law degree while incarcerated in San Francisco.   He wanted to develop the land in a similar manner to South Park where the most wealthy lived in San Francisco around an oval.  Jackson Park is 1/2 an oval.  

Next stop was across Central facing the Islander Motel site of the William Gibbons Mansion. Gibbons, a horticulturist, visited Australia and returned with eucalyptus tree seeds, planting one in front of his home there.   Across Park Avenue from the Gibbons Mansion was the Opera House and across Central extending to Webb St. was the Alameda Hotel, really an insane asylum  surrounded by a high wooden fence, containing beautiful live oak trees and restful grounds.

 Dennis Evanosky tells us about the William Gibbons Mansion

From there we walked down Everett to Webb and Noble Street.   Nobel, an architect built is signature bungalows down that street toward Broadway and his places are noted by the upsidedown V shaped roofs, giving the places an Asian feel.

Crossing Broadway we were led to Edison School and the corner of Versailles and Buena Vista, the site of the entrance to the grounds of the Cohen estate.

Eric Kos tells us about the Cohen estate and how it burned, leaving Cohen's widow, Emilie, to live in the bowling alley there.   When she died her seven children quickly sold off their shares of the property.

Finally we advanced to the corner of Lincoln and Park Street which was the site of the major train station which was to become a link in the transatlantic railroad, a dream of Cohen's.  To the far left in my photo (click for a better view) is the back of a blue house, formerly the home of the great flyer, Jimmy Doolittle.  The area north of the train station was occupied by squatters who claimed rights to much of the land owned by Chipman and Aughinbaugh.   These squatters usually won their court cases as the judge was usually a squatter as well.

Well, I have to say I'm hooked on these walks.  Kos and Evanosky will lead walks on the second Saturday of each month during the summer, while naturalists, historians, and architectural tours are also scheduled.   These walks are put on by the City Recreation and Parks Dept, and the group, Pedestrian Friendly Alameda.  Walk schedules can be found here.
http://www.pedfriendly.org/alamedawalks_schedule.html

Alameda: An Architectural Treasure Chest and other books:



I have only briefly described the information that was given us this morning.  I hope to see and hear more every weekend this summer.