An Isle of Isles
This week, I learned that a portion of the main island was actually underwater until the 1960s. My human companion (HC) is on the City of Alameda Healthcare District Board and is part of the team developing their new website. He was looking at a bunch of old pictures and one of them showed the 1925 Alameda Hospital building right on the shoreline.
It turns out all the area around Otis Drive and all of South Shore Shopping Center was filled in. Apparently, the residents that were going to lose their bay view convinced somebody to reimagine that view by adding some lagoons. I decided to check out the area for myself.
Grand Street is a good place to view the original shoreline. You can see the Eighth Street & Burbank Street palm trees looking west.
I walked some of the streets to check out the houses that were built on the new land and found your typical neighborhood setting and well-maintained yards.
It is interesting to see that the new streets are all referred to as ‘Isles’ which prompted me to look up the meaning of Isle. From Google: an isle is a noun meaning an island, esp. a small one. This was very confusing for me, because these fingers of land that protrude into the lagoon are only surrounded by water on three sides making them a peninsula which is defined as: “a piece of land almost surrounded by water or projecting out into a body of water.” I think a name change is in order.
This week, the folks over at the California Historical Radio Society made some real progress on the organization’s restoration of the original AT&T building located at 2152 Central Ave. Looks like the door needs to be installed and the greenery planted. The contractor has set the bricks containing the names of the people that donated money for the project by buying a brick into the front walkway. I hope the Society gets full recognition for all the time and money that went into this project.
And, speaking of progress on major construction projects, the folks renovating the building at 1619 Central Ave. are also making great advances, especially if one uses the size to the debris plie out front as a guide. I am also seeing paint on the outside. All good signs.
All this construction has motivated my HC to get off his 🫏 and do some needed repairs like painting the front steps. Unfortunately, he miscalculated how long it takes for primer to dry, and he got a second opportunity to “brush up” on his painting skills. (Yeah, I did write that pun.)
Last Sunday saw us all turning our clocks back an hour so that it is lighter in the morning for my 6 a.m. walk and darker for the 5 p.m. one. It’s also getting colder and the leaves are turning color and dropping into what I call “Nature’s Mosaic”
While the B-EV is nonpartisan and I stay far away from anything political, my job as the roving reporter is to document what I see on the streets of Alameda, and I found a cute sign in front of the house at the corner of Grant Street and Central Avenue. So, even though the election is over, I still wanted to share this image.
Now that the election is over, here’s hoping that we can all get along.
Mouf, Roving Reporter
Bear’s-Eye View of Alameda
Mouf and his human companion can be reached via [email protected]. Their stories are collected at AlamedaPost.com/Jeff-Cambra/. All photos and videos by Jeff Cambra.
