History Walking Tours

As part of our commitment to educate and inform about local history, we are presenting an ongoing series of walking tours around Alameda. Join our award-winning Historian Dennis Evanosky for leisurely walks that will leave you with a greater appreciation and understanding of Alameda’s history. We will explore a wide range of topics including early residents, architecture, the environment, transportation, cultures, and other topics of historical significance.

Each tour will meet at the time and date stated and will end where it started. Our walks will cover 90–100 minutes over 1–2 miles. We suggest you wear comfortable shoes as well as sunblock, and bring water. Mobility devices, strollers (kids under 4 are FREE!), and well-behaved (or especially cute) dogs are always welcome.

We are using money raised to cover some of the expenses incurred running a nonprofit news and information source to serve Alameda. We hope you will join us and have some fun learning about Alameda’s history!

Upcoming Tours

Alameda Point - Former NAS in Two Parts

Part 1: Sunday, October 8 and Saturday, October 14.

Part 2: Saturday, October 21 and Sunday, October 29.

Join Alameda Post Historian Dennis Evanosky and Publisher Adam Gillitt throughout October for a two-part series of tours exploring Alameda Point, formerly Naval Air Station Alameda. We will learn how the landscape developed from a marshland and the waters of San Francisco Bay to railroad wharves, to a pair of airports, a naval air station, and finally to today’s Alameda Point. We will discuss the recent history and development of the area as well. The first tour of the series will be offered on two dates: Sunday, October 8 and again on Saturday, October 14. The second tour in the series will also be offered on two different days: Saturday, October 21 and again on Sunday, October 29. We will meet at 10 a.m. each day. Tickets are available online for $20 each.

Part 1: Sunday, October 8 and Saturday, October 14.

During the first tour of series, held on Sunday, October 8 or Saturday, October 14, Dennis will cover the history of the area north of West Tower Ave. We’ll have an up-front look at the 1874 seawall, see where the South Pacific Coast Railroad trains (and the Big Reds) made their way to the “Alameda Mole.” You’ll learn why Main Street is on the edge of town (instead of where it really belongs) and stand where Army Air Corps planes once took to the air. We will meet at 10 a.m. under the “plane on a stick” at the Main Gate at the end of Main Street, past the Ferry Terminal. The tour will end at the Alameda Naval Air Museum.

Part 2: Saturday, October 21 and Sunday, October 29.

The second part of the series will meet at 10 a.m., Saturday, October 21 or Sunday October 29. Dennis will explore the area south of West Tower Ave.—the area around the USS Hornet and Seaplane Lagoon. We will meet at the Seaplane Lagoon Ferry Terminal. We will have a first-hand look at the history plaques at Seaplane Lagoon and see where the San Francisco & Alameda Railroad carried passengers on its 1864 pier—the same pier that welcomed transcontinental railroad passengers five years later. Then we’ll say “hey” to the seals hanging out near Encinal Beach. We will end the tour at the USS Hornet Museum.

Park Avenue and Environs

Saturday, November 4 and Sunday, November 12. Details to come.

Previous Tours

Sept. 23 and Oct. 1, 2023 – Eagle Avenue and Environs

Marcuse & Remmel built homes on the 1200 blocks of Eagle and Pacific avenues in the 1890s. Folks who lived these homes in the late 19th and early 20th century enjoyed the peace and quiet of their rural neighborhood, until a series of “improvements” north of their homes changed everything.

Alameda Post - a newspaper ad with a drawing of a house to advertise Maruse & Remmel — An ad for Marcuse and Remmel in the Alameda Daily Argus in 1898.

We’ll see five of their 1891 creations on the north side of the 1200 block of Eagle Avenue, all designed by their in-house architects, Cary and Johnson, and all purchased by a one investor, Mrs. E. A. S. Page. The firm also purchased property on the north side of the 1200 block of Pacific Avenue. We’ll walk two blocks up Bay Street and have a look at the eight homes Marcuse and Remmel built in 1895. The firm built six homes on the 1300 block of Pacific as well—all in 1895.

We’ll also look at the advancements in transportation that shaped the neighborhood, including the airport known as Sunset Field, dredging the Estuary to make Government Island, the rise and fall of the Belt Line railroad, and Calpak, later better known as Del Monte, who transported their products by rail and sea from their warehouse on Buena Vista Ave.

Join Alameda Post’s Adam Gillitt and Dennis Evanosky as they explore homes along the 1200 blocks of Eagle and Pacific avenues built by Marcuse and Remmel. They will also have a look at the transitions in transportation taking place not far away. Dennis will point to the changes neighbors endured in the early 20^th century and we’ll see what’s there today. Meet at 10 a.m., Saturday, Sept. 23, and Sunday, Oct. 1, at the Bay Eagle Community Garden at the intersection of Bay Street and Eagle Avenue.

Read Dennis’ articles – There Goes the Neighborhood and Marcuse & Remmel: Up Close and Personal.

Advance Tickets are $20. We advise purchasing your tickets in advance to ensure your place on the day of the tour. If space permits, additional tickets may be available at the beginning of the tour.

August 10 & Sept. 12, 2023 – Alameda’s Northern Waterfront

Read Dennis’ article Shipbuilding on Alameda’s North Shore.

Join the Alameda Post’s Historian, Dennis Evanosky, for a stroll along the City’s northern waterfront, home to major shipbuilding sites for most of the first half of the 20th Century. As we walk, Dennis will untangle a complicated story that involves United Engineering Works in 1900, James Dickie in 1901, Union Iron Works in 1905, and the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Company in 1916. We’ll see the sites where these massive ships were built and launched and discuss what has become of the area since the shipbuilding industry waned, and how Measure A played a role in the destruction of a City Monument.

Meet at 10 a.m either day at the foot of Mariner Square Drive just east of Pasta Pelican, and join us for a stroll along the waterfront to Wind River Park.

August 6 &12, 2023 – A.A. Cohen and His Fernside Estate

Join the Alameda Post’s Adam Gillitt and Dennis Evanosky at 10 a.m., Sunday, August 6 or 10 a.m. Saturday, August 12, for an informative stroll through Alfred A. and Emilie Cohen’s impressive Fernside estate. We’ll meet at property’s former entrance and discover the exact location of the impressive home, the bowling alley, the stables, and other outbuildings.

The home with all its trappings was said to have cost the staggering sum of $300,000. In Ultimate Victorians, Elinor Richey described the Cohens’ home as, “the most splendid of all Italianate villas in the East Bay.”

Read Dennis’ article A.A. Cohen’s Fernside Estate

When Emilie died in 1925, the children subdivided the estate and sold the property to developer Fred Wood. All that’s left to remind us of the grand estate’s existence in Alameda is the neighborhood’s name and a boulevard that echoes, “Fernside.”

Meet us at the intersection of Buena Vista and Versailles avenues. Dennis will talk about Alfred and Emilie’ seemingly contradictory backgrounds—enslavers on Alfred’s side and Quakers on Emilie’s—and tell more of the history of the Cohen’s estate and the neighborhood created on its grounds by Fred Wood.

July 16 & 22, 2023 – Tregloan Court and The East End

Join Alameda Post historian Dennis Evanosky and publisher Adam Gillitt at 10 a.m., Sunday, July 16, for an exploration of the neighborhood surrounding the East End’s Tregloan Court. If you can’t make it on Saturday, plan on joining us at 10 a.m., Saturday, July 22.

Meet us on Buena Vista Avenue just across from Tregloan Court (between Pearl Street and Versailles Avenue). Dennis will discuss and dispel a pair of fables associated with the court, and we’ll explore the neighborhood and investigate how it was developed.

See Dennis’ article: What’s in a Name? Tregloan Court

We’ll discuss street names and architectural styles. Dennis will point out details on the homes that will help you distinguish a Queen Anne from a Colonial Revival. We’ll have a look at an Italianate home, and you’ll learn how those Storybook Style homes on Pearl Street and Versailles Avenue evolved from the Doughboys’ imaginings to reality.

Who (or what) is the Pearl of Pearl Street? How did the laying out of Lincoln Avenue get resolved in the California Supreme Court? What impediment once stretched along the eastern side of Versailles Avenue. What famous (in his day) photographer made his home in the neighborhood? And what is the story behind those small homes on Tregloan Court?

Join us and we will answer all those questions and more on the tour!

June 17 & 25, 2023 –Taylor Avenue and Alameda’s West End

Read more in Dennis’ article, Reading the West End.

Join the Alameda Post’s Dennis Evanosky and Adam Gillitt at 10 a.m., Saturday, June 17, to learn how to read a neighborhood. We’ll start at the Healing Garden at the corner of Taylor Avenue and Webster Street in Alameda’s West End. Along the way, we’ll have a close look at all the architectural styles and learn how to identify each one we see. Isn’t that one Queen Anne? How do you know that one is a bungalow? What’s the earliest style we can find? And the latest?

We won’t come across a single an Arts and Crafts style home. There’s no such thing. And we won’t see any Victorians. Not a single one exists in Alameda. We’ll see some towers, for sure. Will we see any turrets? We’ll come across some dentils, but will we see any quoins?

By the time we’re finished, you will be able to talk about all the different Victorian-era styles of homes. You’ll know at least three features of each style. We’ll, no doubt, come across a jerkinhead roof or two and too many naked protruding beams to count. What’s the difference between a column and a pillar? Is that column fluted? What kind of order defines the column? Ionic? Or is that Doric?

We’ll have fun answering all these questions and more. If you can’t join us on Saturday, June 17, we’ll repeat the same tour at the same place and time on Sunday, June 25.

May 28 & June 3, 2023 – Determining Architectural Styles

It’s hard for many to believe, but Alameda does not have a single Victorian home. The City, however, is a treasure trove of homes built in Victorian-era styles. Join the Alameda Post’s Dennis Evanosky and Adam Gillitt at 10 a.m., Sunday, May 28, or Saturday June 3, at the corner of Cottage Street and Santa Clara Avenue. Dennis will talk about as many of these styles as we encounter. He’ll discuss each of these and give you three or more elements that will help you identify them. Elements like brackets and spindles, dentils and cornice lines, pendants and finials, arches and columns, towers and turrets.

Learn which orders top a column: Corinthian, Ionic, Doric, or Eclectic. By the end of the tour, you’ll know the difference between a hipped and a jerkinhead roof, be able to identify a mansard roof, and distinguish between a stoop and a porch.

Most importantly, you’ll go home knowing that there are no Victorians in Alameda, after all. Let’s find out how many Victorian-era styles we can find (and see what happened after Victoria died and the twentieth century dawned with new styles.) We’ll have fun along the way and, no, there won’t be a test.

Read more in Dennis’ article, Let’s Solve a Mystery.

May 6 & 14, 2023 – Bygone Bay Farm: The Developers Arrive

Read more in Dennis’ article, Building Out Bay Farm Island.

Join Alameda Post historian Dennis Evanosky as he concludes his three-part walking tour of Bay Farm Island. He will give participants a first-hand look at how Bay Farm developed from a farming community to neighborhoods of homes. He will include the ABC drives of the Uplands, the original developments by Braddock & Logan, the partnership between Utah Construction and Doric Development, and how the Committee of Concerned Citizens passed 1973’s Measure A.

Meet at 10 a.m. at the Bay Farm Library, 3321 Mecartney Rd. for a leisurely two-bridge stroll through Harbor Bay Isle as Dennis shares the story of how all of Bay Farm Island developed. Advance tickets are $20, and a limited number of tickets may be available at the start of each tour.

April 16 & 22, 2023 – Bygone Bay Farm: Asparagus, Oysters, and Hops

Read more in Dennis’ article, Oysters Once Dominated Bay Farm’s Economy.

Join the Alameda Post’s Dennis Evanosky and Adam Gillitt for an imaginary walk through the farmlands that once covered Bay Farm Island. We’ll peel back the homes with our time machine to meet the people who made their living from farming the “Uplands” rich soil that produced asparagus and hops as cash crops.

Dennis will share stories of many Bay Farm families throughout history, including the Rattos, the Silvas, the McDonells, the Benedicts, and Leas. Our look back to the past will include tales of the oyster farmers, oyster pirates and the oyster patrols the likes of which even included author Jack London. “I wanted to be where the winds of adventure blew. And the winds of adventure blew the oyster pirate sloops up and down San Francisco Bay,” London wrote in his semi-autobiographical novel John Barleycorn. Join us as we visit the farms of the past and seek London’s “winds of adventure.”

We’ll meet at Harrington Park by the corner of Oleander Avenue and Holly Street at 10 a.m., Sunday, April 16, or at 10 a.m., Saturday, April 22.

Play Video

March 18 & April 2, 2023 – Bay Farm Island B. C.

Join Alameda Post’s award-winning Historian, Dennis Evanosky, for a walking tour on Bay Farm Island on Saturday, March 18, or Sunday, ~~March 19~~ April 2 at 10 a.m. Sunday’s tour has been postponed due to the weather.

Each tour will explore the area that was known as “Wind Whistle Island.” We’ll learn about the early days of oyster farmers before Amos Mecartney created arable land from the marsh. We’ll see how destroyers were sunk and where the airport stood before the Oakland airport took over, and much more along the way.

Learn more about the history of Bay Farm Island in the 19th Century in Dennis’ article, “Bay Farm Island B. C. – Before Cowan.”

We’ll meet at 10.a.m. on either day at Tillman Park along Auginbaugh Way. Tickets are $20 each. Limited tickets may be available on the day of the tour.

February 25 & March 5, 2023 – Gold Coast Architecture: Caroline and Weber streets

Join Alameda Post’s award-winning Historian, Dennis Evanosky, for walking tours in the Gold Coast on Saturday, February 25, or Sunday, March 5, at 10 a.m.

Both tours will cover the history and architecture of Caroline and Weber streets. We’ll learn about the notable architects—not just Marcuse & Remmel—who designed and built homes on the 1200 and 1300 blocks of these Gold Coast streets. The architectural firms of Delanoy & Randelett, Wasson & Pattiani, and Ernest Coxhead designed homes here. Builders that include George W. Scott, David S. Brehaut, and Peter Christensen also plied their trades in the neighborhood. We will also learn personal details about some of the people who lived in the historic homes there.

Learn more about the history of Caroline Street and the woman it was named for in Dennis’ article, “The Gold Coast’s Caroline Street.”

We’ll meet at 10.a.m. on either day at the intersection of Caroline Street and Fair Oaks Ave. Tickets are $20 each. Limited tickets may be available on the day of the tour.

February 12, 2023 – Teutonia Park and Homestead

Join award winning Historian Dennis Evanosky and the Alameda Post for a walking tour of St. Charles Street and the surrounding neighborhood. We’ll learn how a wealthy merchant family and an association of German investors shaped much of what we know today as “The Gold Coast.”

January 29, 2023 – The Architecture of Paru Street

We’ll get to know not only the various styles of the Victorian-era homes and have a look at some of the architects and builders who gave us these gems. These include A.W. Pattiani, John Wasson, Charles Shaner, Fuller Claflin, Otto Collishon, Frederick Bamann, and, of course, Felix Marcuse and Julius Remmel. I’ll talk about some of these talented men and more as we go along.

We can also talk about some of the owners and even have a look at a home visited by, of all people, Prince Albert of Flanders. We can also see where a family of artists lived. One of their relatives came up with the idea of and painted the bear we use today as one of California’s symbols. Did you know that a dentist once lived on Paru Street. His name? Dr. Gore. Yikes!

Dennis will share these and other fun facts along the way.