Leona Heights Neighborhood News

by Gordon Laverty

What a great day when a community grows closer together! The late-September Leona Heights Area history walk was such a time. And, in a way, the walk through historic parts of our neighborhood celebrated the growth of the Leona Heights Improvement Association by the over-100 homes on Mountain Boulevard, Belfast, Bermuda, and Knoll Avenues, and Observatory Lane.

The walk itself was for local folks who had not tied together our area's rich history from 1889 to the present. Some 30 walkers trekked up the Belfast-Bermuda fire trail to view the source of Original Americans' pigment supplies. They also learned about the early 1900s tramway system that carried crushed rock by a beltway to train cars parked on the track below the end of Knoll Avenue in old Laundry Farm Canyon (now part of Highway 13). A hike up McDonnell Avenue to its top took the group to the old entrance to the Leona Mine and its tailings dump, where early mining history was reviewed, starting with the "Oakland gold strike of 1889" fool's gold, of course.

Then a trip back into the old days and recreation sites among them the Leona Hotel and Leona Park, both rich in lore, and finally a stroll past the old Stern residence at Leona and Griffin. This home, now known as the Fitzpatrick residence, was originally a pavilion at the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in the Marina, San Francisco. It was, after the fair, cut into six sections and taken by barge to Oakland, up to the present site, and reassembled.

The walk was a fine way to get to know each other and to share local history notes. We welcome all new Leona Heights residents, as we share a common heritage and take part in its ongoing saga.

We have just completed another baseball World Series, so you might enjoy this local tidbit: The first Oakland baseball game of any significance was played in 1866 in our own Dimond District! Our Oakland team was recruited that day from among the spectators. Called the Oaks, they played a more experienced San Francisco team. At the end of the first inning, San Francisco was ahead 25-0. But the Oaks caught on fast, and after nine innings and a scuffle and an incident in which one official was knocked out by a bat, the Oaks won, 87-39. Go A's!

As a closer, we thought you would like to know that Leona Heights was annexed to the City of Oakland in 1909. Go Oakland!