The History of Jack London Square
Today, tourists and Oakland residents strolling down the water’s edge at Jack London Square only see wide sidewalks, colorful shops, and perhaps a good place to grab dinner later on. While the square has always been at the heart of Oakland, it wasn’t always a great place to take such a leisurely stroll. Before Jack London Square was reborn as a place of modern commerce, it was an important port and industrial center, and a playground for its namesake author who found inspiration while playing near the square’s waterfront.
A Bustling Port
Jack London Square sits next to a natural estuary, a sheltered area that functions as a path to the San Francisco Bay, and beyond that, to the Pacific. Because of Oakland’s central location and nearness to the agricultural mecca of the Central Valley, the square was born as an important industrial transportation hub and shipping center in the 19th century.
Due to this great location, railroad lines quickly found their way to the square, including the main line of the famous Transcontinental Railroad and two passenger depots of the Central Pacific Railroad. A streetcar line ran along Oakland’s main drag, Broadway, bringing local citizens to this transportation center. It was natural for warehouses and other industrial complexes to spring up in the Jack London Square area, due to the proximity to the port and the many transportation options nearby.
Now, imagine a boyhood Jack London, playing near the waterfront at the end of Broadway, stealing oysters out of beds in the estuary. His youthful exploits here would help inspire his distinctive natural tales like Sea Wolf and White Fang. If you walk through Jack London Square, you can see the historic Heinold’s First and Last Chance Saloon, a bar built out of the innards of an old whaling ship in 1883, where London scrawled notes and outlines for future tales. Heinold’s was a mixture of people and ideas, including sailors and men working the nearby oyster beds, as well as politicians, artists, writers, and other thinkers. Heinold’s Saloon, now a National Literary Landmark, sits next to a re-creation of the rustic cabin that London lived in while spending time in the Yukon, Canada’s westernmost territory.
The Square Today
Today, the area surrounding the square is still a bustling port filled with commerce, but it has a distinctly different feel. Oakland’s former mayor and current California governor Jerry Brown helped spearhead a rejuvenation effort in the late 90s and early 2000’s, which began transforming old warehouses into residential spaces. Now, the Jack London District has its own residents, few of whom are sailors or workers in the oyster beds. A vibrant area of shops and restaurants lines the square, highlighting the area’s rich history and its continuing importance to the city of Oakland.
Sources:
History. (2011) JackLondonSquare.com
