I started this blog because I have collected so much information on the history of Oakland that I couldn’t wait to share. Posting in Facebook groups really isn’t the best outlet for me. I love sharing what I know and reading what others share. But things get lost on Facebook.
So with the help of my dear friend Phil (setup and how to), I got started and I was off running, well sort of. This should be easy I say to myself because, in my mind, I had already laid out actual pages and everything I wanted to say.
Wow, it really wasn’t that easy for me. I tend to get bogged down in the details. I worry about not getting my facts correct. It is hard for me to find a happy medium between too much and too little. So, this is a work in progress, so bear with me.
Down the hole, I Go
But I have digressed from the topic of this post. Often when researching one thing you find something else that has nothing to do with what you are looking for, but it piques your interest. That happens to me a lot.
You might know this as the “Internet rabbit hole” you know when you try to research one thing, and then accidentally go to Wikipedia, and then you are trying to find out what really happened to Jimmy Hoffa? That is it in a nutshell.
One rabbit hole I get sucked into often is I will see a picture like this one and want to know more about it.
- Location
- Is it still there?
Those two things can be very hard as sometimes the location is very vague and wrong. Sometimes the location is correct in the form of an address right below the picture. When looking up the location I am also curious as to who the house was being built for, were they famous or rich, maybe both?
I have compiled a lot of these pictures of newly built houses. I decided to create a map using Google Maps. The map I have created is called “What was there or still is… Oakland California”. I have already added lots of the homes that I have found while down in the rabbit hole.
What was there or still is… Oakland California
Description of the Map
Some from long ago and long gone, but some still there. Based on clippings, newspapers, and photos. May not be totally accurate as address numbers have changed and locations were often vague.
Maroon – Still there
Black – Gone
Yellow – Landmark
Green – Berkeley
Purple – Piedmont
Red – Questions – researching
Here is a link to the map. Click on it to see. Please feel free to share it.
I still have lots of pages in the works just have to get myself out of this hole.
This might help explain Rabbit Hole.
