| Oakland is the eighth-largest
city in the U.S. state of California and a major West Coast port
city, located on San Francisco Bay about eight miles east of the city of
San Francisco.
Oakland grew initially from
having its hillside oak and redwood timber resources logged to build San
Francisco, and Oakland's fertile flatland soils helped it become a prolific
agricultural region. In the late 1860s, Oakland was selected as the western
terminus of the Transcontinental Railroad. It continued to grow into the
20th century with its port, shipyards, and a thriving automobile industry.
Following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, many San Franciscans left
that city's destruction, and a great number of Oakland's homes were built
during the 1910s and 1920s. An extensive streetcar network connected most
of Oakland's neighborhoods to inter-city rail lines and to ferry lines.
Oakland is home to several
major corporations including Kaiser Permanente and Clorox, as well as corporate
headquarters for nationwide businesses like Dreyer's and Cost Plus World
Markets.
Oakland is also the home
of Rocky Road ice cream, and the Mai Tai cocktail. It has enjoyed a thriving
West Coast blues scene, and can claim numerous prominent homegrown musicians
representing genres such as rhythm and blues, funk, punk and hip hop. Recreational
attractions include the Fox Theater, the Paramount Theater, Jack London
Square, Lake Merritt, the Oakland Estuary, the Oakland Zoo, the Oakland
Museum of California, the Chabot Space and Science Center, Oracle Arena,
the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, the East Bay Regional Park District
ridge line parks and preserves, and Chinatown.
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