Alameda Recreation and Parks Department Saturday Walk: Old Alameda Street Names

I have covered this before. I live in the city of Alameda which is located near Oakland and San Francisco. Our city has an Alameda Recreation and Parks Department that provides advice, coordination, and guidance on parks and recreational facilities in the city. One of the activities they conduct is called Alameda Walks where they invite Alameda residents to lace up their walking shoes, bring family, friends, and neighbors and join them on an hour-long walk on the 1^st and 2^nd Saturday mornings of each month, May through October. For those who are new to Alameda or have lived there for decades, this is a great way to begin a Saturday morning exploring neighborhoods and learning about the history of Alameda.

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This past Saturday, the walk started at Franklin Park. Named after statesman, Benjamin Franklin, in 1923, the park rests on land that was formerly the homestead of Charles and Eliza Bound. Charles was a fur exporter who came to Alameda in 1849 from Mexico. Charles married Eliza when he was 41. She was 16. Eww. Construction of the park started in 1922 when the land was refurbished by unemployed men. The funds for doing so were voluntarily contributed by nearby residents.

One of the fun facts from this walk was that at one time, around 1875, a section of Alameda had streets named after birds and fish. The bird-named streets ran north to south. The fish-named streets ran east to west.

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Not only did I not know this, I had not even heard of a few of these creatures.

THEME	IMAGE	Old Name	Current Name
FISH		Paru Street	Paru Street
		Perch Street	Hibbard Street
		Leviathan Street	Grand Avenue
		Dolphin Street (not a fish)	Minturn Street
		Pike Street	Union Street
		Trout Street	Schiller Street
		Salmon Street	Lafayette Street
		Minnow Street	Chestnut Avenue
		Bass Street	Willow Street
		Pampino Street	Walnut Street
		Mullet Street	Oak Street
BIRD		Condor Street	Clement Avenue
		Eagle Street	Eagle Avenue
		Falcon Street	Buena Vista Avenue
		Dove Street	Pacific Avenue
		Linnet Street	Lincoln Avenue
		Quail Street	Santa Clara Avenue

So what's up with the street versus avenue naming?

• A street is a small road made between two rows of houses. In other words, a street has houses on both sides. A street is a single road, with or without extension. A street is normally not characterized by the presence of heavy traffic. ^{[DifferenceBetween.com]}

• An avenue, more often than not, has buildings and offices, shops, banks, commercial establishments and the like. An avenue is generally a confluence of several roads. In North American, an avenue is a thoroughfare running at right angles to the streets in a city. There is normally a lot of traffic on an avenue. ^{[DifferenceBetween.com]}

Oh, how the times have changed.

Want more information like this? Our walking-tour guides were Dennis Evanosky and Eric Kos who have published a book:

More info on the book.

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This was another fun way to spend an hour on Saturday morning. Maybe I should get Alameda to load the city in Autodesk InfraWorks 360?

Autodesk InfraWorks 360 example

How cool would that be? Stakeholders could learn a lot from the former birds and fish.

Local history is once again alive in the lab.