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Telegraph Avenue is a street that begins, at its southernmost point, in the midst of the historic downtown district of
Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the ...
, and ends, at its northernmost point, at the southern edge of the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...
campus in
Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...
. It is approximately 4.5 miles (7 km) in length. Among some Berkeley residents, especially
University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, University of Califor ...
students, ''Telegraph'' refers mainly to a four-block section just south of the university, from Bancroft Way (which borders the campus) to Dwight Way. As a center of campus and community life, this section of Telegraph Avenue is home to many restaurants, bookstores, and clothing shops, along with street vendors occupying its wide sidewalks. Here Telegraph Avenue attracts a diverse audience of visitors, including college students, tourists, hippies, artists, street punks, eccentrics, and the homeless.


Origins

Telegraph Avenue originated from several separately named thoroughfares. In 1859, a
telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...
line was constructed between Oakland and Martinez by the Alta Telegraph Company, and the existing roads which ran alongside it were then renamed "Telegraph Road". The segment of the Telegraph Road which ran from downtown Oakland out to the Peralta estate in Temescal was first known as the "Peralta Road". The segment which ran to and up Harwood's (now Claremont) Canyon was first known as "Harwood's Road", named for William Harwood, an early Oakland politician who leased grazing land in the canyon. The Telegraph Road followed the route of present-day Telegraph Avenue from Downtown Oakland to Temescal, then ran along what is now the route of Claremont Avenue up to the summit of the
Berkeley Hills The Berkeley Hills are a range of the Pacific Coast Ranges that overlook the northeast side of the valley that encompasses San Francisco Bay. They were previously called the "Contra Costa Range/Hills" (from the original Spanish ''Sierra de l ...
where it became Fish Ranch Road. In Berkeley, the trustees of the private
College of California The College of California was a private college in Oakland, California. It is a predecessor of the public University of California system. It was established in 1853 as the Contra Costa Academy. In 1868, it merged with the nascent Agricultural ...
(the predecessor of the
University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, University of Califor ...
) laid out a residential subdivision south of their new campus in order to finance its construction. The streets were named alphabetically from east to west; the third street was named "Choate Street", after
Rufus Choate Rufus Choate (October 1, 1799July 13, 1859) was an American lawyer, orator, and Senator who represented Massachusetts as a member of the Whig Party. He is regarded as one of the greatest American lawyers of the 19th century, arguing over a th ...
. Oakland subsequently extended a road to connect with Berkeley's Choate, but named it "Humboldt Avenue". Oakland's first
horsecar A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is an animal-powered (usually horse) tram or streetcar. Summary The horse-drawn tram (horsecar) was an early form of public rail transport, w ...
line was built in 1869 and ran along Telegraph Road to 36th Street. It was extended to Temescal a year later, then to the university campus via Humboldt and Choate after the university relocated from Oakland in 1873. A business district grew up along Choate Street. The horsecar line was eventually replaced by a steam dummy line, and later by an electric streetcar line. This transportation corridor stimulated the development of neighborhoods along its route, as well as an amusement park,
Idora Park Idora Park was a Victorian era trolley park in north Oakland, California constructed in 1904 on the site of an informal park setting called Ayala Park on the north banks of Temescal Creek. It was leased by the Ingersoll Pleasure and Amusement P ...
, between 56th and 58th Streets. When the segment of the Telegraph Road leading up to Harwood's Canyon was renamed "Claremont" to suit the interests of a developer of the district (see
Claremont, Oakland/Berkeley, California The Claremont district is a neighborhood straddling the city limits of Oakland and Berkeley in the East Bay section of the San Francisco Bay Area in California, United States. The main thoroughfares are Claremont and Ashby Avenues. The name "C ...
), the cities of Berkeley and Oakland opted to change Humboldt and Choate to Telegraph since Oakland's portion of the thoroughfare was already aligned with what remained of the old Telegraph Road between the new Claremont and downtown Oakland. The Town Trustees of Berkeley made the change by
ordinance Ordinance may refer to: Law * Ordinance (Belgium), a law adopted by the Brussels Parliament or the Common Community Commission * Ordinance (India), a temporary law promulgated by the President of India on recommendation of the Union Cabinet * ...
on October 10, 1892. The last segment of the old Telegraph Road, the portion that ran up the canyon to the summit of the Berkeley Hills, was renamed Claremont Road by the Oakland City Council on February 14, 1913, acting on a petition by the owners of the Claremont Hotel.


Early-mid 20th century

In 1910, Sather Gate was built at the northern end of Telegraph Avenue. The university built Sproul Hall on Telegraph in the 1940s. In the 1950s the campus expanded south to Bancroft Way; Telegraph Avenue was shortened by 1½ blocks and buildings were demolished to make room for Sproul Plaza and several other new buildings including the new student union building. The Berkeley end of Telegraph Avenue, along with Sproul Plaza, has been the site of numerous protests and riots beginning in the 1960s. In 1969, Telegraph was the site of massive confrontation between police and demonstrators during the conflict over People's Park. Alameda County Sheriff's deputies killed one man (James Rector) and permanently blinded another (Alan Blanchard) when they fired buckshot loaded shotguns at people sitting on the roof above Telegraph Ave. At one point, protesters were chased down Telegraph as far as Willard Junior High School (now Willard Middle School) at Derby Street, with Sheriff's deputies firing teargas canisters onto the school grounds. The 1960s also saw the construction of the Grove Shafter Freeway, which parallels Telegraph Avenue half a block west, between Downtown Oakland and 56th Street. The freeway created a wall between Telegraph Avenue and present day Martin Luther King Jr. Way (formerly Grove Street), and sliced the Temescal District in half.


Post-Vietnam War era

The events of the 1960s and 1970s had made Telegraph, as well as Berkeley, a symbol of the counterculture of the 1960s. Over the next couple of decades the Berkeley end of Telegraph became home to increasing numbers of homeless people and panhandlers, and by the 1990s had become a destination point for runaways from around the United States. The numbers of panhandlers have decreased since a series of police sweeps in the late 1990s. University students remain the largest daily population on Telegraph, which still serves as the anchor of food, culture and student life on the south side of campus. More recently, a Korean business district has emerged just south of Temescal along Telegraph Ave. Attempts to change the name of the area to Koreatown have led to controversy, as most residents of the surrounding neighborhoods do not identify as Korean or Korean-American. A large
Ethiopian Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts of ...
and Eritrean population has also resulted in a string of Ethiopian restaurants, cafes and social clubs, stretching along Telegraph from about 30th Street in Oakland all the way into Berkeley. As a result of heavy foot traffic and the narrow width of the street, the area near the Berkeley campus is designated as a one-way street by the city, and there have been talks of completely eliminating car access, a topic still hotly debated in the city council. A proposal by
AC Transit AC Transit (Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District) is an Oakland-based public transit agency serving the western portions of Alameda and Contra Costa counties in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. AC Transit also operates "Transbay" r ...
to build a Bus rapid transit line on Telegraph has stirred up controversy, especially on the northern end where it might result in the elimination of parking and/or car access.


See also

*
Cathedral Building The Cathedral Building (originally named the Federal Realty Building), built in 1914, was the first Gothic Revival style skyscraper west of the Mississippi River, located in Oakland, California. Description and history It is also called the ...
* Cody's Books * daliel's Bookstore * Gutter punk *
Oaksterdam Oaksterdam is a cultural district on the north end of Downtown Oakland, Downtown Oakland, California, where medical cannabis is available for purchase in cafés, clubs, and patient dispensaries. Oaksterdam is located between downtown proper, the L ...
* Southside, Berkeley, California *
Uptown Oakland Uptown Oakland is a neighborhood in Oakland, California, located in the northern end of Downtown. It is located roughly between West Grand Avenue to the north, Interstate 980 to the west, City Center and 14th Street to the south, and Broadway to ...


References


External links


Telegraph Street FairObservations of Telegraph Avenue in the late 1960s and early 1970s
{{Authority control Streets in Berkeley, California Streets in Oakland, California Shopping districts and streets in the San Francisco Bay Area Bookstore neighborhoods Culture of Berkeley, California History of Berkeley, California Koreatowns in the United States Tourist attractions in Berkeley, California