Jack London Square is a neighborhood on the waterfront of

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, United States. Named after the author

Jack London John Griffith London (; January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors t ...

and owned by the

Port of Oakland The Port of Oakland is the port authority for the city of Oakland, California, United States. Its primary responsibilities are the operation of the Oakland Seaport and the Oakland International Airport. It also operates a commercial real est ...

, it is the home of stores, restaurants, hotels,

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

's Jack London Square station, a

San Francisco Bay Ferry San Francisco Bay Ferry is a public transit passenger ferry service in the San Francisco Bay, administered by the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA) and operated under contract by the privately owned Blue and ...

ferry dock A ferry slip is a specialized docking facility that receives a ferryboat or train ferry. A similar structure called a barge slip receives a barge or car float that is used to carry wheeled vehicles across a body of water. Often a ferry intended ...

, the historic Heinold's First and Last Chance Saloon, the (re-located) cabin where Jack London lived in the Klondike, and a movie theater. The former presidential yacht USS ''Potomac'' is moored at an adjacent slip.

History

The area developed as a warehouse and industrial district due to its proximity to major transportation, including the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...

(now Niles Subdivision) on Embarcadero West and the

Western Pacific Railroad The Western Pacific Railroad was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was formed in 1903 as an attempt to break the near-monopoly the Southern Pacific Railroad had on rail service into northern California. WP's Feather River Route dire ...

(now

Oakland Subdivision The Oakland Subdivision is a Union Pacific Railroad line in the U.S. state of California. It extends from Stockton in the east to Oakland, crossing the Diablo Range at Altamont Pass and traversing Niles Canyon. The line was originally built by ...

) on Third Street, as well as the

Oakland Estuary The Oakland Estuary is the strait in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, separating the cities of Oakland, California, Oakland and Alameda, California, Alameda and the Alameda (island), Alameda Island from the East Bay mainland. On its weste ...

. The area between Broadway, Webster, First Street (Embarcadero) and the estuary was named Jack London Square in 1951. On May 1, 1951, the area was formally dedicated and a plaque placed at the foot of Broadway.

Geography

Jack London Square is located at the south end of Broadway, across the

from

Alameda An alameda is a street or path lined with trees () and may refer to: Places Canada * Alameda, Saskatchewan, town in Saskatchewan ** Grant Devine Dam, formerly ''Alameda Dam'', a dam and reservoir in southern Saskatchewan Chile * Alameda (Santi ...

. The name has also come to refer to the formerly industrial neighborhood surrounding Jack London Square now known as the Jack London District, which has undergone significant rehabilitation in the last decade, including loft conversions and new construction. Former California Governor (and former Oakland mayor)

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic P ...

made his home here before moving north to the Uptown neighborhood.

Tenants and businesses

KTVU KTVU (channel 2) is a television station licensed to Oakland, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned and operated by the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network through its Fox Television Stations division along ...

(Channel 2), the Bay Area's Fox affiliate, has had studios at the Square since it began broadcasting on March 3, 1958, and the offices of the

are located there as well. The Square was also the temporary home of the ''

Oakland Tribune The ''Oakland Tribune'' was a daily newspaper published in Oakland, California, and a predecessor of the '' East Bay Times''. It was published by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of MediaNews Group. Founded in 1874, the ''Tribune'' ...

'' from 1989 to 1996 after the newspaper was forced to abandon the landmark downtown

Tribune Tower The Tribune Tower is a , 36-floor Gothic Revival architecture, neo-Gothic skyscraper located at 435 Magnificent Mile, North Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The early 1920s international design competition for the tower bec ...

due to damage it sustained in the

1989 Loma Prieta earthquake On October 17, 1989, at 5:04 p.m. Pacific Time Zone, PST, the Loma Prieta earthquake occurred at the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California. The shock was centered in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in Santa Cruz Cou ...

. Other businesses at Jack London Square range from the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...

team headquarters and software firm Navis LLC, to restaurants such as Farmhouse, Noka Ramen, Scott's Seafood and Yoshi's restaurant and jazz club. California Canoe & Kayak retail and kayak rental shop has been located in Jack London Square since 1993.

Railways and transit

A mainline railroad runs through the middle of Embarcadero West, with the train speed limit set at 15 mph (25 km/h). Trains served 16th Street station until earthquake damage in 1989; afterwards, that station was replaced in 1994 by the present-day Jack London Square station. The tracks running through Jack London Square are used by

BNSF BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that provide ...

and

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, ...

and

's ''

Capitol Corridor The ''Capitol Corridor'' is a passenger train route in Northern California operated by Amtrak between San Jose, California, San Jose, in the Bay Area, and Auburn, California, Auburn, in the Sacramento Valley. The route is named after the two ...

Coast Starlight The ''Coast Starlight'' is a Amtrak Long Distance, long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak on the West Coast of the United States between Seattle and Los Angeles via Portland, Oregon, Portland and the San Francisco Bay Area. The train, ...

'' and '' San Joaquin'' services. The trains share the road with automobiles,

AC Transit AC Transit is the main Public transport bus service, bus transit operator in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, California. AC Transit is the third largest bus operator in California, serving the western portions of Alameda and C ...

buses, and pedestrians. A second

Transbay Tube The Transbay Tube is an underwater rail tunnel that carries Bay Area Rapid Transit's four transbay lines under San Francisco Bay between the cities of San Francisco and Oakland, California, Oakland in California. The tube is long, and attaches ...

may include a

BART Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California. BART serves List of Bay Area Rapid Transit stations, 50 stations along six routes and of track, including eBART, a spur line running t ...

station at the square. Another possibility is an

aerial tramway An aerial tramway, aerial tram, sky tram, cable car or aerial cablecar, aerial cableway, ropeway, téléphérique (French), or Seilbahn (German) is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary cables for support, with a third movin ...

to BART stations in

downtown Oakland Downtown Oakland is the central business district of Oakland, California, United States. It is located roughly bounded by both the Oakland Estuary and Interstate 880 (California), Interstate 880 on the southwest, Interstate 980 on the north ...

Design and development

Jack London Square's most recent changes are adding more businesses, restaurants, and entertainment. Under lead developer Ellis Partners, Jack London Square's new architecture and public spaces are adding to the daytime and nighttime population and use. Recent new components include the 55 Harrison building, a mid-rise by RMW Architects in association with Steve Worthington. The public spaces by SWA Group extended the city to the waterfront by adding accessible waterfront spaces supporting a variety of programs and events from farmers markets to the popular festivals and events.King, John (2013-02-19). Giving Jack London Square a nip and tuck. SF Gate, 19 February 2013. Retrieved from http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/place/article/Giving-Jack-London-Square-a-nip-and-tuck-4290563.php.

References

External links

*
The Jack London District Association

The Jack London News
{{Jack London Neighborhoods in Oakland, California Redeveloped ports and waterfronts in the United States Lincoln Highway Street running Tourist attractions in Oakland, California Shopping districts and streets in the San Francisco Bay Area Jack London San Francisco Bay Trail Port of Oakland