Tour B - Port of Oakland, Rosie the Riveter, Red Oak, and Richmond - Tour Guide

Middle Harbor Shorline Park, Port of Oakland

Our first stop will be Middle Harbor Shoreline Park in the middle of the Port of Oakland. The park was the site of the Oakland Naval Supply Center, which was the main supply depot for the Pacific Fleet in WWII and beyond. It has been transformed into a park with a rich mix of history, environmental and contemporary industry on display. There are very few places where one can see a busy container port in operation, close up. We will have Celia McCarthy from the Port of Oakland there to help interpret the site.

Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historic Park

Our next stop will be Richmond, site of the Kaiser Shipyards, which produced an amazing 747 ships during WWII. This, and other wartime production efforts required dramatic changes in the workforce, symbolized by Rosie the Riveter, women and minorities at work in traditionally male jobs. Almost no riveting was used on these ships, so it probably should be Wanda the Welder. The tour will visit several of the sites that make up the Rosie the Riveter - World War II Home Front National Historic Park. Kaiser also pioneered many social innovations, such as company provided health care and child care. The tour will include visits to sites associated with these and other social innovations.

S.S. Red Oak Victory

The tour will visit the S.S. Red Oak Victory, one of three surviving Victory Ships. Red Oak Victory was built at the Kaiser Shipyards, and served in WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. She is being restored to operation. Of particular note is that much of her engine room equipment was manufactured by Hendy Ironworks in Sunnyvale. Along the way to the ship, we'll go around the massive Hyundai delivery port, we may see a "floating parking garage" being emptied in a steady stream of cars.

Kaiser Shipyards

Only a few features of the once massive Kaiser Shipyard complex survive, though the Park Service has created evocative displays and interpretation. We'll visit the surviving buildings and view the whirly crane used to move material around the shipyard. The fascinating art moderne General Warehouse will be a stop.

Ford Assembly Plant

Richmond was and is also the home to many other industries. One of the most interesting from an IA standpoint is the Ford assembly plant designed by Albert Kahn, his only building west of the Mississippi. Opened in 1931 as a branch assembly plant, it was converted to military use during the war. It returned to automotive use until Ford opened a new assembly plant in Milpitas in 1955. The Richmond plant is being adaptively reused as housing, offices and retail. The Milpitas plant is now the Great Mall of the Bay Area which we'll pass on the way to Richmond.