The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the central electric substation for the City of Alameda, which has its own municipal electric power system. It cost over $200,000, a considerable sum at the time. It also served as the central fire… read more
The seven-acre Montclair Park in Oakland was built with the aid of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938-40. This gem of a park lies just north of Montclair Village in the Oakland hills and below Montclair Elementary School. … read more
The airport first opened in 1927 as Mills Field Municipal Airport. It became San Francisco Municipal Airport in 1931, and SF International Airport in 1955. Both the WPA and the PWA were heavily involved in airport construction and expansion: “[The… read more
Rex Brandt was commissioned by the PWAP to paint five murals for Chemawa Junior High School in Riverside, CA. At the time, Brandt was a student at Riverside Community College. When the school was remodeled in 1973, the murals were… read more
The Friant Dam is one of three major dams in the giant Central Valley Project in Northern California, along with Shasta and Folsom, built by the federal Bureau of Reclamation. Initial funding for the CVP came through the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act… read more
The original Caldecott Tunnel was built with the aid of the Public Works Administration (PWA). Out of a total cost of $4 million, the PWA provided $1.1 million, the state $700,000 and the highway district sold $2.3 million in bonds,… read more
The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, one of the most famous bridges in the world and the key transportation link in the Bay Area, was built under the New Deal with funding from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC). The 8-mile long… read more
The High Street bridge crosses the Oakland Estuary to link up the cities of Oakland and Alameda near the south end of the later. Alameda was originally a peninsula connected to Oakland, but a cut was made to extend the… read more
This cast stone sculpture by Donal Hord was funded by the PWAP in 1934. The sculpture depicts a man crouching behind a wheel filled with gears and is variously known as “Man and the Wheel” or “Wheel of Industry” or… read more
The New Deal made major improvements to the former Alvarado Park on the east side of Richmond CA, where Wildcat Creek tumbles out of the East Bay hills. Alvarado Park was transferred by the city of Richmond to the East… read more