• Alvarado Area of Wildcat Canyon Park: Improvements - Richmond CA
    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 Bay Regional Park District in 1985 and is now the "Alvarado Area" of Wildcat Canyon Park.     The park is known for its New Deal stonework, done chiefly by Italian immigrant masons, including a massive stone arch bridge across Wildcat Creek, stone light standards along roads and paths, and picnic facilities and stone stoves. The stonework is remarkable enough for the park...
  • Alvarado Area of Wildcat Canyon Park: Picnic Facilities - Richmond CA
    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 Bay Regional Park District in 1985 and is now the "Alvarado Area" of Wildcat Canyon Park. The park is known for its New Deal stonework, done chiefly by Italian immigrant masons, including a massive stone arch bridge across Wildcat Creek, stone light standards along roads and paths, and picnic facilities and stone stoves. The stonework is remarkable enough for the park to...
  • Alvarado Area of Wildcat Canyon Park: Stone Bridge - Richmond CA
    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 Bay Regional Park District in 1985 and is now the "Alvarado Area" of Wildcat Canyon Park.     The park is known for its New Deal stonework, done chiefly by Italian immigrant masons, including a stone bridge across Wildcat Creek, stone light standards along roads and paths, and picnic facilities and stone stoves. The stonework is remarkable enough for the park to have...
  • Alvarado Area of Wildcat Canyon Park: Stone Lamp Posts - Richmond CA
    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 Bay Regional Park District in 1985 and is now the "Alvarado Area" of Wildcat Canyon Park.     The park is known for its New Deal stonework, done chiefly by Italian immigrant masons, including a massive stone arch bridge across Wildcat Creek, stone light standards along roads and paths, and picnic facilities and stone stoves. The stonework is remarkable enough for the park...
  • Nicholl Park Recreation Facilities - Richmond CA
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) carried out extensive improvements on Nicholl Park from 1935 to 1938.  These included constructing ballfields and tennis courts, adding lighting, landscaping, and drainage and, most unusually, creating a lawn bowling green and a game bird aviary. The aviary and bowling green are now gone, but the tennis courts and fields remain, along with elements of lighting and other work. Nicholl park was given to the City of Richmond in 1926 by Mrs. Mary Nicholl, widow of one of the founders of the city.  The original pillars and dedication plaque marking the entrance to the park on...
  • Point Richmond Rock Walls - Richmond CA
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built rock retaining walls in Point Richmond, a neighborhood of Richmond CA.   The most notable wall is found at 220 Bishop Avenue and was built in 1940. It is six feet high and runs the length of the property, about 40 feet.  This wall is constructed of finely-cut, multi-colored stone, which the property owner purchased and gave to the WPA workers to use. Another wall on Bishop Alley is from the same time period.  It consists of three levels: dark stone along the base, then solid gray concrete, and finally colored stone set in concrete....
  • Post Office - Richmond CA
    The post office in the old downtown of Richmond, CA was built by the Treasury Department in 1938. It is an elegant example of Moderne (Art Deco) architecture of the age. Richmond's downtown, including buildings around the post office, was cleared away  by the city's massive (and ill-considered) urban renewal program of the 1960s.  Then, the interior of the post office was gutted in a 1976 renovation. Happily, the exterior retains its original appearance. In 2017, the USPS threatened to close this post office, but popular protest led the city of Richmond to protest and the branch remains in operation. It future...
  • Post Office Mural - Richmond CA
    An oil on canvas mural, "Richmond - Industrial City," by Victor Arnautoff was installed in the Richmond Post Office in April 1941.  It was funded by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts program.  The mural disappeared for years and was only recently rediscovered and moved to the Richmond Museum of History. It has not been restored as yet and is unavailable for public viewing as of 2019.  In 1976, the interior of the Richmond post office was completely renovated and the mural was removed by art conservator Nathan Zakheim, the son of another renowned New Deal artist, Bernard Zakheim.  But it was then...
  • Sidewalk - Point Richmond CA
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a sidewalk on Summit Place in Point Richmond, California, in 1939. The WPA date stamp is still quite visible in the old pavement, in front of 343 Summit Place. The WPA undoubtedly built other sidewalks in Point Richmond and Richmond as part of general street improvements being done around the city in the late 1930s.
  • Sidewalk - Point Richmond CA
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a sidewalk at West Richmond Avenue and Martina Street (erroneously marked Martino St. in the cement) in Point Richmond, California, in 1940. The WPA date stamp is still quite visible in the old pavement. The WPA undoubtedly built other sidewalks in Point Richmond and Richmond as part of general street improvements being done around the city in the late 1930s, but the old date stamps have disappeared over the years with sidewalk replacements.