Introduction
Part I
1. Streetcar Stratification
2. Industrial Powerhouse
Part II
3. Space for Automobiles
4. The Politics of Parks
5. Major League Venue
Part III
6. The Promise and the Reality of Freeways and BART
7. In the Wake of Deindustrialization
8. Housing Injustice
9. Downtown Renewal and Ruin
10. Shopping Centers and Storefront Streets
Coda
Acknowledgments
Notes
Select Bibliography of Books about Oakland
Index
Mitchell Schwarzer is Professor of Architectural and Urban History at the California College of the Arts, Oakland and San Francisco. His books include Architecture of the San Francisco Bay Area; Zoomscape: Architecture in Motion and Media; and German Architectural Theory and the Search for Modern Identity.
“Schwarzer’s biography of Oakland is a big book, an important book,
a powerful book and an indispensable guide for anyone who wants to
reform the city by any means necessary.”
*CounterPunch*
"Noteworthy for several reasons, but one is its timeliness. Though
Hella Town tells a familiar story — Oakland’s rise as an industrial
hub, its fall to the failings of racism, its still-troubled
resurgence — the lens through which it makes sense of that story
provides insights about how cities come to be (and why they fail)
that prove eerily relevant to those writing Oakland’s next act
right now. . . . All who want Oakland’s story to read, ultimately,
as something other than tragic — more a celebration of all that
makes this place uniquely great — should be aware of what building
big things (or not building them) can do. Among other things, Hella
Town is an excellent education to that end."
*San Francisco Chronicle*
"A sparkling new history filled with lessons for our present."
*SF Weekly*
"A model history of urban development, laying out the stages of
‘Oakland’s built environment' from its take-off in the last decade
of the nineteenth century to the early years of the current
century."
*Geography Realm*
"From malls to shipyards to housing in the hills, Mitchell
Schwarzer’s book is a sweeping history of development and
power."
*Oaklandside*
"The book will likely stir interest among faculty, students, and
practitioners in urban planning and design, architecture, and urban
history. Readers longing for a heavily descriptive account of
Oakland’s urbanization will admire the extent to which the
narrative offers a factual extravaganza of the components of the
city’s built environment."
*Journal of Urban Affairs*
"Maintains a delicate balance between analyzing how Oakland’s
history represents attributes common to many US cities while
preserving distinctive characteristics. . . . Hella Town is
an urban history well worth the attention of scholars concerned
with the 20th-century American city and of a wider audience
interested in the San Francisco Bay Area."
*CHOICE*
"Thoroughly documenting Oakland’s struggles over the past 130
years, the book frames each issue or struggle within its political
context. The writing is clear, accessible, and rich, and the maps
and photos, some of them by the author, are outstanding."
*California History*
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