Oakland | History, Climate, Population, & Facts - Britannica

The contemporary city

Oakland’s economy is now highly diversified. Although industry (food processing, light manufacturing, and high technology) is important, most economic activity is focused on business services, health care, transportation, retail trade, and other services. The city’s deepwater port (on an estuary between Alameda Island and the bay shore) covers 19 miles (31 km) of waterfront in outer, middle, and inner harbours. Metropolitan Oakland International Airport fronts the bay to the southwest.

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Oakland is the site of several institutions of higher education, including Mills College (1852), Holy Names University (1868), and California College of the Arts (1907); the Berkeley campus of the University of California is just to the north. The city has a symphony orchestra and ballet and numerous dance and theatre companies. Notable museums include the Oakland Museum (with exhibits of art, history, and natural science), Chabot Space and Science Center in the eastern hills, and the Western Aerospace Museum near the airport.

Jack London Square, an area of restaurants, shops, and other attractions along the inner harbour near downtown, honours the American writer, who lived in the city during his youth; a bar Jack London frequented, Heinold’s First and Last Chance Saloon (1883), has been designated a national literary landmark. The USS Potomac, a yacht (dubbed “the Floating White House”) used during the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, is docked at the square’s wharf. Farther inland is the Pardee Home (1869), built by an early civic leader and preserved as a museum.

Lake Merritt, a saltwater lagoon near the central business district, is a wildfowl refuge surrounded by parkland. To the east is Morcom Rose Garden, a popular venue for weddings. Knowland Park, in the far south, contains Oakland Zoo, and a series of regional parks stretches along the eastern hills. The city is the home of the Oakland Athletics professional baseball team.