The California Hotel is a historic

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, hotel which opened in the early days of the Great Depression and became an important cultural center for the African-American community of San Francisco's East Bay during the 1940s, 50s and 60s."Oakland: California Hotel reopens as a home for low-income residents"
''Contra Costa Times'', May 15, 2014, By Matt O'Brien"Historic California Hotel Reopens In West Oakland"
''CBS California'', May 16, 2014 By Anna Duckworth On June 30, 1988 the hotel was placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

History

The California Hotel opened its doors on May 18, 1930. A 5-story structure with mezzanine and penthouse, it was the tallest building in the area. It cost $265,000 to build the 150-room hotel with commercial space on the ground floor. Though situated 1 miles from Oakland's city center, the new hotel was within walking distance of the passenger stations for both the Santa Fe Railroad and the regional Key System streetcars. The hotel was located at 3501 San Pablo Avenue, near major highways, and passing traffic was increased in 1937 by the opening of the

San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, known locally as the Bay Bridge, is a complex of bridges spanning San Francisco Bay in California. As part of Interstate 80 and the direct road between San Francisco and Oakland, it carries about 260,000 ...

. In 1962 construction of the elevated

MacArthur Freeway MacArthur or Macarthur may refer to: Places * Macarthur, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra, Australia * Macarthur, New South Wales, a region of Metropolitan Sydney, Australia ** Division of Macarthur ** Macarthur railway station * ...

blocked the street view of the hotel but made it visible to hundreds of thousands of bridge commuters. The hotel opened in difficult economic times. The hotel's first manager, Axel Bern, an experienced hotelier, was also an investor. Just four months after the grand opening, Bern was arrested and charged with disturbing the peace after a quarrel in the hotel's lobby. According to a story in the ''Oakland Tribune'', Bern had reneged on his commitment to invest $35,000 into the hotel and had been relieved of his duties as general manager. However, Bern returned to work at the front desk on the day of his arrest. To attract the car driving public, the hotel's owners added a "motorists patio" in 1933, with a separate entrance from the parking area directly to the lobby. Next to the patio was a garage building, a service station and a repair shop. An advertisement in the 1943 Oakland City Directory described the hotel amenities as "commodious airy rooms, all with shower and tub baths, dining, banquet and meeting rooms, coffee shop and cocktail lounges, garage adjoining". During World War II, the hotel was known for the blues, jazz and similar 'race music' being played in its ground floor bars and ballrooms. African American patrons were denied rooms due to segregation, but they came in large numbers to hear the music. On January 16, 1953, new ownership took control, and the hotel ended its discrimination policies. A grand "reopening" was held with invited guests that included Oakland-born comedian

Eddie "Rochester" Anderson Edmund Lincoln Anderson (September 18, 1905 – February 28, 1977) was an American comedian and actor. To a generation of early radio and television comedy he was known as "Rochester". Anderson entered show business as a teenager on the vaudevi ...

, boxing champion Joe Louis and acclaimed singer Lena Horne. The hotel attracted many high profile black visitors to Oakland. At that time, it was the only full-service hotel that welcomed black people in the East Bay.''Oakland Heritage Alliance News'', Volume 12, No. 1, Summer 1992 The 1956 edition of ''The Negro Motorist Green Book'' also lists five smaller, less sophisticated Oakland hotels. African American entertainers who lodged and performed at the hotel included Big Mama Thornton,

BB King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shim ...

, Lou Rawls, James Brown, Sam Cooke,

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...

and

Richard Pryor Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor Sr. (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. He reached a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style, and is widely regarded as on ...

. After the 1960s, the hotel, as with many dedicated African American institutions and businesses in the area, declined; black entertainers could now stay in any hotel, and patrons followed them to white-owned clubs and other venues. By the 1970s, the hotel was in bad condition and was boarded up. In the 1980s, it was repaired and rented out as subsidized housing. In 2012, a start was made on restoring the building"Renovation begins at historic California Hotel in West Oakland"
By Anna Gallegos, ''Oakland Tribune''. and in 2014, after a renovation costing $43 million, it was once more opened as low-rental housing.

References

{{reflist Historic hotels in the United States Hotels in the San Francisco Bay Area Buildings and structures in Oakland, California Music venues in the San Francisco Bay Area Residential buildings in Alameda County, California 1930 establishments in California Hotels established in 1930 Hotel buildings completed in 1930 African-American history in Oakland, California African-American segregation in the United States