The East Bay is the eastern region of the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

and includes cities along the eastern shores of the

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

and

San Pablo Bay San Pablo Bay is a tidal estuary that forms the northern extension of San Francisco Bay in the East Bay and North Bay regions of the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California. Most of the Bay is shallow; however, there is a deep water ch ...

. The region has grown to include inland communities in

Alameda An alameda is a Avenue (landscape), street or path lined with trees () and may refer to: Places Canada *Alameda, Saskatchewan, town in Saskatchewan **Grant Devine Dam, formerly ''Alameda Dam'', a dam and reservoir in southern Saskatchewan Chile ...

and Contra Costa counties. With a population of roughly 2.5 million in 2010, it is the most populous subregion in the Bay Area.

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

is the largest city in the East Bay and the third largest in the Bay Area. The city serves as a major transportation hub for the

U.S. West Coast The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, and the western seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S ...

, and its

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

is the largest in

Northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...

. Increased population has led to the growth of large

edge cities ''Edge city'' is a term that originated in the United States for a concentration of business, shopping, and entertainment outside a traditional downtown or central business district, in what had previously been a suburban residential or ru ...

such as

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

Emeryville Emeryville may refer to: * Emeryville, California Emeryville is a city located in northwest Alameda County, California, in the United States. It lies in a corridor between the cities of Berkeley and Oakland, with a border on the shore of San ...

, Fremont, Livermore,

Pleasanton Pleasanton may refer to: Places * Pleasanton, California * Pleasanton, Iowa * Pleasanton, Kansas * Pleasanton, Nebraska * Pleasanton, New Mexico * Pleasanton, Ohio * Pleasanton, Texas * Pleasanton Township, Michigan Other * Pleasanton High School ...

, San Ramon and

Walnut Creek A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, ''Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true bo ...

History and development

Although initial development in the larger Bay Area focused on

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, the coastal East Bay came to prominence in the middle of the nineteenth century as the part of the Bay Area most accessible by land from the east. The

Transcontinental Railroad A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous railroad trackage, that crosses a continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks can be via the tracks of either a single ...

was completed in 1869 with its western terminus at the newly constructed

Oakland Long Wharf The Oakland Long Wharf was an 11,000-foot railroad wharf and ferry pier along the east shore of San Francisco Bay located at the foot of Seventh Street in West Oakland. The Oakland Long Wharf was built, beginning 1868, by the Central Pacific Railr ...

, and the new city of

rapidly developed into a significant seaport. Today the

Port of Oakland The Port of Oakland is a major container ship facility located in Oakland, California, in the San Francisco Bay. It was the first major port on the Pacific Coast of the United States to build terminals for container ships. As of 2011 it was the f ...

is the Bay Area's largest port and the fifth largest container shipping port in the United States. In 1868, the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

was formed from the private

College of California The College of California was a private college in Oakland, California. It is a predecessor of the public University of California system. It was established in 1853 as the Contra Costa Academy. In 1868, it merged with the nascent Agricultural, ...

and a new campus was built in what would become Berkeley. The

1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensity sha ...

saw a large number of refugees flee to the relatively undamaged East Bay, and the region continued to grow rapidly. As the East Bay grew, the push to connect it with a more permanent link than ferry service resulted in the completion 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 in California, Interstate 80 and the direct road between San Francisco and Oakland ...

in 1936. The Bay Area saw further growth in the decades following World War II, with the population doubling between 1940 and 1960, and doubling again by 2000. The 1937 completion of the

Caldecott Tunnel The Caldecott Tunnel is an east–west highway tunnel through the Berkeley Hills between Oakland and Orinda, California. Its four bores carry California State Route 24. Named after Thomas E. Caldecott, former mayor of Berkeley, it opened in 19 ...

through the

Berkeley Hills The Berkeley Hills are a range of the Pacific Coast Ranges that overlook the northeast side of the valley that encompasses San Francisco Bay. They were previously called the "Contra Costa Range/Hills" (from the original Spanish ''Sierra de la C ...

fueled growth further east, where there was undeveloped land. Cities in the Diablo Valley, including

and

, saw their populations increase tenfold or more between 1950 and 1970. The addition of the

BART Bart is a masculine given name, usually a diminutive of Bartholomew, sometimes of Barton, Bartolomeo, etc. Bart is a Dutch and Ashkenazi Jewish surname, and derives from the name ''Bartholomäus'', a German form of the biblical name ''Barthol ...

commuter rail system in 1972 further encouraged development in increasingly far-flung regions of the East Bay. Today, the valleys east of the

contain large affluent suburban communities such as Walnut Creek, San Ramon and

. The East Bay is not a formally defined region, aside from its being described as a region inclusive of Alameda and Contra Costa counties. As development moves generally eastward, new areas are described as being part of the East Bay. In 1996,

was extended from its terminus in Concord to a new station in Pittsburg, symbolically incorporating the newly expanded Delta communities of Pittsburg and

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ� ...

as extended regions of the East Bay. Beyond the borders of Alameda County, the large population of Tracy is connected as a

bedroom community A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

housing commuters traveling to or through the East Bay.

Cities

Except for some hills and ridges which exist as parklands or undeveloped land, and some farmland in eastern Contra Costa and Alameda Counties, the East Bay is highly urbanized. The East Bay shoreline is an urban corridor with several cities exceeding 100,000 residents, including

, Hayward, Fremont,

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

, and

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

. In the inland valleys on the east side of the Berkeley Hills, the land is mostly developed, particularly on the eastern fringe of Contra Costa county and the

Tri-Valley The Tri-Valley area is grouping of three valleys in the East Bay (California), East Bay region of California's San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area. The three valleys are Amador Valley, San Ramon Valley, and Livermore Valley. The Tri-Valley encompass ...

area. In the inland valleys, the population density is less and the cities smaller. The only cities exceeding 100,000 residents in the inland valleys are

and

. East Bay cities include: * Acalanes RidgeUnincorporated Community *

Alamo The Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836) was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna reclaimed the Alamo Mission near San Ant ...

* Albany *

Alhambra Valley Alhambra Valley (, ) is a census-designated place in the Briones Hills of central Contra Costa County, California. Alhambra Valley sits at an elevation of . The 2010 United States census reported that Alhambra Valley's population was 924. The Spani ...

* Ashland * Bay Point * Bayview *

* Bethel Island *

Blackhawk Black Hawk and Blackhawk may refer to: Animals * Black Hawk (horse), a Morgan horse that lived from 1833 to 1856 * Common black hawk, ''Buteogallus anthracinus'' * Cuban black hawk, ''Buteogallus gundlachii'' * Great black hawk, ''Buteogallus uru ...

* Brentwood *

Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

* Camino Tassajara *

Canyon A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...

* Castle Hill *

Castro Valley Castro Valley is a census-designated place (CDP) in Alameda County, California, United States. At the 2010 census, it was the fifth most populous unincorporated area in California and the twenty-third most populous in the United States. The popula ...

* Cherryland * Clayton *

Clyde Clyde may refer to: People * Clyde (given name) * Clyde (surname) Places For townships see also Clyde Township Australia * Clyde, New South Wales * Clyde, Victoria * Clyde River, New South Wales Canada * Clyde, Alberta * Clyde, Ontario, a tow ...

* Contra Costa Centre *

Crockett Crockett may refer to: People and fictional characters *Crockett Gillmore (born 1991), American National Football League player *Crockett Johnson, pen name of David Johnson Liesk (1906-1975), American cartoonist and children's book illustrator *C ...

* Danville * Diablo *

Discovery Bay Discovery Bay (DB) is a resort town on Lantau Island, Hong Kong. It consists of mixed, primarily residential, development, in particular upmarket residential development and private and public recreational facilities, including garden houses, ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

* East Richmond Heights * El Cerrito * El Sobrante *

* Fairview * Fremont * Hayward *

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

* Knightsen *

Lafayette Lafayette or La Fayette may refer to: People * Lafayette (name), a list of people with the surname Lafayette or La Fayette or the given name Lafayette * House of La Fayette, a French noble family ** Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757� ...

* Livermore * Martinez * Montalvin Manor *

Moraga Moraga is a List of municipalities in California, town in Contra Costa County, California, Contra Costa County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The town is named in honor of Joaquín Moraga, member of the famed Californio family. As ...

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

* Norris Canyon * North Gate * North Richmond *

* Oakley * Orinda *

Pacheco Pacheco is a Portuguese and Spanish name which may refer to: General * Alex Pacheco (born 1958), animal rights activist, co-founder of PETA. *Ángel Pacheco (general) (1793-1869), was an Argentine military officer trained by José de San Martín ...

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

* Pittsburg *

Pinole Pinole, also called pinol or pinolillo, is roasted ground maize, which is then mixed with a combination of cocoa, agave, cinnamon, chia seeds, vanilla, or other spices. The resulting powder is then used as a nutrient-dense ingredient to make di ...

* Pleasant Hill *

* Port Costa * Reliez Valley *

Rodeo Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working va ...

* Rollingwood *

San Leandro San Leandro (Spanish for " St. Leander") is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area; between Oakland to the northwest, and Ashland, Castro Valley, and Hayward to the sout ...

San Lorenzo San Lorenzo is the Italian and Spanish name for Lawrence of Rome, Saint Lawrence, the 3rd-century Christian martyr, and may refer to: Places Argentina * San Lorenzo, Santa Fe * San Lorenzo Department, Chaco * Monte San Lorenzo, a mountain on t ...

* San Miguel * San Pablo * San Ramon * Saranap * Shell Ridge * Sunol * Tara Hills * Union City * Vine Hill *

Culture

The East Bay has a free weekly newspaper, the ''

East Bay Express The ''East Bay Express'' is an Oakland-based weekly newspaper serving the Berkeley, Oakland and East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is distributed throughout Alameda County and parts of Contra Costa County every Wednesday. The ''E ...

'', which has reported on the culture and politics of the East Bay for over 30 years, and has influenced the identification of the East Bay as a culturally defined region of the Bay Area. ''

The East Bay Monthly ''The East Bay Monthly'' is the largest circulation magazine in the East Bay area of California. The magazine bears many similarities to altweeklies in its distribution method, lack of cost to the consumer, newsprint pages and general size, which ...

'', another free newspaper, has been published since 1970. In the early years of the evolution of ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'', during the early 1980s, they operated regional newspapers, with the region's paper entitled ''

East Bay Today East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

''. The

Solano Avenue Stroll The Solano Avenue Stroll, also known as the Solano Stroll, is an annual street fair held on the second Sunday of September on the Solano Avenue shopping district of Albany and Berkeley, California. Stretching close to 2 miles long and bringing be ...

, the oldest and largest

street festival A street fair celebrates the character of a neighborhood. As its name suggests, it is typically held on the main street of a neighborhood. The principal component of street fairs are booths used to sell goods (particularly food) or convey informa ...

in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, is held every September on the

Solano Avenue Solano Avenue in Berkeley and Albany, California is a two-mile (3.2 km) long east-west street. Solano Avenue is one of the larger shopping districts in the Berkeley area. Businesses along Solano Avenue cover a wide range, including grocery ...

shopping district in Albany and Berkeley. The East Bay is the birthplace of many musical acts, including

Creedence Clearwater Revival Creedence Clearwater Revival, also referred to as Creedence and CCR, was an American rock band formed in El Cerrito, California. The band initially consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty; his brother, ...

Counting Crows Counting Crows is an American rock band from San Francisco, California. Formed in 1991, the band consists of guitarist David Bryson, drummer Jim Bogios, vocalist Adam Duritz, keyboardist Charlie Gillingham, David Immerglück, bass guitarist Mil ...

, Yesterday and Today,

Digital Underground Digital Underground was an American alternative hip hop group from Oakland, California. Their personnel changed and rotated with each album and tour. Digital Underground's leader and mainstay was Gregory "Shock G" Jacobs (also known as Humpty Hu ...

Green Day Green Day is an American rock band formed in the East Bay of California in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, together with bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt. For most of the band's career, they have been a powe ...

Operation Ivy Operation Ivy was the eighth series of American nuclear tests, coming after '' Tumbler-Snapper'' and before '' Upshot–Knothole''. The two explosions were staged in late 1952 at Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific Proving Ground in the Marshall Is ...

, Primus, Rancid, Set Your Goals,

Tower of Power Tower of Power is an American R&B and funk based band and horn section, originating in Oakland, California, that has been performing since 1968. There have been a number of lead vocalists, the best-known being Lenny Williams, who fronted the b ...

(whose debut album is titled ''

East Bay Grease ''East Bay Grease'' is the debut album by the soul and funk group Tower of Power, released in 1970. The band was one of the early music groups to be signed by Bill Graham's Fillmore Records, which released the LP. The album shows the band at an ...

''),

The Pointer Sisters The Pointer Sisters are an American pop and R&B singing group from Oakland, California, that achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. Their repertoire has included such diverse genres as pop, jazz, electronic music, bebop, b ...

MC Hammer Stanley Kirk Burrell (born March 30, 1962), better known by his stage name MC Hammer (or simply Hammer), is an American rapper, dancer, record producer and entrepreneur. He is known for hit songs such as "U Can't Touch This", "2 Legit 2 Quit" ...

, Tony! Toni! Tone!,

Tupac Shakur Tupac Amaru Shakur ( ; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the Li ...

Too Short Todd Anthony Shaw (born April 28, 1966), better known by the stage name Too Short (stylized as Too $hort), is an American rapper and record producer. He became famous in the West Coast hip hop scene in the late 1980s, with lyrics often based on ...

Spice 1 Robert Lee Greene, Jr. (born July 2, 1970), better known by his stage name Spice 1 (an acronym for "Sex, Pistols, Indo, Cash and Entertainment"), is an American rapper from Hayward, California. He began releasing albums in 1992. Career Jive Re ...

en Vogue En Vogue is an American vocal girl group whose original lineup consisted of singers Terry Ellis, Dawn Robinson, Cindy Herron, and Maxine Jones. Formed in Oakland, California, in 1989, En Vogue reached No. 2 on the US Hot 100 with the single "Hol ...

, Pete Escovedo and Sheila E,

Keyshia Cole Keyshia Myeshia Cole Johnson; born October 15, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Born and raised in Oakland, California, Cole began her career as a backing vocalist for MC Hammer. After signing with A&M Records ...

, and

Mac Dre Andre Louis Hicks (July 5, 1970 – November 1, 2004), known by his stage name Mac Dre, was an American rapper from Vallejo, California. He was an instrumental figure in the emergence of hyphy The term hyphy ( ) is Oakland slang meaning "h ...

. The region is a major center for the development of

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

, hip hop,

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

and

women's music Women's music is music by women, for women, and about women. The genre emerged as a musical expression of the second-wave feminist movement as well as the labor, civil rights, and peace movements. The movement (in the USA) was started by lesbian ...

. Bay Area thrash metal has centered strongly on the East Bay, including the bands

Exodus Exodus or the Exodus may refer to: Religion * Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible * The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan Historical events * Ex ...

and

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

, among others.

Possessed Possessed may refer to: Possession * Possession (disambiguation), having some degree of control over something else ** Spirit possession, whereby gods, demons, animas, or other disincarnate entities may temporarily take control of a human body *** ...

and

Death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

, both considered the first

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

bands, Possessed band page, Eduardo Rivadavia, Allmusic "The brutal ''Seven Churches'' was arguably the first true death metal album and set the stage for the genre's breakaway from thrash."

Allmusic.com AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

Death Biography have roots or connections in the East Bay: Possessed formed in El Sobrante, with Death debuting nationally while in

. Major music (and sports) venues include the Oakland Oracle Arena; adjacent

O.co Coliseum Oakland Coliseum, currently branded as RingCentral Coliseum, is a stadium in Oakland, California. It is part of the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Complex, with the adjacent Oakland Arena, near Interstate 880. The Coliseum is the home ba ...

, home of the

Oakland A's The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

; the Oakland Paramount Theater, venue for the

Oakland East Bay Symphony The Oakland East Bay Symphony (OEBS) is a leading orchestra based in Oakland, California. Michael Morgan held the position of music director and conductor from September 1990 until his death in August 2021. The Paramount Theatre has been the hom ...

; the

Fox Oakland Theatre The Fox Oakland Theatre is a 2,800-seat concert hall, a former movie theater, located at 1807 Telegraph Avenue in Downtown Oakland. It originally opened in 1928, running films until 1970. Designed by Weeks and Day, the theatre is listed on the Nat ...

, the UC Berkeley Greek Theater, the nonprofit

The Freight and Salvage The Freight and Salvage (known as "The Freight") is a nonprofit musical performance venue in Berkeley, California that primarily hosts Americana music and world music acts. History The Freight was founded in 1968 and derived its name from the ...

, and the

Concord Pavilion Concord Pavilion (formerly known as Sleep Train Pavilion and Chronicle Pavilion) is an amphitheatre located in Concord, California. It is owned by the City of Concord and operated by Live Nation. The Pavilion has a capacity of 12,500 people and op ...

(formerly Sleep Train Pavilion). Major museums include the

Oakland Museum of California The Oakland Museum of California or OMCA (formerly the Oakland Museum) is an interdisciplinary museum dedicated to the art, history, and natural science of California, located adjacent to Oak Street, 10th Street, and 11th Street in Oakland, Cali ...

, the

Lawrence Hall of Science The Lawrence Hall of Science is a public science center in Berkeley, California that offers hands-on science exhibits, designs curriculum, aids professional development, and offers after school science resources to students of all ages. The Hall ...

and the

Chabot Space and Science Center Chabot Space and Science Center, located in Oakland, California, is a center for science learning featuring interactive exhibits, planetariums, a large screen theater, hands-on activities and three powerful telescopes. The center is the continu ...

. The

East Bay Regional Parks District The East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) is a special district operating in Alameda County and Contra Costa County, California, within the East Bay area of the San Francisco Bay Area. It maintains and operates a system of regional parks which ...

operates over fifty parks, many consisting of significant acreage of wildlands, in the East Bay, many directly adjacent to urban centers.

Tilden Regional Park Charles Lee Tilden Regional Park, also known as Tilden Park or Tilden, [], is a regional park in the East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), East Bay, part of the San Francisco Bay Area in California. It is between the Berkeley Hills and San Pablo R ...

, is one of the largest regional parks () located directly adjacent to the urban center of Berkeley.

Briones Regional Park Briones Regional Park is a regional park in the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) system, located in the Briones Hills of central Contra Costa County of the San Francisco Bay Area in California. Geography The park is located in rolling h ...

, at 5,000 acres, is another large wildlands park near an urban center, Walnut Creek. The East Bay also has a rich political history. One of the revolutionary movements founded in Oakland was the

Black Panther Party The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxist-Leninist and black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in October 1966 in Oakland, Califo ...

. The East Bay is home to many of the restaurants central to the creation of

California Cuisine California cuisine is a food movement that originated in California. The cuisine focuses on dishes that are driven by local and sustainable ingredients with an attention to seasonality and an emphasis on the bounty of the region. The food is hi ...

, including Chez Panisse.

Transportation

All vehicular crossings of the San Francisco Bay land in the counties comprising the East Bay. Interstate highways in the East Bay include: Interstate 80 (California), Interstates 80, Interstate 580 (California), 580, Interstate 680 (California), 680, Interstate 880 (California), 880, Interstate 980 (California), 980, and Interstate 238 (California), 238. California State Route 24, California State Routes 24, California State Route 4, 4, California State Route 13, 13, California State Route 92, 92, California State Route 160, 160, California State Route 242, 242, California State Route 84, 84, and Richmond Parkway (California), Richmond Parkway are limited access highways for at least part of their lengths in the area. California State Route 61, State Route 61, California State Route 84, State Route 84, California State Route 123, State Route 123, California State Route 185, State Route 185, and California State Route 238, State Route 238 are major surface streets that receive state funding for maintenance. San Pablo Avenue previously carried U.S. Route 40#California history, U.S. Route 40 until the terminus was moved progressively east to Utah. AC Transit is the major bus transit agency for the region, and provides bus service throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties, hence the "AC" moniker. County Connection, WestCAT, WHEELS (California), WHEELS, Tri-Delta Transit and Union City Transit also provide bus service in the East Bay. Ferry service is provided by San Francisco Bay Ferry from Jack London Square and Alameda Harbor, with service at Richmond Ferry Terminal slated to begin in 2018. Hercules station, Hercules may also see future ferry service to San Francisco. Bicycle transportation is strongly promoted by city and county agencies, and by organizations like the East Bay Bicycle Coalition. Major pedestrian paths across the region include the San Francisco Bay Trail, the Bay Area Ridge Trail, the Ohlone Greenway, Iron Horse Regional Trail, Contra Costa Canal Trail, and the Richmond Greenway.

Rail

Rail service in the East Bay dates to the First transcontinental railroad, when the Western Pacific Railroad (1862–70), Western Pacific Railroad was contracted by the Central Pacific Railroad to provide the link between the Bay and Sacramento. This railroad eventually became the Niles Canyon Railway. Service to Alameda commenced in September 1869, four months after driving the golden spike, golden spike at Promintory, Utah.

eventually became the western terminus before ferry service to San Francisco. This road provided the sole link to the rest of the country until about 1879 when a more direct route across the Carquinez Strait was completed. Today, Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) operates commuter rail services through Niles Canyon to San Jose. Streetcar service across the East Bay was historically provided by the Key System, incorporated in 1902 as the San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose Railway. An amalgamation of several streetcar companies established in the late part of the century, the Key System provided interurban routes across Alameda county, with connections to San Francisco ferries via their private Key System Pier. Southern Pacific Transportation Company, Southern Pacific ran a competing system, East Bay Electric Lines, until they, too, had the Key System take over operations. When the

opened in 1936, Key System cars could make the trip directly to the Transbay Terminal across the lower deck. Streetcars were replaced with busses in 1948 and transbay service halted in 1958. The system's assets were sold to the newly formed AC Transit in 1960. The East Bay's modern rail transit service is Bay Area Rapid Transit, or BART, which was primarily designed to deliver commuters to San Francisco via the Transbay Tube, and to a lesser extent Oakland and Berkeley. Amtrak's ''California Zephyr'' terminates in

, providing connections as far as Chicago, and further stations across the East Bay are served by Amtrak California's ''Coast Starlight'' and ''San Joaquin (train), San Joaquin''.

Economy

The East Bay has a mixed economy of services, manufacturing, and small and large businesses. The region is headquarters to a number of highly notable businesses, including Kaiser Permanente, Chevron Corporation, Chevron, and Safeway, Inc., Safeway, among others. The East Bay Economic Development Alliance was founded by Alameda County as the Economic Development Advisory Board in 1990 as a public/private partnership with the mission to promote the East Bay as an important region for development, with Contra Costa County joining in 1996, and the current name chosen in 2006.

Major employers

The East Bay, as a part of the greater Bay Area, is a highly developed region, and is a major center for new and established economic ventures. Along with the county governments of Alameda and Contra Costa, the largest employers are: :# University of California, Berkeley with approximately 20,000 employees :# AT&T Inc. with approximately 11,000 employees :# The United States Postal Service, U.S. Postal Service with around 10,000 employees :# Tesla, Inc., Tesla with 10,000 employees :# Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory with approximately 8,750 employees :# Chevron Corp. (world headquarters in San Ramon) with 8,730 employees :# Safeway Inc., Safeway (world headquarters in

) with 7,922 employees :# Bank of America with 7,081 employees :# Pacific Gas and Electric Company, PG&E with approximately 5,200 employees :# Kaiser Permanente (US headquarters in

) with 4,730 employees :# Lucky Stores with 4,631 employees :# Bio-Rad, Bio-Rad Laboratories with 4,300 employees :# Wells Fargo with about 4,000 employees :# Workday, Inc., Workday (world headquarters in

) with 3,865 employees :# Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory with 3816 employees :# Mount Diablo Unified School District with 3,700 employees :# West Contra Costa Unified School District with 3,360 employees :# Alta Bates Summit Medical Center with 3,100 employees :# John Muir Medical Center with 3,023 employees :# Oracle Corporation, Oracle with 1,500 employees :# Western Digital with 1,300 employees :# Seagate Technology, Seagate with 1,050 employees Other major companies with headquarters in the East Bay include 10x Genomics, 24 Hour Fitness, Alibris, ANG Newspapers, Clif Bar, Clorox, Columbus Salame, Dreyer's, Ellie Mae, GE Digital, Ghirardelli Chocolate Company, Gillig Corporation, Leapfrog, Peet's Coffee, Pixar, Ross Stores and Workday, Inc., Workday. Mervyn's headquarters were located in the East Bay until they declared bankruptcy. The NUMMI, New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI) automobile manufacturing plant employed about 5,100 employees at its peak. Tesla, Inc. has taken over part of the NUMMI plant, which is still the only automobile manufacturing plant in California.

Higher education

The East Bay is served by a number of both public and private higher education institutions: Colleges *Two-year (community colleges) **Berkeley City College **Chabot College **College of Alameda **Contra Costa College **Diablo Valley College **Laney College **Las Positas College **Los Medanos College **Merritt College **Ohlone College Universities *Public **California State University, East Bay (CSU East Bay) **University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) *Private **California College of the Arts **Holy Names University **John F. Kennedy University **Life Chiropractic College West **Mills College **Patten University **Saint Mary's College of California **Samuel Merritt University

References

{{Authority control Subregions of the San Francisco Bay Area, * Regions of California