Bay Farm Island is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

of the city of

Alameda, California Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for "Avenue (landscape), tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, United States, located in the East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is built on an informal archipe ...

, though it is separated from the rest of the city on Alameda Island by an

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...

of San Leandro Bay. Its ZIP code is 94502. The location was originally an

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

in San Francisco Bay, but due to land reclamation it has become a

peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

and is now connected to the mainland of

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

and

Oakland International Airport Oakland International Airport is an international airport in Oakland, California, United States. The airport is located south of downtown Oakland and east of San Francisco, serving the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. The airport is ...

. Marshes and other areas of the island were also reclaimed. Prior to 20th century development, Bay Farm Island was farmland with

asparagus Asparagus (''Asparagus officinalis'') is a perennial flowering plant species in the genus ''Asparagus (genus), Asparagus'' native to Eurasia. Widely cultivated as a vegetable crop, its young shoots are used as a spring vegetable. Description ...

being the principal crop, thus it was also formerly known as ''Asparagus Island''. In addition, the area was the site of large

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but no ...

beds which regularly supplied restaurants in nearby San Francisco. Bay Farm is home to the 36-hole Chuck Corica Golf Complex, office and retail complexes, and several housing developments. There is a chain of lagoons as well as several community parks including Shoreline Park. Three elementary schools serve the island: Bay Farm Elementary, Coastline Christian School, and Amelia Earhart Elementary. Bay Farm was the home of the headquarters of the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

when the team was in Oakland from 1995 until 2020. A

greenbelt A green belt or greenbelt is a policy, and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or gree ...

is also present which encompasses the perimeter of the peninsula.

Harbor Bay Isle

The largest development on Bay Farm is named "Harbor Bay Isle", generally bounded to the north and west portion of the island by Island Drive and Mecartney Road. Harbor Bay Isle is divided into seven villages; six villages cover twenty homeowner's associations in each of the residential

subdivision Subdivision may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Subdivision (metre), in music * ''Subdivision'' (film), 2009 * "Subdivision", an episode of ''Prison Break'' (season 2) * ''Subdivisions'' (EP), by Sinch, 2005 * "Subdivisions" (song), by Rush ...

s, and one village covers commercial interests, including the Harbor Bay business park. Harbor Bay Isle excludes the three southern townhome developments, Islandia, Casitas, and Garden Isle, as well as the single-family homes to the east of Island Drive. Much of the development is built on

reclaimed land Land reclamation, often known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamatio ...

Southern Crossing

Bay Farm was proposed as a site for the eastern end of another bridge from San Francisco across

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay (Chochenyo language, Chochenyo: 'ommu) is a large tidal estuary in the United States, U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the cities of San Francisco, California, San ...

. The so-called Southern Crossing was first conceptualized in the 1940s and canceled in 1958.

Schools

There are three elementary schools on Bay Farm Island: Bay Farm Elementary, Coastline Christian Schools (formerly Chinese Christian Schools), and Amelia Earhart Elementary. The latter is named for aviator

Amelia Earhart Amelia Mary Earhart ( ; July 24, 1897 – January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer. On July 2, 1937, she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world. During her li ...

, who started many of her flights from the nearby Oakland Airport.

Notable residents

Chris Isaak Christopher Joseph Isaak (born June 26, 1956) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional actor. Noted for his reverb-laden rockabilly revivalist style and wide vocal range, he is popularly known for his breakthrough hit and sig ...

, recording artist *

David Segui David Vincent Segui, (; born July 19, 1966) is an American former Major League Baseball first baseman. Segui was born in Kansas City, Kansas, the son of former Major League baseball pitcher Diego Seguí. He played collegiate baseball for Louis ...

, former MLB first baseman *

Jim Otto James Edwin Otto (January 5, 1938 – May 19, 2024) was an American professional football player who was a center for 15 seasons with the Oakland Raiders of the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL). He played coll ...

, former center for Oakland Raiders * Stan Bunger, radio broadcast journalist *

Scott Brosius Scott David Brosius (born August 15, 1966) is an American former professional baseball third baseman for the Oakland Athletics (–) and the New York Yankees (–) of Major League Baseball (MLB) who is the athletic director at Linfield U ...

, MLB third baseman, World Series MVP *

Billy Joe Hobert Billy Joe Hobert (born January 8, 1971) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for nine seasons in the National Football League (NFL), primarily as a reserve. He played college football for the Washington Husk ...

, American football player

Public transit

AC Transit AC Transit is the main Public transport bus service, bus transit operator in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, California. AC Transit is the third largest bus operator in California, serving the western portions of Alameda and C ...

provides local bus service in addition to express commuter "Transbay" service to the Transbay Terminal in Downtown

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. In the weekday mornings and afternoons there are student only bus rides from neighborhoods on Bay Farm Island to various local schools. The free Harbor Bay Business Park Shuttle connects the Harbor Bay Ferry Terminal with the Harbor Bay Business Park and

Oakland Coliseum station The station complex of Amtrak's Oakland Coliseum station and Bay Area Rapid Transit, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART)'s Coliseum station is located in the East Oakland, Oakland, California, East Oakland area of Oakland, California, United States. ...

. In addition, the Harbor Bay Ferry provides commuter (rush hour) service to the

San Francisco Ferry Building The San Francisco Ferry Building is a terminal station, terminal for ferry, ferries that travel across the San Francisco Bay, a food hall and an office building. It is located on Embarcadero (San Francisco), The Embarcadero in San Francisco, Ca ...

. Harbor Bay Ferry website

References

External links

* * {{San Francisco Bay watershed, state=autocollapse Islands of Alameda County, California Islands of Northern California Bay Farm Island Islands of San Francisco Bay