The History and Future
of Industry in West Berkeley
Part 1: Founding in 1853
West Berkeley has had an industrial character for 150 years.
The town's founding traditionally dates from 1853, when a small cargo
ship began docking in the mouth of Strawberry Creek, near the ancient
Ohlone Indian shellmound. It hauled shipments brought by wagon on San
Pablo road, bound across the bay to San Francisco. The first
manufacturing plant, the Pioneer Starch and Grist Mill, opened in 1855
to mill grain from the local farmers. The following year the Heywood
Lumber Yard opened for business.
Ocean View
In 1854 a wharf called Jacob's Landing was built, soon followed by
Bowen's Inn and General Store, which became the nucleus of a small
town, Ocean View. It housed mainly workers and their families and was a
focal point for small farms that spread along the bay shore. Industry
thrived and quickly expanded. The first school opened in 1856. In the
1860 census, the town's population was 69. Ocean View's ethnic
diversity mirrored the Gold Rush population, which included significant
numbers of immigrants and minorities.
Industries continued to open, including the Niehaus and
Schuster Planing Mill, the Cornell Watch Company, and the Standard Soap
Company (which later became Colgate and stayed for over a century). The
Southern Pacific Railroad built its transcontinental mainline along the
shore in 1877.
The University of California Arrives
In 1873 the University of California started a civic center a mile
upstream from Ocean View on Strawberry Creek, and its residential
community became South Campus.
The two communities immediately interacted. Ocean View
workers found blue collar jobs at the campus, while university people
became customers at the mills, farms, and shops. A stagecoach began
making four trips a day between the two communities on the road
alongside the creek, which came to be called University Avenue.
Conflicts also developed. Ocean View said the campus polluted the
creek, and the university said the town corrupted the youth.
Ocean View Becomes West Berkeley
But in 1874 Oakland was expanding north, threatening to engulf both
communities, since neither was incorporated. Representatives from Ocean
View and the university community met and jointly petitioned the state
for a charter, which in 1878 established the City of Berkeley, named
for an English philosopher.
In the first election, with over 300 voters, West Berkeley
and the university community put up opposing slates: the Workingmen's
Party vs. the Citizen's Ticket. The Workingmen's Party won, and the
West Berkeley group became the first city administration. In subsequent
elections the university began to dominate. Political conflicts
continued, reflecting the diverging interests of the two communities.
West Berkeley remained industrial and multicultural. In the
late 19th century its residents' mix of ethnic heritages included
Irish, Scandinavian, Canadian, Mexican, Chilean, Italian, Portuguese,
African, German, Chinese, and Finnish.
In those early years the West Berkeley neighborhoods took on
the outlines that remain today. The heavy industrial area was west of
Fourth Street. Between Fourth and Sixth Streets north of Dwight,
industry and homes were mixed together. East of Sixth between Gilman
and Dwight was residential.
Industrial expansion continued through the turn of the
century, with Manasse Tannery, Cutter Labs (now Bayer), and Cal Ink
(later Flint). In 1900 West Berkeley had 12% of city populaton.
The Post-Earthquake Boom
The aftermath of the 1906 earthquake brought on West Berkeley's first
industrial boom, with 37 new factories opening in the first four
months, including Macauley Foundry. Manufacturers flooded in,
displacing farms. Many products manufactured here in the following
years went to rebuilding San Francisco. By 1909 West Berkeley had 84
factories. Colgate, Heinz, Durkee Foods moved operations here. In 1913
the Kawneer factory opened, which became today's arts and crafts
Sawtooth Building.
In 1916 the city was zoned for the first time, and most of
West Berkeley was designated "Manufacturing," including parts that were
actually mixed with housing. The result was that some homes were
demolished and replaced by industrial plants. The area west of 7th
between Dwight and Heinz (today the Bayer site), was developed as an
industrial park.
In 1923 Berkeley diked off part of the bay and began filling
it with regional refuse. While the landfill was eventually stopped and
made into Cesar Chavez Park, the practice established the city as a
regional disposal hub, leading to today's solid waste transfer station,
recycling, and material recovery enterprises.
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, manufacturing
shrank in Berkeley, while New Deal projects built Aquatic Park and
Eastshore Highway (now I-80).
West Berkeley's mix of uses continued in a shaky harmony
until the end of World War II, when the area became a major
battleground over issues of development.
Part 2: Post-War Debates
Over Development
World War II sparked a boom that created an unbroken
industrial belt from East Oakland to Richmond. This resulted in the
development of last undeveloped areas of West Berkeley, north of Gilman
and around lower Ashby. There were 187 plants in 1947. The job boom
also established West Berkeley's large black community which by the end
of the decade comprised over 30% of the district's population. Camp
Ashby, at 9th Street was a training site for Black soldiers (in
segretated units).
The Proposed Industrial Mega-Park
In the 1950s, developers began lobbying to expand the manufacturing
zone to the east. They painted West Berkeley as blighted and in need of
redevelopment. There were no more undeveloped areas to expand into, and
manufacturing was the growth industry of the moment. All the Bay Area
cities were competing for the revenue. This sparked a political battle
over which parts of West Berkeley would be industrial and which parts
residential.
Some developers proposed bulldozing the entire residential
zone up to San Pablo for a huge industrial park. By this time Berkeley
was run largely by people connected with the university and downtown
business communities, who saw West Berkeley as primarily a revenue
source, not as a successful community in its own right. As a start, in
1955 the City Council created a Special Industrial (SI) Zone between
Fourth and Sixth streets, stretching from Camelia (near Gilman) down to
Dwight. All homes in this area were flagged for replacement by
manufacturing.
But due to strong neighborhood objections, the process
stalled. In 1963 the area was narrowed further, to eight square blocks
between Cedar and University, which in 1967 was made into a
Redevelopment Zone for a project dubbed the West Berkeley Industrial
Park. All residential use in the zone was prohibited. The closure of
Delaware below Sixth Street is a legacy of that project.
Years of debate followed. The Council set up the
Redevelopment Agency as an independent body, removing all
decision-making from any elected officials. Public hearings were not
required for demolitions. The agency could do pretty much as it
pleased, and it set about planning to demolish 66 residential units and
evicting 229 low-income people. In response, the affected residents and
others in the adjacent community formed the Ocean View Committee,
launched an active opposition, and made the project a citywide issue.
The struggle went on for a decade.
Meanwhile the manufacturing boom faded. In 1979 the council
modified the Redevelopment Plan to permit housing, and soon the
remaining historic houses were being rehabilitated and new low-income
housing was being planned. The Industrial Park never came to pass.
Conversions to Offices and Retail
As large manufacturers left the area, the primary land use issue became
how to re-use vacant industrial sites.
In the late 1970s and 1980s heavy industries were leaving
the Bay Area. Several of Berkeley's industrial buildings were
subdivided for light industries, artisans, and arts and crafts studios,
including the Durkee building, the Kawneer Sawtooth building, and the
Nexus building.
The new environment of artisans, arts, and crafts made the
area increasingly attractive to developers, who saw in the creative
atmosphere a marketing advantage for office and retail conversions,
which generate higher rents. The Fourth street commercial corridor
sprang up by leaps and bounds. West Berkeley started to become known as
a good place to live.
Rapid changes swept through West Berkeley. In 1983 the City
closed its landfill and opened its new transfer station, which
attracted reuse and recycling companies. By 1993 the six largest
recycling companies, including the City itself, generated nearly $9
million in annual revenue and employed more than 80 people.
Other industries, artisans, and artists, however, left town
as building conversions drove rents beyond their reach. When the Durkee
owners moved to convert their building to offices and labs, their
artist and industrial tenants staged a public fight against eviction.
Other residents and occupants dissatisfied with the rapid unguided
change called for an area plan. The City responded.
Part 3: The West
Berkeley Plan
The City Council set up an open-membership community process
to write the area plan, with guidance from the Planning Commission.
Over the following ten years, participants in the West Berkeley Plan
Committee included representatives of all the stakeholders.
Manufacturers, artisans, and craftspeople worked closely with artists,
residents, merchants, developers, environmentalists, property owners,
employers, unions, and black clergy. One of the Committee's first
proposals was the Arts and Crafts Ordinance of 1989, which protected
all existing arts and crafts spaces in West Berkeley. Shortly afterward
the City Council directed the Committee to review the concept of
industrial sanctuaries.
Goals and Ideals
In earlier decades
residents had been threatened by the expansion of manufacturing, but
now many residents defended the idea of retaining light industry as a
stabilizing force to prevent overdevelopment of offices and retail. The
West Berkeley Plan Committee saw the goal as a diverse balanced
economy, and keeping industries was key to continuing the environment
in which the other uses could continue and thrive.
It took the Committee years to hash out the Plan based on
the premise that "West Berkeley's uniqueness and dynamism grow largely
out of its wide variety of land uses. Preserving and supporting all the
elements of this vital mix of land uses is the central policy of the
West Berkeley Plan." The concept was to find a place for every existing
use without dislocation, leaving opportunities for compatible new
development at appropriate sites. The Plan divided the area into
several districts, each promoting the uses that already predominated:
light industries, residences, arts and crafts, commercial, and heavy
industry.
In 1993 the City Council, with the leadership of Mayor Loni
Hancock, passed the Plan unanimously, and it became City policy. After
five years, in 1998 the City finally rezoned West Berkeley to fit its
plan.
Implementation and Reality
The ink was hardly dry before some developers and property owners began
lobbying to end industrial protections. In the following years, the
City's implementation of the Plan's protections was spotty. Developers
found loopholes in the provisions, and several industrial buildings
were converted into offices.
The dot-com explosion triggered a boom in offices around the
Bay. Many building owners in West Berkeley wanted to cash in but were
limited by the Plan. One developer wanted to convert the entire old
Colgate plant into a huge office park, but the Plan would not permit
it. Today the old Colgate plant is still industrial as part of Bayer.
When the dot-com bubble burst, acres of empty office
buildings littered some parts of the Bay Area, but not in Berkeley. The
Plan's industrial protections kept Berkeley's diverse economy
comparatively stable.
Part 4: Green Valley
Industrial Future
The Green Dream
The West Berkeley Plan has built in exciting opportunities to enrich
the city culturally as well as economically. One major opportunity is
to develop the industries that will be the basis of tomorrow's
sustainable economy. The Plan calls for West Berkeley to become a Green
Valley, similar to the Silicon Valley but for green industries.
Berkeley has solar-oriented businesses, a bicycle-powered
messenger service, and the City's green business certification program.
Potential green industries are limited only by entrepreneurial
creativity. These small companies generate more jobs per capital dollar
than large companies, and a diversity of them provides a stable
economic base.
International resource pressures are generating widespread
zero-waste policies, including Alameda County's goal of diverting 75%
of discarded resources from landfill. The recycling industry is already
as large as the auto industry. The increasing supply of recyclable
urban resources is generating new artisan manufacturing industries. One
Berkeley company makes high-end countertops from recycled glass, a
second makes tiles from glass and other materials, and a third makes
high-end furniture from old wood. Another company distributes
relatively nontoxic diesel fuel made from restaurants' used fryer oil.
Recycling and garbage collection trucks for the Ecology Center and the
City use this kind of fuel.
First Step: Protect the Land
Industrial zoning protections need to be reaffirmed. Without industrial
space, visionary entrepreneurs would be forced to some other city.
Protecting industrial properties for the highest and best
industrial use is key. If vacancies arise in large properties dedicated
to heavy industry, and if no new large industrial occupant can be
found, those properties should be subdivided and nudged down to light
industry, artisan manufacturing, craftspeople, and artists. Large
industry properties must not be given over to retail, residences, or
offices just because a large industrial occupant is unavailable. This
adaptation is what the West Berkelely Plan envisions. The Plan
considers arts and crafts to be light industry. This perspective has
been stymied by inadequacies in the zoning regulations, which puts arts
and crafts into a different category and prevents industrial buildings
from being subdivided for light industries and arts and crafts. Such
technical difficultIes have kept several industrial buildings empty
unnecessarily.
Gentrification Spiral - No:
Continued Diversity and Dynamism - Yes
Whereas the Green Valley industries are being developed, some
developers are increasing pressure to convert industrial spaces to
retail, particularly regional retail, and residences. These directions
appeal to some City officials looking for fast revenue in hard times.
Some developers are focusing on the industrial neighborhoods on lower
Gilman, Ashby, and University. They want to rezone Gilman and Ashby
below San Pablo to commercial, and replace industries with shops. They
would also put residences on the back streets off Gilman. At Ashby and
Ninth they want to build a West Berkeley Bowl that was scaled up
dramatically from its original proposal to attract regional sales. The
Bowl project would become a de facto anchor for further retail and
residential development, increasing pressure on the industrial
properties in the neighborhood. At the foot of University Avenue,
developers are pushing forward a large residential project to replace
Brennan's. No industrial land would be lost directly, but the
juxtaposition of residences with industry would apply pressure to
nearby industrial spaces and would raise rents. This has already
happened with the Drayage Building artisans. The Nexus arts and artisan
building is also at risk.
WeBAIC will resist these pressures. They are contrary to the
City's vision of diversified industrial development, do not build
long-term economic stability as well as industry would, and are not in
harmony with the citizens' vision expressed in the West Berkeley Plan.
How to reuse large vacant industrial buildings remains a
central issue in the present and future.
The main force blocking excessive development and an
accompanying gentrification spiral is the West Berkeley Plan. WeBAIC
supports the Plan, which calls for development sensitive to type and
scale that does not harm existing uses or replace them, and which adds
to the historically dynamic West Berkeley mix.
