The 9th Avenue Terminal
The 9th Avenue Terminal is one of my favorite buildings along the Oakland waterfront, so I often end up taking pictures of it from different vantage points as I find them. The building has been underutilized for most of its existence, because it was built just before shipping containers revolutionized the industry half a century ago, and it’s an unsuitable structure in a part of the harbor that can’t accommodate large cargo ships—literally the wrong building in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Sadly, if the city ever manages to develop the stagnant and moldering stretch of waterfront from Jack London Square to Brooklyn Basin (a project I support with some reservations), the enormous building will likely be turned into little more than a facade. That’s a shame, and there is a movement (possibly quixotic and doomed, but that is my favorite kind of movement) to find alternative uses for the entire structure.
One of these days I’ll figure out how to hold a camera straight, so that the Transamerica Pyramid in the distance doesn’t keep resembling the Leaning Tower of San Francisco in my photos.
Have you ever been inside that building? and does it include the gray wing as well?
June 29th, 2009 at 5:02 pmNo, I’ve never been inside. It seems to be off-limits to the general public, although there is an open gate for trucks to come in and out of, and I’ve never tried to wander in and poke around. As for the gray wing, do you mean the long gray wall to the left of the facade? If so, that’s not a wing so much as the side of the building extending back from the facade. The building is basically a long rectangle, with the facade on one of the shorter sides.. Here is an aerial view of the building—the facade shown above is at the right side of the building:
June 29th, 2009 at 5:21 pmThe proposed Vintners Hall would be pretty cool. No updates on their website since January, though.
June 29th, 2009 at 7:53 pmGene: Yeah, it could be pretty cool, but even if it happens someday, it probably won’t be in our lifetimes given how slowly things are moving. I haven’t heard any updates about the Oak to Ninth project since January, when the city council approved a revised environmental impact report, as required by a judge’s ruling in the lawsuit filed by the coalition opposing the project. I was going to mention the opposition and the lawsuit in my post, but I realized that I don’t know enough about it to competently discuss it, and I didn’t have the time or energy to research it. As far as I know, the city and developer are still going forward with the plan, but I haven’t heard anything about it recently. I’ve also seen discussion of integrating a new A’s ballpark into the project, but it doesn’t seem to be anything more than idle speculation. I personally don’t expect anything to happen in that area for years and maybe decades, especially with the collapse of the housing bubble and the recession.
June 30th, 2009 at 12:19 amIf they could do it by bartering rather than paying for it… I am kidding of course but a couple of weeks ago the NYT featured some people in Oakland exchanging vegetables for some services. Since then I learned that some people in Mass. are fulltime “facilitators” (enablers?) and bring people together who wish to barter goods and services. (Strawberries for teeshirts)The facilitators charge a percentage, and last year made approx. 7 million dollars.
When I read how much opportunity there would be to build, re-build, and restore all over this country, I realize that the stimulus package was really too small. More of it should have been available strictly for work creation.
June 30th, 2009 at 6:35 pm