Bilger Quarry site 1941

Description:
View (looking south) toward downtown Oakland, overlooking the southwest portion of the former Bilger Quarry (and future Rockridge Shopping Center), Temescal district, Oakland, Calif. The wide boulevard to the right of the quarry site is Broadway. The large building toward the upper right is Oakland Technical High School. On reverse: "'View of Oakland taken from the 3rd story window of Treadwell Hall June 2, 1941.' Rocks are on the quarry/shopping center site. Superior Tile and Oakland Tech are still familiar neighborhood landmarks. (California College of Arts & Crafts Archives)" [Ray Raineri note]

Date of Document:
2-Jun-41

Document Author:
Unknown

Geographic Location:
Broadway and Pleasant Valley Road, Oakland Calif.

Context:
Incorporated in 1870 as the Oakland Paving Company, what became known as the Bilger Quarry was located at the present-day Rockridge Shopping Center, Broadway and Pleasant Valley Road, in Oakland. Its blue rock, processed at a nearby crushing plant, was used mainly as foundation for road building and related construction throughout the East Bay. By the turn of the 20th century, northern Italian immigrants dominated the workforce at the quarry, many of them living in a large boarding house near the site. The Bilger Quarry operated until 1923. In the 1960s the suburban-style Rockridge Shopping Center, which included a Safeway supermarket, Payless Drugs store, and several small shops, was built on the site. In March 2015, with Safeway holding the master lease to the property, the first phase of a complete redesign of the shopping center renamed The Ridge commenced.