Blue Star Amusement (Now Peet's Coffee HQ)

Oklahoma native Owen Patrick “O.P. ” Smith is credited with the invention of the mechanical rabbit as a lure in Greyhound racing and received a patent for his “inanimate hare conveyor.”

It is here in 1919 at the current site of the Peet's headquarters where Smith tested, built and ultimately opened his first mechanical greyhound racetrack named Blue Star Amusement Park.

Smith reportedly repurposed lumber from a shuttered Oakland boxing arena and used it to construct a grandstand at the cost of $40,000. The construction also incorporated 1,600 pounds of rail and machinery designed to carry the one-pound rabbit lure around the oval-shaped track.

The sport of dog racing of course involved wagering and Emeryville was a well established place of tolerance for this type of recreation and vice in the East Bay which included horse racing at Trotting Park, several Card rooms, A walkathon track and of course the Oakland Oaks ballpark.

The 3/16 of a mile track could be covered by the hounds in about 29 seconds. There were also races with hurdles. Greyhounds were given colorful names similar to horses like “Montana Boy,” “Black Jack,” “Daddy Long Legs,” “California Girl” and “Fireball.”

The venture ultimately proved unsuccessful though and shuttered after only a few months in operation. The sparse schedule of the track was blamed as it was only opened on weekends. There was also a crackdown by local authorities on Emeryville’s illegal gambling and corruption (California Attorney General Earl Warren ended up closing all dog race tracks in the state in 1939).

The grandstand and mechanical rails were disassembled and moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma where betting was under less scrutiny.

Smith eventually expanded his operation to include 25 tracks across the U.S. He died in 1927.

The factory occupied by Peet’s was built for Allis-Chalmers, who manufactured Farm equipment among other machinery, in 1937. Allis-Chalmers occupied this space until 1973. Most of the company was divested by 1998 and their remaining service businesses became Allis-Chalmers Energy headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Peet’s took over the space in 1996 and roasted coffee beans here until 2007 when they moved their manufacturing operations to Alameda.