Emeryville Historical Society: Greenway Walking Tour

Walk the length of Emeryville's Greenway, a former railway, and learn about some of the historic spots along the way.

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Emeryville Historical Society: Greenway Walking Tour

Emeryville, California 94608, United States

Created By: The Emeryville Historical Society

Tour Information

The Emeryville Greenway is a “rails to trails” success story that converted parts of a Southern Pacific interurban passenger and freight line into a walkable and bikeable path that runs the length of the city.

This 1.5 mile long, self-guided walking tour details 26 stories behind the existing brick & concrete buildings and other razed structures. These stories hearken back to the city’s founding, industrial past, as well as more contemporary stories spotlighting the city’s development and growth.


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What You'll See on the Tour

The northernmost part of The Emeryville Greenway, referred to by some locals as “Three Corners,” is the intersection of the cities of Emeryville, Berkeley, and Oakland. A marker designates the spot where all three cities abut. The prope... Read more
The Geo. M. Martin Company is among the longest-running family-owned businesses in Emeryville spanning three generations. Current CEO George R. Martin is the grandson of founder George M. Martin who started the company amid the Great Depres... Read more
This unassuming brick warehouse at the southwest corner of 67th St. and The Greenway was once home to a juggernaut in Doughnut mix manufacturing. For over 30 years, the plant operated as the Western division headquarters for The Doughnut Co... Read more
The Liquid Sugar Lofts are a 6-building, 55-unit housing complex completed in 2002 by the Pulte Group. Before this, it was home to Liquid Sugar Incorporated who were a family-run business that spanned four generations. Charles D. Mooney ori... Read more
The site of what is now the Oliver Lofts on 65th street was once the Oliver Tire & Rubber Company. Oliver Tire was founded in Oakland in 1912 by Marion F. Oliver. Oliver was among the founders of American Rubber in 1907 who operated a f... Read more
The Baker Metal building at 1265 65th St. is a relic of Emeryville’s industrial past that has remained relatively unchanged for the nearly 100 years of its existence. This will change in 2024 when construction on a long planned adaptive r... Read more
You’re standing near where one of Emeryville’s original streets now terminates. The private property between the Baker Metal building and the small stucco condominiums to the right leads to Peabody Lane. Originally known as “Peabody... Read more
This building at 1351 Ocean Avenue on the corner of Doyle Street was built for the J. T. Thorpe & Son Company in 1945.  J. T. Thorpe & Son was established in 1906 by John T. Thorpe and his son John Leon Thorpe in the wake of the Gr... Read more
The two-story Emeryville Glen housing complex on the southeastern corner of 63rd and Doyle streets was once home to one of the largest, most modern laundry facilities in The East Bay. Pioneer Laundry, originally named Pioneer Wet Wash Laund... Read more
The popular and well-trafficked Doyle Hollis Park in the center of Northern Emeryville is an anchor of this original section of Emeryville’s Greenway. The site, straddled by 61st & 62nd streets along Doyle, is documented as first bein... Read more
Located between 59th & 60th streets facing Hollis was a dynamo of American Manufacturing that spanned nearly a century.  The International Harvester Company Emeryville Works plant manufactured trucks including the iconic D-400 “Emery... Read more
The original Emeryville Community Organic Garden, or “ECOG,” located at 59th and Doyle Streets was originally established in 1992. It was the first of what are now four community gardens scattered across the city. The once-fallow piece... Read more
This building on the corner of 59th & Doyle with the distinct art deco facade was originally built for Sacramento-founded Liberty Iron Works circa 1932.  Liberty was the first of many businesses that have occupied the 30,000 square foo... Read more
You’d be hard pressed to find a place in Emeryville with more history packed into it as The Townhouse. The restaurant and bar has lived a storied life over its nearly 100 years of existence.  Originally built in 1926 by Emeryville firema... Read more
The first record of this property at 1290 Powell Street is for the Great Western Meter Company in 1923. Established in 1920 at 5701 San Pablo Avenue in Oakland, R. J. Lyman presided as President. Great Western Meter manufactured irrigation ... Read more
The metal water tower here at the corner of Powell and Doyle streets might be considered a “landmark” within the city as Emeryville’s only standing water tower.  The 50,000 gallon steel frame tank stands 65 feet high and was original... Read more
The brick facing you see here on the corner of Doyle and Powell streets is a portion of the original Pacific Manifolding Book Company that existed here from 1907 until the early 1980s. British-Canadian founder Samuel J. Moore, considered th... Read more
According to county assessor data, the concrete, brick and timber-framed split-level structure at 1409 & 1411 Powell street was built in the 1920s amid the country’s prohibition years and listed in early Sanborn maps as a “restauran... Read more
This 11,000 square feet concrete block structure at 5701 Hollis with the pyramid topped columns and ornate entryway was built in 1946 according to Alameda County assessor records. The first record of its occupancy is in 1951, when an indust... Read more
This stop on the tour recognizes what was once a major junction of the Southern Pacific electric railway that ultimately carved out the walkable path in Emeryville’s street grid that you are currently navigating. Rail transportation in Em... Read more
The once vast factory that was the Marchant Calculating Machine Company has been whittled down to being nearly nonexistent over the decades. The pioneering machinery company reached the pinnacle of its industry only to be reduced to near ir... Read more
The striking Legorreta architects-designed campus your standing before, is the youngest on the City of Emeryville’s “significant structures” list. This list provides a layer of protection from any proposed demolition. The structure wa... Read more
This laboratory on Horton & 53rd streets, currently operated by Spanish Pharmaceutical giant Grifols, has been an influential site for scientific research for nearly a century. At its peak, the campus anchored by this building spanned 2... Read more
The elevated parking garage on the western side of Horton street was the birthplace of Rheem Manufacturing Co. founded nearly a century ago. Because of prohibition and the banning of horse racing across the state, Emeryville was looking to ... Read more
It’s hard to overstate the influence of Oakland Trotting Park in Emeryville's founding, growth and independence that still reverberates today. Built by Captain Edward Wiard 25 years before “Emeryville” existed as a town, the race trac... Read more
Here on the corner of Halleck Street and Park Avenue is where Emeryville’s first post office was built. The site is considered pivotal in the city’s founding and naming. It’s widely accepted that Emeryville was named after Joseph S. E... Read more

 

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