Alameda History Walking Tours
As part of our commitment to educate and inform about local history, we have been presenting series of walking tours around Alameda since 2022. Join award-winning Historian Dennis Evanosky for leisurely walks that will leave you with a greater appreciation and understanding of Alameda’s history. We explore a wide range of topics including early residents, architecture, the environment, transportation, cultures, and other topics of historical significance.
This year the Alameda Post is offering a program of eight brand-new tours on the third and fourth Saturday and Sundays in April, and on the third Saturdays and Sundays from May through October. Led by our historian Dennis Evanosky, the tours will take us from east to west over the course of the year, from Bay Farm to Alameda Point.
Each tour for 2026 will contain new information and feature:
- Geology – How did Alameda and Bay Farm get here a few million years ago and what’s beneath our feet today?
- Geography – particularly the additions and changes to our shorelines.
- Architectural styles – including their origins and identifying features as we come upon them.
- Lots of Dennis’ history stories.
Admission to each tour is $20 per person, meet us at the indicated date and location at 10 a.m. We offer a maximum of 35 spots per tour, and close sales when they are full. When space permits, we will sell tickets in person on the morning of the tour.
Each tour will end where it started and should cover 90–100 minutes over 1–2 miles. We suggest you wear comfortable shoes as well as sunblock, and bring water and a jacket as needed. Mobility devices, strollers (kids under 6 are FREE!), and well-behaved (or especially cute) dogs are always welcome.
If you haven’t yet attended one of our tours, view information from our previous tours and watch our library of Dennis’ presentations from the 2024 tours or 2025 tours, available on YouTube, and a selection of other videos shot during previous tours.
The money raised from ticket sales goes to support our expenses incurred running a nonprofit news and information source to serve Alameda. We hope you will join us and have some fun learning about Alameda’s history!
2026 History Walking Tours
April 18 & 19: Bay Farm Island.
Meet at the 1880 well at today’s Holly Street and Redhook Lane.
April 18 https://square.link/u/l916ueVC
April 19 https://square.link/u/Zg3X0Ac5
During this tour, learn how the first farmers settled in and what crops they grew. Wfde’ll get to know some of the more interesting farmers, including Dennis’s favorites: a Civil War veteran whose body is (almost) completely covered in tattoos, and the man who held out to the very end. Did you know that one of the property owners want to put a railroad yard on Bay Farm and that Bay Farm had an airport on the marshland just across today’s Mecartney Road?
April 25 & 26: The Town of Alameda.
Meet at the 1852 dock at today’s Fillmore and High streets.
April 25 https://square.link/u/7k9LlvWy
April 26 https://square.link/u/4IdWre8H
People once stepped off the small ferry “Ellen Craig” at our meeting spot. This tour will introduce town’s founders, their plans for a railroad at the “other end” of High Street, the site of the town of Melrose. We’ll also and learn of the sad death of one of the spouses. Dennis will also explain why Fillmore and Madison Street dead-end just past Mound Street. There’s lots of interesting architecture, an old (empty?) graveyard, and an interesting school on this tour. Why do they call that College Avenue? And what’s with the name High Street?
May 16 & 17: A Walk Through Park Centre.
Meet at Marti-Rae Court on Park Avenue.
May 16 https://square.link/u/feDLaxdv
May 17 https://square.link/u/7qeqSyZd
Did you know that the City of Alameda once declared that Park Street was a slum? The Park Centre project meant tearing nearly everything down. But the ladies who lived on Marti-Rae Court would have none of it. When they forced this idea to a vote (less than 10 years after voters approved South Shore), the results sent the developers packing. Dennis will show us the former sites of three buildings they took down in anticipation once stood. (There’s even a murder story on this walk!)
June 20 & 21: The Town of Encinal.
Meet at 1852’s Leviathan and Condor streets, today’s Grand Street and Clement Avenue.
June 20 https://square.link/u/Gd3XR6TG
June 21 https://square.link/u/18xAFQSo
James Hibberd helped himself to all the land from Oak to Paru streets and from the San Francisco Bay shoreline. He created a wharf and the small town we’ll explore. He left in 1855 allegedly without paying for his land. I wonder if the city got even by misspelling his name “Hibbard” when they named that street for him? Our walk has more history and architecture to enjoy along the way.
July 18 & 19: Encinal Park.
Meet where Kings Avenue dead ended in the mid-1870s, today’s San Antonio Avenue and Caroline Street.
July 18 https://square.link/u/ONmCAKxP
July 19 https://square.link/u/WntG9CIx
Caroline Chipman Dwinelle and Emil Kower worked together to create a neighborhood known in its day as “Encinal Park.” The aptly named “Caroline Street” defined the neighborhood that ran from the San Francisco Bay shore to Lincoln Avenue. Dennis will take us through Encinal Park and share information about the area’s architecture. We’ll meet first-hand the prolific firms of Marcuse & Remmel and Denis Straub & Son. The street names play an interesting role in our story, especially one that seems to fit the mold but does not. Streetcars played an important role in this story as did the Central Pacific and South Pacific Coast railroads.
Encinal Park map: https://alamedapost.com/history/whats-name-caroline-mcleans-mozart-verdi-streets/
August 15 & 16: Neptune Beach.
Meet at the resort’s speedway at the foot of McKay Avenue.
August 15 https://square.link/u/U3zXSh33
August 16 https://square.link/u/IAEUn0df
Neptune Beach began life in 1916 with a roller coaster. The Merchant Marines called the ride’s footprint “McKay Avenue” when they created their academy. Did you know that Alameda Land Company, the owners of Neptune Beach, created a breakwater from the rubble Francis Marion “Borax” Smith’s plant that stood near today’s Ralph Appezzato Memorial Parkway and Main Street? Or that you can clearly see the boundary between where Neptune Beach’s property ended and Utah Construction’s landfill began? Dennis will share stories about all the rides and attractions at the “Coney Island of the West.”
September 19 & 20: Cohen’s Railroad and the Town of Woodstock.
Meet at the San Francisco & Alameda Railroad 1864 railyard, Pacific Avenue and Main Street.
September 19 https://square.link/u/r2lwSz8V
September 20 https://square.link/u/aw6cnUGx
The San Francisco & Alameda Railroad began running through the peninsula of Alameda on August 25, 1864. Dennis will walk us through the Town of Woodstock along the old railbed (today’s Pacific Avenue). We’ll stroll up Fourth Street and see some interesting architecture along the way. This includes a Gothic Revival home from the 1860s and some beautiful Queen Anne designs.
October 17 & 18: Building the Naval Air Station in 1939-40 and Alameda Point today.
Meet near the Army-Air Corp’s Benton Field runway, the Main Gate at Main Street and Navy Way along the Estuary.
October 17 https://square.link/u/oZzb4cjv
October 18 https://square.link/u/xT56QagW
We begin this tour not as you’d expect, with the Navy, but with the Army-Air Corps’ Benton Field. Dennis will explain how the Army got here first and how Benton was not the only airport in the neighborhood. He will surprise us with stories of two other nearby airports and their interesting roles they played. This tour will focus on how the Navy extended the shoreline here further west to meet their needs. He will tell us of two interesting November dates and show us how the Navy moved in and how they finally moved out. The City of Alameda and the Navy slowly met years of cleanup and infrastructure repair head on. We’ll take a close look at where all this stands today with a visit to the area around Seaplane Lagoon.
Pictures of building the NAS: https://alamedapost.com/history/the-navy-builds-an-air-station/