The East Bay Bicycle Coalition (EBBC) is leading a bike tour of five historic Oakland houses on Saturday. The ride will begin with the Peralta Hacienda in Fruitvale and end at the DeFremery House in West Oakland. The tour, its highlights illustrated in this map, begins at 12:30 p.m.
The EBBC’s Gene Anderson, 46, is an organizer of the ride, along with Annalee Allen of Oakland Walking Tours, and Russell Nelson, on the board of the Pardee home. Anderson said he hopes that the ride will become a regular event. He said the tour is a reminder that many of these homes are available for events and serve as community centers.
“There are so many great resources in Oakland, and people don’t know they are here,” Anderson said.
In addition, he said he hopes the bike tour will not just draw people his own age. “We want to get some younger people interested in the history of Oakland as well,” Anderson said.
The homes are a core part of Oakland’s history. The land under the Peralta Hacienda, on 34th Avenue, was once the land of the Ohlone people. The house sits near the Peralta Creek, where remnants of an adobe structure can still be found. In 1820, Spanish Army Sergeant Luis María Peralta was granted 45,000 acres of land by the Spanish governor of California, Pablo Vicente de Solá. The land was eventually inherited by Luis María Peralta’s sons, one of whom was Antonio Peralta, who later built the Peralta Hacienda with Mexican and Ohlone laborers.
Part of the Peralta grounds have since been turned into a park. On the other side of the house is a community garden, and an amphitheater is in the works, near the creek.
From the Peralta Hacienda, the ride will wind through the Fruitvale to the Cohen-Bray House, and then on to the Camron-Stanford House, and the Pardee Home before ending at the DeFremery House—the former community center of the Black Panthers. A stop at the nearby Linden Street Brewery is planned after the tour.
If you go :
Where: 2465 34th Avenue
When: Saturday, September 29 at 12:30 pm
Event is free
