Yeah, you already know about how Oakland gave the world Rocky Road ice cream, the window squeegee, Fantasy Football, the Mai Tai, the Popsicle, the fortune cookie folding machine, and the Wave.
And you even know about our invention of Scraper Bikes.
But did you also know about these further Oakland inventions?
Electric Schoolbell
Passenger Bus (Fageol Truck & Coach Co., early 1920s)
Airport Hotel (Oakland Airport Inn)
The Glass-Aluminum-Steel Phone Booth
In 1950, under contract from Pacific Telephone and Telegraph, Oakland sheet-metal fabrication company Benner-Nawman (now located in Arizona) designed and built their model BN150, replacing older, wooden designs. The steel panels featured a high-performance enameled porcelain finish they pioneered.
Their line was a huge success and eventually included their popular stand-up model,
and, into the 1990s, their Egg-Shaped model
Along the way, the company moved to nearby Benecia, and then Arizona. Here’s its full 2001 catalog with dozens of models and accessories. But cell phone used grew exponentially and in 2005 the company ceased manufacturing phone enclosures, after 55 years.
CornNuts
What started as “Olin’s Brown Jug Toasted Corn” is an Americanized version of a traditional South American snack, developed by Albert Holloway in 1936. I have a family story: my mother’s family lived on 7th St. next door to what was then a CornNut manufacturing facility. One day it caught fire and my Aunt Jenny had the presence of mind to grab my then-baby Aunt Caroline and whisk her to safety. (Fortuantely the fire was contained and the family home was spared.)
Jelly Bellies
The University of California
The UC Office of the President is now in Oakland one block away from the original campus of the College of California.
A Wildlife Refuge
The first wildlife refuge in the United States was created at Lake Merritt in 1870.
The Position of Municipal Naturalist in a City Parks & Recreation Department
Paul Covel, hired 1948 by Director William Penn Mott.
The Concept and Science of Invasive Species
At age 12, James T. Carlton was walking around Lake Merritt one day when he stepped on something crunchy. It turned out to be a cluster of shells left by a south Pacific tube worm that had been brought to the Bay and developed colonies here. Carlton’s boyhood find eventually led to a PhD in ecology and a long, distinguished academic career pioneering the study of invasive marine species. The present-day analysis and regulation of bilge water from oceangoing ships is a direct result of his work. Read more here and here and here and here
The Discovery and Naming of Boothite (hydrated copper sulfate): This mineral was first identified in 1903 by German-American Oakland native Waldemar Schaller, from a specimen taken from the Alma Mine (in what is now Leona Heights). He named it after after Edward Booth, the Cal Chemistry professor who directed him to the mine.
Jack LaLanne: Opened the first modern health and fitness club in Oakland in 1936, invented the first leg extension machine and first exercise cable/weight selector mechanism, hosted the first nationally syndicated TV exercise show, was among the first to emphasize the importance of healthy food (no sugar!) alongside exercise, and was among the first to encourage women, the elderly and the differently abled to exercise including with weights.
Bruce Lee lived in Oakland August 1964 – February 1965, at the house of James Yimm Lee & Kathryn Lee (no relation to Bruce, but James actually a great uncle of mine!) at 3039 Monticello Ave. In that short time:
1. Bruce trained and taught with James and others, in that house’s garage and then at their Jun Fan Kung-Fu Institute at 4157 Broadway
2. He gained notice in demonstrations at the International Karate Championship in Long Beach (Aug. 2)
3. He travelled back to Seattle to marry Linda (Aug. 17) and return with her to Oakland
4. Brandon was born (Feb. 1) at the former Oakland Hospital on International/E14th
5. Bruce had a screen test for 20th Century Fox
6. He had the famous “showdown” fight with Jack Man Wong of San Francisco (Bruce’s self-perceived shortcomings in that fight propelled him to develop what became his signature Jeet Kune Do style)
Bruce’s father died Feb. 8 in Hong Kong. After returning from there he and his family relocated to L.A., where he had landed the role of Kato on “The Green Hornet.” So while he was in Oakland only half a year (ages 24-25), that was a pivotal time for Bruce’s martial arts development, family life, and acting career.
The current owner added the Bruce Lee silhouette in 2020
Bruce on the front steps, next to the driveway
The Black Panthers are mostly known for their militant protests, but they also ran extensive community programs, pioneering such efforts as school-based meals and other food programs, paratransit, and community health clinics
“Black Lives Matter”
The phrase originated in a 2013 Facebook post by Alicia Garza of Oakland.
Russell Yee 