This walk introduces the characters who shaped the district’s early history. We’ll meet, among others, the Dimond, Hopkins, and Rhoda families. We’ll also learn about the German community with their Altenheim on the heights and beer gardens below. This 2 1/2-hour walk includes a stroll along Sausal Creek as well as stories about the district’s horse-drawn streetcars and the resort that the neighbors sent packing.
Tour Leader: Dennis Evanosky
Meet: Meet at the adobe Boy Scout Hut in Dimond Park. Enter the park at the end of Dimond Ave. where it borders the park. The Scout Hut is just beyond the redwood grove.
Bio: Dennis Evanosky is historian at the online Alameda Post and a free-lance writer with many published books: East Bay Then and Now; San Francisco in Photographs; San Francisco Then and Now; Oakland’s Laurel District; Mountain View Cemetery and Alameda’s Architectural Treasure Chest, to name a few. He is the editor of the Alameda County Historical Society’s newsletter. He has received several Partners in Preservation Awards, including one for restoring the Civil War section of Mountain View Cemetery; and one for assisting Bill Caldwell with Oakland: A Photographic Journey.
Dennis has been a docent at Mountain View Cemetery for many years. He was a docent at the Pardee Home Museum, and has led walking tours for OHA that include the Laurel District, the Dimond District, Leona Heights, the Oakland Estuary, Oakland’s Redwoods and Mountain View Cemetery and a tour about the Cemetery’s connection to the Civil War. He also hosts walking tours for the City of Alameda featuring that city’s history.
Dennis was born in Pittston, Pennsylvania and was raised in Maryland. He holds a masters degree in German from the University of Maryland. He taught German for the University of Maryland in Europe for nine years.
NOTES:
• PLEASE MEET 15 MINUTES BEFORE listed time to allow for registration.
• Comfortable walking shoes, sun hats and sunscreen are recommended. Bring water.
• Vouchers, limited-income accommodation, and any other special circumstances will be handled onsite at the starting point on the day of the walking tour. Check your email the morning of the walking tour for any last-minute changes, clarifications, or cancellation.
• Due to the ongoing presence of Covid, we will continue to make masks available. If you feel ill the day of a tour, please stay home. If after a tour, you become ill and test positive, please let us know as soon as possible. Thank you.
• If you need assistance navigating Eventbrite, please reach out to us at info@oaklandheritage.org or call our office at (510) 763-9218 and we’d be happy to help.
• Please check out the profiles of tour leaders. We are grateful for their skill and generosity.
• These tours support Oakland Heritage Alliance, a non-profit that tells Oakland’s story through walking tours, lectures, newsletters and advocacy. We welcome volunteers and new members!
• THESE TOURS ARE BASED IN PART on the research of the Oakland Cultural Heritage Survey, a project of the City of Oakland Strategic Planning Division, and the resources of the Oakland History Center, 2nd floor, Oakland Main Library.