East Bay Then & Now

If you live in the San Francisco Bay area or have a fondness for the place, this is a fun book to peruse. The author pairs archival photos with current photos to give the reader an idea of how places in the Bay Area have evolved. I think this is a good book if you are into "How Buildings Learn" by Stewart Brand. Its also a good book if you are an older person and want to show the kids what the old town was like way back when. What I found particularly interesting was how some places change more than others. Alameda, for example, is like The Land That Time Forgot. I used to joke with people that it was the only city in the Bay Area where you could order chicken a la king in the 21st century. One architectural detail that went by the wayside are these balconies that the Victorian buildings had on the second floors. Pity, they must have been nice to stand on on a sunny day. Places that had any kind of money (other than Alameda) had the misfortune of the land becoming so valuable that the lovely buildings all were mowed down for more contemporary buildings. A sad example is the Lake Merritt area, which is littered with ticky tacky apartment buildings with thin walls. Anyway, if you like architecture, memories, buildings, or the Bay Area, this book may be for you.