Introduction:

Examining historically “decorated” parts of the East Bay, the following timeline demonstrates how public art of the East Bay, such as that of the Emeryville Mudflats and the Albany Bulb, appear to have vanished with the introduction of a state park that spans the distance between these cities. Some of this art has been maintained — either because some space has essentially been abandoned, or by public will, such as the Albany Bulb's guerilla art project.

The questions posed by the evolution of the East Bay Shoreline are as follows: How was art replaced by green space over time and what does this say about the East Bay’s changing culture? What groups of people is this in the name of, and of what groups may it be at a disadvantage? How are cities and their people prioritizing industry, ecological preservation, aesthetics and cultural continuity?

Public art and a state park have competed for space along the East Bay’s shoreline. The expanse of 72 acres from Oakland to Richmond was not always the site of the McLaughlin State Park, a haven of ecological stewardship, a site of environmentalist victory and only containing small remnants of a vibrant artists’ collective past.

The following begins to uncover the tensions between culture, the environment and industry along the East Bay shoreline. From the Emeryville Mudflats to the Albany Bulb, artists of the East Bay have used flotsam, jetsam and other washed up trash to build sculptures that defined the Bay Area. A catch 22, the same practices were contributing to ecological damage that, in part, led to the destruction of much of the East Bay’s public art and the construction of what is now the McLaughlin State Park.

A Timeline of Events:

Creating the Eastshore State Park and its Replacement of Anonymous Folk Art

1960s-2000s

1960s

1963:

The cities of Santa Fe and Albany sign the bulb-like landfill into a construction materials’ dump land, becoming the Albany Bulb.

The City of Emeryville’s General Plan called for development of the waterfront through real estate. Talk of filling in the bay was met with opposition. At the same time, Sylvia McLaughlin, a Berkeley housewife, was targeting development activities along Berkeley’s shoreline. Along with fellow environmentalists, the Save San Francisco Bay Association was formed, soon after becoming the widely known “Save The Bay” group that advocated for the creation of the Eastshore State Park, what could be a sanctuary for the birds and other wildlife at risk in a damaged shoreline. These activists successfully advocated for the creation of the Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC).

1964: Emeryville Mudflat sculptures emerge, inspired by a California College of the Arts sculpture class. The first known sculptures include that of John McCracken reading “Barry the Bomb” and another in reference to Prop 14, which was threatening civil rights. High school student Wayne Saxton’s pieces gain traction as “Derelict Sculptures” in Time Magazine.

Following 1964, more sculptures appeared in the mudflats, distinguishing Emeryville’s reputation from an industrial wasteland to an artist hub. Mostly, the sculptures were anonymous and made out of whatever materials the sculptors could find along the mudflats.

1969: The BCDC becomes an official state planning and regulatory entity.

1970s

1972: Berkeley City Council votes against building a shopping center along its landfill shoreline. The BCDC rejects the Santa Fe Railroad development landowner’s high-rise plans.

Year-long battles between the BCDC and the Emeryville developers to fill in the bay and create the Watergate Peninsula throughout the 60’s and 70’s.

1980s

1980: Santa Fe sues the City of Berkeley. The Supreme Court eventually rules in favor of the City of Berkeley, kicking into gear the establishment of the East Bay shoreline park.

1985: The Emeryville Crescent State Marine Reserve is established. Signs that warn against walking along the mudflats and wildlife preservation greatly discourage artists from the spontaneous folk art that had once sprouted out of nowhere.

1987: Albany Bulb dump closed as a landfill. Soon after, artists and the homeless arrive to the Bulb, creating a community library as well as similar “derelict” sculptures as those of the Emeryville Mudflats.

1990s

1998: The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) spends millions in removing detritus and the last of the mudflat sculptures along the 80 freeway. Caltrans spokespeople claim it is out of ecological preservation: the move is to return the mudflats to their natural ecosystem.

The site of the mudflats from Emeryville all the way to Richmond is purchased for around $25 million to become the Eastshore State Park.

2000s

2002: The State Park and Recreation Commission approves the General Plan for the McLaughlin State Park, placing the nail in the coffin on the anonymous sculptures of the 60's to the late 80's.

The Albany Bulb is included in the General Plan to be managed as a conservation site by the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD).

2009-2013: The community of "campers" living on the Albany Bulb increases to between 60 and 70 people.

The City of Albany enforces an ordinance against camping to begin its implementation of the Albany Waterfront Park Transition Plan, starting a process of including the Bulb as part of the McLaughlin State Park.

2014: All campers are evicted from the Albany Bulb under pressure from Citizens of Eastshore Parks and the Sierra Club in order to reign in the creation of the state park.