The western end of Piedmont includes the headwaters of Pleasant Valley Creek, which is tucked under Grand Avenue. But the slopes and gullies of the valley can’t be hidden, and what may seem like a scramble of streets is a nice place to walk around. The topography I’m talking about is north of Oakland Avenue, between Grand and the former quarry of Dracena Park.
None of it’s bedrock; nothing wrong with that. It’s the uppermost part of lobe 3 of the Fan, that big arc of ancient alluvium hills across central Oakland. The bedrock part, farther uphill, is much steeper walking, and the rock (the blue field labeled “Kfn” on the geologic map) doesn’t show itself either.
I should make an exception to that statement — Dracena Park is a great place to see the bedrock. But for the purposes of this post it’s just a pretty place, either in the former main pit:
or in the valley on the north side, now full of redwoods.
This is the most dramatic bit of stream valley in the area. Elsewhere, it’s easy to trace the drainage lines; in fact during our recent batch of rain, you could see water coming out of the ground just like in the old days before people lived up here.
This slopy bit of suburbia is criss-crossed with hidden history. The Key System streetcars used to serve the neighborhood. Indeed, a railroad syndicate once planned a major route through here that was going to run through upper Fruitvale and on to San Jose. The right-of-way appears in this 1927 map (courtesy of the Oakland Library History Room), long after the plans were abandoned.
The part of it running as far as Oakland Avenue did end up with rails as part of the Key System’s C line. If you look closely at the area in Google Maps, the lot lines give the route away.
The transit routes, road and rail, took advantage of the saddle in the ridge of lobe 3, at this spot where Pleasant Valley Road eases over the hill and becomes Grand Avenue. The view is west across the saddle toward Rose Street.
OK, enough of that. There are indeed rocks in this neighborhood. See that clever stone wall in the foreground in the previous shot? Here’s a closeup.
Other rocks are more laid back, understated but cool.
Still others, the only word for them is homey.
They’re all mostly landscapers’ stone, purchased at a commercial yard. But here and there you’ll see genuine domestic Oakland rocks. This little wall is made of serpentine/blueschist from around here, probably the pit at Serpentine Prairie or nearby.
And the Franciscan red chert is very likely from Piedmont itself, which sits on a hill of melange, a marble-cake rock unit that mixes chert, basalt, sandstone and serpentine in a mudstone matrix.
Some of it can be downright psychedelic. Stuff like this was quarried in Piedmont before any buildings were here at all.
Even the sidewalks, the oldest ones anyway, incorporated aggregate from Piedmont’s original quarries.
The town has grown up since then. It puts on a good front — very nice homes, lovely grounds, a fine place for walking and taking in the views (especially when the leaves are down in winter). But it began as a rugged, dusty mining district with horses and dynamite.
Oakland Geology 
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