Driver Plaza (also known as Jasper P. Driver Plaza and sometimes called Driver's Plaza) is a small park in the Santa Fe neighborhood of North Oakland. Driver Plaza is bounded by Genoa Street, Stanford Avenue, and Adeline Street. It is named after Jasper P. Driver, who formerly lived nearby at 888 - 59th Street. The plaza was created as part of the implementation of Oakland's Stanford/Adeline Redevelopment Plan, originally adopted in April of 1973. Prior to adoption of this plan, 61st and Genoa Streets connected through the current site of the plaza.
[ Question: When was the plaza completed? When was it named for Driver? Did it have any name before that? ]
Aunti Frances' Love Mission Self Help Hunger Program (SHHP) regularly provides free home cooked meals to the local community with some produce grown on site by Phat Beets and community members. Regular cleanups are organized by the Santa Fe Community Association & Neighbors (Santa Fe CAN), a 501(c)(3) volunteer powered community association. Users of the plaza engage in weekly cleanups.
1950 Sanborn excerpt
As noted above, the street alignment was different before the plaza was created. The 1950 Sanborn shows 61st, Genoa, Adeline, and Stanford all connecting in the area. It also shows the Key System tracks running on Adeline, and the Southern Pacific interurban running on Stanford. A gas station was located on a small island at the gore point with an address of 850 - 61st Street, although the 1911 Sanborn map showed a small one-story office building with an address of 842 - 61st Street at this location.
A night club known as Club Triangle was the west side of the area from 1935 to 1967 when a number of buildings on that block were destroyed in a fire. 1
Links and References
- 1980 vs 1968.jpg HistoricAerials.com
- Stanford/Adeline Redevelopment Plan, as amended December 14, 2007
- Petition to permit a community-funded Port-A-Potty for community elders change.org
- Battle Over a Sliver of Land in Changing Oakland Neighborhood, KQED, January 20, 2015
- https://www.facebook.com/auntifrances?fref=ts&ref=br_tf for more information on Aunti Frances' Self Help Hunger Program
- City of Oakland Parks
- www.santafecan.org Santa Fe Community Association & Neighbors (via archive.org)
- Oakland Bandits in Two Holdups Oakland Tribune October 31, 1947
- Block of Buildings Burns Oakland Tribune September 18, 1967
