The Pacific Coast Canning Company was a large canning business in West Oakland started by Lew Hing. At its peak during canning season, the cannery provided 1,000 jobs. Lew's "Buckskin" brand canned goods were shipped throughout the U.S. and to Europe. The cannery was at 12th Street and Pine, and the building constructed in 1919 has been converted into the Pacific Cannery Lofts.
Lew Hing started his first cannery in 1877 in San Francisco. In 1904, he started the Pacific Coast Canning Company in Oakland.
Always on the cutting edge of progress, Lew built his new cannery as the first concrete building in the industrial part of Oakland, plus he insisted on the most advanced machinery for mass production of his products. Also, in contrast to San Francisco, Oakland had space for a larger cannery as well as providing the Southern Pacific railroad tracks directly to the cannery dock for easy shipping of Lew’s Buckskin brand canned goods throughout the United States. Products included asparagus, cherries, apricots, peaches, pears, and grapes. Tomatoes were the most popular. 1
Pacific Coast Canning Company 2 
Workers at the Pacific Coast Canning Company 3
Links and References
- Lew Hing on Wikipedia
- Undated photo via Flickr
- Undated photo via Flickr
- Lew Hing's Pacific Coast Cannery, Oakland Museum of California
- Long Lost Oakland, chapter 5, East Bay Yesterday (podcast)
- Lew Hing, A Kinsman to the Rescue, Connie Young Yu, Chinese Historical Society of America
