Oakland Walking Tour: Big Dreams, Big Gifts, and The City Beautiful

Although the Oakland neighborhood extends from Bloomfield in the north and Shadyside in the east to the Monongahela River in the South, its heart is the area dominated by universities, medical institutions, and cultural amenities. This section, centered around Fifth and Forbes Avenues and Bigelow Boulevard, took its basic form between the 1880s and the 1930s, thanks to a number of big dreamers, persuasive philanthropists, gifted architects, and inspiring ideas about improving industrial cities. On this tour, names like Carnegie, Schenley, Nicola, and Hornbostel will come to have deep meaning as participants learn how their respective visions brought into being the buildings and other sites that define Oakland to this day.