50 Years or so Ago, a Train Ran Through It

by Tim Fisher

Here on San Pablo Avenue at the Avalon Senior Residence we’ve got a special commemorative plaque on our outside wall that notes the historical significance of the Key Route Terminal and the site’s role during WWII. As a relative newcomer to the area, I didn’t have a clue and I wanted to know more. Longtime West Oakland residents put me on a path of discovery that started in the Hoover Foster neighborhood a few blocks away and took me up the Bay as far as Suisun City to the Western Railway Museum.

The photos generously received from the Western Railway Museum historians reveal that where Avalon sits today was a busy transportation hub pre-BART with all sorts of trolley lines running through -especially during WWII when the site was the southern terminus for a shuttle that took workers from Emeryville to the Kaiser