1930s aerial photo of the Redwood Heights neighborhood, Magee and McCrea properties

My friend and neighbor Bobbi knows that I've been researching the Holy Names University property near where we both live. She shared this photo with me:

"I bought it like 20 years ago from a photo collector on College - Bosko's."

She felt it might be from the 1930s. I did some digging. The Spanish-style homes on what's now Monterey Boulevard and Guido were built by A. J. and J. S. Flagg in 1929, and were marketed as "a Lane in Spain." The Walter Morosco home was replaced by the Redwood Gardens development by 1939.

I georeferenced both this 1927 Thomas Bros. map and Bobbi's photo, and this is what I came up with:

Here is that same image, but with a modern map underneath it. You can see how the Magee and McCrea houses relate to the modern Holy Names University property.

You can see how the Magee and McCrea houses relate to the current Holy Names University property. Also, how Oakland was in between small agricultural farms and suburban development in the 1930s.

The Earl Warren Freeway, AKA Highway 13 came in the 1950s, first as a city, then a state project.

Here is that same location in a 1947 Key Systems aerial survey:

1947 - Key System Transit Lines - Sunderland, Clyde H.

Cool photo. Thanks, Bobbi.