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From KQED.

On the east side of the bay, towns fan out across the flatlands, sandwiched between the East Bay Hills and the water.

Oakland is the biggest, of course, but drive south from there and you're soon in San Leandro, Hayward, Union City, and Fremont.

But there are some far less well-known communities hidden in that same stretch.

I'd like to welcome and thank you for being here for the Ashland-Cherryland Community Identifier, Rippin-Cutting, celebration.

All right.

Ashland and Cherryland are two unincorporated communities wedged between San Leandro and Hayward.

They want to be recognized. They want to be recognized as communities, as Ashland, as Cherryland.

The thing is, it's really easy to miss these places. That's why the county commissioned a muralist

to paint an overpass on East 14th Street.

One side reads Ashland and the other Cherryland.

We're very proud of this accomplishment that this will be a lasting momento to all of our unincorporated communities for years to come.

Bay Curious listener Sam Hopkins was one of the many people who hadn't thought much,

if ever, about these places until recently. His friend was asked to work on a mosaic at a fire

station in Cherryland. When Sam heard that, he thought to himself, where's Cherryland? And when he saw

on the map that both Ashland and Cherryland are smack in the middle of the East Bay, he got curious.

What's the history behind Ashland and Cherryland, two unincorporated communities in the East Bay?

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