From K-QED. The city of Piedmont in the East Bay is a bit of a

geographical oddity. I looked at a map and I saw that Piedmont was almost like a

donut hole in the center of Oakland.

This is D.L. our question-asker today.

On the map, he saw this tiny city, not even two square miles in size, surrounded on all

sides by the city of Oakland.

If you take a close look, the borders of the city seem to make no sense.

Instead of following streets or physical landmarks, like the borders of most towns.

In Piedmont, the borders snake around, sometimes through the middle of homes.

All this got DL wondering.

Why is Piedmont a separate city from Oakland?

This is Bay Curious, the podcast that explores the Bay Area one question at a time.

I'm Olivia Alan Price. This week we're

bringing you the Piedmont origin story. Stick around. Support for Bay Curious

is brought to you by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, still family owned, operated, and argued over.

Explore their brews wherever fine beverages are sold and taste how trailblazing runs in the family.

Visit Sierra Nevada.com to find your new favorite beer today.

Now this is a story about Piedmont of course, but as soon as we started digging, we quickly found out,

The story of Piedmont starts in Oakland.

Reporter Chris Hambrick brings us the tale.

In the late 1800s, Oakland Incorporated, going from ranch land and small settlement

clusters to becoming an official city. Almost immediately, it started to grow. Oakland leaders were under a very ambitious program to enlarge the city's boundaries and increase the population.

...