Why Piedmont Is A Separate City From Oakland

Bay Curious

KQED

History, Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.9 • 999 Ratings

🗓️ 1 February 2024

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Look closely at a map of Oakland and you'll notice an odd spot that seems to have been cut out. That's the city of Piedmont. Bay Curious listener David Levine wanted to know how and why Piedmont came to be separate. And he's curious about how that history has affected the relationship between the two places. KQED's Chris Hambrick went to find out. This episode first aired in 2019, but we still get questions about it on the regular. Additional Reading: Why Is Piedmont A Separate City From Oakland? East Bay Yesterday Podcast Sign up for the Bay Curious newsletter Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts This story was reported by Katherine Monahan. This episode of Bay Curious was made by Olivia Allen-Price, Bianca Taylor, Katrina Schwartz and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Cesar Saldana, Maha Sanad and Holly Kernan.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From K-QED. The city of Piedmont in the East Bay is a bit of a
0:06.8	geographical oddity. I looked at a map and I saw that Piedmont was almost
0:11.8	like a donut hole in the center of Oakland.
0:14.6	This is David Levine, our question-asker today.
0:17.7	On the map, he saw this tiny city, not even two square miles in size,
0:22.3	surrounded on all sides by the city of Oakland.
0:25.9	And if you take a close look, the borders of Piedmont seem to make no sense.
0:30.6	Instead of following streets or physical landmarks like the borders of most towns do,
0:35.0	in Piedmont, the borders snake around,
0:38.0	sometimes through the middle of homes.
0:40.0	All this got David wondering.
0:42.0	Why is Piedmont a separate city from Oakland?
0:48.0	This is Bay Curious, the podcast that explores the Bay Area
0:52.0	one question at a time.
0:53.8	I'm Olivia Alan Price.
0:55.5	This week we're bringing you the wild unexpected origin story of the city of Piedmont.
1:01.4	This story first aired in 2019, but it's a topic we still get questions about on the
1:06.2	regular. So, Piedmont fans, Piedmont Attractors, and all you generally curious people,
1:12.0	stick around for some answers.
1:13.7	Support for Bay Curious is brought to you by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company,
1:21.1	still family owned, operated, and argued over.
1:24.7	Explore their brews wherever fine beverages are sold and taste how trailblazing runs in the family.
	...

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