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CC SA-BY Our Oakland

Bertha Port Park is a small City of Oakland park in West Oakland.

For many years, it had little but a worn statue of a dolphin and one tree in a dusty lot. Local resident Marilyn Reynolds began advocating for it to be renovated, and in 2005-2006 The Trust for Public Land's Parks for People - Bay Area Program worked to get it renovated. Now it has a play structure, picnic table, lawn, and more. The dolphin statue was covered in mosaics by Institute of Mosaic Art co-founder Laurel True. 1,2,3

It was named for Bertha Bastian Port and opened in 1947. Philip Joseph Port gave the land as a memorial to his wife Bertha with the proviso it be used as a park. It was originally built with slides, swings, picnic tables, and a climbing tree, designed with pre-schoolers in mind. 4,5

CC SA-BY Our Oakland

Location

Goss, Wood and 8th Streets in Oakland, California

Telephone

510.238.PARK

Links and References

  1. Bertha Port Park on Trust for Public Land website
  2. Community breathes life into old park SFGate.com July 28, 2006
  3. Persistence and creativity transform park Oakland Tribune July 1, 2006
  4. West Oakland and Prescott waterfrontaction.org
  5. New Playground Opened By Recreation Department Oakland Tribune November 27, 1947
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