CITY OF ALAMEDA by Amazon Stones

Alameda is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located on a small island of the same name next to Oakland in the San Francisco Bay. An additional part of the city is Bay Farm Island, which is adjacent to the Oakland International Airport. The city has a small town feeling with its Victorian homes and tree-lined neighborhoods. At the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 72,259. Alameda is a charter city, rather than a general law city, meaning that the city can provide for any form of government. Alameda became a charter city and adopted a council-manager government in 1916, which it retains to the present.

Due to its proximity to the Bay, wind surfers and kite surfers can often be seen along Crown Memorial State Beach and Shoreline Drive. From the beach there are also views of the San Francisco skyline and the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge.

One of the recent attractions is the aircraft carrier USS Hornet, a museum ship now moored at the former Naval Air Station as the USS Hornet Museum. This ship was originally named the USS Kearsarge, but was renamed in honor of the previous Hornet CV-8 (famous for the Doolittle raid), which was lost in October 1942.

Alameda is known for its large stock of Victorian houses; 9% of all single-family houses (1500) in Alameda are Victorians, and many more have been divided into two to four-unit dwellings. It is said that Alameda has more pre-1906 earthquake era homes than any other city in the Bay Area.

Alameda is home to the official offices and training facility of the Oakland Raiders American football team. The training facility features practice fields, a full- featured weight room, locker room, player meeting rooms, an auditorium, a state-of-the-art television studio and spacious offices and is also home to The Raider Image, the merchandise arm of the franchise, to which all the public can visit.

At the turn of the 19th century, the city of Alameda took a large chunk of Charles Froling's land away to build a street. Froling had planned to build his dream house on the plot of land he received through inheritance. To spite the city and an unsympathetic neighbor, Froling built a house 10 feet (3.0 m) wide, 54 feet (16 m) long and 20 feet (6.1 m) high on the tiny strip of land left to him. The Froling spite house is still standing and occupied.

Alameda is also famous for its Fourth of July parade which is one of the largest and longest in the country. It features homemade floats, classic cars, motorized living room furniture, fire breathing dragons, marching bands and lots of enthusiastic people. The parade route is about 3 miles (5 km) long.

USS Hornet Museum

The USS Hornet Museum is a museum ship in Alameda, California, USA.

It is composed of the USS Hornet (CV-12) aircraft carrier, exhibits from the NASA Apollo moon exploration missions, and several retired aircraft.

It is located on the southernmost pier of the former Alameda Point NAS, though there are plans to relocate it to the corner of the Seaplane Lagoon closest to the Alameda Point Museum in conjunction with a ferry terminal and a light rail or bus connection to BART.

Kitesurfing

Kitesurfing or kiteboarding is a surface water sport that uses wind power to pull a rider through the water on a small surfboard or a kiteboard (similar to a wakeboard). Generally kiteboarding refers to a style of riding known as freestyle or wake-style, whereas kitesurfing is more "wave-riding" oriented. These two styles usually require different boards and specific performance kites.

A kitesurfer or kiteboarder uses a board with or without foot-straps or bindings, combined with the power of a large controllable kite to propel the rider and the board across the water. In 2006, the number of kitesurfers has been estimated at around 150,000 to 210,000, with 114,465 inflatable kites sold that same year.

The sport is becoming safer due to innovations in kite design, safety release systems, and instruction. Riding styles have evolved to suit riders and conditions, such as wakestyle, waveriding, freestyle, jumping, and cruising.

THeatre

The Alameda Theatre is an Art Deco movie theatre built in 1932 in Alameda, California. It was designed by architect Timothy L. Pflueger and was the last grand movie palace built in the San Francisco Bay Area. A restoration and expansion project was completed in 2008, making the historic theater the primary anchor of an eight-screen multiplex.