No Treasure

View of San Francisco from Treasure Island

During this Memorial Day weekend, we visited unexplored San Francisco territory: Yerba Buena island and Treasure Island. Yerba Buena island is a real island in the middle of the Bay Bridge, which connects San Francisco with Oakland. Connected to Yerba Buena island, you find Treasure Island, a man made island. Treasure Island has a long history, including having served as an airport and home to several movie sound stages. Most importantly, it was known as a US Naval Base during and after world war II.

We had never visited Treasure Island. And after having heard for years, after it had been decommissioned as a Naval Base, how it is being transformed, we decided to stop by. From what it looks, we are about 10 years too early. The place looks like a dump. Many buildings are in shambles with all its windows broken. You can tell in some sections, baracks have been converted into low income housing. However living there must not be easy, as the island appears to lack a lot of infrastructure. For example, from the main roads I could not find a single (grocery) store.

The masterplan (sftreasureisland.org plan) (sfgate.com article) looks promising, yet so far into the future.