The Unique Border Dispute

In this podcast episode, the host delves into the intriguing history of a small sliver of San Francisco that exists on the western edge of Alameda Island. The story begins with a land grant in 1820 that gave Antonio Peralta a vast stretch of land in the East Bay. Fast forward to the 1850s when Peralta sold a portion of his land to William Worthington Chipman and Gideon Anbal, who established the town of Alameda. However, due to bureaucratic delays, the land was not officially recognized as part of San Francisco until 1874. This sets the stage for a border dispute that arises years later during World War II when the Navy expands the Alameda Naval Air Station. The landfill that bridges the invisible border under the bay now technically places a small sliver of Alameda in San Francisco.