Last Saturday we drove to San Francisco for the annual Fleet Week celebration to watch the Blue Angels Air Show. We have a special liking for Fleet Week because our son Scott graduated from the Naval Academy and our son Tim spent five years in the Coast Guard. We enjoy touring the ships, rubbing shoulders with the military crowd, and watching the Blue Angels. There is something very exciting about six super-powered jets flying at low altitudes, just below the speed of sound.

And so in search of the best view, we ended up at Treasure Island, that flat spot next to Yerba Buena Island, which served as a Naval base for nearly 60 years. The two islands have an interesting history. Yerba Buena is 198 acres of rock in the middle of the bay that provides anchorage for the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. The three Joses--Canizares, Castro, and Limantour--laid claims to the island between 1778 and the mid 1800s. In 1850 the island became part of San Francisco and was officially named Yerba Buena, or "good herb." However, the locals gave it other names such as Goat Island, Wood Island, and Bird Island. In 1895, the U.S. Geographic Board officially named it Goat Island, but some 40 years later returned its Yerba Buena identity.

Next to Yerba Buena Island is the 407-acre island known to most of us as the Treasure Island Naval Station. This island was formed in 1936 for the 1939-40 Golden Gate International Exposition. The island measures 5,520 feet long and 3,400 feet wide. So a walking tour around the island totals about 3.3 miles. The name is both real and symbolic. It was inspired in part by Robert Louis Stevenson's book of the same title and by the purpose for its being--to display treasures of the world, specifically the Pacific Rim. More than a year was spent dredging fill for the island at a project cost of $3.8 million.

Everything was right for the fair except the timing. A world war had a way of dampening enthusiasm and diverting attention, and so the exposition never achieved the results intended. But it did leave us with a fine island and some spectacular art-deco buildings including a 400-foot-tall tower of the sun (since demolished) and the China Clipper terminal building, which still stands.

Our walking tour of Treasure Island started at the former China Clipper terminal located just beyond the yacht harbor. The building now houses a leasing office and other re-use facilities of the City of San Francisco. Take a few minutes to walk through the interior of what was the passenger terminal for the China Clipper, a 12-passenger amphibious plane that made weekly trans-Pacific flights between 1939 and 1946. During the war years, the plane turned back at Hawaii. The yacht harbor south of the building was then the Clipper's turnaround and docking area. When Treasure Island was turned over to the Navy in 1941, the building was used for military purposes, and years later the Navy converted it into a museum that included exhibits of the expositions, the China Clipper and Navy--Marine operations during the war. Unfortunately, the museum is gone, but the large wall murals depicting Treasure Island and its place in history are still in place and worth viewing.

Exit the building, and turn right down California Street. Across the street is the base chapel, and the first large building on your right is now occupied by a film company. Other companies will be locating on the island as the City of San Francisco moves this re-use project forward. Continuing down California Street, you are treated to views of Yerba Buena Island, the eastern side of the Bay
Bridge, the Port of Oakland, and features the East Bay cities including the Campanile at University of California at Berkeley. At the end of California Street is a large concrete pier. South of the pier we viewed a small boat sailing regatta, and docked at the pier was "The San Francisco Belle," a large riverboat that is a part of the Hornblower Fleet. Continuing along Avenue N, which is the east shore of the island, you will notice the city of Richmond with the Chevron Standard Oil tank farm and the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge in full view. Sailboats dot the horizon, dodging large ocean vessels moving through the bay.

As you walk along Avenue N, note that the short retaining wall is made of recycled concrete blocks that were removed from some other part of the island. Farther on, sections of sidewalk are made from the same source. Most of the blocks are a faded red or green color, and for portions of the sidewalk, someone's labor of love was to paint the grout blue.

Several picnic tables are available along the shoreline. Interesting buildings and industrial facilities of unknown purpose line the west side of Avenue N. At the end, turn left on 13^th Street and past the sewage treatment plant. On the left is a fairly new fitness center, and straight ahead is Treasure Island School, now abandoned. Part of the city's re-use program is to rehab and lease apartments formerly used by the Navy. Many of these units are now occupied. We walked through the schoolyard, past a playground and on to the west side of the island. A park-like setting of large linear grass areas line the frontage road; from this point we viewed the Blue Angels as they thundered over the island at low altitudes in formation.

It was a good air show, but pretty much the same as we've seen before. What was new to us was Treasure Island. Visit it soon, and enjoy the Bay Area from a new water-level perspective. The exposition is long gone, the Navy is also gone, and now it's our turn to enjoy this jewel of the bay.