With the weather warming up, I thought now would be a great time for a deep dive into Lake Merritt (not literally!). First, we’ll explore the wild side of this body of water (which is technically a tidal estuary) with Constance Taylor, a naturalist from the California Center for Natural History. We’ll discuss everything from what Oakland looked like 10,000 years ago to an upcoming BioBlitz.
On social media, I recently asked East Bay Yesterday listeners for questions about Children’s Fairyland and received a bunch of responses. In the second half of this episode, the park’s executive director C.J. Hirschfield will answer all your queries about the myths, legends, and history of this enchanting wonderland. Want to know if it’s really haunted? Or if Walt Disney really “stole” his ideas from here? Or why the park’s designer smashed his original model with a baseball bat? Listen to the podcast to find out!

Also, I want to give a shoutout to another story about Lake Merritt. Back in the 1980s and ’90s “Festival at the Lake” was one of Oakland’s most popular annual celebrations. KQED’s Sandhya Dirks recently produced a great piece called “When Oakland was a chocolate city” all about this dearly departed gathering. And speaking of early ’90s vibes…

Stay tuned until the very end of this episode to hear me personally thank every single person who supports this show on Patreon. I wouldn’t be able to keep making it without listener love, so I wanted to express my deep gratitude to everyone who has donated to East Bay Yesterday. If you want to see more photos and videos related to the history of Lake Merritt and Children’s Fairyland, scroll down and enjoy…

Promotional poster for Fairyland’s opening in 1950. This image will be part of an upcoming exhibit at Oakland International Airport.




Frank Oz (right) is best known as the voice and puppeteer of Yoda from Star Wars, but he started his career in Fairyland’s theater. Seen here with Fairyland puppet director Lewis Mahlmann and Bert the Muppet in 1970, Oz also spent many years working for Muppets creator Jim Henson. To hear an interview with Fairyland’s current Storybook Puppet Theater director Randal Metz, check out this episode of the Under the Puppet podcast. [Photo courtesy of Children’s Fairyland]









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