[1] Originally named Key Route Heights after the Key Route streetcar system, the neighborhood adopted the Laurel name after the city of Oakland built Laurel Elementary School in 1910.

[2] The prominent Laurel Gateway Arches over MacArthur Blvd at either end of the district were designed and installed in 2006.

[3] MacArthur Blvd., which runs through the Laurel district, was once U.S. Highway 50, before Interstate 580 was built to replace it in the early 1960s.

[5] Laurel was also home to the Hilltop Tavern, a gathering place for local Native Americans during the middle of the 20th century.

In the 1960s, early Bay Area meetings of the American Indian Movement took place here, and the 1969 Occupation of Alcatraz was organized here.