[2] Its residents were employed in the construction of the surrounding subdivisions and were likely to vote against incorporation as a separate city.
The neighborhood was first subdivided in 1909 and 1917 after a failed proposal to move the state capital to Berkeley, in which the area would have become a large public park near the capitol building.
[3] Originally an unincorporated area north of Berkeley, it was built as a commuter suburb at the northern terminus of three interurban rail lines.
[4][5] It includes the Thousand Oaks Knoll, a rocky extension of the Berkeley hills in the northeastern part of the neighborhood.
Several large rock outcroppings in the eastern edge of the neighborhood were turned into public parks, or incorporated into private yards.