Islais Creek is an inlet of San Francisco Bay located in the Central Waterfront between Potrero Hill and Bayview/Hunters Point. The area was once a vast salt marsh which when diked and drained contained small truck farms. In 1925 the State Legislature created a reclamation district to drain and develop the Islais Creek basin as an industrial area leaving only a small shipping channel.

World War II provided the impetus for the construction of factories and warehouses. During the War, the creek served as parking areas for large ocean-going tugs. Further up along the shore of the creek is located the largest copra coconut processing plant in the entire United States west coast region. In fact, the abandoned five-story high copra crane, shown in the picture above was used to transport large amount of copras from ships to the plant as late as 1974, is still standing on the creek bank today and is preserved as a historic landmark.

ILWU Local 10 longshoremen worked the pier, using picks and shovels to break up the large pieces of copra in the ships’ hulls. A large suction pump known as a blower then moved the copra pieces to the mill where ILWU Local 6 members processed it into oil. The remaining “copra meal” was pressed into pellets, put into 100 pound sacks and the warehousemen prepared it to be shipped across the bay to warehouses at Colgate-Palmolive-Peet and McKessin-Robbins. The crane was used to load the copra meal onto outbound ships.

By the 1970′s the businesses around the Creek had mostly closed and many buildings abandoned. Today the area contains several auto wrecking yards, underutilized warehouses and private and public bus storage yards. These facilities are situated right up to the edge of the Creek precluding public access to the water except in several small locations.

Presently, community organizations including the Friends of Islais Creek, established in 1984, have been working to improve the conditions of the creek and nearby areas.

The Copra Crane has been the subject of a campaign to save it as a monument to the old days of longshoring at the creek. Aerial dancers “re-purpose” the Copra Crane on Islais Creek for a unique dance performance in 1999.

Wikipedia > Islais Creek

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