San Leandro Museum and Casa Peralta

Children playing chess at recess. What does recess look like in 2020? How are your kids spending their breaks from Zoom/ distance learning? How are they staying in touch with friends? What was your favorite thing to do during recess? Leave a comment, let us know!

Effective immediately, the San Leandro Public Library will be suspending on-site Curbside Holds Pickup services through Monday, January 4, 2021. Please visit the library website at www.sanleandrolibrary.org for updates. We apologize for any inconvenience, and on behalf of all our library staff, we send you and your loved ones our best wishes and hopes for your safety and health.

Beautiful Fall colors in #DowntownSanLeandro Do you like photography? Or just like to take pictures with your phone? We would love to see your pictures of San Leandro through your lens! If you have a photo you would like to share with us, use the hashtag... #sanleandrothroughmyeyes or tag us @sanleandromuseum and we may feature them in our Instagram stories and on Facebook. See more

Shoreline development in the late 1950’s provided a boat harbor as well as four miles of shoreline walks, bike paths, a golf course, and a 30-acre park, with picnic and play areas which all created a beautiful place to enjoy bay views and some fresh air. The San Leandro Marina is still a popular place enjoyed by locals. The second photo is a closer view of the boat harbor. The building on the left was the Blue Dolphin Restaurant, which opened in 1965. After more than 30 years of hosting proms, weddings, banquets, and birthday parties, the restaurant closed on January 1, 1996. Do you remember the Blue Dolphin Restaurant?

Tule (pronounced too-lee) is a bulrush, native to freshwater marshes along the bay and inland. Tule grows to approximately 10’ tall and has been a vital part of the ecosystem for supporting waterfowl and herds of elk. Today many of the Bay Area’s freshwater marsh habitats have been lost due to development. Coyote Hills Regional park has one the last remaining freshwater marsh habitats where you can see tule growing naturally. The Ohlone peoples used tule as a building materia...l and occasional food. Traditionally the tule is cut above the water line using a deer scapula saw (shoulder blade) and dried before it is used for construction. Only what is needed is cut. Traditional tule homes, called ruwwa, home in Chochenyo, are made from a domed framework of bent willow poles. Tule mats are fastened to the framework for walls. The homes range in size from 6 to 20 feet in diameter, accommodating approximately 8 to 10 people. Generally one or two families would live in one ruwwa. A hearth inside kept the house dry and the tule from rotting. The ruwwa was primarily used for sleeping and staying dry during the rainy season. Because the inside of tule is similar to an airy sponge it floats, making it a great material for boat building. Tule is cut dried, bundled, shaped and tied together to form the boat that will ride on top of the water similar to a raft. Tule boats are not watertight. Tule was also used to make duck decoys for hunting. Bundles of tule stems were bound together and shaped to look like ducks. The decoys would be set to float where they would hopefully lure in waterfowl to then be bow-hunted, netted, or snared. Although not as common, tule was used for food. The rhizome of the tule - the stem part that grows sideways underground - was eaten either raw or dried, pounded into flour then cooked. To see step-by-step photos of the tule home and boat building process visit the Primitive Ways links in the bio. Image 1: tule growing in marsh Image 2: Replica tule house at Mission Dolores in San Francisco Image 3: Ohlone in a tule boat crossing the San Francisco Bay by Louis Choris, 1816 Image 4: Example of tule duck decoys found in Nevada.