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CULTURAL RESOURCES SURVEY REPORT <br />4400 Black Ave <br /> 11 <br /> Figure 5: Joseph Black’s farm 1883 (Wainwright 2007) <br />By 1907, the project area was part of a 73-acre parcel owned by E.R. (Ernest Reuben) Lilienthal, who <br />also owned many adjacent properties (Prather and Haviland). Lilienthal, a San Francisco capitalist, had <br />been involved in hop cultivation on the former Black estate since Black’s death in 1887. However, his <br />hop production was threatened by the exportation of water to Oakland and San Francisco, which <br />reduced the local water table. In 1906, Lilienthal and the Pleasanton Hop Company both sued Spring <br />Valley Water Company, claiming that excessive water pumping had damaged hop crop yields. Spring <br />Valley solved the problem by purchasing the impacted properties in 1912, including the project area, <br />and effectively ended the hop industry in the area (MacLennan 2014:46-47; Haviland 1915). <br />Aerial photos and topographic maps show that the project area was undeveloped until the early 1970s, <br />when Pacific Telephone Company acquired the property (Fairchild Aerial Surveys 1939; Cartwright <br />Aerial Surveys 1965; USGS 1906-1968). Plans for a 24,000 square foot call center building on the <br />project area were drawn in 1971 by the firm J. Jack Bras and Associates. The building at 4400 Black <br />Ave was completed by 1973 and was partially occupied that year (Pleasanton Building Permits). The <br />new directory assistance center employed 109 operators – 96 hired locally – and served San Lorenzo, <br />Castro Valley, Richmond, Concord, Walnut Creek, Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Danville, and parts of <br />San Leandro (Daily Review 1974). Arnold Tira, a long-time employee at the call center, said that it <br />mainly handled 411 calls, a number that people who did not have access to a phone book could call <br />to get numbers they needed. The employees worked in shifts; at any given time, there were about 50 <br />operators and several electricians on duty (Tira 2023). <br />In 1993, 4400 Black Ave was listed for sale for $1.15 million (Oakland Tribune 1993). Although Pacific <br />Telephone (later Pacific Bell, then AT&T) no longer owned the property, it continued to rent the <br />building. In 2022, the building was used by AT&T as a training and dispatch center for telephone