Historic Bones, Hosting a Creative Ecosystem
A UNIQUELY OAKLAND STORY
Historical photos provided by Oakland Public Library
Echoes Of An Industrial Origin Layered In Brick
If you’ve driven along I-880 through Jingletown, you’ve seen the massive brick buildings rising beside the freeway like echoes from another era. Once alive with machinery, labor, and industrial ambition, these historic mills now house artists, makers, and visionaries shaping a new creative future for Oakland.
Birth Of A Giant
In 1883, Scottish immigrants William Rutherford and John Yule Millar set out to build a cotton manufacturing empire on the West Coast.
It was a bold move. Cotton wasn’t widely grown in California, and raw materials had to be shipped in by rail, but within a few years, the California Cotton Mills became the largest cotton mill west of the Mississippi, helping anchor Oakland’s rise as an industrial powerhouse.
A Factory That Operated Like A Small Town
The massive property was up to 30 buildings across nearly 40 acres with a rail road line running through the site.
The site produced wartime goods like parachutes for the federal government alongside consumer goods like towels and bedding for much of the Western United States.
Meet The Workers Who Put The Jingle In Jingletown
At the heart of the California Cotton Mills was immigrant labor communities, especially Portuguese and Azorean families who helped build Oakland’s industrial backbone in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Working long hours for coin wages, workers would head home with their pockets jingling, an everyday sound that gave rise to the name Jingletown.
Decline & Closure
By the 1940s–1950s, Oakland began shifting away from an industrial manufacturing identity. Culturally, California was changing. The state was becoming more associated with technology, aerospace, entertainment, and suburban living, rather than dense manufacturing labor. Industries like textiles faced less political and economic support. Labor dynamics also shifted as unions emerged, and companies were increasingly looking for lower-cost regions.
The California Cotton Mills could not keep up with the changing times and on June 30, 1954, the mill shut its doors.
Soon after, construction of Interstate 880 cut through the middle of the site, demolishing much of the complex and leaving properties on either side. Though both sites are still massive to behold they are only a fraction of what once stood before.
Reimagined As The Loom Today
In 2019, the buildings along the west side of Interstate 880 were reborn as The Loom.
What was once a factory became a center for creativity and expression, bringing in artists from around the world while amplifying local voices.
Where weaving looms, cotton gins, and bales once filled the brick interiors, CNC machines now hum alongside maker’s spaces and creative communities.
The structure still carries its industrial bones, its raw character fully intact but its purpose has evolved. No longer weaving cotton, it now weaves culture.
From Utility To Imagination
Once a manufacturing site producing wartime goods like parachutes for the federal government, alongside towels and bedding distributed across the Western United States, the campus now houses nearly 30 independent Bay Area artists, fabricators, and creators.
Today, woodshops, metalworking studios, CNC machines, and large-scale art production fill the historic brick buildings, alongside one of the Bay Area’s most unique creative event venues.
Learn More about The Loom Community
See how The Loom is supporting small businesses, hosting communities for creatives to thrive, and providing a space for ideas to come alive.