wtfdto: Henry J. Kaiser's green dream.

Plan for garden with semi out of date plant key.

It took nearly two years to notice this garden. The only sign is a ring of foliage on the top of the Kaiser Center parking garage. I passed it by regularly without a second thought until it hit me; what are all those trees doing up there? When I finally decided that I had to know, I walked up the parking garage stairs until I hit the roof. The set of stairs I had chosen opened up into a thicket of green and birdsong. Close the door, and the echoing, gray, exhaust-laden air of the garage is forgotten.

The story told by the display in the lobby of the Kaiser Center is that Henry J. himself demanded the garden. In his typical fashion, he bucked his entire upper management staff, telling them he that did not intend to look down from his office onto the roof of a parking garage. This is noteworthy for Mr. Kaiser’s forward thinking. Nobody from the building’s design firm of Welton Becket and Associates suggested the idea. No city council members or neighborhood associations were demanding that corporate titans include green, public access space into their headquarters. Instead, thanks to Henry J. Kaiser’s own unique vision, there is this little oasis, three floors up, on top of what is usually a total eyesore. San Francisco landscape architecture firm, Osmudson & Staley won the contract to design the garden.

I love this fountain, too bad it is turned off.

On any given day, before or after lunch hour, the garden is empty. The flowery and treeful peace of the garden is dominated by the gigantic sail of glass and aluminum that is the Kaiser Center. The more I scrolled from greenery to glass, the more I began to appreciate this incredible building. The Ordway building next door suddenly became heroic from my new vantage point as well. No matter which of the many benches around the garden you choose, there is a good view of Oakland’s skyline. I began taking tons of pictures; crouching behind bushes, walking around and around the garden. It was only a matter of time before suspicion was aroused, and sure enough, I was scared out of my shirt by a security guard who had snuck up behind me. He was a young guy who called into his boss to ask what to do with me. He held up the radio to my face so I could hear the response, “make him stop.”

The view to the north.

Well, that did it. I wasn’t going to just stop. There is not one single sign that forbids photography. I asked to meet the bossman and the guard led me downstairs to the main lobby. In the lobby, I was struck by the cleanliness of the design, the bank of Westinghouse elevator indicators behind the desk and the waterfall sculpture that makes a mundane escalator an object of curiosity.

The newer, and very ugly Kaiser building rising from some nice foliage. (I need plant help!)

I started shooting again and that’s when the boss caught up with me. I asked him why, in a public access space, I was being stopped from taking photos. He gave me the terrorist thing and then asked me, “If someone was taking pictures of your house, wouldn’t you want to know why?” I was ready to tear into this one but I bit my tongue… what is the use of debating personal single family dwelling versus 28-story office tower? (Even if Henry J. had once maintained one of his residences there.) I switched gears into a, “how can I get permissible access and who’s in charge?”, and before I knew it I was in the Swig Management Company offices setting up my next visit for an in depth look at this fantastic piece of mid-century modernism…. for next time.

The Ordway building behind lavender.

The rooftop garden is located above the Club One fitness center, next door to the Kaiser Center, on Webster Street, between 20th and 21st streets. Hours are 8am to 5pm. Go in the small door on Webster and find the escalators, go to the top and you are there. Check out the cool, black and white blow-ups of the building and the surrounding neighborhood, before and after construction, up to the present day. Don’t forget to bring a camera.