Before it was destroyed in the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, there used to be an on-ramp from San Francisco to Oakland on the Bay Bridge. This is where the cover for Tower of Power’s fourth album “Back to Oakland
” was shot with a superimposed traffic sign added. The album was recorded at the Record Plant in Sausalito in May, 1974 and released by Warner Brothers the same year.
Tracks:
Oakland Stroke…
Don’t Change Horses (in the Middle of a Stream)
Just When We Start Makin’ It
Can’t You See (You Doin’ Me Wrong)
Squib Cakes
Time Will Tell
Man from the Past
Love’s Been Gone So Long
I Got the Chop
Below Us, All the City Lights
…Oakland Stroke
Personnel:
Lenny Pickett
Stephen “Doc” Kupka (The Doctor)
Greg Adams
Mic Gillette
Bruce Conte
Chester Thompson
Emilio Castillo
Brent Byars
David Garibaldi
Francis Rocco Prestia
Lenny Williams
Bay Bridge
Oakland CA
This is the other end of the bridge in San Francisco, showing the direction back towards Oakland.
Correct. Drove the Bay Bridge to Oakland many times when I was living in San Francisco. Also drove across the Golden Gate Bridge for years, before leaving my native $$$$ San Francisco in the 80’s. Last visit home in 2012 drove across both bridges.
There was an actual Tower of Power road sign with a brown background. The color may have been green. The group had to take it down because the CA highway dept said it was confusing for drivers. I took a photo of it in 1974 while leaning out of a chartered ski bus window. I showed the photo to Emilio Castillo of the group years later when Tower of Power was playing in a jazz club. He told me the story of how the sign had to be taken down. Surprised you don’t know this story. I’m an SF native and have seen Tower of Power several times since the 70’s. Am also a retired radio DJ.