San Francisco Relocation Guide - Antevia

Treasure Island is an artificial island in the San Francisco Bay between San Francisco
and Oakland. It is connected by a small isthmus to Yerba Buena Island, a naturally
formed island. It was created in 1939 for the "Golden Gate International Exposition" by
dredging up dirt from the bay.
Treasure Island is wholly within the City and County of San Francisco, which territory
extends far into San Francisco Bay and to the tip of the island of Alameda, California.
The Administration Building, a Streamline Moderne-styled remnant of that World's Fair,
is one of the few buildings remaining from the exposition. Today it serves largely as
offices for The Villages, a private apartment-rental agency. The former housing for
officers and their families is rented out to the general public, pending redevelopment and
reconstruction of buildings on the island slated for 2008.
After the World's Fair 1939–40 exhibition, the island was scheduled to be used as an
airport when the navy stepped in and offered to exchange Mills Field on the San
Francisco Peninsula near the city of Burlingame for the island. The City and County of
San Francisco accepted the swap and the airport was built at Mills Field.
During World War II Treasure Island became part of the Treasure Island Naval Base,
where it served largely as an electronics and radio communications training school, and
as the major navy departure point for sailors active in the Pacific theatre of the war.
In 1996 Treasure Island and the Presidio Army Base were decommissioned and opened
to public control, under stipulations.
Treasure Island is now part of District 6 of the City and County of San Francisco, though
it continues to be owned by the navy.
A substantial part of the island is undergoing environmental cleanup by the federal
government.
The island has no gas station, and is served by a single bus, the San Francisco Municipal
Railway 108. It has a job training center and is home to many low-income San
Franciscans.
The island has a raised walkway which circumnavigates almost its entire bulk, which is
popular for recreation. Sea lions can be observed in the water from the shoreline, and
construction of the new eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge can be
observed from the eastern part of the island.
Treasure Island's old aircraft hangars also served for three years as the site of Comedy
Central's Battlebots television show, and later as the set where the movie version of Rent
was filmed. The Nash Bridges offices were also located on the island during the
production of that show (1996–2001).