Alameda is a city in Alameda County, California, in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Its name comes from the Spanish word for a tree-lined path. The city is built on an informal archipelago in San Francisco Bay, centered on Alameda Island — south of Oakland across the Oakland-Alameda Estuary — together with Bay Farm Island, a peninsula beside Oakland International Airport. Alameda's geography was reshaped in 1902, when the Tidal Canal was cut, separating what had been a peninsula from the mainland and creating an industrialized waterfront dominated by shipbuilding, steel fabrication, and lumber milling. In 1940 the city became the site of a large naval air station, and World War II nearly doubled its population. The base operated for 56 years before closing, and its runways and hangars have since been redeveloped for businesses, housing, and recreation. Today Alameda is home to roughly 78,000 residents. It is known for its Victorian and early-twentieth-century homes, its wide residential streets, and a small-town feel that persists despite its location in the heart of the Bay Area. Crown Memorial State Beach, Park Street's commercial district, and the breweries and wineries of Spirits Alley on the former naval air station are among its defining features. The city is served by the Alameda Unified School District and connected to San Francisco by ferry and to the wider region by bridges, nearby BART stations, and the highways of the East Bay. For homebuyers, Alameda offers island living, historic architecture, and bay views within minutes of Oakland and San Francisco.