Welcome to the 2007 Laser PCCs
August 10-12, 2007
Visiting Treasure Island
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 natural shoal, invisible at high tide. 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, whose
territory extends far into San Francisco Bay and to the tip of the island
of Alameda, California.
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.
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,
is also home to low-income San Franciscans and many college students who
attend school downtown.
Treasure and Yerba Buena Islands are home to over 3,000 residents as well as
a number of commercial tenants, schools and community serving organizations. The
Islands are also open for public use and recreation at all times, and TIDA
encourages all Bay Area residents and visitors to take advantage of
the Islands' spectacular location and recreational amenities. Please
note however that certain appropriately marked areas of the Islands
are still considered off-limits to the public due to CalTrans
activity and on-going environmental analysis.
Treasure Island - Film Location
In the 1990's and 2000's, Treasure Island's old aircraft hangars served as sound stages used in film and television productions. In 1988, Treasure Island stood in for the Berlin airport in Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Numerous pictures starring Robin Williams were filmed on the island, including Flubber, What Dreams May Come, Patch Adams and Bicentennial Man. Sigourney Weaver's character in the thriller Copycat lived in an impressive private compound on the island. For three years it served as the site of Comedy Central's Battlebots television show. The offices and penthouse apartment in Nash Bridges were sets located on the island during the show's production (1996-2001). Treasure Island served as the stage location for the "bullet time" visual effect sequences in The Matrix. The island last held the set for the movie version of Rent in 2005.
Treasure Island - Future Development
In 2005, one of the largest developers of the United States, Lennar Corporation, proposed to build a self-sustaining city on Treasure Island. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the proposal has 5,500 units of housing in several lowrise buildings, a few high-rise buildings (including a 60-story tower-Treasure Island Tower), restaurants and a ferry terminal facing San Francisco. It also has an organic farm, a wind farm, parkland and tidal marshes. The proposal is designed to be as car-independent as possible, with the ferry terminal and basic goods within a 10 minute walk of the residences. A toll of $5 has been proposed to deter non-residents from driving on to the island. This is a change from the original plan which was more car-dependent and had only one highrise tower.
