Copra Crane in Islais Creek

Historical Essay

Copra Crane

Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2005

The Copra Crane, located on the Islais Creek Channel, dates back to a time when coconut meat, also known as copra, was imported from the Philippines and pressed into coconut oil at the nearby Cargill Mill.

ILWU Local 10 longshoremen worked the pier, using picks and shovels to break up the large pieces of copra in the ships' hulls. A large suction pump known as a blower then moved the copra pieces to the mill where ILWU Local 6 members processed it into oil. The remaining "copra meal" was pressed into pellets, put into 100 pound sacks and the warehousemen prepared it to be shipped across the bay to warehouses at Colgate-Palmolive-Peet and McKessin-Robbins. The crane was used to load the copra meal onto outbound ships.

The crane and the mill have not been in use since the mid-1970s. Currently they are owned by the San Francisco Municipal Railway, the city's public transit agency, which had plans to demolish both.

But Julia Viera, a local resident who dreamed of building a park at the area, organized her neighbors into the "Friends of Islais Creek Channel." The group persuaded Muni to postpone destroying the crane until it could raise the money to build the park, a much-needed open space in the often neglected Bayview/Hunter's Point neighborhood, and create a historic labor landmark.

At the mini-park on the south side of the channel the Friends of the Urban Forest have planted trees. The north side of the channel where the crane is located will be developed into a park featuring a 700 foot promenade and a museum (a refurbished walking bosses' shack) with photos, artifacts and written history. Industrial artifacts from the copra processing plant are being salvaged and will be used as sculptures throughout the park.

RECONSTRUCTING HISTORY

Walking Boss Local 91 foremen Bud Riggs, Will Whitaker and Joe Amyes have been helping to piece together the story of the crane and of Pier 84. ILWU oral historian Harvey Schwartz (author of the book "The March Inland" on ILWU warehouse organizing in the 1930s) also has been gathering the history of the crane, pier 84 and the Cargill Mill, interviewing people who worked there.

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The Copra Crane has been the subject of a campaign to save it as a monument to the old days of longshoring at the creek. Aerial dancers "re-purpose" the Copra Crane on Islais Creek for a stunning dance performance in 1999.

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