Has Oakland been snubbed over the years? Here are some ways it might have been.



Oakland, often referred to as the little sister of San Francisco, doesn't always get the attention it deserves.

Click through this slideshow to see some of the ways the Town may have been snubbed over the years. less

Oakland, often referred to as the little sister of San Francisco, doesn't always get the attention it deserves.

Click through this slideshow to see some of the ways the Town may have been snubbed over the ... more Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 17 Caption Close Has Oakland been snubbed over the years? Here are some ways it might have been. 1 / 17 Back to Gallery

In the course of one week in 2017, two of Oakland's sports teams, the Raiders and the Warriors, made moves signaling the end of their time in The Town. And even though they're leaving, in a tough break for Oaklanders, local taxpayers are still going to help foot the bill for a combined $163 million for renovations to the Coliseum and Oracle Arena.

But that wasn't the first time that Oakland, California's eighth largest city and one with a rich history, may have gotten snubbed.

Drew Johnson, an Oakland native and curator of photography and visual culture at the Oakland Museum of California, told SFGATE that Oakland "is an easy town to pick on."

Apparently that's even been the case when Oakland's sports teams become dynasties, like the A's did in the early 1970s.

"I always think of this joke that Johnny Carson made. The A's won the World Series three times in a row in the early '70s and he was doing his monologue," Johnson recalled. "I remember even after all these years for some reason."

Johnson remembers Carson saying that because of Oakland's history of being an industrial town, it was going to have its championship celebration in a tire factory.

Over 40 years later, Oakland still wasn't getting its due when one of its sports teams was on its way to a championship. During the Golden State Warriors' 2015 championship run, national television broadcasts often omitted the name Oakland from its coverage and showed cutaway shots of San Francisco instead of Oakland.

But are sports the only arena where Oakland may have been rebuffed in one way or another? Find out by checking out the gallery above.