The California Hotel is a historic landmark on the National Register of Historic Places. Built in 1929, it originally operated as a commercial hotel and venue where jazz and blues greats performed, including Billie Holiday, James Brown, Sly Stone, Mahalia Jackson and Big Mama Thornton. In the 1960s the I-580 freeway was built adjacent to the building, dividing and isolating West Oakland. With the changing regional economic geography the neighborhood and building fell into steep decline and by 1971 the California Hotel was shut down and abandoned. In 2012 EBALDC joined the neighborhood planning efforts for the San Pablo Ave. Corridor to preserve and renovate the building as affordable apartments with community and commercial spaces. The California Hotel completed its renovations in 2014 and now provides 137 residential units of safe and healthy affordable housing and 8,000 square feet of ground floor commercial space.