The Golden Gate Building – 3706 San Pablo Avenue
Built shortly after World War II, the Golden Gate Building once occupied the long block of San Pablo Avenue between 37th Street and MacArthur Boulevard.
Completed around 1946, the brick commercial structure spanned addresses 3706 through 3722 San Pablo Avenue and would go on to house a wide variety of businesses over the next several decades.
The building was divided into multiple storefronts—at times accommodating as many as eight separate tenants—including a liquor store, tavern, butcher shop, neighborhood market, and a used-car dealership. Like many postwar commercial blocks along San Pablo Avenue, it was designed for flexibility and frequent turnover.
The building’s most historically significant tenant arrived in 1959, when Golden Gate Key & Lock leased space here following its displacement from West Oakland. Founded in 1946 by Edwin Scott, Golden Gate Key & Lock is widely recognized as the longest-operating Black-owned business in Emeryville, and among the oldest continuously operating Black-owned locksmith businesses in the East Bay. Today, the company is run by the fourth generation of the Scott family.
Edwin Scott, a native of Georgia, established the business shortly after being discharged from the U.S. Navy at the end of World War II. Unable to find steady work, he taught himself locksmithing by disassembling and mastering locks purchased from local hardware stores. Using savings he had accumulated—reported as approximately $12,000—Scott opened Golden Gate Key & Lock in West Oakland’s Seventh Street corridor, an area then nationally known as the “Harlem of the West” for its concentration of Black-owned businesses, music venues, and nightlife.
Scott was soon joined by his brother Ralph, and together they rapidly expanded the business. To navigate racial barriers in mid-century America, the brothers sometimes operated under the alias “John L. Reedsburg,” a strategy that allowed them broader access to white clientele.
In 1959, Golden Gate Key & Lock was forced to relocate as West Oakland underwent large-scale redevelopment associated with postal facilities, freeway construction, and urban renewal. Securing a new location proved challenging for a Black-owned business in an era marked by widespread discrimination.
Their search ultimately led them to Emeryville, where they leased space in this building from a Chinese-American owner, at the busy intersection of San Pablo Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard—reflecting a moment when minority property owners were sometimes more willing to lease across racial lines than their white counterparts.
As Scott’s son Ralph Edwin Scott later recalled, “Emeryville was a business town. It invited you in.”
Additional businesses within the Golden Gate building at the time included “Big White’s Enterprises” owned by a somewhat notorious figure named “Big” Al White, and a car repair shop named R&W Auto owned by Ed Wright.
Golden Gate Key & Lock continued to grow steadily over the decades. They celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1996, and Edwin Scott authored seven books on locksmithing and founded a technical school to teach the trade. He passed away in 2001, after which leadership of the business passed to his son Ralph.
The Golden Gate Building was acquired by the City of Emeryville in 2011. Despite being identified as a “significant” structure for its brick construction and scale, the building was demolished in 2012 to make way for an 87-unit affordable housing development, displacing Golden Gate Key & Lock once again. The business relocated to Oakland, before returning to Emeryville in 2018, leasing space at 3620 San Pablo Avenue, just one block from their former location.
In 2021, the company was displaced yet again by another city-subsidized affordable housing project and moved across San Pablo Avenue to the west side of the street, where it continues to operate today.
After funding delays, construction on the affordable housing project at this site began in 2016. The completed development, named Estrella Vista—Spanish for “Star View”—references its location near the Star Intersection, where San Pablo Avenue, MacArthur Boulevard, and Adeline Street converge.
The project was completed in 2019, with California Governor Gavin Newsom in attendance, underscoring the state’s growing emphasis on affordable housing.
