The Remar Baking Company
Now a residential loft conversion, this former industrial bakery straddling the Emeryville–Oakland border operated for nearly 70 years. At its peak, it produced an estimated 1.5 million loaves of bread per month, feeding households across the Bay Area and filling the neighborhood with the daily scent of fresh, baked bread.
In 1917, Jacob Paul “J.P.” Rettenmayer, a German immigrant and president of Oakland’s Acme Brewing Company, began planning a new factory at Adeline and 46th Streets. With national Prohibition looming, Rettenmayer anticipated the end of commercial brewing and began preparing a pivot into food production.
He founded The Remar Company, adopting a contracted trade name derived from his surname. Early reports described the project as a “pickle plant,” intended to manufacture preserves, confections, and pastries, before plans ultimately settled on bread production.
The site was chosen deliberately. The building sat between a Santa Fe Railroad line and the Key System, with Temescal Creek flowing along its north edge. Rail access allowed bulk delivery of flour and efficient regional distribution, while the Key System provided convenient transit for workers.
Rettenmayer hired architect Richard Griesser to design a two-story, Italianate, Florentine-inspired brick building, distinguished by a central tower topped with a weathervane. Construction by Hutchinson Construction Company began in early 1919, and the bakery officially opened on June 17.
Flour arrived by rail and was conveyed to upper floors for sifting, mixing, and dough preparation. Mechanized equipment divided the dough into loaf sizes, which were baked in massive ovens below. Finished loaves were wrapped and delivered by a fleet of company trucks to stores throughout the Bay Area. At full capacity, the plant employed roughly 250 workers and could produce 40,000 loaves per day.
In 1922, Remar merged with Golden Sheaf Bakery of Berkeley, founded in 1877 and already among California’s largest commercial bakeries. The combined company soon invested $200,000 to expand the facility.
Rettenmayer remained with the firm until about 1924, when he departed to work with the Linnard Hotel Chain. By the late 1930s, Remar products were sold through more than 2,000 independent retailers.
In 1933, the company merged with Best Baking Company, briefly operating as Remar-Best Baking and introducing Butter Krust bread, which became a staple in East Bay homes. Financial pressures during the Great Depression led to bankruptcy reorganization in 1934, from which the company successfully emerged.
By 1947, the plant began producing Sunbeam Bread, and the company operated for a time as Remar-Sunbeam. In 1954, Remar was absorbed into Interstate Bakeries Corporation, a national firm known for brands such as Wonder Bread.
The building operated as a bakery until 1988, when Interstate undertook system-wide consolidation, shutting down older, less efficient bakeries and concentrating production in fewer, more modern plants.
It was later leased to San Francisco Herb and Natural Food Co., a wholesale supplier and distributor of herbs, spices, teas, and other natural food ingredients, which occupied the space for about a decade.
Oakland-based Madison Park purchased the property and, over four years, converted it into 57 live-work lofts, adding three new buildings and creating the open-air atrium seen today.
