The island was originally built for the San Francisco 1939 World's Fair of the Golden Gate International Exposition. A full Wikipedia account can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_Island_%28California%29
But I like to tell my story of this intriguing piece of American history (albeit it is not that old).
Whilst watching some old Charlie Chan movies, starring Sydney Toler, I happen upon one titled "Charlie Chan at Treasure Island" (1939). This particular movie shows an aerial view of the island from the window of Charlie's plane.
Now this got my attention, so I started digging up some information.
The island was created from fill that was dredged from the bay in 1936-37.
One of the main attractions was the 81 foot tall Pacifica Statue that stood guard over the entrance to the Cavalcade of the Golden West pavilion.
After the exposition was over, the island was used as an airport for the Pan American World Airways flying boats, of which the China Clipper is a unique example.
In the Clipper's initial flight across the Pacific Ocean to Manilla, the idea was to fly over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay bridge (still under construction at the time); but once the pilot took off, he realized that the plane would NOT clear the bridge structure, and so was forced to narrowly fly under it instead.
The island was destined to become a piece of American history when at some point the Federal Government stepped in to offer the City another piece of land, so that the municipality could build a larger airport.
The swap was made, and the Navy moved into this strategic West Coast Base.
Unfortunately, the statue was torn down and now we only have pictures left to view.
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