Updated October 1, 2026
Thousands of people have driven past the unusual circular parking garage at 165 13th Street in Downtown Oakland without realizing that its roof was once one of the most unusual transportation hubs in the Bay Area.
It's called Alco Park, and in the 1960s passengers could take an elevator to the top of the garage, board a helicopter and fly across the Bay Area.
Scheduled helicopter service from the rooftop began on March 1, 1965. The operation was so unusual that San Francisco & Oakland Helicopter Airlines president Mike Bagan later described Alco Park in testimony before a U.S. Senate aviation subcommittee as the first scheduled rooftop helicopter passenger service in the world.
Today, Alco Park is once again an Alameda County parking garage. But its unusual shape and rooftop are reminders of a fascinating period when Oakland planners imagined helicopters becoming part of everyday urban transportation.
A Parking Garage Designed With a Heliport on the Roof
Alco Park wasn't an ordinary parking structure that happened to have helicopters land on it later.
The garage was built in 1962–63 as part of the development surrounding Oakland's Lake Merritt Civic Center and the neighboring Alameda County Administration Building.
Its architects were the Berkeley firms Van Bourg, Nakamura & Associates and Ratcliff & Ratcliff.
The structure's distinctive curved form made it stand out from the rectangular parking garages that were becoming common in American downtowns during the postwar period.
Contemporary accounts even referred to the project as a "heligarage."
The garage reportedly cost approximately $2.5 million to construct, with the Port of Oakland contributing $50,000 toward the heliport portion of the project.
Alco Park was dedicated in November 1963.
Oakland Already Had Helicopter Service
The idea of using helicopters as public transportation may sound futuristic today, but Oakland was already experimenting with the concept before Alco Park opened.
San Francisco & Oakland Helicopter Airlines began operations in 1961, connecting points around the Bay Area.
The company's early network included San Francisco International Airport, Oakland International Airport, a downtown San Francisco heliport and an earlier Downtown Oakland heliport near 10th Street and Lake Merritt.
Instead of spending an hour or more traveling between downtown business districts and airports, passengers could make portions of the trip by helicopter.
In the early 1960s, there was genuine optimism that short-distance helicopter service might become an important part of transportation in major American cities.
Helicopters Move to the Roof of Alco Park
Alco Park took that idea a step further.
Instead of requiring a separate ground-level landing field, the heliport placed aircraft directly above a downtown parking garage.
On February 28, 1965, the Port of Oakland approved arrangements allowing San Francisco & Oakland Helicopter Airlines to operate from the Alco Park rooftop.
The following morning, March 1, 1965, scheduled passenger service began from the roof.
Passengers could arrive in Downtown Oakland, enter the parking structure, take an elevator toward the rooftop and board a helicopter for the next part of their trip.
For 1965, it was a remarkably ambitious transportation concept.
Was Alco Park Really the World's First?
One of the most interesting claims about Alco Park comes directly from the man who operated the airline.
San Francisco & Oakland Helicopter Airlines president Mike Bagan later testified before a U.S. Senate aviation subcommittee about the company's operations.
In that testimony, Bagan described the March 1, 1965 opening of the Oakland facility as the first scheduled rooftop helicopter passenger service in the world.
That's an important distinction. Rather than simply being a rooftop where helicopters occasionally landed, Alco Park was being used as part of a scheduled passenger transportation network.
Whether every possible predecessor around the world can be ruled out is difficult to establish more than six decades later, so I think the most accurate way to describe the distinction is the way Bagan did: the airline considered its Alco Park operation the world's first scheduled rooftop passenger helicopter service.
The Helicopters Were Serious Aircraft
These weren't tiny sightseeing helicopters.
San Francisco & Oakland Helicopter Airlines operated Sikorsky aircraft, including the twin-engine Sikorsky S-61N during the Alco Park era.
The S-61 was a substantial turbine-powered helicopter designed to carry passengers. Versions of the aircraft were used around the world for airline, offshore and military operations.
The use of twin-engine aircraft was particularly important at Alco Park because operating from a rooftop in the middle of a developed downtown presented obvious safety concerns if an engine failed.
Federal aviation officials were concerned about the availability of emergency landing areas for single-engine aircraft. Twin-engine helicopters provided an important additional margin of safety for rooftop operations.
Where Could You Fly?
San Francisco & Oakland Helicopter Airlines developed a network connecting several important Bay Area destinations at different points during its history.
Those destinations included Downtown Oakland, Oakland International Airport, San Francisco International Airport and Downtown San Francisco, with service at various times extending to other Bay Area locations.
Imagine finishing a meeting in Downtown Oakland, walking to 13th Street and taking a helicopter toward the airport rather than getting into a car.
That was the future Alco Park represented.
Why Didn't Rooftop Helicopter Commuting Catch On?
Alco Park also demonstrated why urban helicopter transportation would prove difficult to turn into an everyday form of mass transit.
Noise was an obvious issue.
Downtown residents and neighboring property owners weren't necessarily enthusiastic about large turbine helicopters repeatedly arriving and departing above the city.
Safety requirements also complicated operations. A helicopter experiencing trouble while flying over a developed downtown doesn't have the same emergency landing options available at a conventional airport.
Then there was economics.
Helicopters are expensive aircraft to purchase, operate and maintain. Scheduled passenger service had to compete with cars, taxis and other ground transportation that could move people at substantially lower cost.
San Francisco & Oakland Helicopter Airlines ultimately faced financial and labor difficulties, and the era of regularly scheduled passenger helicopters operating from the Alco Park roof came to an end.
The Heliport Didn't Completely Disappear
The rooftop's aviation history lingered long after scheduled passenger service stopped.
Later records continued to identify Alco Park as a heliport, although it was no longer functioning as the scheduled passenger terminal envisioned during the 1960s.
Historical aerial images eventually showed markings indicating that the landing area was closed.
Today there is no scheduled helicopter service from Alco Park.
The structure continues to serve its far less glamorous original purpose: parking cars for people visiting Alameda County offices and Downtown Oakland.
Alco Park Is Still There
That's perhaps the best part of this story.
This isn't a piece of Oakland history that was demolished decades ago.
Alco Park still stands at 165 13th Street.
The Alameda County parking facility remains in operation, just a few blocks from Lake Merritt and close to the Oakland Museum of California and other civic buildings.
If you've spent time around this part of Downtown Oakland, you've probably seen it.
You just may not have known what used to happen on the roof.
A Reminder of Oakland's More Optimistic Future
I love finding stories like this because they reveal a very different side of Oakland history.
The rooftop heliport wasn't built as a novelty. The people behind it genuinely believed they were creating part of the transportation system of the future.
In the early 1960s, Oakland was investing in its civic center, expanding its airport and experimenting with a new form of regional transportation. Putting a passenger heliport on top of a downtown parking garage fit naturally into that optimistic vision.
The future turned out differently.
But more than 60 years later, the building is still here—and once you know its history, it's almost impossible to look at Alco Park the same way again.
Explore More Oakland Real Estate and History
Oakland is full of buildings, neighborhoods and properties with stories that aren't immediately obvious from the street. Its architecture ranges from Victorian and Craftsman homes to Art Deco commercial buildings, Mid-Century Modern houses, converted industrial properties and contemporary developments.
I've spent decades working in Oakland and the East Bay, and the history behind these neighborhoods is one of the things I enjoy most about local real estate.
Explore Oakland homes and real estate, or learn more about my Oakland and East Bay background.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Alco Park Heliport
Did Downtown Oakland really have a rooftop heliport?
Yes. Scheduled passenger helicopter service operated from the roof of the Alco Park parking garage in Downtown Oakland beginning in March 1965.
Where is the old Oakland rooftop heliport?
The former heliport is on top of the Alco Park parking garage at 165 13th Street in Downtown Oakland, near Lake Merritt and Alameda County's civic buildings.
When did passenger helicopter service begin at Alco Park?
Scheduled service from the Alco Park rooftop began on March 1, 1965.
Was Alco Park the world's first rooftop passenger helicopter terminal?
San Francisco & Oakland Helicopter Airlines president Mike Bagan described Alco Park in testimony before a U.S. Senate aviation subcommittee as the world's first scheduled rooftop helicopter passenger service. Because establishing every possible international predecessor is difficult, the claim is best understood as Bagan's documented description of the operation.
What helicopters flew from Alco Park?
San Francisco & Oakland Helicopter Airlines operated Sikorsky helicopters during this period, including twin-engine Sikorsky S-61N aircraft used in its passenger network.
Can helicopters still land at Alco Park?
Alco Park no longer operates scheduled passenger helicopter service. The building continues to function as an Alameda County parking garage at 165 13th Street.
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