OHA is celebrating its 25th year and recognition for one of its programs is a great way to mark the anniversary.

"These are different from your standard PR tours," said OHA President Naomi Schiff. "You're not just looking at pretty stuff and highlights; you're also learning cultural history and changing populations, how neighborhoods develop."

She pointed out that the tours change each year (she estimates OHA has 60 tours in its rotation), and even the same tour can vary depending on who leads it.

OHA offers 16 tours each Saturday and Sunday in July and August, a huge undertaking to organize each year. Two leaders, Dean Yabuki and Betty Marvin, have been giving tours since 1980.

Five members of OHA traveled to Sacramento on Nov. 10 to receive the award: Betty Marvin, Pamela Magnuson-Peddle, Stacey Stern, Barbara Bye and Schiff. State historic preservation officer Milford Wayne Donaldson and Ruth Coleman, director of California state parks, presented the award.

"OHA may have the most active walking tour program in the state," read Donaldson's presentation, available online in PowerPoint format.

"It was just great to get statewide recognition for something that says good things about Oakland," said Magnuson-Peddle, who formerly headed the walking tour committee for about five years. "This program shows Oakland to its best advantage, introducing Oaklanders to neighborhoods they might not otherwise know about and also giving outsiders a great way to explore the city."

Magnuson-Peddle pointed out that the walking tours fulfill one of OHA's original and enduring missions: "A key tenet for the organization's mission was education," which is covered by the two-prong approach of the walking tour series and the group's quarterly newsletter. The other mission is advocating for preservation through political action.

"It's an honor," said Renie Bartolini, who headed this year's walking tour committee and has for the past four years. "The walking tours are really the crux of OHA."

Before the awards ceremony, the group from Oakland toured the recently renovated Leland Stanford mansion in Sacramento. "You wish every Victorian in Oakland had been restored like that and looked that good," Schiff said.

Eleven other California groups received awards, and one of them gave Schiff a great idea. Near China Lake, a group created an archeological repository, and Schiff would love to do the same here.

"With everything being uncovered with these large building projects, it would be great to have a repository as an educational tool," she said.

She mentioned that Oakland already holds many archeological artifacts that are not museum quality but that would be great to have in a limited-hours facility where schoolchildren and others could view them.

Oakland has adobe bricks from the Peralta family days of Spanish Colonialism, American Indian artifacts, and other items from the 19th and early 20th centuries. When the Uptown project begins, there is a high likelihood that early Chinatown objects will be found.

"There's an opportunity with all this construction going on to really preserve stuff from the past," Schiff said. That's clear evidence that Oakland Heritage Alliance doesn't just rest on its laurels after winning a prestigious award; it continues to brainstorm and work hard to ensure our historic and cultural heritage is maintained.

For more information on OHA and its tour series, visit oaklandheritage.org. To see the PowerPoint of all 12 awardees and more information on the State Historic Preservation Office, visit ohp.parks.ca.gov and click on "Historic Preservation Awards Recipients Honored."