I lived in Hayward, CA during the last of SP steam, and kept a pencil-written log of every locomotive, steam and diesel, SP and WP, that I was able to get aboard. Most were at the Hayward yards (both railroads had a lot of customers there) and along the siding behind my house. After we moved to Castro Valley and were several miles from any railroad line, my parents took me and my brother (we were then 14 and 11, respectively) to what we called Oakland Pier. Amazingly, even for then, they left us there for hours on four different occasions so that we could get up in various locomotives, even riding Alco 1001 as it switched the Pier. No one ever gave us a hard time for hanging out there or told us to leave. I suppose today both we kids and our parents would be arrested.

My last trip there was in early November, 1957, and everything, to my knowledge, was still operational at Oakland Pier. I noted that I was in the cabs of WP 805-A (probably on #18) and 803-A, which I showed as being on #17. Additionally, in SP 6016 (I show "The Overland" in my notes) and 6035, on #102.

So if the film "Pal Joey" was in fact released in 1957 I think it's clear that Oakland Pier was operational when the movie was filmed. Can't say whether the ferries were still going but it seems that with the trains coming in to the Pier/Mole they probably were.