Laney College traces its history to the Central Trade School by the Oakland Board of the Education in 1927 and the Merritt School of Business founded in 1929. The trade school was later renamed Joseph C. Laney Trade and Technical Institute. Oakland Junior College was founded in 1953 with Laney serving as the vocational training center and Merritt hosting the liberal arts and business programs. In 1958 the college was renamed Oakland City College. With the establishment of the Peralta Junior College District in 1964, Laney Institute, located on the current campus, and Merritt College in Alameda became separate autonomous colleges in their present-day forms. The current campus was opened prior to 1970-71 academic year.
Campus
Most of the college's academic and administrative buildings are clustered together in a complex in the northern corner of the campus. The buildings are arranged on a rigid grid, with two levels of concrete pathways providing circulation. The square in the center of the complex has been reserved for the quad. Surrounding the quad are the student center, theater, library, and gymnasium. On one corner is the triangular "Laney Tower", the main administration building; on the opposite is another triangular building housing a lecture hall and dance studio. Academic buildings form the outer ring of the complex. Each has a similar design, with outdoor courtyards in the centers of each square on a higher level, ringed by classrooms and offices; and more classrooms and vocational facilities on the lower level, all accessed from the perimeter of the building. However, none of the higher levels are on the same level with each other; they are connected by voluminous stairs and ramps. Most of the outer buildings occupy two or three squares on the grid. The entire complex shares a red brick and concrete theme, with sharp corners, square and triangular shapes, and little vegetation. The newest academic building is the art center, which is adjacent to the main complex but has its own architectural style. The building opened in the 2006-2007 school year. It was designed by Beverly Prior Architects to be built from prefabricated materials, because of the short time frame between the start of construction and planned opening. The channel that connects Lake Merritt to the Oakland Estuary runs through the center of the campus. The southeastern half of the campus on the other side of the channel is mainly used for athletic and Peralta Community College District facilities. This section was also the former site of the World War II "Auditorium Housing Project" which housed war industry workers from around the United States, many of whom worked in the Kaiser Shipyards. The housing was demolished sometime after the war, and in the early 1960s, a temporary football stadium called Frank Youell Field was constructed on the site for use by the Oakland Raiders.
Athletics
Football
The Laney Eagles compete in the Bay Valley Conference, which is governed by the California Community College Athletic Association. They are led by head coach John Beam, who also won the CCCAA Coach of the Year award. In the 2018 season, the Laney Eagles football program won the CCCAA State Championship. They were also deemed as Mythical National Champions, due to the regional splits between the CCCAA, which governs all 68 California junior college football programs, and the National Junior College Athletic Association, which governs junior college athetics across the rest of the United States, and covers 65 football programs. In 2020, Laney Football was to be featured in season 5 of the Netflix sports series Last Chance U, after which the series would then transition towards covering junior college basketball programs.
