1956 Niles Canyon Douglas R5D-2 crash

Holy Cross Orthodox Monastery (also known as Holy Cross Monastery) is a monastic institution of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), located in Castro Valley, California.The clergy of the monastery previously served under the omophorion of Archbishop Kyrill, who led the OCA's Orthodox Church in America Archdiocese of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania and the Diocese of Toledo, Ohio. Since the repose of Archbishop Kyrill during the summer of 2007, they now serve under the omophorion of Metropolitan Tikhon (Mollard). The monastery is visited by Orthodox Christians of all ethnic backgrounds and all cultural traditions, and Orthodox Christians from many backgrounds come to the monastery for Divine Service, weddings, baptisms, and other sacramental blessings. Spiritual day retreats have been held there by Orthodox Christian groups. Services at are usually conducted in the languages best understood by those worshiping with the Fathers, who can conduct services in Romanian, Slavonic (Old Bulgarian), Greek, or English as the need arises. Great Vespers is held on Saturday evenings, and on Sunday mornings First Hour, Third Hour and Divine Liturgy are celebrated. Services are open to the general public. Other liturgical offices are reserved for the monks and may be attended by special arrangement.

Dresser (formerly, Alston, Dresser Siding, and Merienda) is an unincorporated community in Alameda County, California. Its ZIP code is 94536 and its area codes are 510 and 341.

United Air Lines Flight 615 was a US transcontinental east–west airline service from Boston to Hartford, Cleveland, Chicago, Oakland and San Francisco. On August 24, 1951, the Douglas DC-6 with registration N37550 operating the service, crashed on approach to Oakland, causing the death of all 44 passengers and 6 crew members on board.The flight departed Chicago at 10:59 p.m. CST en route to Oakland. At around 4:16 a.m., the plane was approaching Oakland. At this time, the pilot, Marion W. Hedden of Los Altos, had talked with the control tower of the Civil Aeronautics Administration at the airport preparing for his landing, and had mentioned no trouble. At 4:25 a.m. Flight 615 was cleared for the straight-in approach into Oakland. This approach clearance was the last radio transmission with the flight. The plane crashed into mountainous terrain 15 miles (24 km) southeast of Oakland, careening into Tolman Peak and over its knoll, scattering on the downslope and into Dry Gulch Canyon below in a fiery explosion. All 50 persons on board perished. After an investigation, it was determined that the pilot ignored the prescribed instrument landing procedures. The pilot instead relied on visual reference, using the copilot's automatic direction finder (ADF). The ADF threw the plane three miles (4.8 km) off course and below the prescribed altitude of 3,500 feet (1,100 m).

The Niles Canyon ghost is an urban legend within the vanishing hitchhiker archetype, about the ghost of a girl who had died in a car accident. The accident is said to have taken place on February 28, with the year varying, and the ghost is said to walk the road on that day every year, looking to hitch a ride to San Francisco.One variation of the story has the hiker's backstory being that she died in a car crash on Niles Canyon road (off the 680 freeway in Sunol, California) on the way back from a dance. Some say that she can be seen at midnight waiting at the corner she died at. People traveling along the road (mostly those traveling alone) have said to have stopped and offered the girl a ride. She accepts the ride, giving the driver an address across the bridge (either Dumbarton or Bay Bridge depending on the storyteller). Once the driver gets to the beginning of the bridge, the girl will disappear. In stories told of the ghost, a driver who visits the girl's address is told by the girl's mother that she died many years previously. Another version of the story has the ghost described as a White Lady killed in a carriage accident a hundred years previously.

Brightside (formerly, Brightside Station) is an unincorporated community in Alameda County, California. It is located 2.25 miles (3.6 km) west of Sunol.

Niles Canyon is a canyon in the San Francisco Bay Area formed by Alameda Creek, known for its heritage railroad and silent movie history. The canyon is largely in an unincorporated area of Alameda County, while the western portion of the canyon lies within the city limits of Fremont and Union City. The stretch of State Route 84 known as Niles Canyon Road traverses the length of the canyon from the Niles district of Fremont to the unincorporated town of Sunol. Two railroads also follow the same route down the canyon from Sunol to Niles: the old Southern Pacific track along the north side, now the Niles Canyon Railway, and the newer Union Pacific (formerly the Western Pacific) track a little to the south. At the west end of the canyon are the ruins of the Vallejo Flour Mill, which dates to 1853.

Vargas Plateau Regional Park sits on a plateau in the Fremont Hills of Alameda County, California that overlooks the San Francisco Bay, Niles Canyon, and the cities of Fremont, Union City and Newark. The elevation of the park is about 1,000 feet (300 m), making it an important link with nearby ridge-top parks such as Garin Regional Park, Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park, Mission Peak Regional Preserve, and Sunol Regional Wilderness.

The first Vallejo Flour Mill, in the Niles district of Fremont, California, was built in 1853 by José de Jesús Vallejo (1798–1882), elder brother of General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, on his Rancho Arroyo de la Alameda. The Flour Mill was located at the mouth of Niles Canyon, then called Alameda Cañon, which served as the major course of Alameda Creek. A second Flour Mill was built in 1856, the stone foundation of which may still be seen today. The ruins of the Vallejo Flour Mill is located at the northeast corner of Niles Canyon Road (State Route 84) and Mission Boulevard (State Route 238) in Vallejo Mill Historical Park. In 1932, it was designated a California Historical Landmark (#46). A watercolor painting of the 1856 Flour Mill, done by Carmelita Vallejo, J & J Vallejo's daughter then finishing her studies at the San Jose Notre Dame Academy, showed several buildings surrounding a three-story Flour Mill building with a large wooden wheel on the north side. According to the Alameda County Gazette (January 1857), the wheel was the overshot design, 30 feet in diameter and 8 feet broad, and the millstone was 4 feet in diameter. The Flour Mill cost $5,000 and had a capacity of 150 barrels of flour a day.: 12 

Dry Creek Pioneer Regional Park is a regional park located in Union City, California, sharing a contiguous border with sister park Garin Regional Park. It is part of the East Bay Regional Parks system.

The Pacific Locomotive Association, Inc. (PLA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of the physical aspects and atmosphere of Pacific Coast railroading during the period from 1910 to 1960. The Pacific Locomotive Association operates the Niles Canyon Railway, and has railroad artifacts on display in the Niles Depot Museum in Fremont, California. It also owns a collection of locomotives and other railroad cars, with restorations complete or in progress.

The Golden Gate Railroad Museum (reporting mark GGMX) is a non-profit railroad museum in California that is dedicated to the preservation of steam and passenger railroad equipment, as well as the interpretation of local railroad history.

The Niles Depot Museum is located in the former Southern Pacific Railroad colonnade-style passenger depot built in 1901, and freight depot, located in the Niles District of Fremont, California. The museum is operated by the Niles Depot Historical Foundation and features exhibits and artifacts about area railroads, including the early Southern Pacific Railroad and Western Pacific Railroad, as well as the current Union Pacific Railroad and Amtrak. The museum is also constructing two model railways of Niles and surrounding areas, which are operated by the Tri-City Society of Model Engineers.