The California Hotel is a fine and essentially intact example of the large hotel building type, executed in a 1920s Period Revival style by prominent local builders and architects. It is located a considerable distance from any other similar development so that, ever since its construction in 1929-1930, it has always stood out as a landmark on the cityscape for its large scale, twin towers and interesting architectural detail.

Only 40 feet away, the MacArthur Freeway (Interstate 580) both impacts view of the building from the street, and enhances its prominence, for the towers and upper floors are one of very few structures rising above freeway road level, and the building is a daily sight familiar to hundreds of thousands of commuters, providing a modern relationship to its historic context, the development of Oakland along transportation routes.