• Leona Canyon Regional Open Space Preserve
• Holy Names University campus
• Mountain Boulevard
• Leona Creek
• East Bay Regional Parks District
• Laurel District

Leona Heights is named for Leona Creek and Leona Canyon — the natural drainage system that traverses this section of the East Oakland hills — and was established circa 1896 as Oakland expanded into the upper eastern slopes. The neighborhood's early history centered on quarrying operations that extracted sandstone from the canyon walls and on the natural springs that made the hillside terrain attractive to early settlers seeking fresh water and pastoral surroundings. Leona Canyon Regional Open Space Preserve — managed by the East Bay Regional Parks District — protects the canyon corridor as one of the most ecologically significant natural areas in the urban Oakland hills, with riparian woodland, native grassland, and creek habitat accessible via trail from the Leona Heights neighborhood. Holy Names University occupied the neighborhood's most prominent campus site on Mountain Boulevard for over a century — the institution founded in 1868 by the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary that merged with Notre Dame de Namur University in 2023, with the campus continuing as an educational site. Mountain Boulevard serves as the primary corridor connecting Leona Heights to the Laurel District below and the Montclair community above. That combination of canyon ecology, quarrying heritage, and long educational presence is the foundation of the MY-NHD Leona Heights collection.