Oakland

City, Alameda County

© McCormack's Guides

 

Zip Codes: 94601, 94602, 94603, 94604, 94605, 94606, 94607, 94609, 94610, 94611, 94612, 94613, 94614, 94615, 94616, 94617, 94618, 94619, 94621, 94622, 94623, 94624, 94625, 94649, 94659, 94660, 94661, 94666

Largest and most populous (420,183 residents) city in Alameda County. Great commute. Many jobs. Dynamic and lively downtown. International airport. Largest shipping port in Northern Cal. Big-time sports. www.mccormacks.com

Crime high in some neighborhoods. Scores low at many schools. School district went bankrupt and had to borrow $100 million from state. But community has rallied by voting more money to build and renovate schools and boost salaries. Disappointed with regular public schools, many parents have moved their kids to public charters. See Schools.

In 1999, homicides fell to their lowest number in 32 years, then began to rise and by 2002 and 2003 had people shaking their heads. In 2004, voters approved a tax to hire more cops. Other tactics were employed and some seemed to be working but then came 2006 when murders soared to 148 (preliminary count).

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In 2005, Oakland recorded 93 homicides. For previous years, 83, 109, 108, 84, 80, 60, 72, 99, 93, 138, 140, 154, 165, 149, 146, 129, 112, and 114.

Early figures for 2007 show problems continuing. City is asking governor to assign Highway Patrol officers to Oakland traffic enforcement to free more Oakland officers for crime fighting. Popular newspaper editor shot dead; suspect arrested. See Crime.

Despite this, Oakland continues to add residents and many people will find it a pleasing home. Oakland is like many a big city. It has serious problems that residents try to ameliorate and it has neighborhoods with low crime and fairly high scores.

New mayor, Ron Dellums, former congressman, is reviving community groups to get adults more involved with the kids and move them away from crime. www.mccormacks.com

The state in 2008 counted 164,053 residential units, of which 72,659 were single homes, 6,775 single attached, 84,163 apartments or condos, 456 mobile homes.

Founded in 1852, Oakland grew quickly and by 1900 was the second biggest city in the Bay Area and the civic and business leader of the East Bay. In 1910, Oakland had 150,000 residents; in 1950, it counted 385,000.

After 1950, Oakland lost residents to the suburbs, then gradually came back and in some ways surpassed its crossbay rival, San Francisco. That city is built on a peninsula; expensive and time consuming to reach by train and truck. Oakland put together a containerized port that shut down the San Francisco docks.

Being an old city, Oakland has plenty of old housing, ideal for immigrants and people starting up the housing ladder. Oakland also has a good deal of middle- and upper-income housing.

The city starts at the bay on flatlands then ascends into low and steep hills. Many homes have views of the bay and Golden Gate. www.mccormacks.com

In situations like this, often the cheaper housing is in the flatlands (next to the downtown) and the expensive housing in the hills. This generalization holds for Oakland but there are exceptions. Some low-income neighborhoods are built over hills and have great views. Some high-income neighborhoods were erected in the flatlands (around Lake Merritt).

Oakland borders Berkeley on its north side and in this section — Montclair, Hiller Highlands, Claremont, Rockridge — has become part of the university community. The Oakland hills, running the length of the city, favor upscale housing. The views are sweeping; the homes back up to regional parks; the crime is low.

Moving toward the flatlands, housing values, with exceptions, decline then rise at the waterfront where live-work lofts are being built. Many homes on the south side were built just after World War II for the veterans; here the three-bedroom home is favored.

Oakland is the government seat of Alameda County and the headquarters for the University of California system. Downtown has large federal complex (twin buildings, 18 stories). In recent years, the downtown has added two hotels and several office buildings, including a 20-story tower.

Moving down the shore to Hegenberger Road, Oakland has erected a sports complex that hosts the Athletics (baseball), the Warriors (basketball) and the Raiders (football). The Athletics, however, are moving to a new stadium in Fremont, possibly by 2011. www.mccormacks.com

Just across the freeway from the sports complex is Oakland International Airport, which specializes in cheap flights. Among its carriers, Southwest and Jet Blue (and more). The airport has improved its access roads and is expanding its terminals and is considered a great success, about 14.1 million passengers a year. Many East Bay travelers prefer Oakland to San Fran.

Among Oakland's cultural and recreational ornaments are a first-class museum specializing in California history, concerts, plays, ballets, a symphony orchestra, about five dozen parks, first-class restaurants, hotels, zoo, a convention center and marinas.

Concerts and shows in restored Paramount Theater or at the Coliseum. Victorian neighborhood preserved in downtown. In the hills, many bungalows build in the craftsman style. Night life thrives around Jack London Square, which has one of best jazz clubs in the Bay Area, a bookstore, movies, restaurants and shops.

Lake Merritt and park in downtown. At almost any time during the day, residents and workers can be found walking and jogging or skating around lake.

All the usual activities for kids and adults: softball, football, Little League, etc. Many enrichment classes offered through schools. Libraries. Several community colleges and four-year private colleges, including Mills, the women’s college, and Holy Name. Fairyland, popular amusement park for kids, recently renovated. www.mccormacks.com

In 1999, after years of work and fund-raising, the Chabot Space and Science Center was reopened in the hills — state-of-art planetarium and large telescope. Berkeley and San Francisco and all they offer are within a few minutes drive or a BART ride.

Almost all the homicides take place in flatlands in the low-income neighborhoods. Many are drug related and this has called attention to failed drug prevention and prison efforts.

If the figures were broken out, many of the hill neighborhoods — Montclair, Claremont, Hiller Highlands, Rockridge, the homes near the Oakland Zoo — probably would show low crime rates.

For suburban average, the neighborhoods above or east of Lake Merritt, including Trestle Glen, Temescal, the Diamond District would probably fall in this grouping.

These are generalizations. If you drive the poorer neighborhoods, you will see many homes with security doors and window bars but you will also find sections where the homes are well kept, the streets clean, the security devices less-frequently employed. www.mccormacks.com

In the poor neighborhoods, the law abiding are many, the criminal are few but unfortunately damaging. Oakland is a diverse and changing city; the demographics, the social chemistry, are always in flux. Whatever the neighborhood, however, the rules of big-city life apply: take care.

Excellent commute for many, with the exception of the Bay Bridge, which during peak hours tries everyone's nerves. Damaged in the 1989 quake, the east span of the bridge is being replaced.

BART, which has stations all around Oakland, offers a convenient alternative to the bridge, and now runs down to San Francisco International Airport. Amtrak stations. Buses around East Bay and to San Francisco. Ferries to San Francisco.

Improvements costing about $1.4 billion have been made or will be to the Oakland airport. Terminals and gates are to be added, cargo space expanded, garage built to more than double parking spaces, access roads improved. On the last job, the roads, it is much easier now to get to and from the freeway.

City also intends to build a monorail to carry people from BART station to airport. Now buses are employed. www.mccormacks.com

Another big job: overhaul of the port, new rail yard, deeper channels, new berths.

About $100 million is being spent to turn the land around the Fruitvale BART station into a “transit village” that will include housing, offices, a senior center, a child-care center, a library and a larger parking lot. Other BART station neighborhoods are also being improved.

A city Mother Nature smiles on — lovely weather — and afflicts. The 1989 earthquake collapsed a double-deck stretch of Interstate 880 and a portion of the Bay Bridge, and seriously damaged many buildings in the downtown.

Two years later, fueled by hot winds, a fire killed 25 in the hills and destroyed over 2,500 homes and apartments. Oakland bounced back. The freeway was rebuilt to modern earthquake standards. The apartments and homes destroyed in the fire have been rebuilt.

Opposite the Golden Gate, Oakland catches the Pacific breezes and fogs and enjoys cool and balmy weather almost year round. The cool air discourages outdoor pools. Annual rain: flatlands, 18 inches; hills, 27. www.mccormacks.com

City is working on plan to improve tidal flushing at Lake Merritt in the downtown and set aside more land for ducks and the like.

• Oakland has distinctive neighborhoods, some set off by freeways, some by housing and personal styles. Montclair is built over hills and ravines and is heavily wooded and shrubbed.

Many home extend over the ravines and grab views of the Bay. Dining and social life oriented to rear decks. Mix of home designs, some custom homes. Many old and fairly small homes but where lot sizes permit, large homes have been built. Many three-story homes; designs for steep ravines.

Montclair has its own shopping “downtown,” supermarkets, variety of restaurants, ice cream parlor, tennis courts, a library, churches and community buildings. Highway 13 defines one border, Highway 24 another and two regional parks mark the other boundaries. The result: a sense of being a separate village and strong feeling of community.

Lake Merritt on its east side is lined with luxury apartment and retirement buildings. The Temescal and Rockridge section have cafes, restaurants, upscale shops. The Fruitvale neighborhood draws many immigrants. Many Asians have settled in downtown Oakland and this section is winning renown for its restaurants — Chinese, Vietnamese, Burmese, Korean, Cambodian, Thai, Indian.

• Some schools follow year-round schedules.

• Between 2001 and 2006, enrollments in regular public schools dropped by 15,000 students (but many students went to public charter schools). This has forced the district to close several schools and more may be closed. There is some concern that too many schools will be closed, especially in the downtown, which is starting a big construction boom, about 10,000 units. www.mccormacks.com

• Oakland in effect has three school systems: the public, the charter, and the private, in the form of many private schools in Oakland and nearby communities. One study done in the 1990s estimated that about 22 percent of the local school-age children attend private schools but, thanks to charter schools, which are publicly funded, this percentage is probably lower. Oakland used to have 18 Catholic schools; now has eight. Three Catholic schools were converted to charters.

As of 2007, about 7,500 students were attending 29 charter schools in Oakland and more are being opened. If you are enrolling for the first time, you may not be told about charter alternatives. Ask for a list of charters. For more of charters, which have open enrollment, and why they are seen as competition to regular schools, see schools.

• Scores tend to follow demographics. The higher scoring will usually be found in the upscale hill neighborhoods.

• School district hosts an annual “School Options Fair,” an opportunity for parents to find out about the regular public schools (not charters) and their programs.

• Kaiser is building a large medical center near the downtown to replace the existing center. Work to be done in stages, the first job, offices, to start in 2007.

• Among new stores, a Whole Foods. Trader Joe’s is opening stores near Lake Merritt and on College Avenue in Rockridge neighborhood. www.mccormacks.com

• All licensed dogs for identification need to wear, under the skin, a computer chip. Animal control charges $10 for insertion. Vets also do job.

• Three big housing projects in planning or underway: Central Station, west Oakland, along Wood Street, 1,500 apartments, townhouses and lofts; Oak to Ninth, near Laney College in downtown, 3,100 units, including apartment or condo towers; Oak Knoll, site of a former Naval hospital, in the Oakland Hills, above Interstate 580, near Keller Avenue, 960 homes.

• Auto dealerships are moving to the former Army base on the waterfront.

Chamber of commerce (510) 874-4800.

City web site: www.oaklandnet.com