Urban Life
I just don’t get the East Bay
–me.
Or maybe it’s more like: The East-Bay doesn’t get me.
I’m a city boy. Despite having grown up in the ‘burbs, I’m a city boy at heart. I like to walk. I do just fine with busses, cabs and other public transportation. Oh, and I hate to drive.
Walking around in SF and in Oakland I’ve noticed at least one glaring difference - cross walks. In Oakland you have those push-to-cross things on almost every street. In San Francisco they almost do not exist. Oakland was designed for driving, pedestrians come second (if that). I guess Oakland was designed with the thinking that people like to live in one place, work in another and be entertained in yet another place (or places). This is not how I see my Urban Life.
I like neighborhoods like Haight-Ashbury (where I live) or the Mission because they combine living and entertainment. I don’t have to walk further than 5 blocks to find 3 coffee shops, 4 bars and close to a dozen restaurants. If I expand that radius, the selection grows significantly. Wanna see? Walk score calls it a “walker’s paradise.” I’d agree except that they don’t take into account the hills… still, it’s a great place to live!
There are neighborhoods like San Francisco’s South Park that almost combine living, entertainment and working. With more co-working spaces (like the Hat Factory for example) and people working from home or from coffee shops, we’ll probably start to see more and more neighborhoods that offer a good combination of all three. Imagine that! Never having to leave home 
Oakland has some pockets of activity, in fact, I’m sitting in one right now on College and Alcatraz. It’s about 3 blocks long. About 20 minute walk south of here is another fun strip on Telegraph. 20 minutes that consisted mostly of houses, a dog park and crossing under a busy highway (never a fun experience). I was almost the only one walking and I saw no buses or cabs along my path. If I had walked for 20 minutes on Mission st. and did not see a single bus I’d think something was wrong with Muni (I know, tell me something new!).
Now, Berkeley seems to do better, at least in some parts. There seems to be more of an emphasis on public transportation and biking lanes. As a result, there are more people walking, bussing and biking around. Recently there seems to be an emphasis on mixed use neighborhoods like around Shattuck and University or some parts of San Pablo Ave. and the newly revived 4th st. area. I guess that’s why I feel much more at home in Berkeley than I do in Oakland. We seem to have similar ideas about what Urban Life should look like in the 21st century.
By the way, if you want to read more about walkable neighborhoods and why they’re good for us, check out walkscore.com.
November 2nd, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Hrm… well, it depends on where you are - I live near Rockridge/Temescal. I’m between both MacArthur and Rockridge BART stations. I can walk to Rockridge, Piedmont, Temescal in less than 10 minutes. I see lots of buses and taxis. I can also take routes through neighborhoods where I won’t see any buses, taxis or stores — instead, lots of kitties on front porches, even a few pooches chained to a patio bench, kids playing on sidewalks, gardens and fruit trees dropping lemons, figs, pomegranates and persimmons to the sidewalk for passersby to enjoy. I have a decent size backyard where I can have a garden (year round in this climate) - and my unit is technically a “2 Bedroom” though the second room is quite small - it’s a front-back one-storey duplex - and I pay $1200/month (have been here a 2 years with one rent increase).
As much as I miss living in San Francisco - at this point, I would miss having a yard, access to a lot more varied neighborhoods, farmer’s markets, services and being able to just pop over the hill from Piedmont to collect 12-14lbs of golden chanterelles on any trip to my s3kr3t spot in the Oakland hills (but there are MANY - take your pick).
The weather is nicer. I hate BART stopping at midnight - but having a yard and nobody above/below me and a safe neighborhood for my kitties as well as myself is pretty important.
To find the kind of apartment I have now - just think 2 BR, cats, yard (where I could actually grow vegetables) - I would end up paying $2500 for something in Potrero Hill or $2000 in the Mission and would not be in a duplex, likely something with more units and my kitties would not be able to go out in the yard safely.
November 2nd, 2008 at 7:46 pm
PS: my “walk score” is 85 but I think it should be higher. It lists some pretty peculiar stuff - something I noticed months ago when I looked at this application.
Btw, my landlord just bought a place and he’s moving out - his is a much bigger 2 BR and was totally remodeled a few years ago - nice hardwood floors, mouldings and washer/dryer in unit (same as mine). Offstreet parking for 2 cars (I don’t have one) and plenty of street parking. He’ll be asking $1600 … wanna come grow tomatoes with me next summer?
November 2nd, 2008 at 8:54 pm
I see people walking in Oakland all the time. Well, kind of “walking” or wiggling, or staggering or strutting. Usually towing a shopping cart or 3 full of overloaded garbage cans!
November 2nd, 2008 at 9:51 pm
@jennconspiracy: I know that the city is overpriced (and probably get more so by the minute) and I know that what you can get in Eastbaynia would cost is pretty much impossible to find/afford in the city. It ends up being about priorities and how much you’re willing to pay (it seems like in general Berkeley is more expensive than Oakland).
November 2nd, 2008 at 10:19 pm
no offense, but walkscore put me down as an 89 out of 100 - and i don’t have the most walkable neighborhood - although we did just discover a great thai place up the street
November 3rd, 2008 at 12:43 am
Never said walkscore is perfect. They’re only looking at what’s around, not how easy it is to walk there. Also since they’re relying on Google Local they have a very fuzzy view of the world. But they do provide a good starting point to a neighborhood you don’t know.
November 3rd, 2008 at 7:15 pm
I’ve heard lots of SF dwellers hate on the East Bay so much (et tu, @Hunnydu?), that I’m pretty sensitive to it. Your entry seems to be well thought-out, however, and I agree with a good chunk of your sentiments. It really *is* about what is important to each individual. For us, it was important to have an affordable yet spacious place that we could co-inhabit, and Oakland just happened to come up in housing searches even though we were originally just looking within SF. And here we are!
I agree that walkability is important, especially since I got rid of my car when I was still living in SF. Having a neighborhood with amenities and entertainment is important to me as well. Although my current neighborhood (jack london square) is not as plentiful as my old one (hayes valley), I still enjoy it. Our live/work/entertainment community is growing. I’m nestled nicely between my favorite restaurants in Chinatown and the quickly growing “Gastro Hub” of JLS. I’m a 10 min walk from 2 BART stations, a few blocks from the ferry, and I walk everywhere!
Not that my objective here is to try to sell anyone on moving to my ‘hood, but just speaking in defense, as I believe @jennconspiracy is. I see a lot of potential here and have the patience to see what happens and witness the growth of this neighborhood. Some people may not. To each their own, of course… I just hope some people will open eyes to the East Bay and not immediately hate on it.
November 4th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Oakland is a very big place spread out over quite a lot of area. Obviously saying that San Francisco as a whole is walkable and the East Bay as a whole is not amounts to a faulty generalization. SF is more dense overall and probably has more walkable neighborhoods per capita. But having lived in Rockridge, the Gourmet Ghetto, and the Ashby/Telegraph area, I can safely tell you you’ve got the macro conclusion just wrong. I’ve had no problems walking to BART, groceries, bars, theaters, whatever you want. I used to walk to my doctor’s office. My yoga studio is at the end of my block. I can walk to a Trader Joe’s right now. Can you do that in the Haight? Seriously, there’s a good point to make about wanting more walkable neighborhoods, but turning this into a City vs. East Bay thing is fallacious.
November 4th, 2008 at 11:48 am
Oh yeah, and I own my house
November 5th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
@Andy, @CourtneyP, I guess I was wrong to paint this as an East Bay vs. SF thing. It really is more of a neighborhood by neighborhood thing. There’s plenty of places in SF that are more suburban and less walkable than plenty of places in Oakland.
I used to half-jokingly hate on the east bay. It still is, for me, mostly a big blog, crossed by a few high ways with some friends’ places and a few good bars thrown in for good measure. I’ve been learning more and more about it over the last year or so, checking out neighborhoods in more detail and getting more of a feel for some parts. Some of those neighborhoods I like more, some I like less. In some I see plenty of potential and I can tell that there’s been much improvement in the last few years. I just don’t know if I have the patience to wait for it to improve more…
I’m kind of stuck in a weird place right now. On the one hand, I want to buy a house with enough room and a backyard so I can have people over and have room for all my junk. On the other hand, I don’t want to give up the urban feel I have where I live right now. Finding a neighborhood that can supply both for a reasonable price is far from easy.
The Gourmet Ghetto was my first (and so far) only choice. This last weekend I checked out Temescal and walked around to (what I realize now) is the very north end of Rockridge (just north of Claremont and College). It felt like a place waiting to happen, it was almost there… I’ll give it another try as soon as I can and be sure to check out the southern stretch of college down to Broadway as well (am I going the wrong way here? I think that’s what I was missing last time). If I come back with different conclusions I’ll let you all know and if you can think of any other places I should check out, please let me know!