OAKLAND

A friend of mine got cold-cocked by some teenage dickhead and now has a bunch of false teeth.

jeez, oakland sounds pretty grim

in my limited experience, if you take the same precautions you would in any big city, you will be fine in oakland. this is not to discount the above experiences or diminish the fact that some parts of oakland are pretty tough, but you can certainly find places to live in a variety of neighborhoods that dont involve living in constant fear or anything.

gourmet ghetto in North Berkeley

I just heard of this area yesterday (casually surveying housing listings) - wtf with this neighborhood name

I just heard of this area yesterday (casually surveying housing listings) - wtf with this neighborhood name

The neighborhood is sometimes more formally referred to as "North Shattuck". It received its nickname due to the high concentration of fine eating establishments in the area, including Chez Panisse and the Cheese Board Collective, as well as the first Peet's Coffee.

(Also there is a high concentration of Jewish residents, in my experience.)

i like lakeshore and temescal -- adams point is cool, too, but im a little unclear on where that ends and lakeshore starts. some new movers-to-oakland like west oakland. i havent spent too much time there, but theres a lot of controversy over the high prevalence of liquor stores there and zero grocery stores.

xp: from my understanding, Adams Point is directly north of Lake Merritt; Lakeshore/Grand Lake neighborhood is northeast of the Lake - where the Grand Lake theater is. That's an okay neighborhood - a few friends live over there - there's a Trader Joe's, a few good dive bars, and stroller people during the day.

West Oakland: also a lot of controversy about white people gentrifying the traditionally black neighborhood; also plenty of drug dealing and murders. A friend of mine who used to live there before moving to Europe once called the police to report a guy across the street beating up a woman, and they asked if she was bleeding. He replied, "Do you want me to go outside and find that out for you?"

Here is your handy map, which has probably been posted before but is still relevant:

http://oakland.crimespotting.org

they asked if she was bleeding

ahhhhhhhhhhhh

also that crimespotting map is a really nice presentation (of wild data)

wow that crimespotting site has gotten a lot nicer than it was the last time i checked it.

yeah that map is really cool, I wish it covered the entire bay area

the way it overlays stuff (based on date?) makes it more difficult to see where murders happen. On the other hand, in terms of the average person's quality of life, or likelihood of being a victim, they should probably worry more about robberies and thefts than murders. Of course, the thing is, not all crimes get reported ... when my car got broken into last year, I didn't report it. It makes me wonder whether certain crimes are more likely to be reported in "better" areas.

It makes me wonder whether certain crimes are more likely to be reported in "better" areas.

If that's true, yikes!

xp I just think about how city blogs will post items from suburban or small town police blotters for the lol factor -- that these small crimes are even being reported or investigated.

totally off the current topic, and also on a lighter note: do oaklanders have any recommendations for good sort of junkyards/thrift stores where i could find a decent set of wooden drawers and a big desk?

a coworker of mine just moved to west oakland (21-year old recent uc santa cruz grad who's down with the plight of the black folk) and he goes on at length about how vibrant his community is and how it gets such a bad rap... and i'm like, dude you've lived there for 2 months and your perceptions of the community are more influenced by how happy you are to have street cred than anything else. so it doesn't surprise me to hear that west oakland is being gentrified pretty heavily - this guy is pretty much exhibit A for that.

for the junkyard/thrift store recommendation, I'm guessing Urban Ore is probably a good suggestion. It's in Berkeley (I think anyway) right off of Ashby, in between San Pablo and 880. It's a big old warehouse full of junk/not junk (including electronics, clothes, furniture, uh... doors, records... basically anything old and used). It's fun to look around anyway.

totally off the current topic, and also on a lighter note: do oaklanders have any recommendations for good sort of junkyards/thrift stores where i could find a decent set of wooden drawers and a big desk?

Define "decent". Obviously the first place to look is Urban Ore, but there's a guy who sells stuff about a block north of Alcatraz on Telegraph who has a lot of stuff like that for dirt cheap, although you'd need to refinish most of it unless you don't care about how stuff looks.

mostly i just mean: not termite ridden, stable, functional (i.e. drawers slide in and out adequately). not to fussed with the appearance.

Yeah, check OE and the spot on Telegraph. Usually a bunch of stuff just sitting around outside, a little bit north of Cafe Colucci.

Urban Ore is a bit "overpriced" now - furniture selection isn't as great as their selection of fixtures - like doors, toilets, etc. The San Pablo flea market place (not actually a flea market) but a big thrift/junk shop on San Pablo in North Oakland might be a better bet. They also have desks at the UC Berkeley surplus warehouse, which is around the corner from Urban Ore on the street between 67th and Ashby, also on San Pablo. It's the same building that houses the bindery and up until recently, printing services.

thanks guys

36 Hours in Oakland, Calif.

I live in the gourmet ghetto! it's been called that for ages.

36 Hours in Oakland, Calif.

I loathe Luka's ... I had more positive experiences there when it was the rat-infested Hofbrau. It reminds me of Blondie's in SF circa 1999.

found ohmega salvage on san pablo - found an amazing desk there, perfect for what we need, but couldn't figure out a way to get it to our apartment anytime soon. kinda worried about wood rot & termites in it, too :/

Since the SF thread is about burritos right now, I'm totally obsessed with the Sinaloa taco truck in Fruitvale. So amazing.

Good to know, will check out.
Anyone know if the Lanesplitter by the lake is delivering yet? I heard there were take-out only...

is there more than one? i went to the one in temescal this past wknd, it was dece

There's one in Berkeley on San Pablo and they just opened a hole in the wall between Grand Ave. and Lakeshore sort of near the Serenader.

Le Val's recently moved/opened a location in Oakland ... I got a good fish sandwich there.

This is going to be fun:

http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2009/08/29/mn-baybridge30_p_0500529609.jpg

Woo hoo! Accidents!

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1681730592?bctid=36873198001

I'm taking the ferry back tonight; the BART is going to be a clusterfuck I bet.

Get to drive across one last time after work today (they let us out at 3 for the traffic) then tomorrow I'll find out how crowded BART is.

(My normal amazing system, for those who don't know, is to leave my car at the San Leandro BART station during the work week, then to BART back and forth with my car waiting for me in the East Bay to get to/from work/BART/lunch. I do the Bay Bridge twice a week, Monday morning and Friday night.)

ok between this and the LA fires i got the hell out of dodge just in time :/

but this is cool!

although I've wondered, what do Treasure Island residents do this weekend? They're closing both spans right?

never mind: "Vehicle access to Yerba Buena Island and Treasure Island for residents, employees
and visitors will be maintained via special permit from San Francisco."

If you were also wondering.

they haven't closed the bridge for almost exactly 20 years right?

no, they closed it a few years ago during the same weekend.

so glad I live AND work in the east bay now

guess I'm the only fan of infrastructure-repair-related traffic-and-transit-snarls then

also, 24 hour BART!

I would be a bigger fan if I didn't drive across that bridge so often.

I predict BART won't be that bad tomorrow on account of everyone saying 'fuck this, I'm not coming in'. At least, that seems to be the dominant paradigm at my place of employment.

I'm hoping all the SOMA eateries will be dead tomorrow from all the east bay commuters staying home. No lines!

I have a gig in SF tomorrow night, and will brave the San Mateo bridge ...