Best places to live in Alameda, California (San Jose, San Francisco: houses, neighborhoods)

[alice2w]

Hello,

I live in the peninsula and only recently discovered pretty Alameda. I see in this forum that there are many people enthusiastic about living there and I have a couple of questions, please:

- is there anyone who does NOT think Alameda is a nice place to live in? if so, why?

- of all the neighborhoods in Alameda, which are the prettiest? My husband and I are young, have no kids, and love to live at walking distance to streets full of small shopping stores and restaurants (kinda like Palo Alto downtown or Mountain View downtown or Santana Row in San Jose...). We love the beaches too. We really don't care much about shopping malls, though.

Thanks so much in advance for all the advices

Alice

[18Montclair]

I love Alameda. Its always near the top of my list of places that Id live in without any hesitation.

One of my favorite areas there is called Gold Coast.

[alice2w]

thanks for your input!
I just googled Gold Coast and it looks indeed gorgeous...!
I don't see many restaurants or shopping stores nearby tough, am I wrong? It's hard to get a feeling for the distances on the map ...

[alice2w]

I forgot to ask, how about the commute time from Alameda to the 880 as well as from Alameda to a BART station?

Is there any of the neighborhoods that you'd recommend that will make the commute time very easy...or very tough?

thank you,
Alice

[Steve97415]

Originally Posted by alice2w

- is there anyone who does NOT think Alameda is a nice place to live in? if so, why?Alice

Alameda is a nice place...enjoy it while it's still there. It's one of the first spots on the West Coast that will go under water as the Greenland ice shield starts to melt. By 2030 it'll be gone.

[Snort]

Actually, liquefaction in the next big earthquake will take it away. Melted ice will just add to San Francisco Bay and make it better for sailing.

[Snort]

BTW, Alameda is fine. There are some areas that are not so nice looking, but it's mostly a long line of Victorian and other style houses with a lived-in genteel look. It would be one of the first places I'd live in the east bay area.

[alice2w]

Hi Snort... It's scary, but it looks like most of Alameda would survive even a dreadful M=7.1 earthquake:

Liquefaction Hazard Maps

I am not an expert on the subject of earthquakes...but I am Italian and I am quite sensitive to it, especially since the recent tragedy...
So I don't think I am going to move right on the coast of Alameda. Park St looks nice too and i love the fact that it's full of little shops. Thanks for the heads up.

Is anyone else preoccupied as well?