Safety and fun in Berkeley/oakland- Safe bart, bars, restaurants, shops in walking distance? (Davis: apartments)

[johnmi03]

Hello all,

I'm moving to San Fran from Davis Square, somerville MA (right outside of Boston). Right now I live in a neighborhood in which I feel comfortable walking home from the train station or bars at any time of night, it's a 10 minute walk to public transit, and the center of town (which is also a 10 minute walk) is full of bars, great restaurants, cute clothing stores, and a grocery store, and my commute to work in downtown Boston is 15-20 minutes by train.

I will be working on University Ave. in Berkeley in Sept. and am looking for apartments in the area (no more than a 20 minute commute). I'm 25 and am over the college scene. While I don't mind living in a university town I would like a good mix of students and young professionals. I would LOVE the ability to walk 10-15 minutes to great bars, restaurants, a grocery store and some cute shops. Safety is also incredible inportant to me becuase I am a young woman. I want to be able to walk around without being worried for my personal safety. Is there an area like this in the Oakland/Berkeley area?


Thanks so much for looking and hopefully, answering!

[fizbin]

Look up posts on the Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland. Perfect for what you are looking for.

[artemis78]

Agreed---Rockridge is a good bet, as is Elmwood in Berkeley (not as close to BART but an easy commute to downtown Berkeley on the bus). There's also the Temescal neighborhood in Oakland, which is a little closer to Davis as far as the vibe goes (at least the old school Davis vibe 5-10 years back; not sure how it compares today), but again---not quite as close to the train as Rockridge, if you expect to be headed into the city frequently. Avoid downtown Berkeley (and to a lesser degree the Gourmet Ghetto) if you're hoping to avoid being surrounded by students.

Also, where on University are you working? If it's near the central downtown area (Shattuck and University near UCB) you'll be fine with any of these, since that's the transit hub. If it's closer to West Berkeley, though, make sure to factor that in---you'll probably want to be on the 51 bus route (Elmwood, Rockridge, other College Avenue neighborhoods) if it's not walkable from BART.