Bay Area black neighborhoods

[fizbin]

Originally Posted by baybook

My response is that Black people in the Bay Area live everywhere. We don't have a "Ladera Heights" or a Baldwin Hills because people live where the want to. If you can afford it, you can live anywhere.

So while the area you mention may be predom Black, I would still not call it a Black area. People segregate themselves more by income than by race.

Originally Posted by baybook

Geeze, just realized this thread is 2 years old.

Yeah, but your words are as true today as they were two years ago.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by E14

i would look at deep east oakland between 102nd and the san leandro border, eastmont hills, and maxwell park
All 3 are mostly black and quiet, affordable, middle class neighborhoods.
I realize this is an old thread, but it could still be useful to someone

I've always liked the neighborhood called Frick(It runs along Macarthur as it curves around the back of Mills College). Its very clean and quiet looking.

Anyone know if Sheffield Village is mostly black too? Im not sure. That's another ideal looking area as well.

[baybook]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

Anyone know if Sheffield Village is mostly black too? Im not sure. That's another ideal looking area as well.

Nope, it isn't.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by baybook

Nope, it isn't.

Thanks.

[AuntDianesArk]

Marin County is VERY white, except for Marin City which has a high black population.

[gogetta]

Originally Posted by AuntDianesArk

Marin County is VERY white, except for Marin City which has a high black population.

White compared to some neighboring counties, but there is still a lot of diversity in Marin compared to some places. There are Latinos, Asians, Whites and Blacks throughout the county. I believe on the upcoming census that there will be a sizeable black population in Novato which also has a good mix of everything else. San Rafael also has a high latino population.

[jfields]

I'd check out the Lake Merrit area of Oakland (Alameda County)out, just like someone else said. I wouldn't say that Blacks are a majority in that area, but there is a signficant black population in that neighboorhood. Oakland has more black people than any other race. There are some really cool parts of Oakland and some really dangerous neighboorhoods and it can vary on a block to block basis, so make sure you do your research on the neigboorhood before moving there. In general, Oakland has high crime rates. I am more familiar with San Francisco, which is its own county, because I've lived there. Unfortunately, there aren't very many black people in SF, although it is very diverse so there isn't any 1 majority race in the city. The only areas in SF with majority black populations are Western Addition and Bayview/Hunters Point. Both of these areas have crime problems, although I'd say that Bayview/Hunters Point is worse. If you look on the other side of the 101 freeway from Bayview/Hunters Point, in areas like Portola, or Mission Excelsior, you will find safer neighboorhoods. These neighboorhoods aren't predominantly black but they do have significant amounts of black people. If you want a less urban area you might want to try East Menlo Park (San Mateo County). from what I know that area has a pretty large black community and is fairly safe, although I haven't lived there since I was 6 years old. Personally, I would prefer a more urban area, but if you are looking for low-moderate crime you will find alot more of those areas in the burbs than in the city. Just one generaly piece of advice, housing in the Bay Area is really expensive. You should do some research about housing prices in the Bay Area before you decide to move there or else you may be in for an unpleasent surprise.

[nirea82]

Yeah but I'm saying people choose to stay in the city no matter what race some choose to move out because of money but I think it always has to do with rich vs poor not such much a minority thing. Some of us are just stubborn and want to live here I'm sure because most of us are not from here. It's like New York some choose to be broke and live in the city others save by living accross the bridge. But overal the bay area is diverse, when I lived in Chicago things were definately little pockets of separation I don't notice it much here

[l'étranger]

Dear 18Montclair:

one needs to correct you on a couple of points on your otherwise fine and well-pointed post regarding well-to-do areas in Oakland to which affluent and wealthy African-Americans are drawn.

First, the building you have titled, "Sequoyah Country Club," is NOT the country club, but rather a private home, or rather, an estate in the Skyline drive area of Oakland California. But this should give the readers/viewers here an idea of the scope and size of some of the homes in the Oakland hills. I should note that this estate isn't even one of the larger ones in this area of Oakland. Yeah. This is Oakland, believe it or not. It's called "très riche, on qui a beaucoup d'argent," "home of money bags," etc.

A home you listed as "Hillcrest Estates," is actually from another very wealthy area in Oakland, called "Ridgemont." This multi-million dollar home is over 10,000 square feet (it was on sale a year or two ago for 6,000,000 million or more, if I remember correctly). As for Hillcrest estates, this neighborhood includes gracious and modernist homes on streets like Balmoral drive, Tartan way, and the like, It is another very wealthy area that does boast a large number of very well-to-do African-American home owners.

Third point: You show a three-story home and call it a "ranch-style" home. It's not. Ranch style homes, which probably originate in architect Frank Lloyd Wright's early to mid twentieth century "prairie homes" are low, one-story structures that tend toward a sprawling appearance, while utilizing the materials of the regions in which they are built. The prairie-style home became popular, or bastardized, in suburban tracts during the 1950s and early 1960s.

Sequoyah Highlands district in Oakland is indeed made up of largely "ranch-style" homes. But there is nothing modest about them, as they tend toward the very large (2000 sq ft. to 5000 sq. ft, and a number of them to proportions twice as large). A good number of do not only large yards, but also swimming pools, of course, and the very largest of them also boast horse stables, tennis courts, as well as pool and cabannas. Streets such as Sequoyah View Road and Elyesian Drive have these sprawling ranch homes, luxury ranch homes indeed, overlooking the golf Sequoyah Hills Golf courses and the canyons and woods of as yet undeveloped sections of the Oakland hills.

Quite a few wealthy African-Americans live in these neighborhoods, but so do affluent whites, Asian-Americans, and the like.

I would suggest, then, that in describing the Sequoyah hills area, it is probably a bit more accurate to say that the area is strikingly integrated for a wealthy neighborhood in America, and that a very large concentration of very affluent and wealthy African-Americans have lived in the district since at least the 1970s.

In my mind, this makes certain wealthy neighborhoods in Oakland, and the Oakland neighborhood of Sequoyah Hills/Heights in particular, much more interesting than nearby Piedmont, a separate, nearly all-White city surrounded by Oakland. Piedmont's racial ethnic make-up and its decidedly classist attitudes make it seem like the 1950s wealthy and segregated neighborhood of a Douglas Sirk weepy, or the Sirk homage "Far from Heaven."

Oakland's wealthy enclaves are much more integrated, and the areas in which the Black monied live are, by and large, are areas anybody who aspires to gracious living and interesting, cultured, and well-educated neighbors would want to live.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by l'étranger

Dear 18Montclair:

one needs to correct you on a couple of points on your otherwise fine and well-pointed post regarding well-to-do areas in Oakland to which affluent and wealthy African-Americans are drawn.

First, the building you have titled, "Sequoyah Country Club," is NOT the country club, but rather a private home, or rather, an estate in the Skyline drive area of Oakland California. But this should give the readers/viewers here an idea of the scope and size of some of the homes in the Oakland hills. I should note that this estate isn't even one of the larger ones in this area of Oakland. Yeah. This is Oakland, believe it or not. It's called "très riche, on qui a beaucoup d'argent," "home of money bags," etc.

A home you listed as "Hillcrest Estates," is actually from another very wealthy area in Oakland, called "Ridgemont." This multi-million dollar home is over 10,000 square feet (it was on sale a year or two ago for 6,000,000 million or more, if I remember correctly). As for Hillcrest estates, this neighborhood includes gracious and modernist homes on streets like Balmoral drive, Tartan way, and the like, It is another very wealthy area that does boast a large number of very well-to-do African-American home owners.

Third point: You show a three-story home and call it a "ranch-style" home. It's not. Ranch style homes, which probably originate in architect Frank Lloyd Wright's early to mid twentieth century "prairie homes" are low, one-story structures that tend toward a sprawling appearance, while utilizing the materials of the regions in which they are built. The prairie-style home became popular, or bastardized, in suburban tracts during the 1950s and early 1960s.

Sequoyah Highlands district in Oakland is indeed made up of largely "ranch-style" homes. But there is nothing modest about them, as they tend toward the very large (2000 sq ft. to 5000 sq. ft, and a number of them to proportions twice as large). A good number of do not only large yards, but also swimming pools, of course, and the very largest of them also boast horse stables, tennis courts, as well as pool and cabannas. Streets such as Sequoyah View Road and Elyesian Drive have these sprawling ranch homes, luxury ranch homes indeed, overlooking the golf Sequoyah Hills Golf courses and the canyons and woods of as yet undeveloped sections of the Oakland hills.

Quite a few wealthy African-Americans live in these neighborhoods, but so do affluent whites, Asian-Americans, and the like.

I would suggest, then, that in describing the Sequoyah hills area, it is probably a bit more accurate to say that the area is strikingly integrated for a wealthy neighborhood in America, and that a very large concentration of very affluent and wealthy African-Americans have lived in the district since at least the 1970s.

In my mind, this makes certain wealthy neighborhoods in Oakland, and the Oakland neighborhood of Sequoyah Hills/Heights in particular, much more interesting than nearby Piedmont, a separate, nearly all-White city surrounded by Oakland. Piedmont's racial ethnic make-up and its decidedly classist attitudes make it seem like the 1950s wealthy and segregated neighborhood of a Douglas Sirk weepy, or the Sirk homage "Far from Heaven."

Oakland's wealthy enclaves are much more integrated, and the areas in which the Black monied live are, by and large, are areas anybody who aspires to gracious living and interesting, cultured, and well-educated neighbors would want to live.

Thank You very much.

I appreciate the opportunity to be illuminated.