Thoughts on Emeryville (San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley: renting, condos, crime)

[BostonJad]

Ill be spending a week in midAugust primarily to help my lil bro settle for college which is Berkeley Univ.

Me and my mother are going to stay at a Marriott in Emeryville and wondering if it is safe since it is so close to Oakland.

I will be renting a car while there but wondering how easy it is to commute to SF and if there is public transportation options.

Let me know. Thanks

[gatorman]

Good questions!

You are in luck- the area you've chosen to stay in is very safe and quite isolated from the crime ridden areas of Oakland you've heard about. I don't see you having any problems.

Commuting to SF from there is a straight shot on the transbay bus, directly fr
om Emervyille.

There's also a free shuttle bus operated by the city of Emeryville called Emery-go-round. This shuttle will take you to the BART station (MacArthur station). From there you can take BART north to Berkeley, or the other direction into San Francisco.

Emeryville is probably the best location you could've chosen because it is central to everything yet very safe.

[Puddy4LyF]

Originally Posted by BostonJad

Ill be spending a week in midAugust primarily to help my lil bro settle for college which is Berkeley Univ.

Me and my mother are going to stay at a Marriott in Emeryville and wondering if it is safe since it is so close to Oakland.

I will be renting a car while there but wondering how easy it is to commute to SF and if there is public transportation options.

Let me know. Thanks

Boy, I don't know... You're really rocking the boat by being THAT close to Oakland. Are you sure you don't want to stay in Hercules?

Obviously kidding. That's a safe area. When you go there, you'll laugh that you were ever worried about it. It's right at the Powell Street Plaza which is chock full of condos, shopping, IKEA, Borders, and I'm sure a few other nervous white people.

There are tons of public transit in the area and I recommend taking the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) over driving into SF ($4 dollar toll on the Bay Brdige as well as hassle/cost to park). Unless you know exactly where to go and you're going to do more than just touristy fisherman's warf area, I'd take BART.

BART - Bay Area Rapid Transit

As a final note, don't write off Oakland based on things you've heard. If I were to be completely honest with you, my two favorite areas in the Bay lie within Oakland's boundaries and not SF. Oakland has some dangerous areas but the entire city isn't some sort of third world, awful city. In fact, it's gorgeous and if i had to choose between living in the nicest area in SF and living in the Oakland Hills, I'd without thought choose Oakland.

[Alexus]

Delicious won-ton soup with chicken at Noodles, etc at the Marketplace. Best I ever had.