Sacramento or Oakland is a better fit? (Los Angeles, San Francisco: apartment, houses)

[Tiger Beer]

Granted you guys are in Sacramento, so might be a bit biased, but curious as to what posters would think would be better for someone like myself..

Essentially, I'm white married to asian, and been living in Asia for over ten years, and we have a kid.

On top of that, I just STRONGLY prefer condensed walkable areas (like being in Asia)...not car dependent...plus Asian restaurants, etc.

Would Oakland or Sacramento be more what I'm looking for?

[Majin]

Oakland? You can't be serious.

Oakland:







Sacramento:

[silencetheshadows]

That post above was the worst explanation. For one thing, not ALL of Oakland is bad, even though Oakland does have a reputation. But its not the whole Oakland, mainly the East side and other areas. Along with that, Sacramento has some pretty crime-ridden neighborhoods, and the pictures above show the good about Sac. There is bad in both areas, but also some decency too. That being said, the above post is ridiculous.

[wburg]

Somewhere in between--both Oakland and Sacramento have walkable neighborhoods, wealthy neighborhoods and dangerous neighborhoods. To the OP, you will not find neighborhoods nearly as dense as most of Asia simply because that kind of population density does not exist in most of the United States--and where it does exist, it is found mostly on the east coast. Even the densest western cities aren't that dense compared to Asian cities--or even European cities.

Tokyo's population density, for instance, is about 33,000 people per square mile. Manila has about 112,000 people per square mile. Seoul has 45,000. Sacramento's population density is about 4700 people per square mile. Oakland has a smaller population than Sacramento but is physically smaller, so its population density is around 7000 people per square mile. San Francisco has about 17,000, Los Angeles about 8200. In each case, this varies widely by neighborhood--the outer Sacramento suburbs or the Oakland hills have less population density than central city neighborhoods with small lots and many apartment buildings.

[llowllevellowll]

Majin: You should have your account revoked after that junk. You've probably never been to Oakland before, and certainly never been to the Oakland Hills, JLS, Lake Merritt, etc, etc. Someone could have just as easily posted photographs horrible photographs of Sacramento poverty and a token black person and then featured photographs of Rockridge, Piedmont, etc. You're disgusting.

To the OP> Both cities have a lot to offer. Wburg is probably the most knowledgable on Sacramento and for Oakland, I'd seek out someone by the name of 18Montclair. Search their names and review old posts for a wealth of knowledge.

[Jimbo15]

If money is not an option, than Oakland probably is a better choice. There are more pedestrian oriented neighborhoods and they are larger, I am think here of Jack London Square, Lake Merrit, Rockridge or Oakland's chinatown. Additionally these neighborhoods have a much larger asian influence.

In Sacramento, the neighborhoods and communities with the strong asian presence aren't particularly pedestrian friendly (the pocket, stockton blvd, Elk Grove) and the more pedestrian oriented neighborhoods are mostly white without many asians.

Other factors in favor of the bay area are that overall region is more asian with more distinct asian neighborhoods. When Jollybee decided to expand in the US, the first place it went was Daly City and than Vallejo to sell to the local Filipino populations in those neighborhoods. In the bay area, you can find large distinct asian communtities. That makes it easier to find traditional foods and products.

That said in the real world money and employment usually are issues. Generally housing is much less expensive in the Sacramento region than in the bay area. For a given amount of money, you should be able to buy into a much better neighborhood in Sacramento than in the bay area.

For the price of home in West Oakland, you probably could live in Rancho Cordova. For the price of living in San Leandro, you probably could live in midtown. For the price of living in Rockridge, you could probably live in the Fabulous Forties. For the price of living in the Oakland Hills, you could probably live in Los Lagos in Granite Bay.

I don't know what type of work you do. For some tasks, generally you will get paid the same no matter where you live. For instance teachers and firefighters probably are going to get paid similiar amounts in Oakland as in Sacto, if so moving to someplace in the Sacramento region allows you to move into a nicer neighborhood often with a bigger home and better schools.

But there are other tasks, that just pay better in the bay area. A lot of the tech jobs pay better in the bay area, that is true for some type of legal and banking work as well. In that case, the argument for moving to Sacramento over Oakland is a lot weaker.

[wburg]

One very Asian-influenced neighborhood in Sacramento that is pedestrian-friendly is Southside Park. It is the closest to the old traditional Asian neighborhoods downtown (long since demolished) and includes many Asian cultural institutions, including two Buddhist churches, a Tenrikyo church, a Japanese Presbyterian church, and a mosque. There are also several Chinese benevolent associations and family associations in the neighborhood, several Asian restaurants (Japanese and Chinese), a Japanese bakery that sells fresh mochi and Japanese shaved-ice snow cones, and several neighborhood markets that sell Asian foods. Along Broadway, just south of Hwy 50 from the Southside neighborhood, there are more (and larger) Asian markets and restaurants, a weekly farmer's market at Broadway and 6th that specializes in Asian foods, although Asian farmers and products are well-represented at the big Sunday farmer's market on W/X/6th/8th under the freeway.

Southside is generally the southwestern quarter of Sacramento's central city: roughly speaking, south of R Street from Interstate 5 to about 14th Street, blending into the adjacent neighborhood of Richmond Grove. The houses vary from late 19th century farmhouses to early 20th century bungalows, interspersed with 1950s/60s apartment buildings and a few modern buildings. You are almost as likely to hear Chinese walking down the street as English (or Japanese, or Urdu, or Spanish.) There are many gardens in backyards or vacant lots, planted with Asian vegetables. There is a large neighborhood park (Southside Park) which is host to many community festivals (Cinco de Mayo, Pride Parade, the Sikh World Interfaith Peace March, etc.) The local elementary school, William Land Elementary, has many Asian American students.

Southside doesn't get much press, it is a bit south from the more hip and more pricey Midtown neighborhoods, so it is a bit quieter and a touch scruffier. If you get a job in downtown Sacramento, Southside is within short walking distance.

Here's an example of the kind of house you can find in Southside:
Homes - MLS - sacbee.com&

Or if you don't want a fixer-upper:
Homes - MLS - sacbee.com&

[18Montclair]

Oh Majin, you used to be so pessimistic about Sac over at SSP. Glad you've found more favorable things to say about it. LOL

Anyway, as I stated in my response to this same question in the SF Forum, having lived in both, I love them both-each has their strength. Both are incredibly multicultural and very accepting of people of other races and of biracial couples. The best thing to do is visit for yourself and find the area that best suits you.

[Majin]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

Oh Majin, you used to be so pessimistic about Sac over at SSP. Glad you've found more favorable things to say about it. LOL

I have to admit this was one of my better trolls, if not one of the best of all time. I'm glad its so easy to get people riled up here. I'm gonna have a really fun time on this forum now that SSP seems dead.

[Shope]

Oakland is a dump. The nice parts of Oakland are overpriced and overrated anyhow and you will still be close to the bad parts of Oakland. The bad neihborhoods in Sac can't even hold a candle to the bad parts of Oakland. If you are going to live in the Bay Area I would suggest somewhere other than Oakland. Why do you have it narrowed down to Oakland and Sac?