I want to live in Oakland's Ghetto - moving from Northern Ireland (San Francisco: apartments, rentals)

[bluberry]

Hi and thanks for checking out the post... I will be moving from Belfast in Northern Ireland to Oakland in a few months, with my wife who is from the Big Sur area of California.

I have been reading through various posts and other forums and still cannot pinpoint areas that we would want to live in. Having lived through the troubles over here, the bombings and the shootings I am aware that it is possible to be surrounded by crime and not notice an impact on your life.

I am also aware that the shady characters that mug and rob people travel outside their own areas to do it - looking for a bigger haul, so nowhere is totally safe.

What we are seeking is an area that allows us to travel by bicycle and public transport around most of the Oakland area.

We seek somewhere that has a coffee shop, shopping, cafe scene close by.

We need somewhere my wife will feel comfortable walking alone at night.

And we need somewhere that has a park as we have two dogs.

Our budget is about $1500 per month and we do not mind an area that once way rough but is "up and coming".

Oakland has both of us really excited and we cannot wait to be a part of the community.

Thanks for your suggestions.

[Mooseketeer]

Hardly the "Ghetto" ( anything but in fact) ,the nicest part of Oakland is Rockridge in my opinion ( which is pretty much the southern end of Berkeley but strictly Oakland). Absolutely fantastic sense of community ( we were there only for a month but could not believe the amount of community events, street parties, block parties, street fairs etc.. excellent independent small shops and restaurants ( "Barneys'" makes the best hamburgers !) . Everyone seems to walk or cycle, it has quite a few older "Hippies" so very laid back , we absolutely loved it and would move there in a heartbeat if we could. We are spending another month there this fall we loved it so much... ;0

It's very much a family neighbourhood and has a atmosphere. Lots of dogs too !

Some parts of it are very expensive but you might be able to find something in your budget if you look hard enough.

It is also really handy for BART and public transport is excellent. And really easy access to SF across the Bay too.




Rockridge, Oakland, California - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rockridge — East Bay Neighborhoods — Travel — SFGate

[bluberry]

Thanks Mooseketeer. I guess my reference to the ghetto is more in line with the fact that we are prepared to live in places others may not.

Thanks for the info on Rockridge, I looked it up on the map and it seems like a perfect location but craigs has few properties that accept animals, except those that are out of our price range. Any other thoughts?

[sliverbox]

Having animals is instantly going to make your search for housing a lot harder. A lot of rentals simply don't allow them. I would second the recommendation of areas like Rockridge and maybe some of the neighborhoods up in the Oakland Hills.

[18Montclair]

For you I recommend taking a look at 2 areas.

The first is Clinton/Merrit/New Chinatown. Many suburbanites would consider it "ghetto" but its not really. Instead you have working class Asian and Black with a growing number of hispanic families in a very compact semi-urban environment of detached victorian homes and lowrise apartment buildings on small lots. You are a hop, skip and a jump from Downtown, there is good bus service there, you can ride your bicycle anywhere in relative safety(obviously street smarts apply) and the Lake Merritt BART station is close by.

The next area that might suit you is right near Downtown. The area officially known as Northgate-Waverly, unofficially known as Uptown. Its not really total ghetto either but it has a lot of grit along Telegraph Av but its actually one of the liveliest sections of towns as tons of artists and urban-minded young people have flocked there to create a really interesting Brooklyn in the 1990s environment.

Apart from those 2, I can think of several East Oakland neighborhoods that would meet your criteria. Especially around the Fruitvale BART station. That area is very vibrant too, is quite urban and gritty, but also very family-oriented. Lots of kids and old people(LOL), Its the hub of Oakland's Latino community. International Bl has a lot of activity all the time. I think you would like it if your looking for a gritty semi-urban experience.

Another area that is not ghetto at all but I think you'd like is Laurel and neighborhing Dimond. Both of these areas have very healthy commercial strips that are very walkable and these 2 area incredibly diverse not only racially but also socio-economically. Nice, clean and good if you have a bicycle.

I also recommend worth checking out Temescal which is up the road from Uptown and is very hot these days as far as vibrancy and things going on. Its not ghetto either but has a slight grit to it because of its proximity to more ghetto areas. I recommend Temescal because while Im sure you wouldnt have any trouble living in the ghetto as you state, quite frankly you dont have to with your budget. Temescal has incredible restaurants and a strong sense of community. It is close to the Macarthur BART station and has an eclecctic mix of people.

Anyway, these are the suggestions that come into my head now. Im sure others will chime in as well.

Good luck!

[04kL4nD]

West Oakland ftw

[Nineties Flava]

Trust me when I say you don't want to live in Oakland's "ghetto" lol. Anything between Seminary and San Leandro city that's below MacArthur Blvd is for your purposes off limits. Anything centered around San Pablo Ave between 27th st. and 64th st and anything west of Mandela Pwky is also for your purposes off-limits. Other than that, that leaves the rest of the city, which is a lot. In general in East Oakland I would recommend looking above 580 but there are exceptions to the rule like Maxwell Park, Bella Vista, Cleveland Heights and Ivy Hill. In West Oakland the Oak Center neighborhood is decent and in North Oakland basically anything east of Shattuck Ave is good.


If you really have to live on a low budget, then I'd recommend looking in the Bushrod Park area of North Oakland or the Fruitvale area centered around Brookdale Ave. Also look at Coolidge Ave (2 blocks over from Fruitvale) above Patten University.

[bluberry]

Thanks guy, I will start researching the various areas... Yes, I know, I most definitely do not want to live in any ghetto areas. Perhaps I should have re phrased that. Although I once lived in an area of Orlando where the taxis would not go, they picked me up a few blocks away and dropped me there coming home at night. It was a completely African neighbourhood, and I am sure as a white guy I stuck out like a sore thumb but everyone kept themselves to themselves and I never saw any trouble.

Clinton/Merrit/New Chinatown....is that the Lake Merritt area, if so I have been looking into that, and it seems nice, although it seemed the grant ave side was better? I know a lot of gang activity takes place over on the other side, but how close does that get to the lake?

[mayorhaggar]

Originally Posted by bluberry

Thanks guy, I will start researching the various areas... Yes, I know, I most definitely do not want to live in any ghetto areas. Perhaps I should have re phrased that.

Yes maybe you shouldn't have said "I want to live in Oakland's ghetto."

You'll do fine on your budget. You can get a 2 bedroom in Rockridge for around $1200-1300 for example. There's not a ton of apartments in Rockridge though, it's mostly houses but there are some apt buildings, keep looking on Craigslist every day and you might find something. The Temescal is just south of Rockridge and is pretty decent and cheaper but a bit grittier. The Piedmont Avenue area is also cheaper than Rockridge. The Adams Point area just North of Lake Merritt is nice and very cheap, you can get 1br's there for under $900, in Rockridge they would be $1100. I'd start with these areas then go from there.

Also you'll find that it can be hard to find landlords that allow pets in the Bay Area but it can be done in the East Bay--in San Francisco it's basically impossible.

[rah]

I also don't see why you really would want to live in Oakland's ghetto areas (or any ghetto area), of all places, especially if you have a budget of $1500, and especially as a foreigner from Europe, lol...might be somewhat of a culture shock to say the least, and not always in a nice way. There are a lot of places you can afford for $1500 in Oakland and the rest of the Bay Area that have good public transit, amenities, and which aren't "ghetto" but which are also far and away from being sterile/boring/particularly safe, which seems to be what you want (which i can identify with. sterility sucks).

I know Belfast is considered rough by European standards, but bad American ghettos are generally going to be worse than anything over there in terms of violence, and are usually going to have much more gunplay going on than anywhere in Europe (there are a few Russian cities with similar levels of violence though). Oakland's murder rate in 2006 was about 9 to 10 times higher than it was in Belfast, for example....SF's murder rate was four times as high as Belfast in 2006 as well. Also on most years, such as 2005, 2006, and 2007, Oakland and San Francisco each had more murders than the entirety of Ireland. Stats also tell me that the robbery rate in cities like Oakland and SF is much higher than in Belfast. Don't get me wrong, most murders have to do with drugs, gangs, and arguments between people who know each other, and most people in the ghetto anywhere in the world are never victims of violence or anything...but the levels of that stuff are still on a higher level than ireland, so just a heads up.