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Old 10-22-2011, 07:40 PM
 
Location: Philadelphia
27 posts, read 55,892 times
Reputation: 20

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We are thinking about relocating to Oakland from Philadelphia. My wife and I and our 8 month will fly there in January and explore for 3 days.
Three days isn't much, but I'd like to see enough to decide if it's a place we'd like to live.
Based on what I've read, we'd like to check out the Temescal area as it sounds affordable, walkable and arty.

So 3 days-
maybe...
1 day in SF.
1 day exploring uptown and Temescal oakland- find out where are the elementary schools, public parks, family stuff?
1 day I'm thinking drive down to Santa Cruz via US-1?, other Bay Area attractions?

She likes walkable town feeling, areas that are walkable with record stores, galleries and food.
We both want bikeable.
Will will need >$1400 2BR rent.
Planning a September 2012 move.

What do you think?

One artsy young family considering putting roots down in Oakland.
3 1/2 days.
Go!...

Thanks!
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Old 10-22-2011, 09:30 PM
 
Location: South Korea
5,242 posts, read 13,035,908 times
Reputation: 2957
The Temescal is decent, just look for housing only east of Telegraph, west of it is pretty seedy. The main strip of shops on Telegraph is from around 45th to 52nd street, lots of cool and trendy restaurants. Always lots of young families with kids at the Lanesplitter pizza place there. South of 45th is more liquor stores and fast food places and is kinda seedy.

Rockridge is just north of the Temescal, it's nice and has a lot of young families too but I think a 2br for $1400 or less won't really be doable. I'd also look at the Piedmont Ave area, Adam's Point and Cleveland Heights. There are some record stores here and there but the ipod is really putting them out of business, just so ya know.

And pretty much anywhere that is flat in Oakland is really bikeable, there's bike lanes all over the place like on Telegraph. Lower Rockridge (basically centered around College Avenue) and the Temescal are really flat, Piedmont Ave is pretty flat but slopes down southward and has some hilly areas nearby. Adam's Point and Cleveland Heights are hilly here and there.

I dunno about Uptown, it could work if you want cheap and artsy (check out Art Murmur every 1st friday which is a huge monthly arts festival in Uptown) but you might not find it super family friendly, it has some seedy blocks. I'd go for the Temescal or Piedmont Ave for artsy and kid friendly and affordable.

Santa Cruz is cool but it's a long drive down on 1, plus in January it will be cold and probably rainy pretty much anywhere here. Coastal Marin is sort of similar and a lot closer to SF and Oakland.
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Old 10-23-2011, 12:57 AM
 
Location: The Bay
6,914 posts, read 14,685,945 times
Reputation: 3119
A big part of the draw of Oakland is that there are a lot of "neighborhood villages" that offer completely different experiences. If you're visiting Oakland for a day then I'd recommend seeing a variety... from Temescal, these are the ones that are easy to get to:

Piedmont Avenue
Rockridge (College Avenue)
Grand Lake (Grand Avenue above Lake Park Avenue/Santa Clara Avenue)
Lakeshore (Lakeshore Avenue above Lake Park Avenue)

Others that are a little further away include:

Dimond District (Fruitvale & MacArthur)
Montclair
Glenview (Park Blvd & Glenfield Avenue - pretty small but has great food)
Laurel District (MacArthur Blvd between 35th Avenue and High Street)

If you're interested in public parks then I highly recommend visiting these ones (also in the area):

Oakland Municipal Rose Garden
Kaiser Rooftop Garden (only open on weekdays during business hours)
Children's Fairyland (great for toddlers but your kid might be a little too young)

I'll address the rest of your post tomorrow.
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