Oakland - Rockridge Neighborhood Questions (Berkeley, Claremont: condos, houses, neighborhoods)

[ryandc99]

Are there any bad areas of Rockridge that I should avoid to look?

[04kL4nD]

Personally, I wouldn't live right off of college ave. The traffic can be a nightmare

[mayorhaggar]

There aren't any bad areas from what I've seen. The Temescal is just to the southwest and is a bit grubbier and shadier but not by very much. If you go outside of Rockridge to the west of Telegraph then it gets shadier as Oakland blends into SW Berkeley which is also pretty shady.

I would definitely not want to live right on College, there is a lot of foot and car traffic and a lot of bars and restaurants which can be loud. Also I'd try to stay a distance away from Highway 24 and BART because they can be kind of noisy, but not so far away from BART that it's a pain to walk to.

[tanglenet]

There is a small public housing project near 59th and Canning, but I believe the problems have been resolved and there are no longer any issues as they rehabbed the project and kicked out the troublesome tenants. As far as I know there aren't any bad areas of Rockridge, the problem is the bad guys come here to occasionally "shop".

[MovingAloha]

Which schools service this area? I've attempted to look them up, but not sure if they fall under Berkeley. Oakland or Piedmont.

[mayorhaggar]

Rockridge is part of Oakland, so kids in Rockridge have to go to Oakland schools.

[lmk1707]

Yup it's OUSD. For the exact ins and outs of which school goes with which part of the neighborhood, try going to the Berkeley Parents Network.

Berkeley Parents Network:

[jade408]

@ryandc99 I am sure when you have a chance to actually check out the areas of Oakland you are considering, you'll find it wildly different that what is portrayed on the boards. You'll be in a safe convinenet neighborhood with lots of stuff to check out. Best thing is to visit for sure, and you can decide what appeals to you most. How close do you want to be to a commercial strip, and how dense do you want your neighborhood to be. Rockridge is pretty dense with single family homes. Surrounding neighborhoods have more condos and the like. I'd also avoid living right on Claremont, especially west of College. It is busy with car traffic, construction and feels a bit weird. A lot of people misrepresent Rockridge too, but that being said as long as you are east or Telegraph, things are fine. Honestly in Temescal, even up to Shattuck is OK. But generally in both Oakland and Berkeley, west of Telegraph is worse. Though the line may move a few blocks west depending on what part of town you are in.

[Stephen1110]

Rockridge is a wonderful place.

Everything - homes, businesses, bars/clubs, over-dose of restuarants. FUN

This is a picture from Upper Rockridge. Not sure if your looking up there.



Just a nice place to exist.

[mayorhaggar]

This is pretty much what College Ave in Rockridge looks like:



Once you go off College Ave into the side street's it's almost all houses, there's a ton of Craftsman houses. Some of them aren't as maintained as others but a lot of them are fixed up really nicely and have really gorgeous yards.