Moved from SF to Oakland - need some advice and moral support! (Concord: condos, homes)

[pch1013]

Originally Posted by mini_cute

We were tired of all the restaurants being gourmet and expensive with not many very good ethnic options.

[...]

There is an awesome dining scene and the food, in my opinion, beats SF. It tastes better, fresher ingredients, better restaurant ambiance, cheaper prices, and more diverse options.

[...]

So food was one of the big reasons we moved to Oakland. We really felt we had limited options at our spot in Mission Bay. I think Tsunami there sucks and is a rip off. The other restaurants were expensive with mediocre food and catered to the ballpark/touristy crowd.

Did your SF condo not have a kitchen?

[04kL4nD]

Originally Posted by wooliemonster

Google has a bus route through Oakland. It stops at Ashby, MacArthur, and WO BART stations. I've already seen it a couple times in Berkeley.

There goes the neighborhood...

[wooliemonster]

One nice thing about the East Bay is the views... from just outside my new office, today:



And from earlier this week, towards downtown Oakland...



I'll bring my real camera gear up here sometime soon to catch the sunset. iPhone shots turn to mush in anything less than ideal conditions.

[mini_cute]

Originally Posted by jade408

You can always live in my hood (piedmont ave/rose garden area). Good mix of diversity, accessibility and quietness.


I am on my phone, please forgive the typos.

How is the air quality in terms of smog in your area or on Piedmont Ave? When I was there, I felt like the air was kind of stagnant. But that would beat having to smell food in my home all day long. Maybe I'll look into that too next time.

[mini_cute]

Originally Posted by Squirl

Some ideas:
I read that opening your windows actually helps because it moves the air, I don't know.
Dryer sheets, (sick them in places like behind picture frames), or Fabreeze, or:

Amazon.com - Oregon Scientific WS907G Gaiam Air Sanitizer

Thanks for your ideas! That air sanitizer looks interesting. Is that different than a regular air purifier?

[mini_cute]

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

I've heard a lot of people call Oakland dumb things like "SF East" or "Brooklyn of the West" and I just laugh. I think Oakland's proximity to SF (it's 8 miles away!) and the fact that both cities share a fondness for food, art, and progressive/liberal ideology makes some people think that Oakland is just a cheaper substitution for the city life across the bay, but it's a lot more complicated than that. For one, Oakland is MUCH, MUCH more diverse- and I don't just mean racially. Pretty much everywhere you go in Oakland, you find a mix of people from all different walks of life, whereas SF tends to be a magnet for certain kinds of people. I also find Oakland to be much more relaxed and laid back than SF, and I don't mean just the pace. To answer your question, there are definitely rich people in Oakland, but not all of them are tucked away in their mansions up in the hills- they hang out in the same places the rest of us do when we're looking for a really great meal or drink. And Oakland most definitely has its share of tech workers, but I don't think they're nearly as ubiquitous as in SF- not having a Google bus (yet) probably has something to do with it.

I guess what I meant by "SF lite" is that a lot of people assume that Oakland mostly has its stuff together politically and economically like SF does. It really doesn't. Not even close. The city council and mayor are utterly incompetent, which means that a lot people are left with a deep distrust/dislike for the police and anything related to local government. It also means that a lot of people do whatever they feel like because there's nobody really around to stop them. Based on first-hand experience with landlords in Oakland, unless you are really proactive/aggressive/determined, nothing is ever going to get fixed unless you constantly bring it up and demand repairs (in person works best). While I'm not suggesting that SF is a perfectly run city with no problems (it has a MUCH worse problem with homelessness), it's a pretty well-oiled machine compared what we've got here. Don't expect the police to rush to come help you when you've got a problem, unless they happen to already be nearby. If there's a violent/radical protest, it's going to happen here, not in SF. Generally, you won't be directly affected by the REALLY bad stuff that goes on in Oakland, but you've got to be aware of it. If you choose to surround yourself with like-minded, vigilant individuals that have a vested interest in their neighborhood/community, you will be fine.

Interesting... do you think SF always had a pretty well run government/infrastructure? The laissez faire and rough around the edges quality of Oakland, I can see that. I wasn't in SF during the 90s, but during that time did it also have a laissez faire and rough around the edges quality to it?

[mini_cute]

Originally Posted by wooliemonster

I thought my rental was in Emeryville, but apparently it's right on the border and I'm now a resident of Oakland for at least the next couple months.

Hey wooliemonster, you are pretty new to the Bay Area right? I recall you did a smart move by renting an AirBnB while checking out the areas before committing to a rental.

Anyway, do you wish that you were living in SF instead? Or are you content with where you are?

[mini_cute]

Originally Posted by wooliemonster

Google has a bus route through Oakland. It stops at Ashby, MacArthur, and WO BART stations. I've already seen it a couple times in Berkeley.

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=...205&dg=feature



Perhaps not yet. But gentrification patterns have a strong inflection point, IMHO, where a certain "critical mass" and neighborhood benchmarks are reached -- and the rate of change accelerates dramatically.

Yeah, I am curious as to how Oakland will change, if it does. I didn't think SF would change as fast as it did, but it now has exceeded my predictions. Oakland can't stay the same forever, right? So the question is, how fast and if it is going up or going down.

[mini_cute]

Originally Posted by pch1013

Did your SF condo not have a kitchen?

LOL, yes we did, albeit a smaller one than we have now. But I cook Sunday night through Thursday night and we dine out on the weekends. I love to cook and think I am a pretty good cook now, so that actually makes me a tougher critic when I dine out. I can tell if a restaurant has used good or fresh ingredients, and if they cut corners. The dishes I eat outside generally have to be better than what I can make for myself. So, I love to cook and we eat at home most meals of the week, but when we dine out I want good, delicious, diverse, and priced-right options.

By the way, the Oakland Wholefoods is Amazing!!! The biggest one I have ever seen, and I've seen them in many cities ranging from Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, to SF.

[mini_cute]

Originally Posted by wooliemonster

One nice thing about the East Bay is the views... from just outside my new office, today:



And from earlier this week, towards downtown Oakland...



I'll bring my real camera gear up here sometime soon to catch the sunset. iPhone shots turn to mush in anything less than ideal conditions.

Wow! That is the view from your office?

I feel like it is harder to get views in Oakland though, compared to SF. I guess because SF has more hills and closer to water on three sides. Do you think so?

This is how I see it: SF has stunning natural beauty surrounding it but the man-made structures, while interesting to look at, are actually not that good looking. Oakland, on the other hand has some really beautiful architecture- like it is more balanced and symmetrical looking and because the structures are not crowding together, each structure can stand out on its own and give off the right effect. So I think the structures make Oakland more charming along with the ubiquitous trees which gives it a hint of an east coast vibe. But the natural scenery, while nice, is not the same level of stunning as SF.

But I prefer a beautiful man-made environment though if I had to choose. An example is Paris, whose beauty is known to be man-made.