Moved from SF to Oakland - need some advice and moral support!

[wooliemonster]

Originally Posted by mini_cute

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?

I've only been here a week so far, and only had a chance to go into the city once so far -- I'm going again tomorrow for the Ferry Building farmer's market and a photography group walk.

So, the question of SF vs EB is very complex for me. The two job offers I had, one as an engineer/consultant in downtown SF and the other as a scientist here in Berkeley, represented fundamentally different lifestyles and careers, with very different compensation, work environment, etc. After much discussion, we decided to start out with a "softer path" here in the East Bay and see how it works out My wife is now looking for her own job, so where we finally settle down is still up in the air as that's a large component in the decision, but for now, we're really loving Oakland and Berkeley. And yes, we're in a small Airbnb rental for now. It's actually nicer than I was expecting.

I didn't have room to bring my bike on the first trip, so I picked up one off Craigslist and plan to start bike commuting next week. I'm really excited about this. Spending more time outdoors, walking, a more "human scale" built environment and interactions... are the foundations of the new life I want to build here. (Hard to explain. Not a slower life, but less impersonal and carefully isolated.)

[tstieber]

I live in Emeryville, not Oakland, and I've never lived in Oakland, but there certainly is aplace for high end stuff in Oakland. There are luxury condos at JLS as mentioned, as well as some near the lake, but your area really reminds me more of the grittier, up and coming areas of LA like Silverlake or Los Feliz. They're kind of hip, with cool restaurants popping up all the time, but it's not really fancy. There are, of course, thousands of multi million dollar homes up in the hills, and some areas cater to that. I would check out some of the retail districts like Piedmont Ave and Rockridge, which havemany of the better restaurants while still maintaining a chill vibe that's not pretentious. And the new restaurants at JLS are pretty sleek. You won't see high end retail or car dealers though... You'll have to head to Walnut Creek for that stuff.

BTW, I think Emeryville is the sweet spot in the area, bc of its ridiculous proximity to SF and everywhere else, plus we have nice condos, newer infrastructure, and a cool artsy warehouse vibe.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by tstieber

I live in Emeryville, not Oakland, and I've never lived in Oakland, but there certainly is aplace for high end stuff in Oakland. There are luxury condos at JLS as mentioned, as well as some near the lake, but your area really reminds me more of the grittier, up and coming areas of LA like Silverlake or Los Feliz. They're kind of hip, with cool restaurants popping up all the time, but it's not really fancy. There are, of course, thousands of multi million dollar homes up in the hills, and some areas cater to that. I would check out some of the retail districts like Piedmont Ave and Rockridge, which havemany of the better restaurants while still maintaining a chill vibe that's not pretentious. And the new restaurants at JLS are pretty sleek. You won't see high end retail or car dealers though... You'll have to head to Walnut Creek for that stuff.

BTW, I think Emeryville is the sweet spot in the area, bc of its ridiculous proximity to SF and everywhere else, plus we have nice condos, newer infrastructure, and a cool artsy warehouse vibe.

FYI, this has been in Oakland for many many years
http://www.oaklandbenz.com/index.htm


On an autocorrecting iDevice.

[wooliemonster]

Yeah, but no BART in EV.

[Mikesalz]

We are considering a move to East Bay from out of state. We were there last week, looked at Concord, Martinez, Walnut Creek, Petaluma, and Novato, non were bad but we would love to live in a city environment walking distance to store etc. Everyone we spoke with keep saying NO to Oakland. Sounds like here that's not the case. What areas are "good"?

[04kL4nD]

Do you have school aged children? Unless you want to send them to private schools, I would look elsewhere. If you don't, Rockridge, Piedmont Avenue, Grand Lake, Jack London Square are all excellent choices if you want a walkable neighborhood. If you don't mind driving a bit, Montclair and the Oakland Hills are very, very nice as well.

[Mikesalz]

I do have school aged children. 6 year old and a 2 year old. Do any of the areas you mentioned above have okay schools or are they terrible?

[artemis78]

Yes, Oakland actually has some wonderful elementary schools--Rockridge, Grand Lake, and Jack London Square are all zoned to popular high-performing schools (Peralta, Chabot, Hillcrest, Crocker Highlands, Cleveland, and Lincoln). Rockridge and Grand Lake/Crocker Highlands/Trestle Glen are especially popular for families with young children. Middle school is where OUSD struggles, but you're still many years away from that, so I wouldn't shy away based on that--things could always change. (There is a big parent effort to improve the Rockridge middle school, for instance.) Berkeley Parents Network (a website and listserv) has parent reviews of the schools, as does Great Schools. These areas are pricier than the other cities on your list, though.

[bay2bay]

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.

Hey, were neighbors! This is my hood too! After living in SF for 35 years I absolutely fell in love with the mature trees here and their beautiful display of autumn colors! The transportation options to the City are great too. ACTransit Piedmont line, casual carpool, and it's only a 20 minute walk to MacArthur BART (with the option of riding the free Kaiser shuttle part of the way).