Your 3 favorite cities in the Bay Area(for no reason at all) (Pleasanton: pleasant)

[Oakformonday]

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

I'm entirely serious- I live a few blocks from the Lake

The housing stock is virtually the same and it's still a diverse, well-integrated neighborhood. The only thing that's changed about living in the apartments/condos around the Lake are the rents. When I lived off of Lakeshore/Brooklyn, we paid $1600 for a 2BR. Rents have gone up pretty much everywhere in Oakland. I already talked about how they cleaned up the Lake and I specifically mentioned that most of the businesses and restaurants are mostly still the same ones from when I moved to Lake Merritt in 2007. If you want to talk about night and day changes, the one neighborhood that comes to mind is Uptown- NOT Lake Merritt. Before they revitalized the Fox, Uptown wasn't a destination where people lived, let alone hung out. That neighborhood is completely different than it was 5 years ago, let alone 10- it's one of the hottest neighborhoods in the entire Bay Area. Maybe YOU haven't lived in Oakland for almost a decade, but I have. I know it a lot better than you'd think. Just out of curiosity, how long have YOU lived in Oakland?
Same.

The Bay Area is odd in its' sense of self and identity. In some ways, this area is more like a colony/settlement to me that is still trying to find itself. So many residents rely on how may years they have lived here for "street cred." TBS, I've lived near the lake the same amount of time as you. I briefly lived in Oakland when I first moved to CA 18 years ago. How time flies. Back then I lived near the Temescal shopping district. THAT was different. cough cough...

Higher rents in an area of high turnover = a changed demographic and economic class. That is change. You are talking about architecture. No developer is going to try and build around the lake unless it is a parking lot. Neighborhood backlash and local zoning will prevent that. Uptown is different. Lots of empty space. Look up all the development that is going in in the next few years alone. We won't recognize it.

Also, opening the Uptown Apartments, The Grand and Broadway Grand buildings brought in many new residents to that area when they all opened up 2007/8. Plus, the Fox brought in more people for shows. The bars and restaurants followed. Yes, I know Luka's and Van Kleef opened in 2004 or so... Anyway, I think I've said enough. Peace out...

[LiaLia]

Favorite

San Jose
Milpitas
Fremont

Well managed and the east foothills areas are absolutely magnificent.

Least favorite

Richmond
Oakland
Vallejo

They each have their nice areas but their crappy areas are like a drag on the rest of the city. Just a lot of undeveloped potential for good.

[ssmaster]

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

Eh, Lake Merritt doesn't look THAT different. Yeah they cleaned up the actual Lake and repaved the area around it, and it's definitely nicer now, but the overall neighborhood looks pretty much the same. The bars/restaurants on Grand/Lakeshore are basically the ones that have been there since I moved there in 07. Piedmont is the same. Rockridge is the same. Montclair is the same. Dimond is the same. Laurel is the same. Temescal is a bit nicer, but nothing too dramatic; once all that housing gets built near MacArthur BART, maybe it'll seem drastically different, but I doubt it. West Oakland and NOBE (I hate that term, but it stuck) have had some people come in and gentrify individual houses, but large swaths of both parts still look the same. I don't hang out in East Oakland much, but when I was looking to buy a house a few years ago, it looked mostly unchanged. Fruitvale is threatening to gentrify, but it doesn't look like the Mission yet.

Overall, crime has gone down and the overall perception of Oakland has become more favorable, but I guess it mostly still seems like the Oakland I moved to almost ten years ago, aside from the rapid changes in Uptown, which are obviously substantial. But yeah, definitely more yuppies and people with money these days, especially within the last 2-3 years.

The restaurants on grand lakeshore are very different
Charle holliwell is a celebrity chef who opened two destination restaurants" boot and shoe service "and penrose.
Adding in Camino on grand makes 3 highly rated dining establishments
Grand faire is attracting a chi chi crowd
Cana is a cuban restaurant that attracts a large crowd with live Latin Jazz
I believe sidebar was not around in 2007 and the rebranded bar near the Bank of America attracts a much hipster crowd

[04kL4nD]

Originally Posted by Oakformonday

The Bay Area is odd in its' sense of self and identity. In some ways, this area is more like a colony/settlement to me that is still trying to find itself. So many residents rely on how may years they have lived here for "street cred." TBS, I've lived near the lake the same amount of time as you. I briefly lived in Oakland when I first moved to CA 18 years ago. How time flies. Back then I lived near the Temescal shopping district. THAT was different. cough cough...

Higher rents in an area of high turnover = a changed demographic and economic class. That is change. You are talking about architecture. No developer is going to try and build around the lake unless it is a parking lot. Neighborhood backlash and local zoning will prevent that. Uptown is different. Lots of empty space. Look up all the development that is going in in the next few years alone. We won't recognize it.

Also, opening the Uptown Apartments, The Grand and Broadway Grand buildings brought in many new residents to that area when they all opened up 2007/8. Plus, the Fox brought in more people for shows. The bars and restaurants followed. Yes, I know Luka's and Van Kleef opened in 2004 or so... Anyway, I think I've said enough. Peace out...

OK, I guess you misunderstood me. Clearly the demographics in Oakland have changed, but I was just saying that Lake Merritt as a neighborhood LOOKS pretty much the same, so it doesn't really feel all that different to me when I go running around the lake. Maybe I'm being superficial, but the changes in Lake Merritt have more to do with the people who live there than the buildings/places they occupy. When I first moved to the neighborhood, the Trader Joe's was brand new and the Whole Foods hadn't even opened yet. They were still working on the Cathedral near Broadway/Grand. Those were pretty big changes imo, and I haven't really seen anything as drastic since. I guess my point is that to the casual observer who doesn't go to Oakland very often, Lake Merritt isn't going to look all that different from 10 years ago, whereas someone who got off on 19th ST BART 10 years ago would barely recognize Uptown. It reminds of how drastically the Mission has changed. Aside from that, Uptown looks way safer today than 10 years ago. You see a steady stream of foot traffic pretty much all hours of the day, and that definitely wasn't the case 10 years ago. I realize we are splitting hairs, and it all really comes down to perception. You're certainly entitled to you own, as I am to mine. I think we can both agree that a lot more people see Oakland as vibrant, interesting place now than they did 10 year ago...

Originally Posted by ssmaster

The restaurants on grand lakeshore are very different
Charle holliwell is a celebrity chef who opened two destination restaurants" boot and shoe service "and penrose.
Adding in Camino on grand makes 3 highly rated dining establishments
Grand faire is attracting a chi chi crowd
Cana is a cuban restaurant that attracts a large crowd with live Latin Jazz
I believe sidebar was not around in 2007 and the rebranded bar near the Bank of America attracts a much hipster crowd

Ok, but the Gap is still there, Peet's is still there, Colonial Donuts is still there, Smitty's is still there, the Alley is still there, Ms. Saigon is still there, Arizmendi is still there, Chao Thai is still there, Grand Tavern is still there, Mijori Sushi is still there, Grand Oaks is still there, Connie's Cantina is still there, Holy Land is still there, Rolling Dunes is still there, Lakeshore Cafe is still there, Spettro is still there... I mean I could keep going, but I think you get my point...

[WizardOfRadical]

Originally Posted by clongirl

Favs..



Worse-

1. Richmond. I'm not entirely familiar with all the neighborhoods of course (I'm sure there are good ones), but I need to venture in for art supplies and I have to drive through some really icky areas. Looks derelict and sad when I'm there in the area that I'm in.

2. Probably Antioch. Scary nowadays. I'm not that familiar with the entire city of course , but I know that gentrification is pushing the bad element of Oakland into Antioch. That's not a positive from my experiences. It's a safety and image thing.

Spoken like someone from the 925

It's not a "safety and image thing". We all know what thing (or should I say demographic(s)) it really is. LoL.

[clongirl]

Originally Posted by WizardOfRadical

Spoken like someone from the 925

It's not a "safety and image thing". We all know what thing (or should I say demographic(s)) it really is. LoL.

I'm very sorry you didn't get LAID last night, have insufficient manhood, and/or have anything interesting to do on a Saturday night, but BULLYING and instigating a verbal attack on a woman, that you don't personally know, on the internet, at 6:30 on a lovely Sunday morning, over something SO INANE is revealing.

No need to respond to me at this point. I'm going to put you on ignore now (I'm sure you're pretty used to that in real life), but hope you find something more fulfilling to do next time you're frustrated and angry at women.

[WizardOfRadical]

Originally Posted by clongirl

I'm very sorry you didn't get LAID last night, have insufficient manhood, and/or have anything interesting to do on a Saturday night, but BULLYING and instigating a verbal attack on a woman, that you don't personally know, on the internet, at 6:30 on a lovely Sunday morning, over something SO INANE is revealing.

No need to respond to me at this point. I'm going to put you on ignore now (I'm sure you're pretty used to that in real life), but hope you find something more fulfilling to do next time you're frustrated and angry at women.

Aren't you like an old grandma? Such foul language is unbecoming of a senior citizen, such as yourself.

Not to be a grammar nazi, but wouldn't it be "have sufficient manhood"?

Oh the poor defenseless damsel in distress! With the typical bay area feminist victim mentality! LOL!

I just pointed out that you seem to have listed your least favorite cities, which you claim to not really know anything about. So one has to ask, if this crazy lady doesn't really know these cities, why are they her least favorite? What do these cities have in common?

Oh wait, I know what they have in common.

[charbo]

Favorite:
Petaluma
San Carlos
Half Moon Bay

Least Favorite:
San Jose
Oakland
Fremont

[LeavinOnAJetPlane]

San Anselmo
Los Gatos
Danville

[LexusNexus]

Like: San Francisco, Piedmont, Berkeley

Dislike: Santa Clara, Palo Alto, Morgan Hill