College Grads moving to East Bay (Oakland, Berkeley: apartments, rentals, houses)

[BennyB08]

Hi all:
Myself and 3 of my friends (all 22-23 year old guys) from New England are planning a move out to the Berkeley or Oakland. None of us have jobs but are looking to work restauarant, shop, etc. type jobs while we look for jobs that can better utilize our college degrees in the Bay Area. Been reading the board and neighborhoods such as Rockridge, Temescal, Lake Merritt, and Southside of Berkeley seem to come up a bit as places we'd be interested in living. Let me know what you think. Are requirements/desires are as follows

*3BR-4BR in the $1800-2400 range
*Relatively safe neighberhood
*Restaurant, service jobs, etc. available
*Solid public trans to downtown Oak/Berk/San Fran
*We're not hipsters and area doesn't have to be "hip"

Specific Questions:
1) Rockridge seems a bit more pricey than Lake Merrit, Temescal, Southside Berkely. Correct?
2) What are some good borders for identifying the Laket Merrit neighborhood? Where does the area start to get a little dicey to the east, west, south?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[artemis78]

Welcome--the areas you list are all fun neighborhoods!

- Yes, Rockridge is definitely pricier than the other areas you list, and you may be hard-pressed to find a place that large in that price range. (Generally, Rockridge apartments tend to be of the 1-2 bedroom or studio variety, while the single-family homes are 2-4 bedrooms. But the houses are very popular rentals for families, since the Rockridge schools are much stronger than in many other parts of the city, so you'll have a lot of competition. That said, apartments that large do exist, and it's worth looking to see, since it could be a good 'hood if you want close access to restaurants, service jobs, etc.

- Temescal is great but increasingly hipster, so if it bugs you beware. But it's centrally-located, has a growing restaurant/night-life buzz, and is a lot cheaper than Rockridge.

- Southside Berkeley is very student-y. You may want to look further south in the Elmwood area (which has grad students but fewer undergrads--it's pricier but closer to BART than most of Southside). On the upside there are a bazillion rentals in the Southside area.

- Lake Merritt....okay, you'll hear people throw this around as if it's a single neighborhood, when in fact it's dozens of neighborhoods. Which are for you depends on what you like, but generally the safest are Lakeshore, China Hill, Grand Lake, Brooklyn, and Haddon Hill. Bella Vista, Ivy Hill, and Adams Point vary depending on where you are (but have lots of terrific areas). Downtown Lake Merritt (the Lakeside Apartment District) has lots of apartments in big buildings and is more urban. Looking at a map, you roughly want to draw a line on the east side from E. 18th and Lakeshore along Park all the way up, and then another from 27th and Grand up to Broadway and on up. Everything north of there is relatively safe and interesting, though you will find pockets of badness along the freeway. Note that Bella Vista and Ivy Hill are actually east of Park, but also good spots. (Also, areas below that are also not necessarily terrible, especially right along the lake--they're just either much more urban, which could be a plus, or more run-down.)

Outside of the Lake Merritt/Downtown/JLS area, the general rule of thumb in Oakland is that the area north of 580 and east of 980/24 is wealthier/safer. The flatlands below 580 get progressively dicier as you move east of 14th Ave or west of 980. However, these are HUGE generalizations, and there are lots of nice 'hoods hidden in there (as well as some not-so-nice stretches up above 580 in select places).

Good luck!

[user376]

Originally Posted by BennyB08

Hi all:
Myself and 3 of my friends (all 22-23 year old guys) from New England are planning a move out to the Berkeley or Oakland. None of us have jobs but are looking to work restauarant, shop, etc. type jobs while we look for jobs that can better utilize our college degrees in the Bay Area. Been reading the board and neighborhoods such as Rockridge, Temescal, Lake Merritt, and Southside of Berkeley seem to come up a bit as places we'd be interested in living. Let me know what you think. Are requirements/desires are as follows

*3BR-4BR in the $1800-2400 range
*Relatively safe neighberhood
*Restaurant, service jobs, etc. available
*Solid public trans to downtown Oak/Berk/San Fran
*We're not hipsters and area doesn't have to be "hip"

Specific Questions:
1) Rockridge seems a bit more pricey than Lake Merrit, Temescal, Southside Berkely. Correct?
2) What are some good borders for identifying the Laket Merrit neighborhood? Where does the area start to get a little dicey to the east, west, south?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Why would you want proximity to service jobs if you are college grads? What attracts you guys to the east bay?

Rockridge has the best public transportation if you live close enough to the bart station. All the other neighborhoods would involve bus-to-bart transfer to get to at least some of the destinations you mentioned.

[artemis78]

Don't forget that much of Temescal also has BART within walking distance (MacArthur or Rockridge depending on which end of the neighborhood you live in), as do parts of Elmwood and Southside (Ashby)--since you're young I'm counting anything within a 15-minute walk as "walking distance" though of course closer is nicer! There is also a rapid bus to downtown Oakland & Berkeley that runs along Telegraph Ave. Notably, though, the Lake Merritt neighborhoods you're probably thinking of are nowhere near the Lake Merritt BART station. (There is a Transbay bus that runs regularly but it only gets you to the Transbay terminal.)

[BennyB08]

Thanks for all the great answers guys (and gals). User 376, you raise a good point. We are all college grads, but we are basically just looking to have a good time in a nice area of the country for a year or two...we're in no rush to jump into our respective careers. For example, studying for the GRE's, and making $10/hr are my goals for the year. We're going to work on getting more serious jobs once we set-up shop in the East Bay, but we won't get too stressed out if serious jobs don't work out. As far as reasons moving to the East Bay....we have a few friends in the area who love it, we're looking for a big change in location, and the East Bay just seems like a great place to be when you're 22 years old.

[artemis78]

Remember, though, that while the East Bay *is* a fun place to be young, it's a lot more fun if you have an income that's more than minimum-wage. Cost of living here is extremely high--we're a dual-income household, both in professional jobs that pay decently, and we still watch what we spend carefully. (For instance, a burger and beer at a Rockridge bar we like runs close to $20 with tax and tip--and that's considered one of the cheapest places to eat on that stretch of College Ave!)

At $10/hour, you may find yourself really scrimping paycheck-to-paycheck. Not to say that lots of people don't make this work--but very few do it voluntarily. (If, on the other hand, you have other sources of income--parents, savings, etc.--then definitely, go for it.)

[user376]

Originally Posted by artemis78

Don't forget that much of Temescal also has BART within walking distance (MacArthur or Rockridge depending on which end of the neighborhood you live in), as do parts of Elmwood and Southside (Ashby)--since you're young I'm counting anything within a 15-minute walk as "walking distance" though of course closer is nicer! There is also a rapid bus to downtown Oakland & Berkeley that runs along Telegraph Ave. Notably, though, the Lake Merritt neighborhoods you're probably thinking of are nowhere near the Lake Merritt BART station. (There is a Transbay bus that runs regularly but it only gets you to the Transbay terminal.)

Parts of Temescal are walkable to MacArthur BART but Rockridge BART is not. Anywhere within walking distance of Ashby BART is not desirable.

[artemis78]

Actually, both Temescal [Oakland 'hood bounded by Telegraph and Broadway from 40th to 51st St.] and the Elmwood District [Berkeley 'hood bounded by Telegraph and College from the Oakland city line to around Derby] have changed a lot in recent years. Elmwood, for instance, is a pleasant walk to Ashby BART and is pure yuppy at this point. Similarly, the parts of Temescal walkable to Rockridge BART (area along/below 51st) have gentrified a lot (for better or worse) in the past few years and are considered pretty desirable ("the next Rockridge!") at this point too. Even Lower Temescal is on the up-swing, although the area immediately around MacArthur BART still gets sketchy at night, so that's something to consider. Ditto for some of the areas east of Ashby BART.