Apartments Around 29th and International Near Fruitvale Station

[CF510]

Originally Posted by Nineties Flava

Unless all the tourists started frequenting Fruitvale in the last 2 months, I never saw them when I lived in the area other than for the Dia De Los Muertos festival. You do see people starting to head over from the condos in Jingletown these days but other than that Fruitvale is still same old Fruitvale.

Also, there's still a lot of gang activity in the 30's despite the increasing popularity of Fruitvale and Allendale... 38th in particular (and really all of the 30's) is deep Norteño territory and the Hells Angels' presence in the area isn't negligible either.

They've been frequenting the area for some time now obviously you won't see them walking around at 2 in the morning, but I've seen a notable amount of tourists on International in that area. There's a difference between gang activity and gang presence, and the gang activity in the 30's is overall pretty negligible especially compared to other areas in East Oakland or Oakland in general. Personally, I'd worry more about getting my car stolen in that area than getting caught in the middle of a gang shootout.

[Nineties Flava]

Originally Posted by CF510

They've been frequenting the area for some time now obviously you won't see them walking around at 2 in the morning, but I've seen a notable amount of tourists on International in that area. There's a difference between gang activity and gang presence, and the gang activity in the 30's is overall pretty negligible especially compared to other areas in East Oakland or Oakland in general. Personally, I'd worry more about getting my car stolen in that area than getting caught in the middle of a gang shootout.

If you still have to live in fear of being spotted wearing the color blue (or worse an LA cap) as a Latino passing through the neighborhood or even living in it then the gang activity isn't negligible. The main reason why things are quieter is because the Nortes have been effectively wiping out the other Latino gangs in Oakland over the last 5 years.

And the most I can say about tourism is that I assume you're talking about Fruitvale Village... I don't see any tourists on the parts of Fruitvale I hang out in (Foothill between Fruitvale and 34th, International between 34th and 38th). That is, unless you're using the word tourist to mean yuppie hipsters or white people in general. Most of the yuppies you see around Fruitvale live in Jingletown... They definitely aren't coming from 880 or the other side of the Fruitvale drawbridge lol. King's Boxing probably draws more "tourists" than the Fruitvale corridor does. The reality is that East Oakland is still seen as a shapeless blob of despair and violence by nearly everyone outside of Oakland with the exception of the Lower Hills.

EDIT: Now, don't take what I said above to mean that people in the neighborhood get messed with by the gangs... they don't. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that Powderface attracting the BART commuter crowd doesn't make the streets safer by virtue of there being more commercial interest.

[CF510]

Originally Posted by Nineties Flava

If you still have to live in fear of being spotted wearing the color blue (or worse an LA cap) as a Latino passing through the neighborhood or even living in it then the gang activity isn't negligible. The main reason why things are quieter is because the Nortes have been effectively wiping out the other Latino gangs in Oakland over the last 5 years.

And the most I can say about tourism is that I assume you're talking about Fruitvale Village... I don't see any tourists on the parts of Fruitvale I hang out in (Foothill between Fruitvale and 34th, International between 34th and 38th). That is, unless you're using the word tourist to mean yuppie hipsters or white people in general. Most of the yuppies you see around Fruitvale live in Jingletown... They definitely aren't coming from 880 or the other side of the Fruitvale drawbridge lol. King's Boxing probably draws more "tourists" than the Fruitvale corridor does. The reality is that East Oakland is still seen as a shapeless blob of despair and violence by nearly everyone outside of Oakland with the exception of the Lower Hills.

EDIT: Now, don't take what I said above to mean that people in the neighborhood get messed with by the gangs... they don't. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that Powderface attracting the BART commuter crowd doesn't make the streets safer by virtue of there being more commercial interest.

I'm not too familiar with how the Latino gangs out here do things, but if other color banging gangs like the Bloods or Crips are any indication they probably only go after "thug" looking Latinos, and even then I'd think they'd question you about your gang affiliation before they'd try to harm you. Oakland is a turf city, and I consider an area bad here if you'd have to live in fear of telling the wrong person that you live in that area, and Fruitvale for the most part isn't one of those areas. You're not going to raise the same eyebrows by telling the wrong person you're from the 30's as you would by telling him that you're from the Lower Bottoms or Brookfield.

About the tourists, I mean the map-holding, fanny pack-carrying kind of all ethnicities, not just white people. I've seen them on International around the Village (yes, including 35th Avenue although not as far as 38th) but not anywhere else (i.e. Foothill, 8th Street, etc...), they seem to be mostly interested in eating at the Central/South American restaurants and other ethnic-catered stores in that area.

I agree with your last point and I'm not saying that the area is Orinda safe, but when it comes to East Oakland, you can do much worse than Fruitvale.

[Nineties Flava]

Originally Posted by CF510

I'm not too familiar with how the Latino gangs out here do things, but if other color banging gangs like the Bloods or Crips are any indication they probably only go after "thug" looking Latinos, and even then I'd think they'd question you about your gang affiliation before they'd try to harm you. Oakland is a turf city, and I consider an area bad here if you'd have to live in fear of telling the wrong person that you live in that area, and Fruitvale for the most part isn't one of those areas. You're not going to raise the same eyebrows by telling the wrong person you're from the 30's as you would by telling him that you're from the Lower Bottoms or Brookfield.

About the tourists, I mean the map-holding, fanny pack-carrying kind of all ethnicities, not just white people. I've seen them on International around the Village (yes, including 35th Avenue although not as far as 38th) but not anywhere else (i.e. Foothill, 8th Street, etc...), they seem to be mostly interested in eating at the Central/South American restaurants and other ethnic-catered stores in that area.

I agree with your last point and I'm not saying that the area is Orinda safe, but when it comes to East Oakland, you can do much worse than Fruitvale.

Fruitvale is one of the most violent areas in the city for latinos, and I think that's where the miscommunication is coming from. For other groups, I 100% agree that the 30's are far from being one of the most violent areas of East Oakland. For Latinos, it's arguably the worst along with the 85th/International area. take a look at this 2011 homicide map:

Oakland homicides in 2011: A statistical breakdown | Oakland North

latinos made up the majority of the homicides in the 30's; the only other section of Oakland that's true of is the Dubs which is also heavily Norteño.

And unfortunately it hasn't always been true that they only go after "thug looking types"... sometimes all it takes is the wrong cap.

Originally Posted by KTVU

Prosecutor Tim Wellman said Hernandez, who belongs to the South Side Locos, an affiliate of the Surenos gang, shot 19-year-old Marco Casillas and his girlfriend in the 400 block of Santa Rita Street at about 10:45 p.m. on Sept. 19, 2008, simply because Casillas was wearing a red Philadelphia Phillies baseball hat and he thought Casillas belonged to a rival gang that wears red.

But Wellman said Casillas was a completely innocent victim because he didn't belong to a gang, worked at a pizza parlor in Alameda and was studying to become a dental assistant.

Casillas and his girlfriend were walking their dog, hugging and kissing and talking about their futures when Hernandez came up to them and shot them, Wellman said.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/gang-m...-murder/nLbt8/

The last thing I'll say on tourists is that I personally never saw them... I was in the Fruitvale section of International at least 3 times a week for the better part of the last 3 years. I'll leave it at that.