humboldt'sroads

So my patience (and Biology degree) have finally paid off in the form of a good job in Emeryville starting Thursday. As a result, me and my girlfriend will be relocating to the East Bay around mid May. I want to be close to Bus lines and Bart and within 3 or 4 miles from the Powell St. peninsula so I can avoid using highways to get to work. I'd also like to bike to work some. We have some friends that live in the Piedmont/Rockridge area, which would be our preference for a neighborhood, but I see a lot of places for rent in the Lake Merritt neighborhood as well.

Do any Oakland area locals have suggestions for bike friendly neighborhoods that are safe, quiet and have excellent walking opportunities for restaurants, nightlife, etc? Most important is not ghetto, followed by proximity to Emeryville, then walking distance to cool stuff. Also, are there bad streets/blocks within that area we should avoid?

Much thanks.

Val23708

if the ground is level, you're in a ghetto area. my ideal spot would be in the berkely hills north of campus. the "gourmet ghetto" is there (think chez pannise et al. ) easy access to the grizzly peak and tilden park. houses start around 750k though... but i guess piedmont isn't any cheaper.

FrenchFit 

I lived in an apt. and rented a house in the upper Lake Merritt neighborhood, Baja Piedmont we called it. Never a problem, though it was many years ago. I did lots of walking, but biking?, hardly ideal. If anything, I bet things have has improved some in those neighborhoods since I was a local. Rockridge or the other side of Emeryville, like Albany would be the places I'd look first. Albany looked bike friendly to me, cool little streets & downtown, though I suspect there is some housing competition from UC students. I would look at renting a small house, and avoid apartments.

humboldt'sroads

Forgot to mention - we'll be renting. Looking for a flat, mother-in-law or a 1 bedroom apt. $1400 max.

UmneyDurak

Lol, basically. "Gourment Ghetto" Is that the one near Etcheverry? They had small korean restaurant at the back. Mmm rice, with spicy chicken for 5 bucks. What more can one want.

Actually another place you might want to consider is San Leandro. A bit on a gheto side, but I never felt in danger living there.

alxndr

Anywhere in Berkeley, or North Oakland / Temescal towards Rockridge, Piedmont, and even along Broadway towards downtown and the hills north of Lake Merritt. But if the sight of people who aren't white doesn't terrify you, you'd be fine pretty much anywhere in Oakland outside of deep west or east. Don't listen to people from San Francisco describe the east bay.

I've lived in north Oakland for three years now.

aaronis31337

This is right. Be careful where you live / go in Oakland. Some parts are REALLY nice and expensive, but much of Oakland is a scary ****hole. Try going east to Dublin and take BART to work with your bike. You'll save money and won't have to worry at night.

DiabloScott

Aren't there some nice places right in Emeryville? They might be a little over your range though.

The apartments in Berkeley aren't especially expensive or especially nice, but they're hard to find because of the students. I lived two blocks from Chez Panisse when I was there, but we had an apartment that was handed down to friends everytime someone graduated so we had a real insider link.

OK, I'll throw out Alameda as another option... less accessible by bike but folks do it.

stripes

look at Alameda. Flat, relatively safe, plenty of excellent restaurants, still close to Oakland. Not that I'm biased...

humboldt'sroads

Does Bart go to Alameda, and how's the 880 during commute hours? Also how are the riding options leaving from the island?

alxndr

BART does not go to Alameda. You can get a sense of average traffic with the Traffic layer in Google Maps. To leave the island by bike, your only real option is the Fruitvale footbridge, but the Posey Tube works if you're feeling brave and healthy.

thedeadone

Relocating to the Oakland area - suggestions?

Don't go outside.

stripes

BART stops at Fruitvale, which is right over the bridge from Alameda. Easy ride.

To leave the island, I usually take the Park street bridge (on the bike/pedestrian path), the Fruitvale bridge, or the Bay Farm Island bridge. The Posey tube is terrible.

Beaker

If you can make the $ work in/close to Rockridge, that would pretty much meet all your criteria.

Tapeworm21

Berkeley gets my vote. Amazing riding, with 20 minute drives to even awesome-er riding.*

*Didn't go to Cal.

UmneyDurak

We won't hold that against you.

AlgieSwift

You might want to check out Jack London Square as well. I haven't been there recently, but before the housing bubble burst, it was a hot neighborhood--a lot of restaurants, cafes, shopping, a couple of blocks from 12th st Bart. The real estate market in the area has plummeted, with lofts falling from the 600s to 200s. Several large multiunit residential buildings were built just as the bubble was bursting, and many of the builders have taken those off the market and are renting them instead. Some nice lofts are on the market at great rental prices.

Like any neighborhood in the downtown area, it has a bit of grit, but it's hardly dangerous. The Oakland PD has a crime map, which may be useful for you:
https://gismaps.oaklandnet.com/crimewatch/

Good luck!

alxndr

Here's a much more user-friendly mapping of Oakland crime: https://oakland.crimespotting.org/

UmneyDurak

So this basically confirms what Val said.

toytech

I would vote for Berkeley if you are wanting to bike.
San Leandro is not Ghetto by the way at least not where I live...and rents are probably comparable to Oakland. Not easy to map a safe route by bike to Emeryville. Working biotech? My wife works at Bayer.

Beaker

Also a fine plan