archBOSTON ARCHIVE

[garbribre]

Adams Point first, then the others can be added later.

My neighborhood is predominantly residential, about one square mile, with a small strip of scattered, incohesive, commerical enterprises stretching for about a mile along its south to west edge, defined by Grand Avenue, and adjacent to Lake Merritt.

Its eastern and northern edges are cut off from other residential areas by Highway 580 (built in the late 50's), as well as Harrison and Oakland Avenues which were the main thoroughfares before the highways were built.

I live at the east edge near the top of a series of hills that roll up from Lake Merritt.

A friend of mine lives on the downtown side, in one of the many, cool, late-teens/early-twenties apartment blocks that dot the neighborhood's skyline. It takes me about 15-20 minutes to amble up and down the hills, which can have some steep grades, to get from my apartment to the downtown side. Also, I can walk to a BART station in under a half hour, and to the edge of DTOakland in even less time.

The neighborhood derives its name from the original Massachusetts settlers, and, yes, descendants of those Adamses. The area was originally settled by gentleman farmers, so the first homes were large estates or more opulent farmhouses. As far as I know, none remain. (But, hell, what do I know.)

Looking across from the southwest edge of Lake Merritt


A view across the eastern arm of Lake Merritt (from the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood)....

Its best side, I think, or best view, anyway. I've posted a few from this perspective before elsewhere.

....and a view at the northeastern arm of Lake Merritt from a Lake Merritt Business District office building (8th floor)










From the roof of a parking garage (11 floors up). I can't resist the lure of tall parking structures.




Facade/shell of an old building (cool history for another time and place) being incorporated into a new Whole Foods on the northern edge of the hood.

NIMBYs objected to a proposal for 20-stories of residential above and behind the store. (The residence to the right of it, in the photo immediately below, is 24 stories.) The proposal was reduced to 15, then to 12 stories, last I heard. The current rendering on the scaffolding shows nothing but the store. Was the residential component killed? Who knows? This is secretive Oakland, after all.


A sequence looking west down onto the Lake Merritt Business District while progressively climbing the first hill into the neighborhood from that district.






Looking west down onto Oakland from the crest of another hill.


Now for some varied residential buildings (in no particular sequence)




I'd love to get my hands on this one and fix it up!

My friend lives in this building.





Monstrous. This may be one of the oldest surviving estates in the hood, but I'd have to do some research. It's near the top of the second hill, so it's a good bet it's been around.













Some more monstrous single-family homes










A Mike Brady design




How New England is this!? It's short of being a 3-decker, which I have seen out here, but none are in my hood.




A little bit of the south with a bayou-like twist.






As you can see, lots of large, single-family homes on small lots (good!) interspersed with apartment blocks. I've stayed away from the freakish and the profoundly ugly, for the most part, but I can add those later.

Here's one example of the prominent style of apartment building, built after the larger houses were demolished, then had their lots combined, to create....

And believe me, there's far worse from the 50's and into the 60's

So as not to end on a sour note, grouped bungalows like these exist, too.

Kind of LA-ish, but quaint none-the-less.

[Matt]

this may be my favorite thread from your neck of the woods yet. The first few pictures gave me the feel of a seaside town in italy or southern france, with the houses dotting the hills, and the brightness of colors (if you blocked out the skyscrapers).

Also, this is the thread that's really making me remember why I felt california is so different than here...the architecture. THERE ISN'T ANY BRICK (well, at least not much). And, lots of color and different building materials.

Total Mike Brady house.

[garbribre]

Standard brick isn't used here much anymore, if at all, because of earthquake safety concerns. Many brick structures collapse, despite retrofits. Many unreinforced masonry buildings still have warnings posted by their front entrances reminding us that they are so inclined.

Be aware that Boston (and NYC) are both in serious jeopardy if an earthquake happens there, which could occur in your lifetimes. Seismic prediction accuracy notwithstanding, the Northeast is due. (NOSTRADAMUS HAS SPOKEN. Heheh)

Anyway, to get away from being ominous....

Glad my now fan club of one is happy.

My favorite place is the Mediterranean. I'm not out here purely on a whim, ya know.

A friend who lived in Greece said many of the vistas in the Bay Area reminded her of there--the light quality, the taste and smell of the air, the stacked-on-the-hills buildings, etc. (except that the water is too damn cold.)

The architecture here is fine enough. My neighborhood and a few others around Berkeley and SF are quite interesting. Some of SF and Oakland look like movie sets, though--embellished and detailed facades that seem plastic and phoney.

Most of the exurbs, suburbs, and such are truly ugly, though. Except in their densities, many of the post WWII mega-developments are horrifyingly bad and stretch for miles, much of it all too visible on hills and cliffsides. Since I rarely venture out to the hinterlands, and now that the borrowed camera is back with its rightful owner, my pic taking days are on hold for a bit.

But don't fret. I took thousands already (Gulp! Gotta organize them better, too)

[Matt]

one of my distinctive memories from the Bay area was around San Jose (i think?) at dusk, and seeing the mountain range (they are mountains and not large hills, correct?) in the distance, with a valley below...the hills were dotted with hundreds of sparkling lights from the houses...the sky was a turning a rich orange/purple...a color I don't think I've ever seen before....absolutely breathtaking. The lighting is different there...completely forgot about that.

Yes, nostradamus, my frenchie grandmere used to tell me that too. But, then again, she used to tell me that the world was going to end in the year 2000 (this was back in 70s).