archBOSTON ARCHIVE

[garbribre]

I'm at home sick this weekend. I have no desire to do much except sleep, or to be online and to host/post the multitude of pics I've been taking, maybe much to your chagrin. (Yell uncle when the lure of Oakland becomes too much for you. Then, I'll post some more. Heheh.)

Boston has just as much in common with Oakland, if we must make comparisons, as it does with SF. For instance, my neighborhood, Adams Point was settled by New Englanders and was named after decendants of those very Quincy Adamses. But that's for another post another time. My neighborhood is too close to downtown to be a streetcar village. I'll focus on two commercial areas within two miles of the City Center, the origination point of the Key Route trolley system.

Many of the villages and towns including those within a few miles of DTOakland were annexed and incorporated into the city beginning around the 1880s. Many neighborhoods are still defined by their original village or town names.

The street called Grand Avenue begins at Broadway next to the Lake Merritt Buisiness District, along the north/northeast side of the lake and meanders east up into the Oakland foothills. Lake Merritt is shaped like a mitten. At the east end, where I am focusing today, would be the fingers. The north/northeast end, at the Lake Merritt Business District and the head of Grand Avenue, would be the thumb.

At the far east end of the lake, after you cross under Highway 580, it becomes a livelier, dense, full-service, entertainment and commercial district that serves as the center for five adjacent residential neighborhoods, one of which is mine.

It's a bit confusing, even with a map. (Damn those New England settlers. Brought their medieval street patterns with them. )

For orientation, this is the best I can do for you.

A view of the extreme east end of the lake looking north toward Adams Point. Highway 580 and two of the districts I'll focus on are out of the image on the right, downtown would be way off the image to the left. Grand Ave is the road above the green patch left center.


At street level facing north/northeast. The towers of the Lake Merritt Business District off in the distance.


The defining building on Grand Avenue after you go under the highway (from a pedestrian overpass).


At street level. Grand Ave runs right to left. I580 exit ramp behind me. Lake Park Avenue in front of me (but more on that street later).


Main lobby (pic source unknown).


And now for the random pics along the street.




My fave sushi place next door to a kosher bakery.


















At this point, about the equivalent of four blocks, the commercial retail becomes less prevalent. The only major grocery store is another four blocks up from here. Then the independent residential city of Piedmont (much like Brookline but without any commercial center, per se) begins a few blocks beyond the grocery store.


So let's take a right up into a residential area, sandwiched between Grand Avenue and Lakeshore Avenue. (Oops, a bit wobbly and out of focus climbing the hill.)














We are now over the hill and down onto Lakeshore Avenue, a short three blocks of more commercial retail. We'll head back toward the lake on this journey.


Another fave restaurant.








No Dunkin Donuts out here. Lots of local chains, though. (The Colonial in DTOakland makes the most amazing blueberry cake donuts.)


Hope you've been checking out the groovy old signage in all the photos.




The closest grocery chain to me closed earlier this month. Been rallying for a Trader Joes to go here. More on that later.




A couple of reverse views down Lakeshore. The lake would be behind me. Highway off ramp from I580West on my right. LakePark Ave runs right to left.




Lake Park Ave is two blocks of ugly, post WWII, mainly single-story buildings connecting Grand Avenue and Lakeshore Avenue.

This is certainly worth a peek though.


The former splashpad park (so named for its long-gone fountains) that was once the edge of Lake Merritt. The highway construction and landfill cut it off from the lake. This was the contested site for Trader Joes. NIMBYs killed it (traffic/parking issues, mostly). That's why I'm rallying TJs to go into the abandoned Albertsons. No excuses this time because the former Albertsons has enough dedicated parking to appease both TJs and the neighborhood....we'll see....)

This is where the neighborhood farmers market sets up every weekend, so all is not lost.


We are in front of the Grand Lake Theatre again. That ends the tour.


Adios from Oakland in sunny northern California....not! (At least not the past weeks--these are older photos.)

[patrick0000]

nice, I love the beginning few and the last couple.

[Matt]

oh yeah, these are great. Really like the first one. Love all of the stretches of retail, esp walden pond books!

Just checked out grand avenue on google maps (which i've been playing with for hours today)...helped put this in perspective.

And, adams point looks really cool on the map

[garbribre]

My fan club of two! Heheh.

I'll start a separate thread for my neighborhood and the other residential neighborhoods around the edges of the lake and downtown, since this thread is themed Streetcar Neighborhoods (of which there are many others scattered for miles from downtown and the lake), and the lake side and downtown neighborhoods are quite different. (And because I can.)

Yeah, my neighborhood and its immediate environs are pretty cool. Places like Walden Pond Books define what neighborhoods and their commercial centers are all about. I'd rather peruse or buy at Walden Pond than in Borders or B&N. (But I never pass up any bookstore, no matter how corporate.)

When I try to explain the area around where I live, I liken it to Coolidge Corner in Brookline, more so than to JP, or Cambridge commercial strips or squares. Do you get that from these pics?

[Matt]

hmm....maybe. I can see now how it's not like JP or something like central square, or even mass ave up near porter. because they aren't as clean?

Is it because of this reason (sort of by default?) or is it something more specific that i don't see? I do think that coolidge corner/washington square/harvard st. is a very nice, clean commercial area...one of the nicest outside of downtown.

[garbribre]

As I mentioned perchance in the Adams Point thread, there's a totally different quality to the light here than in Boston, and that may be what you sense from the photos and remember of the atmosphere--a smell, feel and taste to the air, for instance--that makes many parts of the country and world so distinctive.

What I am trying to say is that it's not that it's cleaner. I think your positive recollections of your perceptions from your visit here two decades ago are coming back to you. Plus photos tend to 'clean up' alot of the scars that you would likely see if you were up close and personal with these places.

I lived in Coolidge Corner for two years, so my assessment is experiential (sp?) when I compare where I currently live to Brookline. And I loved wandering up to Washington Square (great breakfast places used to be up there) and along Harvard Street to both Brighton/Allston and Brookline Village. I found them all interesting.

Even though I say I loved living in the South End, as well as in your current neighborhood, I would have to say I had some of the most magical experiences when I lived in Brookline. (How fruity is that! )

More Oakland pics to come....eventually.

[Matt]

ok...i sort of get it...and do agree. it is about the senses...I forgot that it smelled differently!! The first feeling I had in the Bay area was...I get it...I get why everyone is here.

Brookline is fantastic...and in theory it is very similar to JP/central square due to the lowrise residential, treelined streets, ground retail offering neighborhood services...but you are right...it does feel different...for me, on the top of my head, it feels more lush and crisp (which may makes no sense -- all of the areas have vegetation)....and there's something going on with the curvature and inclination of beacon street from coolidge corner to washington square which takes me out of Boston. I'm equating that with the word 'clean'...not the most accurate word choice.

keep the pics coming!

Edit -- just had a thought (i've been studying color theory ...bleh)...it's the colors that I remember being different...which makes sense due to different lighting...and for me, why i think Coolidge Corner is different than the others...it's the richness of the dark green from the dense trees. The sky that I just wrote about in the other post made me think of that.

Or, i'm just rambling again...