[Nineties Flava]

Here's the second set of pics I took yesterday.



Acorn


This neighborhood is named for the ACORN projects. I believe that the ACORN Towers are the only remaining high rise projects in California... I also believe they're the most populated. They're also some of the worst... next to the 65 Ville, Cypress Village and Campbell Village next door, they're probably the most notorious in the city. The neighborhood next to them, however, is actually not bad, particularly up by Lowell Park closer to 980... the housing stock is beautiful and the vast majority of the residents maintain the property extremely well. Many of the families have literally been in these houses for generations and as such there's definitely community. The ACORNs themselves, though, are none of these things; the largest "community" in these projects is the Acorn Mob.


http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/1374/dsc02872si.jpg

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/8096/dsc02874u.jpg

http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/7235/dsc02875kc.jpg

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/6779/dsc02880e.jpg

http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/1937/dsc02881f.jpg

http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/1226/dsc02882gr.jpg

http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/9480/dsc02883ba.jpg

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/1483/dsc02885eh.jpg

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/4125/dsc02886re.jpg

http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/5605/dsc02888z.jpg

http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/8797/dsc02889z.jpg

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/3121/dsc02890b.jpg

http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/3851/dsc02891d.jpg

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/8858/dsc02892f.jpg

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/8650/dsc02893sc.jpg



Oak Center


Oak Center is the historic district of West Oakland... it's by far the best preserved neighborhood on the west side and arguably the best neighborhood. Among some of the markers of this neighborhood is the gateway pictured in the first pic, the beautiful St. John's Baptist Church and Marston Campbell Park.


http://img602.imageshack.us/img602/1766/dsc02895a.jpg

http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/2829/dsc02896s.jpg

http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/6544/dsc02897dw.jpg

http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/511/dsc02898eh.jpg

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http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/5483/dsc02900z.jpg

http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/1962/dsc02901.jpg

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http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/726/dsc02928g.jpg

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/872/dsc02930wz.jpg


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Thanks for viewing my pictures. Any and all feedback will be returned promptly.

[Nineties Flava]

If anyone has a request for a certain Oakland neighborhood, pm me.

[cbg015]

I just wanted to say thanks for doing all these Oakland threads.

You're right about the area near Lowell Park being surprisingly "okay". Youth soccer leagues from the hills play their games there on weekends. It's kind of odd seeing all the Subarus and Priuses from Rockridge parked alongside 14th, just two blocks away from the Acorn Projects.

[Nineties Flava]

^Yea the last time I was there on a Saturday I saw them playing soccer. At first I was like wtf but I asked what it was so I found out.

[Expat]

I am loving these Oakland threads. You know, nothing on this particular thread looks 'bad' to me. Maybe needing a little curb appeal here and there, but nothing brutal. Even the high-rises look like comfortable apartment buildings. I guess you can't judge a book by it's cover.

[Nineties Flava]

I am loving these Oakland threads. You know, nothing on this particular thread looks 'bad' to me. Maybe needing a little curb appeal here and there, but nothing brutal. Even the high-rises look like comfortable apartment buildings. I guess you can't judge a book by it's cover.

Yea Oakland for the most part does a good job of maintaining its projects (and a FAR better job than SF does across the board). These two neighborhoods are probably the best in West Oakland. The rule of thumb is to be below W Grand and East of Market (where all of these pictures were taken). However, I did pass by some not so nice areas by the intersection of W Grand & Market which I've photographed before but chose not to this time. At this point though, most of the run down looking areas in Oakland are in Chinatown, far West Oakland and Deep East Oakland.


This is an example of dilapidation I found in Chinatown:


http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/1601/dsc02691v.jpg


^Oakland is phasing stuff like this out and doing it fairly successfully... there are still areas though. Oakland as a whole though is an overwhelmingly beautiful city on par with SF in that regard.

[ChiTownCity]

^I never been a big fan of wooden homes so I don't care much if they get rid of it, but Oakland does it nicely so I hope they don't get rid of too many...

[Nineties Flava]

^I never been a big fan of wooden homes so I don't care much if they get rid of it, but Oakland does it nicely so I hope they don't get rid of too many...


I don't think they'll get rid of their wooden stock just because they're the historical housing in these parts. A lot of West Oakland got tore down to build the Nimitz freeway though... used to be quite a bit bigger.