My mother always says, “Write about what you see out your window.” Ok Mommy, here is what I see. The sky is clear with that peculiar light blue that is Marine. Nothing in the world looks like the heavens over the sea. Just ask Eugene Boudin who taught Monet. It is through this singular light that I see Kaitilyn’s vegetable beds in what was our ignored back yard. Through the chain fence that separates our places from the schoolyard, the live oaks shade the platform that the kids at the school built a couple of years ago. They study local flora & fauna there during the school year. Right now their yard is being torn up. I do believe that all that tar and concrete has been torn up to put down sod for a real field. It’s got be done before they come back to school in August. Ain’t life grand?
I am of Oakland. I used to be of Sierra Madre but now, after 22 years, I am of Oakland. When we got here the Maze was only just finished after the Loma Prieta earthquake. Decades ago Los Angeles lost a portion of the Santa Monica Freeway and the traffic was even worse, but it took only six weeks to repair. Please excuse me if I don’t understand why it took nine years to fix the Maze. This is just one of so many things about this beautiful maddening town that confuse me.
When we first moved into sunny and lovely Adams Point, downtown was derelict. From Grand all the way down to Jack London Square, on handsome tree-lined Broadway, it was just one abandoned office building or store after another. Just one more curse of the Loma Prieta. But now, out my window, beyond the roofs of First Congo Oakland (UCC) and Westlake Middle School (OUSD) the first thing I see is a huge (five or six stories high) yellow construction crane. This is the current symbol of Oakland, the construction crane. They are everywhere and especially here in Adams Point. On Broadway, where Auto Row used to try their very best, new buildings are going up. Some, very few, have worked to save the old facades. They did it at the Whole Paycheck (oh, I am so sorry, Whole Foods) at the corner of 27th and Harrison. It had been a Cadillac dealership, with huge windows to display the beautiful wares. When we got here it was empty like so many other beauties here in town. When Pasadena redeveloped Old Town, 30 years ago, they didn’t care what you put in the building as long as the old frontage was saved. Ah the advantage of a functioning planning department.
One of the first things we noticed when we got here were micro-climates. In those days we had dear friends who lived in upper Rockridge. That’s how we discovered the seven-to-ten-degree difference between the uplands and sunny Adams Point. By the blessings of the housing gods, we moved from Altadena to one of the warmest parts of this great city. And then there is the Lake. I didn’t know about Lake Merritt when we got here. Yet there it was, glowing in the sun, decorated with grebes and ducks, the heart of a wonderful city. The best thing about the Lake is how well it is loved. Joggers, walkers, parents with strollers, drummers, barbecuers and folks just hanging out. And let us not forget Children’s Fairyland, a rite of passage for generations of Oakland children. The best night views of Lake Merritt, in her string of pearls, is from the restaurant in the Lake Merritt Hotel.
But the Lake and her neighborhoods are only a small part of this city. One of my first flights back to OAK from BUR my under-seat carryon was a large purse filled with ten pounds of chorizo from the Argentine Market near my dad’s old place in Bungalow Heaven. This was simply because I hadn’t found my own Mexican butcher/grocer up here. And then I discovered Mi Tierra, on San Pablo, a block down from University. Everything I could possibly want, from veg to crema to votives to meat. Oh yes, a full service butcher counter that includes five different kinds of chorizo. For the years I worked at Cody’s on 4th St. that was my go-to place. When I moved on to Books Inc. I discovered International Blvd. and there, at 29th, was Mi Puebla, with its own fabulous meat counter. And the store seems to be owned and operated by Arabic speakers. International is exactly what its name says, a little Chinese, a lot Vietnamese and the majority Mexican, with a sprinkling of Guatemalan. It reminded me of what downtown LA used to be, before the upgrades.
How to address gentrification? I am so torn by the entire process. Living cities change, and that means their neighborhoods, Harlem being only one example. That place has gone through the cycle of development, decline and renewal at least eight times since it was founded by the Dutch. So it is with Oakland. After one more futile search for sour cherries in the halal markets above University, I wended my old way down 6th to Hollis and over 47th to the freeway. What had been a somewhat unkempt but very lively street, with kids on bikes and folks on porches and music coming out of windows, 47th had changed in the ensuing years since Cody’s demise. It had been a street of rentals and was now, obviously, a street of owned homes. The landlords have sold out to owners who can afford new paint and gardeners. Where did the renters go? Did they go up to Pinole or Hercules or Richmond, to endure horrendous commutes to work? This is the price of gentrification and renewal, real people with real lives in a place are displaced. And in this insane market, they certainly can’t afford to move to Adams Point or Temescal let alone Skyline. So we come back to the huge crane outside my window.
It seems to have begun with the restoration of the Fox Theatre. My first sight of the old movie palace broke my heart. There she was, broken and forgotten, with all her little shops, bars and other places, empty. The old queen was a metaphor for downtown Oakland. And then it happened, the Fox and her diamond shaped block were restored and became a magnet. Bars, restaurants and music venues opened, spreading lakeward like so many green shoots in Spring. At the same time the rebuild of Broadway began. All those clouded titles that kept all those properties empty suddenly cleared and the building began. Jerry Brown’s dream of bringing ten thousand people to live downtown was being realized. (It’s an odd thing between me and Jerry, I have voted for him, legally, 16 times.) Condos are busting out all over.
The way to bring down the price of housing is to make more housing and it’s finally happening in Oakland. Just look at what’s being built a block and a half from my front door. Not high end places like the Essex, these are just normal condos and there are lots of them coming. You need to understand that Adams Point has lots of apartment buildings, right next to those million dollar rehabbed Edwardians. We have always had both kinds of housing here. All this building is already changing Oakland and the streets are totally clogged with detours. From the bus route down International to the pothole repair (FINALLY) on Monte Vista, the work of the city is being done.
Outside my window there is Kaitilyn’s yard, Oakland First Congregational Church and Westlake Middle School. And there, between two live oaks, is the new symbol of Oakland, a huge yellow building crane.
I am of Oakland. I used to be of Sierra Madre but now, after 22 years, I am of Oakland. When we got here the Maze was only just finished after the Loma Prieta earthquake. Decades ago Los Angeles lost a portion of the Santa Monica Freeway and the traffic was even worse, but it took only six weeks to repair. Please excuse me if I don’t understand why it took nine years to fix the Maze. This is just one of so many things about this beautiful maddening town that confuse me.
When we first moved into sunny and lovely Adams Point, downtown was derelict. From Grand all the way down to Jack London Square, on handsome tree-lined Broadway, it was just one abandoned office building or store after another. Just one more curse of the Loma Prieta. But now, out my window, beyond the roofs of First Congo Oakland (UCC) and Westlake Middle School (OUSD) the first thing I see is a huge (five or six stories high) yellow construction crane. This is the current symbol of Oakland, the construction crane. They are everywhere and especially here in Adams Point. On Broadway, where Auto Row used to try their very best, new buildings are going up. Some, very few, have worked to save the old facades. They did it at the Whole Paycheck (oh, I am so sorry, Whole Foods) at the corner of 27th and Harrison. It had been a Cadillac dealership, with huge windows to display the beautiful wares. When we got here it was empty like so many other beauties here in town. When Pasadena redeveloped Old Town, 30 years ago, they didn’t care what you put in the building as long as the old frontage was saved. Ah the advantage of a functioning planning department.
One of the first things we noticed when we got here were micro-climates. In those days we had dear friends who lived in upper Rockridge. That’s how we discovered the seven-to-ten-degree difference between the uplands and sunny Adams Point. By the blessings of the housing gods, we moved from Altadena to one of the warmest parts of this great city. And then there is the Lake. I didn’t know about Lake Merritt when we got here. Yet there it was, glowing in the sun, decorated with grebes and ducks, the heart of a wonderful city. The best thing about the Lake is how well it is loved. Joggers, walkers, parents with strollers, drummers, barbecuers and folks just hanging out. And let us not forget Children’s Fairyland, a rite of passage for generations of Oakland children. The best night views of Lake Merritt, in her string of pearls, is from the restaurant in the Lake Merritt Hotel.
But the Lake and her neighborhoods are only a small part of this city. One of my first flights back to OAK from BUR my under-seat carryon was a large purse filled with ten pounds of chorizo from the Argentine Market near my dad’s old place in Bungalow Heaven. This was simply because I hadn’t found my own Mexican butcher/grocer up here. And then I discovered Mi Tierra, on San Pablo, a block down from University. Everything I could possibly want, from veg to crema to votives to meat. Oh yes, a full service butcher counter that includes five different kinds of chorizo. For the years I worked at Cody’s on 4th St. that was my go-to place. When I moved on to Books Inc. I discovered International Blvd. and there, at 29th, was Mi Puebla, with its own fabulous meat counter. And the store seems to be owned and operated by Arabic speakers. International is exactly what its name says, a little Chinese, a lot Vietnamese and the majority Mexican, with a sprinkling of Guatemalan. It reminded me of what downtown LA used to be, before the upgrades.
How to address gentrification? I am so torn by the entire process. Living cities change, and that means their neighborhoods, Harlem being only one example. That place has gone through the cycle of development, decline and renewal at least eight times since it was founded by the Dutch. So it is with Oakland. After one more futile search for sour cherries in the halal markets above University, I wended my old way down 6th to Hollis and over 47th to the freeway. What had been a somewhat unkempt but very lively street, with kids on bikes and folks on porches and music coming out of windows, 47th had changed in the ensuing years since Cody’s demise. It had been a street of rentals and was now, obviously, a street of owned homes. The landlords have sold out to owners who can afford new paint and gardeners. Where did the renters go? Did they go up to Pinole or Hercules or Richmond, to endure horrendous commutes to work? This is the price of gentrification and renewal, real people with real lives in a place are displaced. And in this insane market, they certainly can’t afford to move to Adams Point or Temescal let alone Skyline. So we come back to the huge crane outside my window.
It seems to have begun with the restoration of the Fox Theatre. My first sight of the old movie palace broke my heart. There she was, broken and forgotten, with all her little shops, bars and other places, empty. The old queen was a metaphor for downtown Oakland. And then it happened, the Fox and her diamond shaped block were restored and became a magnet. Bars, restaurants and music venues opened, spreading lakeward like so many green shoots in Spring. At the same time the rebuild of Broadway began. All those clouded titles that kept all those properties empty suddenly cleared and the building began. Jerry Brown’s dream of bringing ten thousand people to live downtown was being realized. (It’s an odd thing between me and Jerry, I have voted for him, legally, 16 times.) Condos are busting out all over.
The way to bring down the price of housing is to make more housing and it’s finally happening in Oakland. Just look at what’s being built a block and a half from my front door. Not high end places like the Essex, these are just normal condos and there are lots of them coming. You need to understand that Adams Point has lots of apartment buildings, right next to those million dollar rehabbed Edwardians. We have always had both kinds of housing here. All this building is already changing Oakland and the streets are totally clogged with detours. From the bus route down International to the pothole repair (FINALLY) on Monte Vista, the work of the city is being done.
Outside my window there is Kaitilyn’s yard, Oakland First Congregational Church and Westlake Middle School. And there, between two live oaks, is the new symbol of Oakland, a huge yellow building crane.
No comments:
Post a Comment