Day 5 - April 27, 2011

Jack London Square, Acorn Industrial, Prescott
  
Day Miles: 27.7(J) / 28.0(S)
Cumulative Miles: 97.4(J) / 100.3(S)
Day Hours: 2:37(J) / 2:38(S)
Cumulative Hours: 9:50(J) / 9:54(S)

Long day today; nice that evening are getting lighter.  Today we rode from Jack London Square west, toward the Port of Oakland and the EBMUD water treatment plant, staying west of I-880.  This is a heavy industrial area, with those port cranes that inspired the "Imperial Walkers" from Star Wars:

Riding through the Port of Oakland, we were surprised to see a lot of cyclists out.  The so-called "POO" (Port of Oakland) ride is every Tuesday night, and I think cyclists are out there on other nights as well to take advantage of a relatively traffic- and stoplight-free place to ride.  They'll often get 40-60 riders on a 2.5-mile loop. 

  
Next we rode through the now-defunct Oakland Army Base (see photo with AC Transit bus stop below), finishing our ride at the EBMUD water-treatment plant.  Along the way we rode to the base of newly-built Bay Bridge.

Cheers, 
1970 

Day 4 - April 15, 2011

Chinatown, Jack London Square, Embarcadero, Jingletown, Laney College
  
Day Miles: 24.2(J) / 26.3(S)
Cumulative Miles: 69.8(J) / 72.3(S)
Day Hours: 2:20(J) / 2:20(S)
Cumulative Hours: 7:13(J) / 7:16(S)

We were shot at today!  Okay, so not exactly with bullets, and it was not exactly at us.  As we rode through the Produce District of Jack London, someone shot pellets or BBs from a two story building, shattering the window of a nearby parked pick-up truck.  We were right across from the Webster Tube Portal to Alameda.



We saw some curtains move in the two-story warehouse building just across from the Oakland Portal, but we never did figure out who was responsible for the shooting.  The rest of the ride through that area was uneventful.  We spent some time snapping photos in Jack London Square, which had a "Strictly Sailboat" event going on at the time.  Heinholds First and Last Chance Saloon (opened in 1883) is always a fun place to spend an afternoon, with its sloping floor caused by the 1906 earthquake and it's abundance of outdoor seating.

We'd hoped to cover all of the Port of Oakland and the old Oakland Army Base as well today, but we were both tired.  Turns out it's hard to ride 25 miles while reading turn-by-turn directions at the same time.  We did manage to ride the length of Oakland's Embarcadero, to get a strong whiff of Kilpatrick's bakery, and also to cover all of Jingletown, including the "Oakland Riviera" on the Rue de Merde (please excuse my French), known for all the dog poop left on the street by man's best friend.

Somehow Joel's and my mileage didn't square closely today.  We're both going to check our computers to investigate the cause.  Until next ride...

Cheers, 

1970

Day 3 - April 8, 2011

Glenview, Trestle Glen, Cleveland Heights

Day Miles: 12.1(J) / 12.3(S)
Cumulative Miles: 45.6(J) / 46.0(S)
Day Hours: 1:20(J) / 1:21(S)
Cumulative Hours: 4:53(J) / 4:56(S)

Still clinging to those (safe) areas above 580 in today's ride. Long respite for us.  A wet winter and not enough daylight to ride after work has delayed our project, but on we roll.  We finish off the Glenview District, and ride by the house where Joel currently lives.  Next, Trestle Glen and onward.

Trestle Glen is a gem of a neighborhood, abutting the Lakeshore commercial district, with lovely Tudor homes.  I found some great information about this neighborhood in the Lakeshore Homes Association website: Lakeshore Homes Association. As the website explains, "The name Trestle Glen dates back to approximately 1893 when Francis Marion "Borax" Smith's Oakland Traction Company extended a trolley line from Downtown Oakland up Park Boulevard to Grosvenor Place."  I love how train development has so defined the neighborhoods in Oakland (you wouldn't know it now).  In many instances neighborhoods were created once transportation (trains) was extended to them.  It was very common for real estate developers to also be transit operators.

Oakland neighborhoods have so many interesting nuances to them.  One of running themes we intend for this blog is documenting many of the idiosyncratic little street features innate to Oakland.  Trestle Glen has many urban paths and stairwells connecting its streets.  These are common throughout the city, and are currently being inventoried by Oakland Urban Paths.  We found this dilapidated example off Alma Place.

Just around the corner from there is a fun little freeway onramp tucked into the end of a block.  Visitors who come from newer cities, where every freeway interchange is over-engineered, would never expect that a freeway starts at the end of this street. Excelsior freeway onramp.  Joel loves the urban art of Oakland, and took a picture of our avatar with the onramp sign.


 
Both Joel and I liked this Trestle Glen cul-de-sac's garage dormer and landscaping, including the tree with the custom steel brace.





Cheers, 
1970