Day 13 - July 27, 2011

Dimond, Laurel, Allendale 

Day Miles: 9.4(J) / 9.4(S)
Cumulative Miles: 275.2(J) / 279.3(S)
Day Hours: 0:54(J) / 0:54(S)
Cumulative Hours: 26:29(J) / 26:44(S)

Today's ride filled in a few incomplete areas above I-580, but really didn't amount to much mileage.  If you look at the progress map, you'll see we underperformed, but short days can be helpful and restful.  As long as we're making forward progress...

Kasper's Hot Dogs is an Oakland institution, going back to the 1920s.  A family rift in the '30s caused a different location, "Casper's" on Telegraph, to split away from the other franchises.  I imagine the MacArthur 

location pictured here did very well before the MacArthur Freeway was constructed.  My friend's father, who grew up in Richmond in the 1950s, used to drive down MacArthur Boulevard all the way to Hayward before then.  So much of the traffic on the street was diverted by the freeway, undermining a lot of local businesses and motels.  But that's an old story.

Another Oakland icon, Loard's Ice Cream, was recently listed among the "Best of the Bay."  Joel thinks they might be throwing a bone to the old school places, unless they really might have the best chocolate.  I'll let you decide.

Cheers,
1970

Day 12 - July 21, 2011

East Peralta, Clinton, Ivy Hill, Bella Vista, Lynn (Highland Park)
 
Day Miles: 29.9(J) / 30.1(S)
Cumulative Miles: 265.8(J) / 269.9(S)
Day Hours: 2:50(J) / 2:51(S)
Cumulative Hours: 25:35(J) / 25:50(S)
  
Today's riding area seemed to typify Oakland in many ways: mixed in terms of race and income; partly residential and partly industrial in feel; and, some beautiful but many rundown homes.  I've heard people refer to this area as "East Oakland," but I'm more inclined to call it Eastlake or "Central Oakland."  It's home to Alameda County's trauma center, Highland Hospital, so it gets more than a fair share of gunshot victims.  The hospital is expanding too, in an odd patchwork arrangement:

 The area has a commercial area of little note, though one can find a gem here and there.  People say good things about the relatively new Thai and Laotian restaurant, Champa Garden.  I saw a lot of people out and about - one of the reasons I like to ride through neighborhoods on summer evenings.  If we continue riding in winter and/or during the morning, I imagine I'll miss out on the local color of neighborhoods.  People always talk about the crime in Oakland, but I was so struck at all the seemingly "vulnerable" people out living their lives: young kids, older Asian women, disabled people.  Somehow they're mostly avoiding being victims of crime.

Both Joel and I liked this wrought iron gate at Bella Vista School/Park:

 Also this beautiful palm-lined street:

Cheers, 
1970

Day 11 - July 17, 2011

Northgate, Pill Hill, Mosswood
  
Day Miles: 19.6(J) / 19.9(S)
Cumulative Miles: 236.0(J) / 239.8(S)
Day Hours: 1:48(J) / 1:51(S)
Cumulative Hours: 22:45(J) / 22:59(S)

I was born in this neighborhood, on Pill Hill.  Back then, in 1970, it was Providence Hospital, though it is now part of the Alta Bates Summit community of hospitals.  We rode a fair amount today, and went as far west as Martin Luther King Boulevard.  Around 28th and MLK is the "urban farm" that local food author Novella Carpenter has written her book "Farm City" about.  She talks about raising animals, foraging for their food in the dumpsters of gourmet North Berkeley restaurants.  Hers is not the nicest neighborhood, though certainly not the worst by Oakland standards.  We did find this welcoming sign just a few blocks away:

During today's ride, I was most surprised by the size of the homeless encampment under I-980.  Mosswood Park is a fun and large park where we saw the vintage baseball league practicing.  Two new and interesting places of note in the neighborhood are Commonwealth Pub and Homeroom Restaurant.  I'm anxious to make it to both places - I hear Homeroom's mac 'n cheese is pretty tasty.  Finally, I love the new Manifesto Bike Shop with Sunday Bike Church:

Cheers,
1970

Day 10 - July 10, 2011

Uptown, San Pablo Gateway, City Center, Old Oakland 

Day Miles: 17.1(J) / 17.2(S)
Cumulative Miles: 216.3(J) / 219.9(S)
Day Hours: 1:36(J) / 1:37(S)
Cumulative Hours: 20:57(J) / 21:08(S) 

We took advantage of a slow Sunday to finish up riding Downtown Oakland.  The worst part was crisscrossing I-980 to get all to overpasses and one-way streets near the highway frontage road.  I got a front tire flat - the first mechanical difficulty of our tour of Oakland - and realized I didn't have all the necessary tools.  My doting wife drove down to meet us with tools and a pump so that we could resume our trip.

This part of Downtown Oakland has a lot of parks and squares that are dominated with transients and worse.  Nice to have parks, but they could be a lot more inviting than they currently are. 

It also is the part of town with the Greyhound terminal.  Not exactly the most grand way to enter Oakland, but more than a few times in college I rode the bus from U.C. Santa Cruz to this terminal to get home.  Slow.

One bright spot in this area is Preservation Park, with 16 historic buildings, including 11 that were moved from other parts of Oakland, with the whole design attempting to approximate a late 19th century Oakland neighborhood.  Here's the center fountain in the area: 



Nice to finish up this part of Downtown Oakland, rounding out the busiest parts of the city center, and the the location of many Oakland and Alameda County municipal functions.


All for now.  Cheers, 
1970

Day 9 - July 4, 2011

Uptown, Downtown, Chinatown, Civic Center
  
Day Miles: 16.1(J) / 16.2(S)
Cumulative Miles: 199.3(J) / 202.7(S)
Day Hours: 1:26(J) / 1:27(S)
Cumulative Hours: 19:21(J) / 19:31(S)
 
We chose July 4th as a good day to navigate these streets without the usual weekday traffic.  Today was an easy day, but also a little boring.  I work in Downtown Oakland, so there's not much new to explore, and gridded and flat streets lack the design nuance that can contribute to more interesting touring days for us.

Downtown Oakland would be a really dead place were it not for the large resident Chinatown prominently in its center, which creates a lot of pedestrian traffic and a sense of activity that is absent throughout the rest of the city center.  

We didn't take many photos on this ride, but here's my favorite:

 
Happy Independence Day, everyone.

Cheers,
1970