Oakland receives deserved national recognition
Originally appeared in Bay Area News Group publications on Dec 20, 2013
“You can fall in love at first sight with a place as with a person.”
– Alec Waugh
Many Oakland lovers, like myself, wince at periodic pejorative potshots that come mainly from those who have spent little, if any, time in our beautiful city. Instead, we can look to numerous sources where Oakland is saluted for being a notable, appealing travel destination and a great place to live.
Tops to visit
In the NY Times article, “45 Places to Go in 2012,” Oakland was listed in the world’s top five and number one in North America. They cited our city’s “revitalized night-life scene” that “has continued to smolder.” The article pointed to the 2800-seat Fox Theater, shuttered between 1966 and 2009, reopened after a seventy-five million dollar renovation. The theater was lauded as “one of the Bay Area’s top music venues.” The Times applauded “the city’s ever more sophisticated restaurants” that “are now being joined by upscale cocktail bars, turning once-gritty Oakland into an increasingly appealing place to be after dark.”
Most exciting city
Earlier this year, online real estate site Movoto designated Oakland as the most exciting city in America ahead of Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, D.C. and New York City. Part of their analysis was based on factors such as “park acreage per person,” “per cent of population between 20 and 34,” fewest fast food restaurants and big box stores per square mile, “music venues per square mile” and “population diversity.”
A green city
Travel site sheknows.com ranked Oakland number one of “the Greenest Cities in the U.S.” They stated, “Being a green city is more than just having a recycling program in place and reducing waste — it involves using energy more efficiently, planning eco-friendly developments, enacting green transportation guidelines and more. It’s also something that can take years to show the results.”
Activities listed that make a city “environmentally friendly” include recycling more and driving less, picking up your and other people’s trash, turning off unused lights and purchasing energy-efficient bulbs, and buying fruits and veggies from local farmers markets rather than chain stores.
If you have not already done so, check out Oakland’s farmers markets. They are fantastic, even in winter.
Mother Nature Network lists Oakland as fourth of the “Top 10 Green U.S. Cities.” Oakland is acknowledged for its “abundance of fresh, organic food, much of which is locally sourced. It’s also home to the nation’s cleanest tap water, hydrogen-powered public transit and the country’s oldest wildlife refuge. Oakland also plans to have zero waste and be oil-independent by 2020, and already gets 17 percent of its energy from renewable sources.”
Most walkable
Oakland was tabbed ninth in walkscore.com’s 2014 “Top 10 Most Walkable U.S. Cities & Neighborhoods.” Our town was distinguished by the following walkscore comments: “Oakland isn’t the Bay Area’s second city anymore. With its stunning location on the shores of Lake Merritt and proximity to Silicon Valley employers, it’s come into its own. The ethnically diverse population makes it a cultural playground for food, art, music, and more. BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) and a well-connected bus line make Oakland accessible from San Francisco, the East and South Bay.”
And there’s more
Although not specifically identified by the above attributes, those of us who live here know about other, wonderful aspects of life in Oakland.
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Events
– From Montclair Fine Arts Sidewalk Festivals to Oaktoberfest in the Dimond District, there is something fun and/or delicious to do most weekends in Oakland: Temescal Street Fair, Oakland Marathon and Running Festival, 4th of July Fireworks at Jack London Square, Laurel Street Fair, Chinatown StreetFest, Art & Soul Festival, Oakland Association of Realtors Oral Lee Brown Walk Around Lake Merritt, Fruitvale Dia de Los Muertos, Oakland Pride Festival, Piedmont Avenue Stroll, Grand Lake Theater 9/11 Film Festival, Rockridge Out and About, Oakland Zoo Walk in the Wild, and Chabot Space & Science Center Winter Solstice Evening Celebration.
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The Bay
– Like a gleaming jewel, exquisite views of San Francisco Bay are accessible from myriad parts of Oakland, both public and private. We never tire of the gorgeous sunsets and stunning sights of the recently completed Bay Bridge with its pedestrian and bicycle paths.
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The weather
– Oakland has one of the best Mediterranean climates in the entire world. While others are digging snow, we are pruning roses and planting tomatoes.
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The people
– This city is a true melting pot with tremendous ethnic diversity. Importantly, Oaklanders are friendly and giving.
Final thoughts
In 1880, at the age of six, Gertrude Stein moved to Oakland, a town of almost 35,000. She lived here until she was 17. When Stein returned on a lecture tour in 1935, the city had grown to over 300,000 and her childhood home on 10 acres had been replaced by a group of houses.
It has been theorized that she wrote, there was “no there there” out of nostalgia for the change from farms and orchards to an urbanized setting all those years later. Regardless of how she meant those words, I say with assurance, there is a there here and it is special.