East Oakland, Oakland, California facts for kids

Quick facts for kids East Oakland
Neighborhood of Oakland
View of East Oakland from Maxwell Park
Nickname(s):  "E.S.O."
East Oakland Location in Oakland, California
Country	United States
State	California
County	Alameda
City	Oakland

East Oakland is a geographical region of Oakland, California, United States, that stretches between Lake Merritt in the northwest and San Leandro in the southeast. As the southeastern portion of the city, East Oakland takes up the largest portion of the city's land area.

The area is a major hub of Northern California's black community, with over 50% of East Oakland's inhabitants being black. According to figures from a 2000 U.S. Census, over 87,000 people reside in the East Oakland area.

Geography

East Oakland stretches between Lake Merritt in the northwest and San Leandro in the southeast. It generally has a diagonal layout. East Oakland has numbered avenues (1st to 109th) that run northeast to southwest, and numbered streets (East 7th to East 34th) that run northwest to southeast. Interstates 580 and 880 also run northwest to southeast. Main northwest–southeast thoroughfares include East 14th Street (renamed International Blvd. in 1996 within the city of Oakland only), MacArthur Blvd., Foothill Blvd., Bancroft Avenue, and San Leandro Street (being the main one for commercial vehicles). Main northeast-southwest thoroughfares include Fruitvale Ave., 35th Ave., High St., Seminary Ave., 73rd Ave. (which becomes Hegenberger Road south of East 14th St. to Oakland International Airport), and 98th Ave. East Oakland is home to Holy Names University, Mills College, the Oakland Zoo, the Oakland Coliseum and the Oracle Arena.

US Navy painting crew at the East Oakland Youth Development Center, 2006

History

Today's International Blvd. was called the Oakland-San Leandro Road in the 19th century, a county road connecting Oakland with San Leandro. Along this road, small settlements developed with names such as Melrose, Elmhurst and Fitchburg. All these were annexed by the city of Oakland after the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. After annexation, the Oakland-San Leandro Road was renamed East 14th Street, a name which lasted for most of the 20th century, until it was renamed International Blvd. Both Foothill Boulevard and MacArthur Boulevard, which run through the heart of East Oakland, were a part of the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental highway, from 1913 until 1927. MacArthur Blvd. was the main route from San Francisco, until it was replaced by the MacArthur Freeway (580) over most of the same route.

The area known as Brooklyn (until it was also annexed by the city in 1909) was once suburban and predominantly white until World War II, when it became the backbone of Oakland's African American community due to an influx of workers from the southeastern U.S. and the exodus of more prosperous whites to suburbs south and east of the city, such as San Leandro, Hayward and Walnut Creek. In the 1950s and 1960s, many areas of East Oakland remained predominantly white. In recent decades, the African American population has been steadily declining (as more middle-class African Americans are seeking opportunities in the very same nearby suburbs white residents moved to years earlier, and even outside of the Bay Area altogether) and is being replaced by a Latino and Asian (primarily Cambodian, Lao, and Chinese) population. Fruitvale has become the backbone of Oakland's Latino community. A diverse Asian population, including Chinese, Vietnamese, Laotian, and other southeast Asian ethnic groups generally inhabit the area of East Oakland closest to downtown, from Chinatown east to San Antonio. Blacks still maintain majority status in East Oakland, where they represent over 54% of East Oakland's residents. The deep east side has a population of roughly 15,000 and is 63% Black thus giving it the highest concentration of African-Americans in Northern California and the highest concentration of Blacks in California outside of Los Angeles.

Demographics

Fruitvale has become the backbone of Oakland's Latino community, in which East Oakland had a rapid increase of 132% of Latinos between 1990 and 2000. Latinos make up 38% of the population of East Oakland. There is also a diverse Asian population, including Chinese, Vietnamese, Lao, and other southeast Asian ethnic groups generally inhabit the area of East Oakland closest to downtown, from Chinatown east to San Antonio. Asians make up smaller percentage of only 4% of the population, but between 1990 and 2000 saw an increase of 13%. Between 1990 and 2000 both the white and black population of East Oakland saw a decrease in their populations by 24% and 16% respectively. Nonetheless, African Americans predominate in East Oakland, where they represent over 54% of East Oakland's residents. The deep east side has a population of roughly 15,000 residents and is 63% African American thus maintaining the highest concentration of African Americans in Northern California and the highest concentration of African Americans in California outside of Los Angeles. The Foothill Square neighborhood in East Oakland, located off of MacArthur Blvd., has the highest concentration of African American residents of any Oakland neighborhood, at 75.4%. Though the population of whites had decreased, they still made up 4% of the population.

With the increase of the population between 1990 and 2000 the number of households in the area increased by 3.4%. The residents work in all kinds of job areas including service, sales, transportation, construction, and even management and professional positions while 9.1% of the population is unemployed. For the whites who stayed, it was often because they were too poor to relocate and saw an unemployment rate of 30%. In dominantly African American neighborhoods, such as Central East Oakland, between 40-70% of the population were without high school diplomas. The Latino population had 50-70% without high school diplomas and 5% with college degrees. Asians saw a smaller amount of the population without education with 39.3% without high school diplomas and 22.8% with bachelor's degrees.

Culture

Fruitvale Village by the Fruitvale BART Station

East Oakland, together with West Oakland and portions of North Oakland, is a hub for Northern California's African American community. Hip hop culture is associated with East Oakland. It is known within the hip hop community as "Oaktown", "O-Town" (old school names), or currently, "The Town". A number of East Bay rappers and singers such as Raphael Saadiq, Keak da Sneak, Dru Down, Too Short, Digital Underground, MC Hammer, Luniz, Hieroglyphics, Keyshia Cole, Philthy Rich, Db tha General, Shady Nate, and Bobby Brackins originated there. ..... Too Short was also one of the first rap artists to promote and sell records independently and is one of the pioneers responsible for the birth of Northern California's independent hip hop scene; leading other artists to pursue success in the music industry without the assistance of a major record company. The sound of the music was different from East Coast hip hop, which is known for its technique of sampling and looping to create a song. Instead, funk and blues were infused with synthesizers and drum machines, giving birth to the Bay Area hip hop sound known as Mobb music. Today, mainstream hip-hop continues to lyrically and musically incorporate much of what was pioneered in East Oakland.

Neighborhoods

Elmhurst

Elmhurst was originally a separate town, it was annexed by Oakland in 1909, and today is considered part of East Oakland. Although it was historically a white working-class neighborhood, it became predominantly African American after World War II, and today, Latinos now form about half of Elmhurst's population. Elmhurst was the site of one of the large carbarns for the Key System's streetcars, the Elmhurst Carhouse. Chevrolet opened an auto assembly plant in Elmhurst in 1915, which shut down in the 1960s.

Brookfield Village

Located near the Oakland International Airport. The main streets are 98th Avenue and Edes Avenue. The Brookfield District is located from 85th Avenue to 98th Avenue. Brookfield Village stops at the Union Pacific (formerly Southern Pacific) train tracks after Railroad Avenue. Brookfield Village was built during the early 1900s. It later had a home-building boom during World War II in response to the influx of workers needed for the war industries, on land which had been zoned for industrial uses. In the 1990s, the neighborhood held an annual summer get-together called the Never Worry Picnic as a contrast to a crime rate that is 191% higher than the national average.

Fruitvale

• Dimond District
• Laurel
• Peralta Hacienda
• Jingle Town

Lower Hills District

• Crocker Highlands
• Glenview
• Grass Valley
• Lakeshore
• Lincoln Highlands
• Tuxedo
• Redwood Heights
• Crestmont

Central/Deep East Oakland

• Arcadia Park
• Arroyo Viejo
• Blandon/Glenly/Fontaine
• Brookfield Village
• Canyon Oaks
• Castlemont
• Castlewood/Flintridge
• Coliseum
• Columbia Gardens
• Cox
• Durant Square
• Eastmont, Oakland, California, the location of Eastmont Town Center, the last surviving indoor shopping mall in Oakland. Now made into a center for the elderly as well as doctor's offices. And grocery stores and CVS.
• Eastmont Hills
• Fairfax District, a distinct business district centered on the intersection of Fairfax Avenue and Foothill Boulevard. The Fairfax Theatre building keynotes the district. Each East Oakland business district historically had its own movie theatre.
• Fitchburg
• Foothill Square
• Frick
• The Gate
• Greenridge Drive
• Havenscourt
• Hegenberger
• Highland
• Iveywood
• Las Palmas
• Malcolm Heights
• Maxwell Park
• Melrose
• Mills Gardens
• Millsmont
• Monte Vista Villas
• Lockwood Gardens
• North Stonehurst
• Oak Knoll
• Ridgemont
• San Antonio, which includes smaller neighborhoods such as The Twomps and Jingletown.
• Seminary. This neighborhood includes Mills College.
• Seneca Toler
• Sequoyah
• Sequoyah Heights, part of the larger Oak Knoll neighborhood
• Sobrante Park
• South Stonehurst
• Toler Heights
• Woodland

Food and Liquor Stores

Along with the socioeconomic disparities that people in East Oakland face, is the issue of food scarcity. East Oakland is considered a food desert because of the lack of access to affordable, healthy, fresh food. Some studies have found that food was considered one of the highest priorities and came second to shelter. The participants claim that they knew how to eat healthy and about the importance of a nutritious diet, but the availability and cost of the food outweighed potential health outcomes. The people were more concerned about getting enough food that they would not starve rather than focusing on the nutrition of what they were eating.

With the changes in state funding to housing and the movement of impoverished groups in the 1930s, East Oakland became an area where poorer people lived which also resulted in a major loss of industry as businesses and markets started to close down and relocate to more financially sustainable areas. As time went on, supermarkets and other businesses saw East Oakland as an “undesirable place for residential and commercial investment” so few new stores opened up in place of the ones that left. The smaller commercial stores that did stick around were forced to raise the prices of their food and focus more on selling alcohol and tobacco products to stay afloat. In the flatlands of East Oakland there are only four supermarkets and over 40 liquor stores. Alcohol was easy to sell and made the stores more money, but the number of liquor stores is proportional to the levels of crime in violence in the area. Additionally, the majority of the population of East Oakland are Latinos and African Americans, both groups who have higher predisposition to alcohol-related diseases.

As far as the stores that do sell food, a study by YPAR (Youth Participatory Action Research) 2.0 showed that the most available foods were chips, soda, and candy. Because it is cheap and available, these are the foods that people buy although they have little to no nutritional value and make people at a higher risk for diabetes, obesity, and other health problems. YPAR 2.0 is a method of conducting research done by the youth in the community to try and address the problems they and their families face. By going across East Oakland and classifying it as a food desert and critiquing the limited access to healthy food, they pushed for liquor and corner stores to have fresh produce and nutritious staple foods visible and affordable to the members of the community. As a result, stores responded and started to sell fresh produce from local farmers and receive deliveries twice a week for fresh produce.

Notable residents

A list of notable people who have lived or currently live in East Oakland:

• Natalia Anciso, artist
• A-Plus, rapper from hip-hop group Souls of Mischief
• Jesus Barraza, artist
• Sway Calloway journalist, producer, radio personality, and rapper
• Keyshia Cole, singer
• Mark Curry, actor, comedian, and host
• Mabel Craft Deering, journalist
• Sheila E., American Music Award and Grammy Award-winning singer, drummer and percussionist
• Vester Lee Flanagan, gunman in the deaths of two U.S. journalists
• MC Hammer, American Music Award and Grammy Award-winning Rap singer, dance artist
• Kamaiyah, rapper
• Keak da Sneak, rapper
• Kreayshawn, rapper
• Damian Lillard, professional basketball player, Portland Trail Blazers
• Numskull, rapper from hip-hop duo, The Luniz
• Phesto, rapper from hip-hop group Souls of Mischief
• Philthy Rich, rapper
• Favianna Rodriguez, artist
• Raphael Saadiq, singer/songwriter and member of Tony! Toni! Toné!
• Tajai, rapper from hip-hop group Souls of Mischief
• Too $hort, rapper
• Lateef the Truthspeaker, rapper
• V-Nasty, rapper
• William S. Rice, early 20th-century block print artist
• D'wayne Wiggins, musician and member of Tony! Toni! Toné!
• Yukmouth, rapper from hip-hop duo, The Luniz
• Baba Zumbi, rapper from hip-hop duo, Zion I