Old Oakland
Encyclopedia
Historic district
A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries, historic districts receive legal protection from development....
in downtown Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
. The area is located on the northwest side of Broadway, between the City Center
Oakland City Center
Oakland City Center is an office and shopping and hotel complex in Downtown Oakland, California. The complex is the product of a redevelopment project begun in the late 1950s. It covers twelve city blocks between Broadway on the east, Martin Luther King Jr. Way...
complex and the Jack London Square
Jack London Square
Jack London Square is a popular tourist attraction on the waterfront of Oakland, California. Named after the author Jack London and owned by the Port of Oakland, it is the home of stores, restaurants, hotels, an Amtrak station, a ferry dock, the historic Saloon, the cabin Jack London lived in the...
district, and across Broadway from Chinatown
Chinatown, Oakland, California
The Chinatown neighborhood in Oakland, California, is a pan-Asian neighborhood which reflects Oakland's diverse Asian American community. It is frequently referred to as "Oakland Chinatown" in order to distinguish it from nearby San Francisco's Chinatown...
.
The Old Oakland district was the "original" downtown Oakland during the 1860s after Central Pacific Railroad
Central Pacific Railroad
The Central Pacific Railroad is the former name of the railroad network built between California and Utah, USA that formed part of the "First Transcontinental Railroad" in North America. It is now part of the Union Pacific Railroad. Many 19th century national proposals to build a transcontinental...
constructed a terminus on 7th Street. By the 1870s, elegant brick Victorian hotels were being built in the blocks surrounding the railroad station to accommodate travelers. The ground floor of the hotels were designed as series of narrow shops so that pedestrians would pass by many of them just walking down the block. The architectural styles of the time featured tall, cast-iron columns and large plate-glass windows.
The downtown began its decline after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, when the shopping district began moving to the blocks north of 14th.
In the 1970s and 1980s developers carefully rehabilitated and restored a block along 9th Street between Washington Street and Broadway, known as "Victorian Row". Notable structures on Victorian Row include the 1878 Nicholl Block building.
In its early days, the Oakland Tribune rented a small office on 9th Street. A sign for the Tribune office can still be seen hanging outside the building today (2007). A farmer's market is also held every Friday on the same stretch of 9th Street.
As of 2008, the neighborhood continues to gentrify as a 'downtown lifestyle' district, more bistros and boutiques have cropped-up, as more market-rate condominiums have been constructed nearby, and as transit-oriented development
Transit-oriented development
A transit-oriented development is a mixed-use residential or commercial area designed to maximize access to public transport, and often incorporates features to encourage transit ridership...
retail and housing become more and more in demand.
See also
- Oakland Chinatown
- Jack London SquareJack London SquareJack London Square is a popular tourist attraction on the waterfront of Oakland, California. Named after the author Jack London and owned by the Port of Oakland, it is the home of stores, restaurants, hotels, an Amtrak station, a ferry dock, the historic Saloon, the cabin Jack London lived in the...
- Lakeside Apartments DistrictLakeside Apartments District, Oakland, CaliforniaThe Lakeside Apartments District neighborhood, also known as The Gold Coast, and simply as The Lakeside, is one of Oakland, California's historic residential neighborhoods between its Downtown district and Lake Merritt...
- Oakland City CenterOakland City CenterOakland City Center is an office and shopping and hotel complex in Downtown Oakland, California. The complex is the product of a redevelopment project begun in the late 1950s. It covers twelve city blocks between Broadway on the east, Martin Luther King Jr. Way...
- OaksterdamOaksterdamOaksterdam is a cultural district on the north end of downtown Oakland, California, where medical cannabis in a variety of competitively priced smokeable and edible preparations is available for purchase in multiple cafes, clubs, and patient dispensaries. Oaksterdam is located on the north end of...
- Uptown OaklandUptown OaklandUptown is a neighborhood in Downtown Oakland, California, located just north of the center of downtown. Its boundaries are ill-defined, but most definitions include the area bounded by Grand Avenue at the north, Telegraph Avenue on the west, City Center plaza on the south, and Harrison Street on...