USA - California - Oakland

Very diverse port city between bay and hills

(photos from 2004, 2005 and 2009)

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Harbor and downtown

Oakland (map), my hometown for 25 years and a port city across the Bay from San Francisco, is sometimes labeled with "There is no there there", as quoted (out of context) from Gertrude Stein. Oakland is described at Wikipedia, which mentions in particular that over 150 languages are spoken in Oakland, making it with Long Beach the most ethnically diverse cities in the US. Attractions listed there include the modern Jack London Square, the excellent Oakland Museum of California, and its very own Chinatown whose few tourists make it more authentic than San Francisco's Chinatown.

Jack London Square (map) on the waterfront of Oakland commemorates the famous and colorful writer from San Francisco. As shown in the next 360-degree panorama, marinas mix with restaurants, hotels and shops in a very pleasant and relaxed atmosphere.

Parts of downtown Oakland have undergone a thorough renovation in the last decades.

Oakland Hills

At its uphill end, Oakland is bordered by a great collection of parks, with many redwood, eucalyptus and other trees, as well as endless trails (one of them continues to the Canadian and Mexican borders).

The hills contain fine residences with spectacular views. However, the interwoven forest and houses are prone to dangerous fires at the end of the long dry summers. Probably every single home in the next photo was newly built after the Oakland Firestorm of 1991, in which over 3000 homes were destroyed and 25 people killed, many trapped in the narrow winding streets seen here. The following panorama gives a wider view of the same area, showing also the view toward San Francisco and the Golden Gate on the other side of the San Francisco Bay, crossed by the very long San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge built in the 1930s.

From a different angle we see Hiller Highlands, a condominium development which includes our home (map, seen on the ridge in the middle). All these houses were rebuilt after 1991. Several panoramas from the roof of our home are also shown under menacing skies, the first spanning 360 degrees.

Fog

Fog in Oakland comes in different forms. In the next view we see the famous San Francisco fog, which is really a very low, thin and cool cloud layer blown in from the moist Pacific Ocean during summer.

Less common is ground fog through which streetlights shine and buildings emerge.