High in the hills above Oakland, CA is the quiet and beautiful Joaquin Miller Park.  Many of the park's 500 acres have sweeping views of the San Francisco Bay and adjacent cities.  Located just above one of the largest cities in Northern California, it is home to the only urban second-growth redwood groves in existence, and it offers many picnic areas and trails for families to enjoy.  Adjacent to both the Montclair and Redwood Heights neighborhoods, it is a pleasant respite for bike riding, hiking, or just a quiet time viewing the Bay.  As a result, Oakland homes for sale in this area are always in demand.    

The park is named after eccentric writer and poet Joaquin Miller, who once owned the land.  His home, called "The Abbey" is a California…

1986 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

   

Many new visitors arrive in Oakland daily, and many long term Oakland homeowners have never toured their city, nor discovered it's history.  If you are new to Oakland, or are considering purchasing a home here, the Oakland Walking Tours are a perfect opportunity to get to know the city's past and present downtown area. 

From May to October, these tours offer a free 90 minute walking tour through some of the historic and scenic areas of the Oakland downtown district from Jack London Square out to Lake Merritt.  History is everywhere, as are new and vital businesses awaiting your attention.

An example of the variety of the experience is the "Uptown to the Lake" tour. With the stress on classic Art Deco designs, it encompasses area…

2139 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

 Ballena Bay homes are beautifully located for those who literally want to have access to ocean water from a dock out their doorstep.  Many of the homes and townhouses here allow owners to step from their home directly onboard their boat that is tied up to their dock, and sail away into the Sunday sun on a pleasant weekend morning. 

Located directly across from San Francisco, with sweeping views all along the SF waterfront, and the adjacent SF Bay Bridge, the neighborhood is just a short distance from the U.S.S. Hornet at the deactivated Alameda Naval Air Station. Additionally, Ballena Bay is a truly a boater's paradise.  Besides the  berthing in the neighborhood, immediately adjacent to the homes, it is busy and handsome marina, with an active…

2517 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

With the exciting weekly and monthly activities that are scheduled all around Jack London Square and revitalized downtown Oakland there is as great deal of interest among buyers in the outstanding choices of housing in the area.  Jack London condos offer a wide variety of styles, prices and views.  The best part, no matter what home you choose, just about everything that you might need in terms of fun and community is within  walking distance for the busy resident. 

Enjoy the beautiful views as you walk along the waterfront, and make plans to shop at the weekly Farmer's Market in the Square with it's amazing variety of foods, entertainment,and crafts.  Meet with friends, and take a  ride on the nearby ferry vessel to San Francisco,and from there…

1702 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Of interest to local architecture and history buffs is the recent listing of 6401 Castle Dr. in the Piedmont Pines area of Oakland. Built in 1937, for a model home tour that was a part of the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island, it is on the market for the first time since the mid 1960's. (The Exposition Model Home Tour encompassed twelve homes in Contra Costa and Alameda counties.) With original Art Deco and Art Moderne features still intact, one gets that rare opportunity to seemingly slip into another time and place in history, if only for a moment.  One of the most interesting aspects of the house is the metal Art Deco inspired stairway, with posts of lighted glass blocks, framed by a large vertical leaded glass window, and…

3820 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

One of the more amazing Berkeley luxury homes is on the market, and offers buyers the opportunity to purchase a part of the Bay area's architectural history.  Known as the Spring Mansion, it sits high atop the hills of Berkeley above winding Arlington Avenue, among other similar architectural classics of its era.  Located at 1960 San Antonio Avenue, it was built in 1912 by John Hopkins Spring, a developer of some wealth, who secured the talents of famed architect John Hudson Thomas to create his dream home.   Spring's goal was to make this home the centerpiece of the subdivision called Thousand Oaks, which his firm was developing. Random

Now offered at 3.25 acres, it was originally built on 16 acres. The grounds, designed by Mark Daniels, were planted…

4417 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

If you are considering buying or selling an Oakland home or other Alameda county home soon, you might want to consider the conclusions arrived at by an analysis of MLS data done by the research division of Better Homes and Gardens Mason-McDuffie Real Estate. They concluded "a continued shortage of homes for sale combined with a strong demand to drive the median price of a home sharply higher in all 15 Alameda County communities in the second quarter of 2013." 

By way of illustration, with regard to individual homes, or "unit sales", in Alameda County, In 2013, the 2nd quarter median sales price of an existing single family detached home was $593,586 which was up 23 % from $480,812 in the 1st quarter, but more impressively, up 36% from the 2nd…

7916 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

The Epic Homes of the East Bay Contest- If you've been waiting for the chance to show off your home's artful design, and pick up a few more ideas along the way, this may be the event for you. The Epic Homes of the East Bay Contest is getting under way, with a chance to submit your home, and make the East Bay proud.  You don't have to own an estate to enter, humbler abodes are welcome, with any owner-occupied one to four unit residential property accepted. Those who enter may be lucky enough to receive a consultation with HGTV star Cora Sue Anthony, and be highlighted in her upcoming book, Cora Sue Anthony's Epic Homes of the East Bay, coming out sometime this winter. Submissions for the contest are accepted until July 15. Homes are judged on a wide…

2850 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Oakland's Trestle Glen area was built around transportation.  Before it was as you see it today, it was the heart of  railroad line which ran along Trestle Glen Creek (mostly underground, now), and was originally named Indian Gulch after the Huchiun Indians who lived in the area. That railroad ran through nearby Montclair, and back through the Oakland hills, carrying freight, passengers and tourists from 1893 to 1906 when it was rerouted and torn down. The next transportation influence to encourage growth and development was the expansion of streetcar lines which allowed homeowners in the neighborhood to travel the short distance from their newly built homes above Lakeshore Avenue to their jobs in downtown Oakland, or across the bay to San Francisco. 

…

2282 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

With so many hip new cultural events taking place here in the East Bay, and now more than ever here specifically in Oakland, it can be tough to pick what event to check out. There really has been a renaissance in Oakland,

with a total revitalization culturally, as an explosion of food, art, music and all types of expression have arrived on the scene.  From Art Murmur to the new Gourmet Ghetto in Oakland's Temescal district, one is not for want when yearning for a bit of the good stuff.  As a native growing up in the late 70's and early 80's, I remember Oakland in general, including downtown Oakland, Jack London Square, and the Temescal, as very deserted, like a ghost town. To see my city thriving now, and to encounter yet another awesome business or…

1803 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post