Hi fellow Oaklanders,
My husband and me have been looking at apartments in Chinatown. They look amazing on paper but we don't know that area that well, besides the great restaurants and shops.
We've read some concerning comments about safety in this neighborhood but at the same time we've been living in Hoover-Foster for 2 years now and none of the alarming safety concerns that we heard about Hoover-Foster turned out to be true (yet). It's certainly not the prettiest area but we never felt unsafe here.
We're both come from places that people on Reddit usually describe as terribly unsafe (think big capital cities in Europe and South America), so our standards might probably be different from what would be expected here, which makes us consider Chinatown as a viable option.
(fyi: we don't have a car and don't have kids)
Any insights? Thank you
Good friend lives there. No car. What a dream. I love Chinatown
It’s kind of ideal, you’re near BART, food, the office-worker oriented businesses west of Broadway and the buy-for-the-day groceries of Chinatown. Lincoln school has a lot of events and is actually staffed and teeming with volunteers. I used to work in Chinatown as a kid in the 1970s up until the late ‘90s; it was booming then. The only downside I can think of is when there’s a protest on Broadway, the vandals smash Chinatown; they focus on the businesses and cars.
A lot of the stories that get traction re: violence in Chinatown generally have to do with unprovoked attacks against elderly victims by younger perps.
It's appalling & indicative of a chickenshit MF to prey on the elderly. But I honestly haven't heard about Chinatown in general in terms of being unsafe. Heck, I remember when Yung Kee was open suuuper late. I've definitely been around Chinatown at like 2:30 in the morning in the early '00s. It couldn't possibly any more "unsafe" now.
Just don't be a person that moves into a hood & then makes formal complaints about noise and/or crowds. They were there well before you moved in & it's you that needs to adapt.
Edit: couple typos
That won't be us for sure. We've both been used to a lot more noise than that
It's true that many of the perps have been younger, but the more obvious pattern is that entirely all of the perps have been black men.
I have a few friends there. They love it, but the streets are a lot quieter after dark than they used to be!
My friend loves it. Mostly older Chinese families in his building and it's extremely quiet. Tons of awesome markets and restaurants nearby, BART is only 2 blocks away. You're not going to have large parks or a yard, but it lacks a lot of the bullshit proximal to the Lake these days.
Live at city center (801 Franklin). It’s awesome. Great time to buy, unit prices have tanked massively and we just spent 1.5 million redoing the roof and air handling system in the building.
Kids go to Lincoln. DM me if you want to chat. Wife and I really enjoy it.
Walking distance to ghost town and their farmers market as well!
Good for food, groceries, walk-ability, and public transit access. I'd recommend Old Oakland over it unless you're actually Chinese. I lived in Old Oakland and went to adjacent Chinatown all the time.
I never felt unsafe there except at night. It is bustling during the day but since many of the residents are elderly, they are indoors by dark, and it's a bit spooky out. I think I was nearly mugged a couple times walking home from Lake Merritt Bart at night, but in Oakland my instinct was just to start running like a goob if I suspected anything.
I agree, while I don't live in Chinatown I live on the outskirts and walk there to the markets and restaurants on my days off. Laid back during daylight but after dark I'd keep my head on a swivel.
Assuming you can get a place its great! But lets just say many of thoes nice places are not open to everyone. a good buddy tried desperatly to buy a condo there and finally a realestate agent was just like " hey I am sorry they just wont sell to you"
You mean because he is not Chinese?
Obviously
I figured but I wanted to be sure.. how disgusting
If other races move in it won’t be Chinatown anymore.
Housing discrimination based on race. That's all that this is.
Did they give a reason?
not one I feel comfortable saying in public. use your imagination.
What are you talking about???
The Friday farmers market is a stand out. Strictly speaking that is adjacent, but realistically Chinatown makes a strong contribution.
Go there all the time for the good food and events. Never felt unsafe there day or night. The only thing that sucks is stuff there used to be open late into the night and now everything closes super early due to the ramant crimes against businesses all across Oakland. If OPD finally starts using some modern technology I assume Chinatown would be open late again in no time.
its expensive to live in chinatown even in downtown
Really? The condos at 9 and Franklin are like some of the best housing deals in the Bay
last time I rented was in San Leandro - $1350 for 1br/m but that was years ago, even right across the street from me was expensive. Its cheap if you live with parents tho.
It’s very urban and kind of run down. It has a battered air to it. But good for transportation. Most of downtown Oakland that is right outside of Chinatown is dead. I think other parts of Oakland would be nicer truthfully. Temescal has a busy street. Rockridge the same if u want to live in the urban parts of Oakland.
It’s not safe and it’s dirty