Piedmont Avenue, Oakland, California
Encyclopedia
The Piedmont Avenue neighborhood
is a district in North Oakland, California
. It is named for Piedmont Avenue, the main commercial street of the district. The neighborhood is bounded by Broadway on the west, Oakland Avenue and City of Piedmont
(a separate municipality, an enclave within Oakland) on the East, the Mountain View Cemetery on the north, and the MacArthur Freeway (Interstate 580) on the south.
Historically, the Piedmont Avenue shopping area has provided retail shopping for the upscale city of Piedmont, California
, and many trendy restaurants and boutique retailers line the street.
There are several landmarks in the area. The center of the Piedmont Avenue commercial strip is a Julia Morgan
-designed 1916 red brick building, originally built as the Fred C. Turner Stores, which is at the corner of 40th St. and Piedmont Avenue. It now houses several gourmet food merchants. Next door is the location of the original Longs Drugs
store, which is now home to a tapas
bar.
At the north end of Piedmont Avenue and Pleasant Valley Avenue is the hillside Mountain View Cemetery, which was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted
and is just up the street from the Julia Morgan designed Chapel of the Chimes
.
Piedmont Avenue was once the terminus of the Key System
's C line, which provided interurban
train service to San Francisco until the late 1950s. The station building at 41st Street is still there, but a parking lot now occupies the land where the tracks were. A mural on the old station building and memorial plaque commemorate the Key System days. Several AC Transit
bus lines now serve the neighborhood including the C Transbay line, an express bus
with WiFi internet service, which takes passengers directly to the Transbay Terminal in Downtown San Francisco, without bus transfers
Kaiser Permanente
's flagship hospital is located in the southern part of the neighborhood.
Piedmont Avenue Elementary School, located north of the business district, has grades Kindergarten through 5th. Attendance is roughly 350; average class size about 20. The Catholic Church of Saint Leo the Great also operates a school on Piedmont Avenue. A small private school, Park Day also has a middle school campus located on Ridgeway near Piedmont,http://www.churchofstleothegreat.org/About.html and the Archway School (grades K-8) is at 41st and Gilbert http://www.archwayschool.org/.
A small park east of Piedmont Avenue contains an open-air section of Glen Echo Creek.
The Piedmont Avenue commercial area features numerous locally-owned small businesses, including shops, bars and restaurants, an independent movie theater, a gym, and numerous specialty stores. There are several coffee shops, a tea shop, and a number of restaurants with diverse types of food. There is a full-service grocery and several smaller food stores. Piedmont Avenue's Fentons Creamery
, founded in 1893, was featured in Pixar
's 2009 movie Up
.http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/27/DDK517QG6J.DTL
Neighbourhood
A neighbourhood or neighborhood is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town or suburb. Neighbourhoods are often social communities with considerable face-to-face interaction among members. "Researchers have not agreed on an exact definition...
is a district in North 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...
. It is named for Piedmont Avenue, the main commercial street of the district. The neighborhood is bounded by Broadway on the west, Oakland Avenue and City of Piedmont
Piedmont, California
Piedmont is a small, affluent city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is surrounded by the city of Oakland. The population was 10,667 at the 2010 census. Piedmont was incorporated in 1907 and was developed significantly in the 1920s and 1930s...
(a separate municipality, an enclave within Oakland) on the East, the Mountain View Cemetery on the north, and the MacArthur Freeway (Interstate 580) on the south.
Historically, the Piedmont Avenue shopping area has provided retail shopping for the upscale city of Piedmont, California
Piedmont, California
Piedmont is a small, affluent city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is surrounded by the city of Oakland. The population was 10,667 at the 2010 census. Piedmont was incorporated in 1907 and was developed significantly in the 1920s and 1930s...
, and many trendy restaurants and boutique retailers line the street.
There are several landmarks in the area. The center of the Piedmont Avenue commercial strip is a Julia Morgan
Julia Morgan
Julia Morgan was an American architect. The architect of over 700 buildings in California, she is best known for her work on Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California...
-designed 1916 red brick building, originally built as the Fred C. Turner Stores, which is at the corner of 40th St. and Piedmont Avenue. It now houses several gourmet food merchants. Next door is the location of the original Longs Drugs
Longs Drugs
Longs Drugs is an American chain of over 40 drug stores throughout the State of Hawaii. Before being acquired by CVS Caremark in 2008, it was a chain of over 500 stores, located primarily on the West Coast of the United States...
store, which is now home to a tapas
Tapas
Tapas are a wide variety of appetizers, or snacks, in Spanish cuisine. They may be cold or warm ....
bar.
Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted was an American journalist, social critic, public administrator, and landscape designer. He is popularly considered to be the father of American landscape architecture, although many scholars have bestowed that title upon Andrew Jackson Downing...
and is just up the street from the Julia Morgan designed Chapel of the Chimes
Chapel of the Chimes (Oakland, California)
Chapel of the Chimes was founded in 1909 as a crematory and columbarium in Oakland, California. The present building dates largely from a 1928 redevelopment based on the designs of the architect Julia Morgan. The Moorish- and Gothic-inspired interior is a maze of small rooms featuring ornate...
.
Piedmont Avenue was once the terminus of the Key System
Key System
The Key System was a privately owned company which provided mass transit in the cities of Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Emeryville, Piedmont, San Leandro, Richmond, Albany and El Cerrito in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area from 1903 until 1960, when the system was sold to a newly formed public...
's C line, which provided interurban
Interurban
An interurban, also called a radial railway in parts of Canada, is a type of electric passenger railroad; in short a hybrid between tram and train. Interurbans enjoyed widespread popularity in the first three decades of the twentieth century in North America. Until the early 1920s, most roads were...
train service to San Francisco until the late 1950s. The station building at 41st Street is still there, but a parking lot now occupies the land where the tracks were. A mural on the old station building and memorial plaque commemorate the Key System days. Several AC Transit
AC Transit
AC Transit is an Oakland-based regional public transit agency serving the western half of Alameda County and parts of western Contra Costa County in the western, Bay-side area of the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area...
bus lines now serve the neighborhood including the C Transbay line, an express bus
Express bus
An express bus service is a bus service that is intended to run faster than normal bus services between the same two commuter points....
with WiFi internet service, which takes passengers directly to the Transbay Terminal in Downtown San Francisco, without bus transfers
Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is an integrated managed care consortium, based in Oakland, California, United States, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield...
's flagship hospital is located in the southern part of the neighborhood.
Piedmont Avenue Elementary School, located north of the business district, has grades Kindergarten through 5th. Attendance is roughly 350; average class size about 20. The Catholic Church of Saint Leo the Great also operates a school on Piedmont Avenue. A small private school, Park Day also has a middle school campus located on Ridgeway near Piedmont,http://www.churchofstleothegreat.org/About.html and the Archway School (grades K-8) is at 41st and Gilbert http://www.archwayschool.org/.
A small park east of Piedmont Avenue contains an open-air section of Glen Echo Creek.
The Piedmont Avenue commercial area features numerous locally-owned small businesses, including shops, bars and restaurants, an independent movie theater, a gym, and numerous specialty stores. There are several coffee shops, a tea shop, and a number of restaurants with diverse types of food. There is a full-service grocery and several smaller food stores. Piedmont Avenue's Fentons Creamery
Fentons Creamery
Fentons Creamery is a historic ice cream parlor and restaurant located on Piedmont Avenue in Oakland, California, USA.It opened in 1894 on the corner of 41st and Howe streets before moving to its present location in 1961, a few blocks away...
, founded in 1893, was featured in Pixar
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios, pronounced , is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide...
's 2009 movie Up
Up (2009 film)
Up is a 2009 American computer-animated comedy-adventure film produced by Pixar, distributed by Walt Disney Pictures and presented in Disney Digital 3-D. The film premiered on May 29, 2009 in North America and opened the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, becoming the first animated and 3D film...
.http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/27/DDK517QG6J.DTL
External links
- Piedmont Avenue Elementary School
- Piedmont Avenue Neighborhood Community List
- Piedmont Avenue Neighborhood Improvement League
- Interactive Map - Oakland Convention and Visitors Bureau
- East Bay Neighborhoods: Piedmont Avenue, Oakland - Guide from the San Francisco Chronicle
- Mountain View Cemetery
- Glen Echo Creek
- Oakland City Councilmember Jane Brunner, who represents the Piedmont Avenue neighborhood