Caballo Hills

Lived here for 6 years and have enjoyed it immensely. We know many of our neighbors, feel safe walking around at any time. It's not a dense neighborhood, but lots of open space around us yet, with the addition of Merritt College - walking access to Bus Lines. Leona Canyon nature trails are here - lots of hills to work out on. Amazing views of downtown Oakland and SF. Nice, paved wide streets. Wish people would slow down a bit more and obey the 30 MPH speed limits on Campus Drive. Lots of people out with their dogs every day. Not a ton of kids, but my HOA has a pool and in the Summer, there are plenty of kiddies in the pool. Very diverse, with higher educated folks as the home prices are up there. Only a 5 minute drive to a local Safeway, dry cleaners, Peets Cafe, liquor store and a GREAT local arts/craft (locally owned) store where we've bought most of our gifts over the years.

Just above Mills College in the lower half of the Oakland Hills, you will find Caballo Hills, home to Merritt College. Merritt College is one of the fine community colleges in the Bay Area. They offer a broad range of classes to an eclectic student body.

The neighborhood is also book-ended by two good parks, Leona Park in the southeast and Leona Heights Park in the northwest. These parks are good for hiking offering pleasant views of the Bay (as much of the neighborhood does) but many of the trails are poorly maintained.

The residential areas of the neighborhood are fairly heterogeneous. You get lots of newer McMansions up on the crest of the hill. These are sprawling newer structures resembling many of the condominium complexes that have become a fixture in the gentrification of Oakland. They are at once large, imposing structures while remaining somehow flimsy looking.

Down near the freeway on the southern end of the neighborhood, the streets feel more like a rural area with no sidewalks and dirt driveways. The streets slope along the natural contours of the hill and the homes are similar to those you find in the country—functional and worn.

In the center of the neighborhood, you have tightly packed condos—now exact replicas of the kind of gentrified apartments you see in the city. They stare across at each other like soldiers at attention, blocking out much of the view of the Bay with their perfect and unvarying symmetry. Up the hill from these structures are empty streets, clearly where the developers planned to erect more such structures just as the financial crisis hit.

Overall, this is a great diverse neighborhood in which to live and offers various choices depending on your preference.