Christie Ave, Emerybay

Christie Ave. is a short but a jam packed street. It has just about every kind of mediocre chain type store that you can imagine from Fed Ex to Burger King. Most people get onto Christie when they come off the freeway onto Powell Street. Christie is the first street you come to. It curves around and ends on Shellmound on the southern side. Right at this curve is the Powell Street Shopping Plaza. It has just about what you might want if you are on your break from work. It has a Trader Joes and a Burger King. It has a record store and a Starbucks and Jamba Juice. But it is pretty much very average strip mall. On the inside of the curve is a Sheraton Hotel. (Hotels are something that Emeryville does not lack. It is basically a city set up for conventions and business HQ’s.) Christie really suffers from its surroundings, having very little boost in comparison.

To the north of Powell, near the Denny’s restaurant, Christie has fewer stores--although you will still find a car rental place, copy place and a little eatery. (Like I said, this is all about catering to the needs of visiting business types.) There are also a couple of hotels and a couple of condos on the remainder of the block. It is clean and looks relatively safe although I would not want to walk these streets alone at night. The most interesting part of the street is an entrance to a plaza area that has ivy all over it. Otherwise this is pretty forgettable.