Emeryville Industrial

This is one of my wife’s favorite spots to spend a weekend day or to meet someone before or after going into the city. It is not that the shops here are particularly amazing. With the exception of Ikea, we have most of these places on this side of the hill. The main difference is that they are all conveniently located within walking distance of each other. Of course, the other thing is that they are perfectly located, not just because it is the last stop before you hit the Bay Bridge and head into the craziness of the city, but also, because the bay is so close by that it produces a cool breeze.

I know Ikea gets a bad wrap, but my wife likes that cheap Norwegian furniture. I can’t tell you how many of those things I’ve put together for the house. In addition, there is a great Barnes and Noble, one of my personal favorites. Back in the life before kids, I used to slip into one of those comfy seats and enjoy leafing through a magazine or trying out the first few pages of a novel. There are also several outlet stores around, and the new, stylish furniture really gives the area a very upscale suburban feel.

The other thing that is great about the area is the restaurants—again mostly things that we have in Walnut Creek, but located more closely together. There is an Elephant Bar, a PF Chang’s and a California Pizza Kitchen, for example.

The other great thing is that this is such a diverse area with people of all races and colors. It makes for much more interesting people watching than the Wonder Bread suburbs.

This is not just a giant shopping area. Several companies make there headquarters in Industrial Emeryville. Novartis, for example, the pharmaceutical company is one of several in the healthcare field that have their North America headquarters here. Ihi Environmental (a green consulting firm) and Alibris (a sort of Amazon type online bookseller) are a couple of other companies that also base themselves out of Emeryville. Again, it is the location that makes this so attractive to corporations--not only because they are so close to the city (without being in its high rent areas), but also because Emeryville is famous for how much office space it has available and because the workers have a lot of choices in terms of places to lunch—yet another good recruiting point for these companies.

There are only a few residential streets in this neighborhood and they are mostly taken up by a gated condominium project on the east. This is right by Emery Middle School, attended by locals mostly outside of this neighborhood.

What you probably don’t know about this location is that it used to be a Native American burial ground. In fact, the developers had to carefully remove the remains of the Costonians who lived here before they set down the foundations for the new shopping area. Some of the bones however, were kept in place. So next time you are at the mall keep that in mind.