Merritt

Merritt is one of the lessor known communities of Oakland and for good reason. The neighborhood is commonly known as the area encompassing 6th street, East 18th street, Lakeshore Avenue on Lake Merritt and East 10th Street. The locals are typically black or Asian, poor and commonly unpleasant.

The residential neighborhood lies on a flat terrain, developed in a grid-like formation. The district is lower-class and residential, made up of mostly dilapidated one-story homes and two-story apartment buildings. Front lawns are bordered by ugly chain-linked fences only holding in the overgrown shrubbery that covers half the building front. Driveways are narrow and cut into the back of the house, dividing each property from the one to its rear.

The Merritt business district doesn’t offer much, just a few Asian cuisine restaurants, Laundromats and gritty corner stores. Small businesses typically line its borders. They are protected with bars across the windows and double bolted doors. Storefronts and residential signs are typically covered with graffiti marks and unpleasant scribbles.

For those looking to spend time outside, Clinton Square Park is one of the only grassy areas in the neighborhood, but usually acts as a refuge to the homeless. Public transportation usually combs the borders of the Merritt district, connecting the locals to Lake Merritt Bart station and the greater east Oakland.

On the plus side, the area boasts five blocks of lake side terrain (half of which are currently under redevelopment). Laney College lies just west of Merritt and is one of the few perks of the neighborhood. Formerly a university high school, the now-college is the largest of the Peralta Community College District in the greater Alameda area.

Merritt is a small neighborhood to the south of the lake that bears its name. It is a poor neighborhood and one of the rare flat areas of East Bay. The neighborhood is densely packed, with lots of pre-1950 buildings and newer public housing units whose cookie cutter look give them away.

There is a bit of spillover in terms of Chinese restaurants (Chinatown is nearby) but these are rather run down looking restaurants. Strangely things don’t even improve near the lake, even though you would think that the lake side real estate would make things more attractive for developers.

There are some nice touches here and there. Like the Lakeside Baptist Church that uses a modernized version of Mission architecture.

The local high school is Dewey, one of the truly bad public high schools in Oakland. This is definitely not where you want to send your kids if you have any say in the matter.

Overall this is a pretty bad neighborhood despite its location by the lake.