Acorn Industrial

Simply put, Acorn Industrial is a lowly, industrialized community with port businesses relating to the transaction of manufactured goods. It spans about 0.8 square miles of terrain, which equates to about six to seven blocks of commercial real-estate. For locals, the area is really just known for its plethora of abandoned buildings, shipyards, warehouses and industrial depots. You really can’t tell from the outside because there are no windows or signs that broadcast their businesses. Demographically speaking, the neighborhood has a total population of around 1,500, of which are mostly african american residents with a small asian minority.

Acorn is highly industrial, just not with anything glamorous. Like I said before, the area is loaded with gritty depots, storage supply centers, unglamorous businesses parks (which are usually protected by chain-linked fencing), loading docks for the transportation of goods and machinery and a few abandoned buildings with bars on the windows and business-based trucks parked outside. There’s really no reason for the general public to visit the area.

Acorn Industrial is a lowly, almost unlivable environment. Of the apartments I see (which tend to be hidden underneath the gritty, blemished landscape), they are bland apartment complexes riddled with crime. Most of these apartments offer about five rooms of living space and are rented out to the lower-class types. You can also find a fair share of old, 1950’s homes that are boxy in shape and plotted on shabby, desperate-for-attention properties.

If you do choose to visit here, most people take the West Oakland Bart station which skirts the western end of the neighborhood and provides quick transportation out of the district, as well. For entertainment, there are only a few neighborhood watering holes and back alley-type restaurants that make you feel sketchy just dining in the area.

As the name indicates, Acorn Industrial is an industrial area that includes the shipyards as part of it. You mostly find businesses that are in some ways related to the port in this area such as uniform and hardware suppliers , and it has a kind of ugly industrial look to it that isn’t particularly hospitable.

There are also some businesses you might not expect in this type of a neighborhood, however. For example, Galileo Learning, a company that organizes summer programs with an emphasis on continuing the education of young people in the Bay Area, has its headquarters here as does Linden Street Dance Studio, where people go to learn and improve their formal dance skills-very popular for those preparing for weddings. (Dance Magazine has its headquarters just two blocks away.)

As far as restaurants and watering holes, there aren’t many, but worth mention are Nellie’s Soulfood and the Linden Street Brewery. Nellie’s has very good food, though Nellie is a bit hit or miss when it comes to welcoming service. As far as getting a great dark lager in Oakland, you can’t go wrong with the Linden Street Brewery, one of those start-up breweries that really takes the care necessary to make hops exquisite.

That’s pretty much it for this neighborhood. Not where you want to live, but if you work near the port or live in West Oakland there are a couple of places worth checking out.