Upper Peralta Creek / Bartlett

Upper Peralta Creek is a tiny quarter mile neighborhood at the far eastern end of what is referred to as the Fruitvale District. Fruitvale is known as one of the most dangerous areas in Oakland. The neighborhood here, despite being only about a quarter of a mile in size, is home to some 3,000 residents. There have been 2 murders at the edges of this neighborhood between 2007 and 2009. Even if you consider these to be more outside the borders of Upper Peralta Creek, you still must consider the dangers of living in an area surrounded by other dangerous neighborhoods. This is the obvious negative when it comes to the Upper Peralta neighborhood.

There are some positives to the neighborhood however, if you are willing to brave the crime problems here. The neighborhood’s location up and away from Fruitvale BART gives it a little bit of a buffer from the worst of the crime problems in the area. Even though it is close to the freeway, Upper Peralta does have some modestly attractive streets. The California bungalows that characterize Oakland in general, and Upper Peralta Creek in specific, are here well-kept and not altogether unattractive. They are reminiscent of the some of the neighborhoods in the Berkeley Flats, though here there is a bit of a slope to the neighborhood.

Though there are a fair number of apartments in the neighborhood, they are not stacked one next to another, so you do not get that oppressive feel of an apartment city.

The closest elementary school is Fruitvale Elementary, which does not rank well in terms of academic performance. Given the gang problems and the poor schools, this is probably not the neighborhood for raising a family if you can avoid it.

Overall, this could be a good neighborhood if they would get crime under control and improve the schools, but as it stands, it is not where I would want to live.