Upper Laurel

The Upper Laurel is in the midst of a dynamic transformation from an older neighborhood strip to a modern urban community center. The past couple of years have seen a yoga studio and several interesting new restaurants targeting younger residents and families appear, and lots of sprucing up of both residences and businesses. Diversity, openness, and acceptance are at the heart of the Upper Laurel, making it a true microcosm of what makes Oakland great as a modern American city. Many homes long-occupied by older neighborhood residents and retirees are now turning over to families with young children. People love walking the neighborhood, getting to know neighbors, and supporting local businesses, especially the much-loved Laurel Bookstore and Farmer Joe's. While many other neighborhoods have become somewhat overpriced in recent years, Laurel still offers affordable value for the money, plus great neighbors you can't put a price on.

Situated between Holy Names University and highway 580, Upper Laurel is a middle to lower-class neighborhood with very little to offer. The area only affords small, single-story shack houses that aren’t worth your time (or mine). For prospective residents, it spans about 0.5 square miles of unsafe, unglamorous terrain. Its racial makeup is a dense melting pot of ethnic residents with asian, black, white and hispanic sharing a sizable portion of the demographic. While some may call the area multicultural with affordable living, I can assure you that they are grossly misleading you.

Upper Laurel’s residential terrain is nothing special at all. It is, for the most part, stocked with California Bungalow style homes, probably built within the mid-20th Century (sometimes having bars on the windows). These homes are small and situated on thin (yet deep) properties with only provide room for a very thin driveway that usually skirts the side of the house. Many of these properties are unattended to and, as a result, gritty and unkempt. Lots are a bit blemished, with cracked cement driveways (sometimes taking up the entire front yard). Most of its mildly attractive residents are concentrated towards the northern tip of the neighborhood, but don’t get your hopes up. As a whole, house values are around $400,000.

There are also a number of apartment complexes that pepper the district. They are aesthetically no different than the homes that they surround. You will see them popping up as gritty, bland, two-story apartment homes (that concentrate towards the center of the neighborhood, especially around Maybelle Avenue). These residences only afford about four to five rooms of living space, and that’s about it. They are, as you might expect, pretty cheap, costing around $1,200 a month. Also, median household incomes are around $60,000/year.

For young families, students usually attend Laurel Elementary, American Indian Public Charter School or St. Lawrence O’Toole’s, all of which are within the neighborhood. The first two schools produce middle-of-the-road reputations with its local community, but O’Toole garners somewhat porous reviews. For their shopping, MacArthur Boulevard acts as the district’s main commercial strip, but doesn’t offer anything than your typical liquor store and varied blemished store fronts.

Upper Laurel is a middle-class mostly residential neighborhood just to the north of Mills College.

Upper Laurel is packed with California Bungalow style homes. Half of the homes in the neighborhood were built before 1950—not at all uncommon in this area. There are also a number of apartment buildings in the Upper Laurel area. These complexes sometimes present a false front, looking like a house in front but extending back along alley ways. In addition, there are some newer gated buildings in this neighborhood. Both kinds of apartments contribute to the high population density that this neighborhood has.

There are three schools in the neighborhood: Laurel Elementary, American Indian Public Charter School and St. Lawrence O’Toole’s. Laurel is a strong school that both tests well and has excellent community support. American Indian is also a very good, rigorous school. St. Lawrence O’Toole’s, on the other hand, has gotten mixed reviews from parents. Those that don’t like it claim that they have unrealistic expectations for students and that the staff is older and unresponsive to parents’ concerns. Since it’s a private school, I have no way to judge whether they do well on objective standards.

Upper Laurel’s main drag is MacArthur Blvd. There are several restaurants and stores along MacArthur. Restaurants include places like Louisiana Fried Chicken and Phnom Penh, both quite yummy. There are also an number of what you might call boutique stores. Mizaan, for example, is a really cool women’s clothing store with a similar aesthetic to Urban Outfitters, while Monique’s Clozet is a really sweet thrift store that specializes in women’s clothing as well. The one that I think is really unique, however, is Africa by the Bay, a store that sells everything African from clothing to body care products (such as moisturizers and shampoos). Very cool and very authentic.

There are even a couple of pretty good nightspots here, Laurel Lounge being the one that is on Upper Laurel’s side. Laurel Lounge is great neighborhood bar that has one of the most diverse clienteles you can find anywhere. It’s just a sports bar with a pool table--pretty standard, really--but seems to be right at the nexus where lots of different people from different walks of life congregate.

In the proverbial nutshell, this is a really hip, multicultural neighborhood with affordable homes and a feeling of authenticity.