innerducky

We've lived in Longfellow since 2003 and have watched the neighborhood change tremendously over the years (including the name Longfellow being re-instituted; when we moved here this was simply "North Oakland"). The recent housing bust has allowed more folks from SF to buy houses in the area, which has had such a positive impact.

We now have a Facebook page where people easily organize park cleanups, seed-bombings, and ask each other advice. The streets are starting to fill out with the trees we've all been planting. The bike lanes on Market and West are filled, all day, with commuters and joy-riders. And most importantly, we are all getting to know each other better - we talk to each other, compare notes on crime and blight issues, and work *together* in order to make our neighborhood great.

While Longfellow doesn't have it's own commercial strip (though I would give money to any Kickstarter campaign that went towards opening a coffee shop on Market) we are but three long blocks to Telegraph, with its restaurants, coffee shops, yarn store, bike store, gaming store... closer than some spots in Temescal. And should you need to make that Target/Home Depot/Ikea run, the wonder that is Emeryville is but a block away.

The F bus runs down Market. The Macarthur BART is a quick 10 minute walk away (and if you commute, more and more people are walking West from Macarthur to get home at the end of the day). The bike ride to the ferry is a near straight shot down Telegraph/Broadway. I regularly ride my Xtracycle to Berkeley Bowl West through the Emeryville Greenway to go shopping.

To be fair, there are things we don't like about Longfellow. There is crime, in the form of break-ins and stolen cars, but no more than in Rockridge or Temescal. And there are shootings, which seem to take place in spurts depending in if there is some turf war happening. The shootings are a real drag - the fact that we are no longer shocked when we hear of a shooting is sad - it it the thing we like the least about Longfellow. They tend to take place late at night, and seem to be personal beefs rather than robberies gone awry.

But the positive energy of the neighbors is what sustains us. The folks walking their dogs, and more and more, their kids, down the block. Beautiful gardens popping up. Block parties, organized greening events, neighbors offering to help neighbors. Truly wonderful stuff happening here.

If you want a decent sized house with a fairly big yard, with great, eclectic neighbors, amenities all around, and lots of public transportation options, Longfellow is for you.