|
Rockridge is a residential neighborhood and commercial district in Oakland, California. Rockridge is generally defined as the area east of Telegraph Avenue, south of the Berkeley city limits, west of the Oakland hills and north of the intersection of Pleasant Valley Avenue/51st Street and Broadway. It is known for being one of the wealthiest areas of Oakland. Rockridge was listed by Money Magazine in 2002 as one of the "best places to live".〔(Rockridge District Association )〕 It lies at an elevation of 187 feet (57 m). Some residential portions of the neighborhood consist mainly of relatively large homes built between the 1920s and the 1950s, although some homes date even earlier to 1909–1912. Other portions of the neighborhood consist of small bungalows and cottages. In other sections, multi-family apartment buildings add density which supports nearby transit and retail. == History == Rockridge is named for the outcroppings of rock at the northern end of the long shutter ridge formed by the Hayward Fault which encloses the linear valley in which the Montclair district of Oakland is situated. An example of this rock can be seen at an abandoned quarry adjacent to the Rockridge Shopping Center on Pleasant Valley Road. This quarry was operated well into the 1950s and is now used as a reservoir for the Claremont Country Club. Prior to the construction of the shopping center in the late 1960s, the Broadway side of the shopping center had a used car lot. The main thoroughfare in the area other than College Avenue is now Pleasant Valley Avenue. Originally Pleasant Valley Avenue did not cross over the hill from Piedmont Avenue to Broadway - instead it terminated at Piedmont Avenue while continuing along a large portion of what is now known as Grand Avenue. The main link between Piedmont Avenue and Broadway was the - still existing - Mather Street that would turn into 42nd by Oakland Technical High School. A short, small, street called McAdam existed at what is now the current Pleasant Valley and 51st junction but ended at Gilbert Street. The expansion of McAdam into Pleasant Valley and continuation over the hill did not happen until the 1960s.〔(Old Oakland Maps )〕 Like many neighborhoods, Rockridge has had its ups and downs. Prior to the completion of Highway 24 in 1964, Miles Avenue and several other streets were laid out differently. Residents living in the area at the time, once known as "Little Italy" because of a large number of Italian immigrants, saw the decline of the neighborhood's human scale into the 1970s due to the separation of the neighborhood caused by the SR-24 freeway. In the mid to late 1970s, some storefronts on College Avenue were boarded up. However, due to the success of a number of new businesses, who together formed a "critical mass" of commercial attraction, the Rockridge commercial district began to thrive again. Until the 1950s, electric trolley trains ran along College Avenue on what is now AC Transit bus routes 51A and 51B. Additionally, as late as 1959, the railroad tracks of the Sacramento Northern Railway ran along Shafter Avenue, crossed College Ave. near where the Rockridge BART station is now and ran along the corridor of what is now state Highway 13 (the portion after Ashby Ave.), through Montclair Village and over into Contra Costa County. Film footage of this route has been broadcast over local PBS TV station KQED in a 1990s documentary on the development of the East Bay. The Oakland Firestorm of 1991 came within 1/2 mile of College Avenue, destroying a large part of the Upper Rockridge area east of Broadway. A memorial wall was created under the Rockridge BART station, located on College Avenue, following the fire. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Rockridge, Oakland, California」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|