Oakland, California

Oakland, founded in 1852, is a major city on the east side (also called East Bay) of San Francisco Bay in Northern California in the United States. To its north lies Berkeley, home to the famous university campus (University of California, Berkeley). To its west stands San Francisco, across the Bay Bridge. To its south lies the island city of Alameda, and San Leandro lies to the southeast. Along the hills which run from north to east, Oakland borders five of the East Bay Regional Parks. In the center of Oakland, and completely surrounded by it (prompting the common analogy to a doughnut hole), is the wealthy independent city of Piedmont. Oakland is home of the Port of Oakland, one of three major shipping ports on the American West coast.

Related Topics:
1852 - East Bay - San Francisco Bay - California - United States - Berkeley - University of California, Berkeley - San Francisco - Bay Bridge - Alameda - San Leandro - East Bay Regional Parks - Doughnut hole - Piedmont - Port of Oakland

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Oakland has long been saddled with a public reputation as a high-crime city with a crumbling public education system. Since the 1970s, its per capita levels of carjacking, robbery, assault, drug possession and abuse, and homicide have ranked among the highest of all cities in the State of California.

Related Topics:
1970s - Carjacking - Robbery - Assault - Drug possession and abuse - Homicide

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However, economic recovery, the gradual decline of crime in the United States along with Oakland's weather, location, hillside neighborhoods with stunning views of San Francisco and the Bay, aggressive policies to reduce crime, astronomically high rents and home prices in nearby San Francisco, and a substantial offering of shopping districts and restaurants representing cuisines both homegrown and worldwide have led to an increase of population and of real-estate prices in the past decade.

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Oakland is the county seat of Alameda County. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the city's population was 399,484, making it the third largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area after San Jose and San Francisco.

Related Topics:
County seat - Alameda County - 2000 - U.S. Census - San Francisco Bay Area - San Jose - San Francisco

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The Oakland Tribune published its first newspaper on February 21, 1874. The Tribune Tower, which sports a clock, is one of Oakland's landmarks.

Related Topics:
Oakland Tribune - Newspaper - February 21 - 1874

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Oakland hosts Oakland International Airport, which serves most of the low-cost air traveler's market from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Related Topics:
Oakland International Airport - San Francisco Bay Area

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Oaklanders are understandably frustrated by the misuse of the most famous quote said about their city. "There's no there there," was uttered by Gertrude Stein upon learning as an adult that her childhood Oakland home had been torn down. Her quote did not have anything to do with the city itself. Modern-day Oakland has turned the quote on its head, with a statue downtown simply titled, "There." This quote is frequently thought, outside the Bay Area, to be referring to Oakland, Pennsylvania, because Gertrude Stein spent time growing up nearby, in what is now the north end of Pittsburgh.

Related Topics:
Gertrude Stein - Oakland, Pennsylvania - Pittsburgh

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