I’m currently working in San Mateo and living in Hayward. Within the next month, I’m hoping to move someplace nicer, closer to Berkeley. I’ve been generally cautioned to avoid huge chunks of Oakland and have been focusing on Montclair, Berkeley and Albany, but I’m also seeing the occasional place that fits the bill in my price range in Alameda.
I’m wondering, for anybody out there who’s lived in Alameda, or has friends or relatives who’ve lived in Alameda, or who just likes typing Alameda, are there any big gotchas to watch out for? Is it a pain in the neck getting to or from the mainland during commute hours? Any lack of shopping or services? Too many seagulls?
If it makes any difference, my working hours are 1 pm to 9 pm, so I’d be leaving home at noon and getting back at 10 pm, so I wouldn’t have to deal with any commute traffic.
Why not move someplace nicer on the Peninsula, and save yourself all that commuting. Could you afford to live anyplace nice there? How about Half Moon Bay? That drive couldn’t be worse that commuting from San Mateo to Alameda, could it?
ETA: And think of all the money you’d save, not having daily bridge tolls!
All the things you mention, mostly no. Seagulls are around but nowhere near as bad as Lake Merritt. I grew up there so if you have any other specific questions…
Shopping - South Shore is the biggest thing around. At little after I moved away they renamed it to a horrible Godless monstrosity (Alameda Towne Centre, sic). I think it’s changed back but I haven’t checked. There and Park and Webster both have the lions share of businesses.
Getting around - there are 4 bridges and 2 tunnels (those are one way and adjacent), so little trouble leaving. But it doesn’t sound like you have a fun commute planned. If you’re used to a commute that length, it might be okay. Little traffic around. Oh, and if I don’t mention this, someone else will: many people hate that the speed limit is almost universally 25 mph. The cops love waiting by the Webster Tube, as the speed limit quick drops from 50ish to 25.
To reduce places to stereotypes,
Bay Farm* = rich Chinese people
East (Fernside) = old people
Park Street = somewhat congested
West (Webster) = “ghetto,” which means not terribly much in comparison to Oakland etc. Becoming quite gentrified
Far West (NAS) = brand new houses, not much else
*Harbor Bay is the real estate sales name. Hell, they probably call it Harbour Bay.
I guess thelurkinghorror beat me to it; but I was gonna say: Let me guess, right now you’re just hopping on the San Mateo Bridge and boop! you’re there, right?
Do NOT make the mistake of thinking that your commute from Alameda will be anything like that. There is no good way to get efficiently from Alameda to San Mateo, no matter what time of day. Seriously.
I’ve always considered Alameda to be fairly quiet, suburban, and non-descript.
Unless you have kids (I don’t know anything about the schools) I wouldn’t dismiss all of Oakland. It’s a city in it’s own right, and while some areas are genuinely scary, it also has full-on ritzy areas, hip yuppie areas, leafy suburbs, and the whole mix. I lived there for a bit and loved every minute- good food, cheap housing, and sunnier weather than you’ll find anywhere else.
I commuted to Hayward, so it wasn’t too bad that way. Way better than living in Albany as the OP suggests. The Maze is one of the most dreaded parts of going back home, thankfully where I normally stay is north of it.
I went to HS in Alameda and that’s…close enough for government work :D.
I no longer live there, but certainly would again without hesitation. It’s very centrally located for the immediate East Bay/SF ( but NOT San Mateo of course ), quiet, safe with a full set of modern amenities and some pretty ( also pricey ) neighborhoods. If you want to remain in the East Bay, I think it is as good a place to live as any and better than most.
One drawback is that it is speed trap central. Really. The speed limit is 25 everywhere and the APD traditionally love nailing you for even tiny infractions.
Perhaps times are changing, but it was notorious back in the day :). I had a friend get a ticket for doing 26 on Otis ( granted that was a ridiculous extreme, someone must have needed to fill a quota or was having a bad day ) and once in a drivers ed class held outside Alameda when it was polled literally half the class had speeding tickets from Alameda and the instructor commented on how common that pattern was. I haven’t lived there in a ~decade but when I lived there I even had an Alameda cop tell me that “everyone gets a speeding ticket within six months of moving here.”
That said I have noticed when I’ve been back that those roadside speed tracker displays seem to have become more common, so maybe they’ve decided that’s a more cost effective way to change people’s behavior.
Yeah, that’s why I said almost universally. There’s higher in Bay Farm, IIRC Habor Bay Pkwy closer to Doolittle is 45-50.
I’ve never gotten a speeding ticket, but people always seem to bring the speed limit up in the first few breaths. I think all I’ve gotten is one for rolling through a flashing red at night.
I hope you fought that ticket! IANAL, but maybe on the grounds of calibration, and allowing +/- X MPH in variability, for both the radar gun and the car’s speedometer.
ETA: unless it was in a school zone or such.
I certainly pay attention to those speed displays. Many that I see seem terribly inaccurate and underestimate. I am also a bit unsure where exactly they’re aimed, as some get me from several hundred feet off (noticeable if I’m alone on the road). Others you have to be right before them.
My friend who lived in Alameda for years now lives over by Lake Merritt and LOVES it. You should check that out - she mentioned that she really likes not having to worry about whether the tube is closed or not. The Lake area of Oakland is really nice these days and rents there are still reasonable too. And it’s still convenient to the nukes.
Where exactly is “The Maze” these days? Back in the day, “The Maze” always referred to the interchange of I-580 and SR-24, in the middle of Oakland.
But ever since they rebuilt the interchange of I-580, I-80 and I-880 at the east end of the bridge, as best I can tell, radio traffic announcers are talking about that when they say “The Maze”. Which is it?
I don’t know exactly, but Wikipedia. This makes no mention of 24, although I would say it’s okay.
The part in that general that I hate is 80/580 coming from Sacramento (E/W? More south, really). You know, the part near there that got blown up by a truck a few years ago (wow, 2007!). You have to merge into your choice of 80 to SF, 880, or 580. Not only is it congested, but it seems many people there have no clue where they’re going, and have to change lanes at the last second.
We moved from Alameda to Pasadena for work, and I would move back to Alameda in a heartbeat if I could… It’s like a small town in the middle of it all…
I commuted to Fremont, and my partner took the Ferry to the Embarcadero for many years, and neither of us had a lot of issues. Unless something amazing has happened since I left, I can count the number of times the tube was closed on one hand while we lived there.
